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Looking for a Giant Killer Digital cable


Hello all,

I’m looking for a Budget ‘Giant Killer’ RCA coaxial cable to connect my Oppo 203 to a DAC for music playback.

Can someone suggest something currently available in the $50 to $150 price range?

If however your experience says some new Optical cable in that range is as good or better, please, by all means do mention it as I could go either way of course!

A 1M to 1.5M will be sufficient.

Huge thanks!
blindjim
blindjim OP
3,092 posts
 

@tom_hankins
Hmmm. Did not know the Carbon was available as a SPDIF. Thought it was just a USB wire. Good.

Do you feel the Carbon is similar in either respect, USB or SPDIF, acoustically or sonically speaking of course?
Thanks.
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aolprodj

thank you for your input.
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Some time back, there was much to do about the length of digital cables. The upshot of it all was that 1.5M (6ft) cables were the prime choice for ANY likewise application.

In fact, this desired or presumed length of 6ft. began expressing itself as the golden rule length for analog cables too.

Does this still hold true? Or has the current advancements in jitter correction within the devices addressed this to the point of making one particular length vs another, irrelevant to the conversation? Thanks.

auxinput
2,921 posts
 

Jitter correction really doesn't have anything to do with the length of the cable.  Jitter can be caused by different things, but mostly it is cause by poor clocks or translating audio data back and forth between different digital transmission clock rates.  A good example of this is transmitting S/PDIF over HDMI signal data.  Jitter can also be caused by a "store-and-forward" mechanism of transferring digital data between data bus sections.

The minimum length of cable recommended is generally 1.5M (which is just over 4 1/2 feet).  I always go 6 feet / 2 meter just to be safe.  A short cable can cause reflections.  This happens when the square wave pulse generated at the source hits the target receiver, but the pulse is actually reflected or echoed back down the wire to the source transmitter - which then can cause interference with the next generated pulses (sometimes cancelling out the pulses enough so that it comes across as a NULL pulse).

This doesn't just relate to digital SPDIF coax.  The cable length / reflection issue occurs with all digital cables, including USB and HDMI as well.

There are times where you have a very strong transmitter (such as an HDMI transmitter chip).  I have seen cases where equipment manufacturers actually recommend long HDMI cables.  Sometimes short cables just won't work because of the reflection problems.  Lumagen Radiance video processors is a good example here.

auxinput
2,921 posts
 
Analog cable does not have the "reflection issue" because it is transmitting analog waveforms (which are very curvy/ragged).  Analog also does not transmit at digital speeds.  Analog pretty much maxes out at 20 kilohertz to 30 kilohertz.  But digital transmission pulses can be in the megahertz range.  With analog cables, it is my opinion that shorter is better (but you can do a long length analog cable if you wish).
in_shore's avatar
in_shore
596 posts
 
This is a subject I am naive to and up until now my understanding was that data transfer using I2s and USB are the bases for superior data performance.
Currently I use I2s output from a PS Audio Direct Stream Memory Player to a Denafrips Terminator dac and speaking for myself to date I am experiencing the best most enjoyable digital playback in my home so far .

The I2s cable I use is WireWorlds platinum starlight their top HDMI cable which I found to outperform by a good margin PS Audios supplied Kimbercable I2s cable , is the WireWorld cable worth $700.00 I couldn’t say .

Anyway I find this cable subject interesting especially Audioengr comments and test results which got me to order his reference coax cable .
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,418 posts
 
I found I2S when used with PS Audio devices to be superior to all...S/PDIF, USB, Optical. With I2S. the power and data stream travel thru different conductors thereby reducing noise and interference.
USB is susceptible to noise since the data and power source are combined and travel thru the same conductor. Noise may be from a computer, the type of power supply, or grounding issue. That's why some sort of decrapifier like the Schiit Wyrd or an Empirical Audio device is needed.
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