I’m looking for an Digital XLR cable


Hi all,

I'm getting a Pontus ll DAC and I'll be needing a digital XLR cable to run from my transport to the Pontus ll.  Almost every cable I currently have is Audioquest, but I would be interested in what others are using and why.  

Thanks for your input. 

JD

 

128x128curiousjim

I cannot comment on Clarus products because I have never used them.  I will say that many cable manufacturers will create a "standard" way of making their cables and then do this for all types of cables (analog interconnect, speaker, power cord, digital, etc.).  Sometimes they also use the same conductor geometry (for example, some companies have absolutely no difference between their Analog XLR interconnect and their ASE/EBU cable).

If you look at Clarus, ALL their cables use gold-plated connectors, regardless of cable model or cable type.  This is an easy solution because gold-plated generally sounds good in all scenarios.  However, it is definitely not the best if you want the most resolution out of your system. 

I have found that heavy rhodium plated connectors (Furutech) are best for analog type cables (interconnect, speaker, power cord).  However, rhodium plated just does not work well for digital cables.  It overlays the sound with a cold sonic signature (definitely a coloration) and does not give you the most high frequency resolution.

Silver plated and pure silver connectors are best for digital, i.e. the Oyaide Focus XLR.  Personally, I would start investigating companies such as Black Cat Cable.  If you look at all their cables you will see that they use different connectors depending on what kind of cable it is.  Nordost is another good company to research for digital cables.

The best digital cable I've heard, bar none, is Jorma digital. I was extremely fortunate to find a used Spdif version a few years ago. They do make an XLR AES/BU version probably around $1500 new.

If you don't want to spend an arm and a leg I can vouch for Atlas Cables AES/EBU from the UK. There are definitely better and more expensive cables out there but unless you can get trials by mail it's very difficult to compare a bunch of digital AES/EBU cables because most dealers are only going to stock a couple of brands. In my experience there isn't one cable manufacturer that does it all right. Some are good at power others good at interconnects etc. YMMV.

I really don't think Atlas compares to Morrow Audio and considering the OP's system spending more than $500.00 probably isn't going to achieve much in the price to performance stakes. Yeah Morrow Audio great.....lol....Black Friday Sale...come on down!