The main difference is that an unbalanced digital cable is (presumably and hopefully) designed to have a "characteristic impedance" of 75 ohms, within a tight tolerance, while chances are that an analog interconnect will not be.
A digital audio signal has frequency components that extend well into the radio frequency region. At those frequencies, it is necessary that the characteristic impedance of the cable, the output impedance of the component driving the cable, and the input impedance of the destination component, all be the same (within a narrow tolerance). Otherwise VSWR effects, aka "transmission line effects," will result in reflections back and forth along the cable which will degrade waveform quality, causing increased jitter or even misclocking and data corruption.
That said, I would expect that some analog interconnects will work satisfactorily in some systems.
Regards,
-- Al
A digital audio signal has frequency components that extend well into the radio frequency region. At those frequencies, it is necessary that the characteristic impedance of the cable, the output impedance of the component driving the cable, and the input impedance of the destination component, all be the same (within a narrow tolerance). Otherwise VSWR effects, aka "transmission line effects," will result in reflections back and forth along the cable which will degrade waveform quality, causing increased jitter or even misclocking and data corruption.
That said, I would expect that some analog interconnects will work satisfactorily in some systems.
Regards,
-- Al