What is the best BNC Digital Cable under $4,000?

@folkfreak

you have to believe that superior clocking can improve the performance of a digital system

I do believe it needs to be of sufficient quality to avoid audible jitter.

can improve soundstaging and definition

“Definition” is a non-descript term, so I won’t touch that. I do not believe that a better clock improves soundstaging. Since you do, I would like to know how, what’s happening to the 1’s and 0’s that is altering the soundstage? Maybe we have different definitions, but I define soundstage on the as the width/height of the sound, which on the reproduction side is based of the off-axis characteristics of the speakers and the amount of reflections in the room (soundstage depth is inherent to the recording, the production, and can only be altered on the reproduction end with phase/channel mismatch which also would damage imaging. A speaker cannot have better soundstage depth than another if both have similar imaging and both are properly setup).

then does it not follow that improving the accuracy of transmission of the clock signals in between the different components is also audible?

Yes, a lower jitter transmittion results in a lower jitter output if the data is not reclocked. If the data is reclocked, then the amount of jitter caused by the cable or the source is irrelevant as long as the clock doesn’t lose lock.

Reclocked standards such as USB behave differently and I have limited experience in this use case.

Besides difference in noise rejection, what differences exist between USB cables of similar length?

Soundstaging is actually all about definition, ie the relative accuracy of the timing of different sounds reaching the ears. Superior clocking improves the ability of the digital system to render all of the elements of the mix, including the reflected sounds in the mix, and hence recreate the original soundstage. The same holds for leading edges of sharp percussive sounds, or trailing decays, both of which are also aspects of definition.

The description above holds true for all system improvements, but it is something you’re likely to hear with improved clocking.

As to USB as I do not use this interface I have no opinion, I reserve my shared opinions for things I have actual experience of.

@folkfreak

We have differing definitions then. What you described I would mostly file under imaging. I define soundstage as the width/height/depth of the sound, and everything that happens within that in regards to the size and placement of voices/instruments as imaging.

As for transient response and decay, digital transmission has nothing to do with this. A digital transmission can pick up noise, but it’s not like a speaker where it imparts delayed energy not inherent to the recording.

My stance is thus: The only difference between an Amazon Basics digital cable a $5000 one, and everything in-between or similar length, is noise rejection.

If I’m wrong, I would like to be proven wrong, and not just told so.

mzkmxcv

The only difference between an Amazon Basics digital cable a $5000 one, and everything in-between or similar length, is noise rejection. If I’m wrong, I would like to be proven wrong, and not just told so

This is really a circular and futile conversation. You're not even willing to listen to the product under discussion, yet at the same time you claim you "would like to be proven wrong, and not just told so."

Mzkmxcv 6-2-2019

If the data is reclocked, then the amount of jitter caused by the cable or the source is irrelevant as long as the clock doesn’t lose lock.

This assumes that the reclocking circuitry performs in a theoretically ideal manner. Meaning that it reduces jitter to zero, or at least to below the threshold of audibility, whatever that threshold may be. And it assumes the circuitry is able to do that despite the presence of noise or other spurious high frequency spectral components that it may be exposed to. And in my earlier post in this thread I cited several ways in which such exposure can occur, that would be cable sensitive.

The quoted statement furthermore assumes that such noise or other spurious high frequencies that may be introduced into the component receiving the signal will not find a path by which some of their energy may bypass the reclocking circuitry altogether. For example via grounds, power supplies, or stray capacitances. Thereby potentially affecting jitter at the point of D/A conversion, or even affecting analog circuitry further downstream as a result of effects such as intermodulation or AM demodulation.

Now, can I prove that these possibilities can be great enough in degree to account for many or most of the reported perceptions of differences between digital cables? Of course not. It would seem to be a safe bet that no one here is in a position to either prove or disprove such explanations. But one thing I certainly learned during my career designing high tech analog and digital circuits (not for audio) is that circuits do not necessarily perform in an idealized manner, and signals and noise do not necessarily only have influence on circuit points to which the schematic shows a path.

There have been many occasions here over the years in which I’ve expressed skepticism about effects that have been reported which strike me as being technically implausible and/or impossible. And in which I’ve expressed the view that the claimed effects were likely the result of either inadequately thorough methodology, failure to recognize and control extraneous variables, or misperception. But when anecdotal evidence reaches the point of seeming to me to be overwhelming, as it does in this case, and when a considerable amount of that evidence comes from members whose perceptions I have come to respect over the years, and when the credibility of technical explanations that can be envisioned comes down to uncertainty about matters of degree, I no longer feel skeptical about the existence of differences. Which is not to say, however, that the existence of differences necessarily means that a $4K cable will sound better than a much less expensive cable, even in a very high quality and resolving system. That is a different question altogether.

Regards,

--Al