How many quality interconnects to I need ?

Sean - the high-capacitance IC may have done well in your system vers were relatively strong. With my DAC, they would definitely not cut-it.

You have to try different cables in different places to see what works best where.

I had a strange experience using Canare Cable awhile back. I needed a low Capacitance cable to go between the DAC to Transport and Dac to Amp.
What I did was try all Canare in my system.It turned out that I could not get the Transport-DAC and Pre-Amp IC to sound good using Canare.But it worked ok between the Amp to Passive Pre.

I use all OTA except for Belden Digital at the moment. Canare I do not know what I will do with.Might use it for part of my HT hook-up

Audioengr, I was talking to Robert Schult of Ridge Street Audio Designs this afternoon. He was telling me that capacitance by itself is pretty much meaningless as a spec--just like *watts* in an amplifier. Capacitance must be viewed in relation to other parameters, so he says...

Psychicanimal: One has to look at source and load impedances when discussing such things as inductance and capacitance in a cable. Having said that, the electrical characteristics / load that the cable brings with it will remain constant but whether or not it is a good match with the other components it is connected to is the question.

As Audioengr stated in his earlier reply to me, some designs are more stable than others and will not have a problem with a high capacitance load. That is, so long as the total load impedance and level of reactance that it sees is within reason. If the combo isn't a relatively "benign" load, the component loading into the cable will typically display erratic frequency response and distortion characteristics. All of this can be easily viewed on a scope and / or spectrum analyzer.

As such, the trick is to find something that both measures and sounds good. The key to doing this is finding something that allows maximum power transfer ( proper impedance matching ) without allowing major signal degradation to take place. That is, unless one prefers specific sonic colourations and isn't worried about "accuracy". Some cables work "better" in certain systems because they specifically create impedance mismatches. This in turn can alter the perceived sonics of what might otherwise be a highly flawed system. While this approach is typically viewed as being a "band aid", it can make the difference between having a rig that is enjoyable and one that is unbearable. Sean
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