Well, with better optical cables you may be able to do 176.4k, 192k or single rate DSD. I don’t know if there’s anyway to tell if an optical cable switch will work faster than 96k except by trying it.
I get crap for it a lot but I’ve been using cheapo cables on my DS digital inputs - when I compare them to expensive cables (which I have a selection of) I don’t hear any difference.
kellipah said One question, I have no idea where or when i got the optical cable, it was in the bottom of a bag of cables. Is a cheapo radio shack style optical more or less as good as a fancy one for this purpose?Kellipah
I searched really really hard and couldn’t find a toslink switch which supports above 96kHz, except for one which does 192 but not the 176.4 that is required for single-rate DoP. 
So I’m living with a $30 eBay piece which like all the others maxes out at 96kHz. I have an older passive/mechanical optical switch too but it doesn’t work in this system above 48kHz – I guess due to signal attenuation when passing through the multiple fibre pieces. An electronic switch is a better choice.
For playing 176 or 192 PCM or DSD I have to plug in another way.
Worth mentioning that the DirectStream itself is only guaranteed for 96kHz on the optical input, though some individual units manage to go higher due to normal variation in component manufacture. (Seems that it’s hard to order a batch 192kHz-compatible Toslink receiver components in the USA, though that’d be a really great feature enhancement for future DS production IMO.)
As for toslink cables, there’s a really sharp line between “works perfectly” and “doesn’t work at all”. Shorter cables are generally better for higher speeds. If a cable consistently allows the DS to create music that sounds good to you, you almost certainly couldn’t get a better result with a more expensive cable. The four optical cables I’m using all cost me between about $10 and $30.
I have had a leisurely night and morning listening to music and swapping the cables. What a great experience. I moved the optical cord from the CD to the Sonos and put the “nice” RCA on the Cd player.
The CD player still wins with the RCA on it. It is more vibrant, alive, less harsh and fatiguing than the Sonos this way too. But the difference it slightly less wide as before i swapped the cables.
My take is that the Sonos source is just not as good as my CD player, and it is close to a moot point which output I use for one over the other. I think i will leave it in the current configuration for now.
I am thrilled to finally have hooked up the CD to the DS DAC and have a huge stack of cds to play, anxious to hear them all.
Eventually, maybe i should try to take advantage of the bridge that is installed in the DAC, and bypass the Sonos entirely. I assume the bridge would be better than streaming my music files across the room from my computer to the Sonos . ?? I am open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Kellipah
Kellipah, sorry I haven’t been through the whole thread but if you are trying to play files from your computer, music player software like PureMusic/Amarra/Foobar or even good old eLyric and either a USB or optical cable and you are in business. Any of these will likely equal or better your CD player as a transport. As to the Bridge, the answer is a definite yes. The sound quality will be far above the Sonos but you will lose gapless playback and it can be a bit intimidating to set up depending on which player that you use.