I believe Toslink would be the best option as the digital signal will enter the BL20 DSP unaltered. But unlike BL5, BL20 have no volume control and you need a much better digital volume control than the one of iTunes/Mac (as it may degrade the signal quality and in my experience it does not have enough steps). So you would need to install an add-on to iTunes or to change your player (options include e.g. Audirvana+, JRiver).

You will not be able to connect your Mac directly to your BL20 with PowerLink or RCA (except if you use the low quality headphone out from the Mac, something you don't want to do with BL20). So you would need a DAC with volume control. But then your DAC will convert the digital signal into analogue, then the BL20 will reconvert into digital before the DSP and then again to analogue thereafter, whereby the signal may be somewhat altered (similarly and probably for the same reason, some people have indeed experienced a lower sound quality using PowerLink compared to SPDIF with their BL5). But with an excellent DAC with volume control (options include e.g. Naim DAC V1) it may be just fine.

Just my opinion, others may disagree. But I hope this helps.

Perhaps consider waiting for the BeoSound Moment? It might have toslink outputs or WISA (not sure how or if it affects sound quality).

Very good point indeed, BS Moment seems to have Wisa (but no Toslink/SPDIF).

However note that although navigation through your music library with BS Moment opens exciting new possibilities, it is very different from iTunes (or other players for Mac), so it depends on your needs/preferences.

Maybe i have to add some additional content - i'm running Audirvana+ on the Mac (with buffering for jitter correction) and Cambridge DacMagic Plus is the "digital preamp" (from USB to SPDIF) for the Beolab 5. The Cambridge DacMagic Plus is also feeding the Beocenter 2 with analog audio for Masterlink distribution. The Cambridge is able to control the volume, but not with a remote control.

Can I connect the Beolab 20 with Powerlink for volume control and feeding the audio files via Toslink?

AFAK the digital out of the DacMagic Plus is passthrough only, so it can serve as USB-Toslink converter but it is unaffected by the volume control which only works on the analogue out.

And AFAK contrary to BL5, BL20 do not include any volume control, so having a double Toslink + PowerLink connection will not help.

With your current setup, you can do one the following:

- Mac -> USB -> DacMagic Plus -> Toslink -> BL20 and control the volume with Audirvana+

- Mac -> USB -> DacMagic Plus -> analogue RCA -> BL20 and control the volume with the DacMagic Plus

- Mac -> USB -> DacMagic Plus -> analogue RCA -> BC2 -> PowerLink -> BL20 and remote control the volume through the BC2, but I fear that this path will not help enhancing the signal...

carlito wrote:

Questions: Is someone of you already having Beolab 20 connected via Toslink? Does it make sense to connect the Beolab 20 via Toslink

Hi,

When I did the sound design of the BeoLab 20, I connected my MacBook Pro's Toslink output directly to the 20's.

The only thing I would warn you of is to be aware/wary of is the relative level management of your music vs. the signal sounds (i.e. beeps and "you've got mail"). It's a bit disconcerting to be listening to quiet background music, and then get a full-scale BEEP when an email comes in. 

Chers

-geof

Geof,

Very interesting comment, thanks.

But how did you control the volume in the digital domain (in my experience the iTune or Mac volume control does not have enough steps and may tend to somewhat degrade the digital signal at low levels)? Which player were you using?

Many thanks for the advice!

Sebastian

PS: you can setup the Mac in order to only get music on the external speakers and the system sounds remain with the internal Mac speakers (at least it works in my setup with an USD DAC, but maybe not with Toslink)

js wrote:

But how did you control the volume in the digital domain (in my experience the iTune or Mac volume control does not have enough steps and may tend to somewhat degrade the digital signal at low levels)? Which player were you using?

js wrote:

PS: you can setup the Mac in order to only get music on the external speakers and the system sounds remain with the internal Mac speakers (at least it works in my setup with an USD DAC, but maybe not with Toslink)

There is an plugin call soundflower which enables the normal keyboard sound control for toslink devices.