A statement about what was the "best" in a field of contenders is worthless unless those contenders are revealed.
As for Canare ICs for analog signals, I tried enough in 1m and 5m XLR lengths and they were horrible at best in the portrayal of space. $25 might be fine between NAD, Rotel or the like, but in a high-performance system, they are not at all in the same league as the Jade Audio, Stealth, Silent Source, Purist, to name a few. |
John Atkinson will not be pleased with you! |
Maybe John A would not be happy, but Corey G would be. As for Jafox's comments about HAVE/Canare analog cables I agree, they don't measure up, but for digital they are one of the best. Again, for a small $25 listen for yourself! If you don't like them you can throw them in your pile of extra cables & stuff, or you will be as surprised as I was and make them a permanent IC in your system. |
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IMO RPG is to be commended and congratulated for the thorough, disciplined, and logical manner in which this comparison was conducted, as further described in this earlier thread. I would emphasize, however, his reference in the OP above to "the best IC between MY transport to MY DAC." (Emphasis added). Quoting from myself in this recent thread, in which my comment is based on the assumption that the main effect, and arguably the only effect, that a digital cable will have on sonics is via its effect on jitter: Given reasonably good quality, I see no reason to expect a high degree of correlation between the effects of a given cable on jitter in one system, and its effects on jitter in another system. And many reasons to expect a low degree of correlation. The same even applies to the effects of a given cable on jitter in one system, and the effects of a different length of the same cable type in the same system.
An example: Impedance mismatches can be a significant contributor to jitter. No impedance match is perfect. If the input or output impedance of a component that is being connected is inaccurate to some degree, relative to the 75 ohm ideal for S/PDIF, then a cable whose impedance is SIMILARLY inaccurate will provide a better impedance match to that component than one that is more accurate.
The other major contributor to jitter that can be affected by the cable is noise, that is either "picked up" by the cable, or that results from ground loop effects between the components that are being connected. In general, a shorter cable length will minimize both of those effects. However, a shorter cable length will often worsen the effects of impedance mismatches, unless the cable is very short (see this paper). Whether noise-induced jitter or jitter that results from impedance mismatches will be a more significant issue in a given system cannot generally be predicted.
Putting it more generally, the effects of a given cable on jitter are dependent on a complex and largely unpredictable set of relationships and interactions between its parameters, including length, impedance accuracy, shielding effectiveness, shield resistance, propagation velocity, etc., and the technical characteristics of what it is connecting, including signal risetimes and falltimes, impedance accuracy, jitter rejection capability, ground loop susceptibility, etc.
My suggestion to the OP is simply that you try a variety of different cables at different price points, and make your own choice. Regards, -- Al |
