A little experiment...

steveinaz

I have an extra set of 1 meter Kimber Hero and started wondering how it might perform as a digital interconnect. Now, without getting all wrapped around the axle with technical specifications for SPDI/F, possible impedance mis-matches, lack of a woven shield--whatta ya say we just listen to some music, and see how it does.

I found some very limited information about this (spotted russman in few threads), but apparently Kimber is aware of Hero's potential prowess as a digital IC. This sparked my interest further.

So...for the next several days (provided it doesn't sound like absolute crapola) I'm going to pit the Hero against my Signal cable digital coax, which is very respectable in it's right. The SC has already smoked the DH Labs D75, so this should be interesting. I'll try music across the spectrum, from 24-bit audiophile recordings to the crappiest sounding CD's I have (Kansas "Point of know return" comes to mind), and I'll make notes of what I hear. We'll see if the Hero can "fix" the bad stuff, and make the good stuff soar.

Stay tuned....I'll post my findings upon completion.

Observations from any of you who have tried an "analog" IC as a digital cable are more than welcomed, in fact they're encouraged!

steveinaz

Observations:

As I suspected, this won’t take a week….

Pick your poison; Cadillac or Corvette? One offers plush luxury, comfy ride, and warm feelings of being on your family room couch. The other offers top performance, quick steering, and the ability to feel the road. The Caddy makes the worst of roads feel smooth, the Corvette translates every little imperfection, but offers excellent feedback on good roads.

The Kimber Hero as a digital IC is the Cadillac. It feels wonderful, lush, inspires feelings of warmth---at the expense of accuracy. It’s all the things we wish real audio sounded like, but we know better, it’s contrived and not an accurate portrayal. Now, those who like tons of bass, a somewhat set-back midrange, and sugar-sweet treble may love it; but I suspect the accuracy hounds will not. I have to side with the hounds on this one. Too much plush, lumpy bass, midrange a little too laid-back, treble a little too sweet. In Heros’ favor it does work magic of lifeless, 2-dimensional poorly recorded CD’s, but it adds too much flavor to accurate recordings. I also listened for any noise, as the cable is not shielded in the traditional sense of a coaxial cable, but it was dead silent, even with the volume maxed. Hero also had no problems locking with the DAC, or any other anomolies; functionally, it worked.

So there it is. As good as the Hero is as an analog IC, it doesn’t make a good digital IC if tonal accuracy is important to you.

tonyb

Good write up Steve,always wondered about the use of good coaxle I/C'S as a digital cable.Aswered that one for me.

madmax

Like a piece of wire could make a difference in sound... :rolleyes:

Just kidding, actually I think its pretty telling that you tried it and could hear the difference. If you look at it from an engineering standpoint it really shouldn't cause a difference in sound, that is if you believe our ears are less sensitive than general test equipment. I wish I could totally understand what is different about the different cables.
madmax

Ricardo

1001100101001001000100100100100100100101001010

or,

1001100101001001000100100100100100100101001010


Which sounds better?

steveinaz

Impedance mis-matches cause square wave "round-off" which can and does effect what you hear. This is well documented and measured by a simple oscilloscope. The Kimber Hero is not a 75 ohm cable, more like 52 ohms; and is not shielded like a typical coaxial cable. The unbalanced world of analog IC's don't have to be (and more often are not) true to the 75 ohm standard.

Anyone who couldn't hear a difference between Hero and a correctly assembled 75 ohm coax in the digital domain, probably shouldn't spend a whole lot of money on audio equipment. Seriously. Hero was extremely bass heavy--there was nothing subtle about it. It was akin to increasing your bass knob to +6dB, lowering midrange in the 1k, 3k, and 5k area about 3dB, and bumping the treble knob to +6dB. The cable was all over the map.

steveinaz

Ricardo wrote: »

1001100101001001000100100100100100100101001010

or,

1001100101001001000100100100100100100101001010


Which sounds better?

This, from a guy with MIT cables, an MF DAC, and super-modded Sony?

I thought "bit is bits?" Surely you're not hearing any difference between these sources...are you? I'm confused

mantis

Impedence is what will cause a digital cable to sound different then another one. If the cable is properly terminated and is 75 ohms from end to end meaning both ends are terminated correctly, the cable itself has the ability to transfer the digital signal without lose, then 2 cables of this nature will sound exaclty the same. now if one cable doesn't meet these needs of Digital transfer, then yes it will sound different.

I dig the test/demo. I sure it was fun. I have spent most of my audio/video life testing **** rather then using it.

dorokusai

It sounds like Steve is having an audio nervous breakdown, EarlyB style.

organ

dorokusai wrote: »

It sounds like Steve is having an audio nervous breakdown, EarlyB style.

lol:D

That's a great experiment Steve. One thing I don't really understand is the the cable imp. Don't these digital devices have a 75ohm output and 75ohm input at the terminals? If so, shouldn't running a lower imp wire be more optimal? Oh man, I don't know crap when it comes to digital:rolleyes: