Need Advice: the best coaxial digital cable you choose

Paul J Wright

According to your experience, which coaxial digital cable (75ohms, RCA) is the best (and second best) sounding?

Please advice me in terms of brand, length, model and its tonal characteristic.

Thank you so much!

Paul

Paul J Wright

any idea?

steveinaz

I've been quite impressed/and use Belden 1694A (via Blue Jeans cable). A rare budget/excellent cable. I also use a DH Labs D75, although the Belden is every bit as good at 1/4th the price.

Willow

So far I have no issus with Signal

jeremymarcinko

Digital cables pass code 1's and 0's, not DC audio signals they either work or they dont. Therefor all digital cables will sound the same. Analog cables is a different story. Do not throw away money on expensive DIGITAL cables.

CoolJazz

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

Digital cables pass code 1's and 0's, not DC audio signals they either work or they dont. Therefor all digital cables will sound the same. Analog cables is a different story. Do not throw away money on expensive DIGITAL cables.

Ha...ha..ha...good one! But I'm sure you know that about five minutes after they invented digital signaling, that they then discovered that TIMING also makes a difference!

CJ

headrott

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

Digital cables pass code 1's and 0's, not DC audio signals they either work or they dont. Therefor all digital cables will sound the same. Analog cables is a different story. Do not throw away money on expensive DIGITAL cables.

^^^^^^This reply is a bunch of crap.^^^^^^^

In response to your query, my opinion of a good sounding coaxial cable based upon my experience would be the StraightWire Infolink, pure silver cable. After using this cable, I ended up buying some VH Audio Pulsar Ag wire and some WBT 152Ag RCA ends and built my own cable. This bested the Straightwire, but also cost more than the Straightwire and I had to build it. I am sure there are better, but for more money of course. I would recommend using the VH Audio Pulsar Ag and WBT 152Ag RCA ends abd building your own. It will be hard to best this cable for the money, but it is somewhat expensive (mine cost approximately $350 and I had to assemble it). It's definately worth the money however.

tonyb

I currently use an Audio Metallurgy digital coax, very good tone and a more analog sound. I prefered it slightly over the Black Cat digital.

EndersShadow

CoolJazz wrote: »

Ha...ha..ha...good one! But I'm sure you know that about five minutes after they invented digital signaling, that they then discovered that TIMING also makes a difference!

CJ

Mark... Timing is everything.......

BlueFox

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

Digital cables pass code 1's and 0's, not DC audio signals they either work or they dont.

Actually, they pass encoded electrical pulses that have rise and fall times. While the "1s and 0s" can be recovered from degraded signals so that a digital word is correct for a computer, the conversion of digital music pulses to an analog signal requires the timing of the rise and fall of the signal to be accurate. Otherwise, cables that degrade the signal will result in a different sound than the original. Better cables degrade less than worse cables, so better cables sound better than worse cables.

tonyb

Ah....education....it's a wonderful thing.

Get your read on Jeremy, lots to learn in the digital world aside from 1's and 0's.

jeremymarcinko

tonyb wrote: »

Ah....education....it's a wonderful thing.

Get your read on Jeremy, lots to learn in the digital world aside from 1's and 0's.

I understand plenty. I was keeping it simple with the 1's and 0's. I didnt want to write a book about Pulse Code Modulation. If a given cable degraded the signal so badly it affected the timing it just wouldnt work. I would advise reading something other than the marketing brochures.

nspindel

Here we go again. I love cable threads....

EndersShadow

nspindel wrote: »

Here we go again. I love cable threads....

Grabbing my popcorn. It's gonna be a fun night

headrott

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

I understand plenty. I was keeping it simple with the 1's and 0's. I didnt want to write a book about Pulse Code Modulation. If a given cable degraded the signal so badly it affected the timing it just wouldnt work. I would advise reading something other than the marketing brochures.

So please tell us what cables you have tried and the results in sound you discovered. Please be specific about the cables and sound. Thank you for your time.

nspindel

EndersShadow wrote: »

Grabbing my popcorn. It's gonna be a fun night

Yup. It's been a good three or four weeks since we've had one of these!

tonyb

Haven't seen any marketing pamplets on pulse code modulation specific to any cable. Frankly, I could give a rats behind about it either. I just try different cables until I find one that suits my taste, regardless of how it's done. I don't want to know how it works, just that it does.

nspindel

The funny part is, these threads are always the same. It's like there's a template. Someone comes along, usually a newbie, and asks the innocent "which one is best?" question:

Paul J Wright wrote: »

According to your experience, which coaxial digital cable (75ohms, RCA) is the best (and second best) sounding?...

Then along comes someone else, always a newbie, who proclaims that they don't matter:

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

...Therefor all digital cables will sound the same....

Then someone with a clue challenges their wisdom, and they come back and say that they wanted to spare us all the detailed expertise as to why they're right and everyone else is wrong:

jeremymarcinko wrote: »

...I was keeping it simple with the 1's and 0's. I didnt want to write a book about Pulse Code Modulation...

And that....... is when the fun begins!

thsmith

Kimber Kable D60

tonyb

Hey now Mikey, don't be slappin' around Vulcans. You dudes out their on the islands and Vulcans look pretty similiar if ya ask me.:biggrin:

Paul J Wright

thank you for all inputs!

besides theoretical info., would some people keep sharing which coaxial cables you think is the best sounding?

thank you!!

nspindel

http://signalcable.com/digital_cables.html

acmf74

Signal Cable and Blue Jeans make a great product and are really nice to deal with.

thsmith

thsmith wrote: »

Kimber Kable D60

This one

jeremymarcinko

Alright then I fold. Perhaps my system is not good enough to hear the audible differences of a higher end cable.

headrott

Interesting, in a good way. Please let us know what your system consists of if you don't mind.

tonyb

headrott wrote: »

Interesting, in a good way. Please let us know what your system consists of if you don't mind.

It's listed in post #5. Funny thing is I don't see anything that has or requires a digital cable.

headrott

Thanks Tony. I missed it in his signature up there. Yeah, I don't see any source(s) listed in his signature. What are you using as a source Jeremy? I am assuming a Blu-Ray player? Or, do you have a dedicated transport and DAC? Or, a dedicated CD player? Also, as I asked what digital cables have you used before? I am not trying to **** you with pins, but trying to see why you would have thought all digital cables sound the same. Thanks again Jeremy.

jeremymarcinko

Yes bluray to the onkyo ht via hdmi and spdif to the marantz 2ch pcm from a toshiba hda3. Bluray hdmi to the rxv371. Audio quest cables (crutchfield). I purchased two spdif one vd3 ($180) for the 2channel. And standard $20 cable for the onkyo ht. I tried them both on the marantz system and they sounded identical to my ears.

BlueFox

They very well could sound the same for a number of reasons. Different prices do not necessarily mean different sounds. I know I have paid double for a cable, but it was not twice as good. However, it was a good enough improvement to make me happy.

jeremymarcinko

I think all digital cables sound the same because in theory they should all sound the same. No digital cable should have tonal qualities as this would be in the way of distortion or noise. This may not be the reality of it but if I cant hear the difference then there is no difference. If you perceive benefit then your perception is your reality.