2. digital
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Why does my DAC sound so much better after upgrading digital SPDIF cable?

I like my Mps5 playback designs sacd/CD player but also use it as a DAC so that I can use my OPPO as a transport to play 24-96 and other high res files I burn to dvd-audio discs.

I was using a nordost silver shadow digital spdif cable between the transport and my dac as I felt it was more transparent and better treble than a higher priced audioquest digital cable a dealer had me audition.

I recently received the Synergistic Research Galileo new SX UEF digital cable.  Immediately I recognized that i was hearing far better bass, soundstage, and instrument separation than I had ever heard with high res files (non sacd),

While I am obviously impressed with this high end digital cable and strongly encourage others to audition it, I am puzzled how the cable transporting digital information to my DAC from my transport makes such a big difference.

The DAC take the digital information and shapes the sound so why should the cable providing it the info be so important. I would think any competently built digital cable would be adequate....I get the cable from the DAC to the preamp and preamp to amp matter but would think the cable to the DAC would be much less important.

I will now experiment to see if using the external transport to send red book CD files to my playback mps5 sounds better than using the transport inside the mps5 itself.

The MPS5 sounds pretty great for ca and awesome with SACD so doubt external transport will be improvement for redhook cds


128x128karmapolice
mwelbourne
6 posts
 
For the last 13 years I've had a media PC hooked up to my TV and Denon surround amp. I'm using an TOSLINK from the PC motherboard to the amp. So, this is a red light flashing on and off on the motherboard going down about 1m of some sort of glass tube (whatever an optical cable is made of) and the amp is reading the pulses of light. I only play mp3s and it's mainly dance/pop stuff (so nothing high brow) - it all sounds truly amazing. I've never heard music sound better than it does in my house.

Am I to understand that the cable is causing jitter to a flashing pulse of light and that the digital info being received by the amp is not totally correct? Or is jitter to do with extra devices and connections and distance between the source and the amp?

The only thing that I have ever found that affects the quality is to use some mp3 gain software that stops mp3 flies from clipping. Before lowering the gain to remove clipping they sound harsh, get rid of the clipping they are sweet as anything. I do find that any Youtube or Spotify stuff directly over the internet generally tends to sound a bit rough in comparison, I assume it's down to the gain and that internet stuff is designed to sound good through phones and laptop speakers and not a couple of thousand quid of amp and speakers.
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riccitone
229 posts
 
I’ve got a comparably modest digital source setup:

Allo Digione RPi
to Schiit Modi Uber 2
to NAD C316BEE
to Tekton Lore speakers

Did an a/b test with each cable upgrade:
no-name cheapo rca analog interconnect to ZU audio mission from dac to amp = huge improvements.

Then the same with digital rca: 
monoprice 1.5 meter to amplifier surgery 1.5 meter from Digione RPi to dac = huge improvements.

in both cases- or at each stage- beyond satisfied, to point of giddy, weird smiles that kind of worried my wife (however, she also noticed the improvements). The degree of improved detail and stage was more than palpable. 

Just wanted to share that that it was even noticed with a far lesser setup than most possess here. Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁

path73
11 posts
 
Maybe the paper referenced below will shed some light on the complexity of jitter for those that believe that a simple value in some clock or DAC datasheet can Trump this effect for good.
Audibility of some forms of jitter on DACs and ADCs have been investigated, but I believe that the improvements that most of us hear when jitter is reduced tend to indicate that audibility thresholds are not so easy to define and greatly depend not only on the technology used inside the chips, but also on the implemented circuitry around those chips (e.g. power supply management).
My 2 cts worth, /patrick

https://statics.cirrus.com/pubs/whitePaper/WP_Specifying_Jitter_Performance.pdf
boxer12
8,656 posts
 
riccitone,
I've experienced that look from my wife as well, LOL.
Running Tekton speakers myself & absolutely love them. 
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