Why do digital coax cables matter?

Each end of a coaxial cable uses familiar RCA jacks, which are reliable and stay firmly connected.

Almarg wrote,

"The 1.5 meter length recommendation that is often seen for digital cables has no relevance whatsoever to cables conducting analog audio signals. In general, in the case of analog audio cables the shorter the better, if it makes any difference at all."

>>>>>That’s weird. Most high end cable manufacturers with good hearing like Bob Crump recommend 1.5 m as the optimum length for interconnects, maybe for speaker cables, too. I suspect the same is true for digital cables since they’re all conducting electromagnetic waves, so what’s the diff? Certainly the particular metal, copper or silver or gold infused silver, in a digital cable, like interconnects, is audible so why not the length? My personal favorite reason is that 1.5 m minimizes reflections. Al, I'm confident you will come up with a perfectly valid technical reason why length cannot possibly be an issue for analog cables, and why audiophiles must be imagining things.

Geoffkait 8-30-2017
... so what’s the diff?

The difference is the frequencies that are involved, Geoff, which bring completely different effects into play. Such as the one that is explained in the paper by Steve N. of Empirical Audio that was referenced earlier in the thread, which explains the rationale for 1.5 meter digital cables. That rationale having no relevance whatsoever to analog audio signals, since it involves the effects of signal reflections that result from impedance mismatches at RF frequencies on timing jitter at the point of D/A conversion. Surely you realize that cable effects can be dependent on frequency, especially when both the frequencies and the application are vastly different? If you don’t, any further debate would be pointless, and I’m not going to engage in any.

Also, your last sentence represents a complete misreading of what I have said. I absolutely did not say, and have never said in this thread or any other, that length differences in analog cables won’t be audible. In fact in many other threads, such as this one in which you’ve participated very recently, I’ve said that they certainly can be audible. I have said, however, that in general the shorter an analog cable is the better, assuming the goal is for the signal to be conveyed in as accurate a manner as possible (i.e., for the sonic effects of the cable to be minimized).

Feel free to have the last word, even if it involves asserting that something I have neither said nor implied is incorrect. To others who may be interested in the subject, I would commend the excellent posts earlier in the thread by Kijanki, AudioEngr (Steve N. of Empirical Audio), and others, as well as my own posts.

Regards,
-- Al

Sorry Al, don’t buy it. You get an E for Effort. I won’t point out your name dropping. You apparently haven’t had the opportunity to try the Shun Mook Orignal Cable Jacket or the Highwire Cable Wrap, both of which improve the sound of *analog* cables by, you guessed it, addressing the cable reflections. I know what you're thinking, "But, but that disobeys the laws of science!" 😀

cheers

People would be much better off if they believed in too much rather than too little. - PT Barnum