Looking for a Giant Killer Digital cable

Oh, if you're building your own cable and looking for a good BNC connector, check out the Furutech Rhodium BNC.

@roxy54 , can you provide your impressions of the 
Cerious graphene extreme digital 
such as sonics, imaging, etc?
A very affordable cable.

@carmenc
Agreed. Tanks.
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@audioengr

Wow. Good to know.

Got any compunction to explain why?

Your input is always valued and appreciated. Tanks much.
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@uberwaltz

Thanks. I agree on some wires not palying well with various setups. Funny how that works. I refer to when a certain thing is either working or not working out well as the FM circuit. F*****g Mystery ckt.
It do happen! Tanks a lot.
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@roxy54
Certainly exciting news!?

I would echo other comments asking for subjective or anecdotal appraisals of the cable’s sonic and presentation attributes if you please.
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@auxinput
Great info! Very thoughtful! Definitely interested.
Big thanks.
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Sorry if I missed anyone.

Its odd that something of a consensus seems to be materializing on the disparity between modest or moderately priced SPDIF conducting cables and those costing far, far, more. It is in fact my own EXP as well.

In years past, I auditioned some SOTA wires costing upwards of $1200 vs those of $100, to $500. Naturally it was system dependant in that all were rolled into and out of one particular point for data transference, Sony XA 777 to Bel Canto DAC 3. Later on as the link from sound upper end cards and or Hiface to the same BC D3.

In each instance tone, musicality and special cue disparities were readily observed.

However, those beyond or above the then modest cost of $200 and under were tuff to totally beat in overall performance..

For my concerns, organics are key. Thereafter, imaging. Is the note being propelled more by the steel strings of the banjo or guitar and the resonance of the instrument itself? Is the sound of brass all about its leading edge demonstration or is the timber of its notes honest and musical? Is there note development and decay? Does it simply feel right sounding or off, or exaggerated??

That said, I regularly prefer as transparent a reproduction as possible so long as it is not fatiguing.

I feel things are right when my head quits questioning this or that all the time a tune plays and my knee is bobing up and down, or a smile gets plastered on my face during the listening session..

Although…. I have unerringly experienced in a very familiar system owned by a friend, that one unobtainium cable ($2K plus) can unquestionably place itself way above many when auditioning several dACs in a casual DAC comparison some time ago. I wrote about this instance in a former review I posted on these pages 5 or 6 years back. the SPDIF link fed from a Wavelength USB to SPDIF converter and it handed data off to the then most recent iteration of the Bel Canto D3.1 or .2. can’t recall exactly now.

Without controversy from the crowd, that array once feeding the audio system was simply and utterly goose bumpy impressive playing the same well known files all were familiarized with during the session. Whoa.

The degree of virtual ‘reality’ was not even close. It must be said too, the Wavelength, BC D3.1, arrangement overall was the most expensive setup of the three DACs being auditioned.

Was it indeed the SPDIF link? Gordon’s USB to SPDIF Brick? The BC D3.1? whatever carried the day, hauled it off without regrets!

The other DACS were Mitner USB DSD DAC, and a Berkley USB DAC. See account for more details.

Naturally then I’ve been convinced there is something to the notion of cabling expenses contributing to increasing system performance.

And certainly, the setup itself really, really does matter.

This bottom line remains, is it justifiable? Further, is it in your world, then doable?

@blindjim thanks for the good summary of your experience

Through 30 years experience in digital my realization has been that while cables do make a big difference the initial and dominant factor is choice of interface itself. S/PDIF is about the worse possible platform for carrying digital data. In my experience (most recently with dCS stacks) there is a clear hierarchy (assume here we are carrying 16/44.1, of course the latter several formats can also carry DSD and higher rate PCM)

S/PDIF (TOS) -> S/PDIF (RCA)->AES3->FireWire (presumably also other similar proprietary HDMI based formats)->Dual AES/EBU

In any configuration a step up in cables will bring benefit but generally lesser cables in a better interface will outperform better cables on a less stable interface.

Of course with your Oppo you only have S/PDIF so this is moot but even so changing the cable will make a difference. I do wonder however if there is any way of using the HDMI out (audio only) - presumably this is primarily provided for multi-channel but I suspect this may be a superior stereo interface, it could be worth exploring.

.... Also as you are no doubt aware the cable itself will be directional

The only 75Ohm cables in my current setup are those carrying the clocks -- which is actually a tough proposition and very cable sensitive. Going from AQ Eagle Eye to Transparent Ref XL was a substantial step up. For my most recent addition of a 10MHz master I used a Marigo 75Ohm cable and was a) again amazed at the step up from a generic BNC but b) most surprised at how different it sounded one way round rather than another