Whats a good all around digital cable for under $250. I only need half a meter.

The Cardas Lightening 15 is a great digital cable and has the attributes you are looking for.  Agree with the 1M or longer.

Get >1.5m or <1ft  (I can explain why).   It applies only to coax.  It is a system thing - a cable that sounds great in one system might sound bad in another (characteristic impedance mismatch and/or electrical noise induced jitter).  

Cable adds time jitter, that converts to noise on analog side.  This noise is proportional to loudness and undetectable without signal.  It affects clarity, timbre, imaging etc.  It can also produce unpleasant sibilants (or shrill).

Toslink connection (any distance) does not need matching  and is not sensitive to ambient electrical noise, but is sensitive to system noise since transitions are slow (slow transitions thru noisy threshold = jitter).  Toslink does not create ground loops.  You have to try different coaxes and Toslinks it in your system in your room.  Recommendation means nothing.

Cerious Graphene

+1-Jl35...

The references to 1 meter or longer should say 1.5 meters or longer. The reasons are explained in this paper. Although as Kijanki indicated many component and cable-dependent variables factor into that, many of which are unspecified and unpredictable. So there may be some cases where 1 meter would prove to be preferable (and past threads here provide some anecdotal evidence to support that), but 1.5 meters or longer (or a very short length, such as 6 or 8 inches if that is practicable) should be viewed as providing the best odds of success.

Also, as Kijanki indicated that length recommendation just applies to electrical cables (S/PDIF or AES/EBU), not to optical cables.

Regarding ...

... a silver might be to "shrill" on the top for my system.

You may be extrapolating from the reputation of silver conductors in analog applications. There is no reason to expect their performance in analog applications to have any relevance to digital applications. The technical factors that are involved, and the basic principles upon which the two kinds of connections operate, are completely different in the two cases.

Finally, regarding ...

I’m looking for a cable that can play those high notes and cymbals and it won’t sound like noise.

If the cable is in fact contributing to that, those symptoms are consistent with the timing jitter that Kijanki referred to. Which as I said is a function of numerous unpredictable variables, involving the particular components that are being connected as well as the cable. So the best approach is probably to borrow a number of cables from a source such as The Cable Company, and try them out. As Kijanki indicated, a given cable may provide great results or poor results depending on what it is connecting.

Regards,
-- Al