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The Importance of the Digital Cable

Good Sunday evening dear friends,

This point of discussion has been on my mind of late, as I have listened carefully to the results. This is a bold statement and discussed ad nauseam here I am sure, though I feel others may be encouraged to explore this more deeply as we share our experiences here.

I’ve had several digital cables, ranging from several coax, to toslink. I have not yet tried a dedicated AES/EBU XLR.

Listening to the Denafrips Pontus, a ladder DAC, fed from an Oppo UDP-205 as transport, I was compelled to try a few different cables, because the results were not as good as expected. I played a few albums; XTC ‘Nonesuch’ - a rather hot recording from the 90’s but very interesting and politically out front. Then an Everett Harp CD that highlights his wonderful sax playing. Then Robben Ford and The Blue Line, the album being ‘handful of Blues’.After that some Arjit Singh, and Tarkan (Turkish music).
The cables running from the DAC to the Pre/amp are Transparent Ultra XL (original). I like these cables because they have a very natural organic sound. They do lack some of the detail up top of some of the best in class and perhaps are a less exciting that some, but over all I love the naturalness, slight warmth in mid-bass, scale and soundstage of their sound.
But things didn’t sound quite right. I can always tell when something isn’t quite right, because it’s harder for me to get involved in the music. Some of the quieter words were too vague, and there was just a general fuzziness and vagueness overall. The soundstage was flatter and resolution of detail was lacking. The Pontus as you know, is a very good DAC, so I knew something was off.

I had the Canare digital cable in place, and decided to switch it out for my Black Cat Veloce. Wow! The sound transformed. Now the DAC truly shined. All the detail returned. The sound was certain and clear. The soundstage was very wide and the vagueness replaced with clarity. The music was now exciting and involving.

This begs the question, how can a digital cable make such a difference? After all, it is transporting a digital binary signal?
Please share your experiences.
AK
4afsanakhan
4afsanakhan OP
134 posts
 
Hi Kijanki,

Thanks for that really superb answer. Very informative indeed. So you are reinforcing the notion that electrical noise i.e. EMI / RFI are the primary contributors to that very slight but audible change In sinewave i/ conversion clocked signal? So, aside from the clock itself, which as you indicate is never perfect, the cable transferring the digital signal is differentiated in performance primarily by ability to shield from EMI / RFI?

Hi MillerCarbon,

Thanks much for the input. I do believe powercords will be a positive upgrade for me, but I have yet to venture down that road though will in the near future. I am in the same boat as you regarding some of Synergistic Research’s products ( I have the Foundation speaker cables and set of four cable risers - which dramatically change the sound). As you’ve probably experimented with different types, can you state your preference for powercords and cables that are not priced into the stratosphere (I know some of your system is very expensive).
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Yes, electrical noise will be very important contributor affecting not only transmission (creating time jitter), but also polluting everything else. Reflection created jitter in cable plays separate role. Reflections will produce time jitter of the signal hence added noise on analog out.  Two cables that have exactly same shielding may sound quite different because of impedance mismatch (one is a better match to DAC's input impedance).
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
+1 @kijanki  for mentioning timing, the influence of reflections in the cable and
how distortion affects the shape of the square wave. It's rarely mentioned how important it is to retain the integrity of the square wave from source to destination (DAC).


ghdprentice
6,969 posts
 
OP. Not only can I not remember the cable brand. I don’t remember the two box CD brand… I never had a great memory and it is not getting better. Brands I spent a lot of time with back then were: Straight Wire, Cardas, Nirvana, Harmonix, DH Labs, and Audioquest. I never had a very positive experience with the last. I use Transparent now.
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,143 posts
 
Digital cables can make a  noticeable difference ,the latest                           Wire-world Platinum 8 is a excellent example  excellent detail 
and a verygood balance ,not as cool as the older 7 series,
also is possible buying a dac on upper tier with A Streamer module built in is better in several ways such as the Bricasti -M3
Dac-Streamer  excellent detail and musicality ,Roon ready .Ethernet is noticeably lower noise,then spdif,band,or usb, and by having the streamer in the same chassis in a premium dac 1 less power cord,and cable 
and much better isolation ,all digital signals are totally isolated 
from noise and digital single is not unpacked and converted until 
it arrives to streamer, this too applies from server,or computer 
do to several Linear power supplies,filtering,and pre and post voltage regulation dual AD 1955 Multibit dacs ,and R2R and filters in upper models , and many other 
more complex duties,a true bargain IMO that’s why switched from just a very good dac , and the future of things to Come ,Bricasti has been in professional mastering studios for years directly because of their implementations in correct digital playback .Their upper M1,and Flagship M21 are noticeably better still.
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