SPDIF vs. AES/EBU Sound Quality?

I will mirror opinions above.  Any S/PDIF interface that does not use a true BNC connection is compromised.  If you are unfortunate to have RCA connections for your SPDIF, the best results you will get is if you use BNC cables with BNC-to-RCA adapters.  If you just use RCA cables, even the best SPDIF cables will have compromised high frequencies.

I just switched from a digital rca cable to an AES/EBU digital cable and it’s slightly louder, but I’ll give it some more time and a/b before I’ll give you the complete answer.

JD

@auxinput,

Question, What would be better, a good digital rca with  BNC adapters or a commercial grade BNC cable?

Thanks and Happy New Year!

JD

Uhm, a "commercial grade BNC" cable does not necessarily mean it is good.

I think my statement may have been confusing.  If your transport and/or DAC use RCA sockets for SPDIF, you are best off using a digital cable with real BNC connections on each end - then attach a BNC-to-RCA adapter.  In my testing I have seen better results with this configuration instead of just using a digital cable with only RCA plugs.

There are many vendors that sell SPDIF cables with BNC terminations.  Examples are Nordost, DH Labs, Black Cat, Acoustic Zen, etc.

Even with BNC terminations on the cable, there are still going to be differences in sound between cable models (i.e. they will all sound different anyways - some will sound better than others in your system depending on system synergy).

A "commercial grade BNC cable" is likely just a standard low cost RG6 cable with BNC terminations - probably something similar to a Beldon cable (nothing special).  The $200 DH Labs D-750 cable will still be better than the commercial grade cable.

I’ve got an entry level digital coax cable made by Silnote Audio going from my Bluesound Node 2 to my MHDT Orchid DAC out to my BAT VK-5i tube preamp via RCA to balanced XLR. My Audiolab 6000CDT cd transport only support digital coax and TOSLINK. Silnote Audio doesn’t think TOSLINK is up to par. So they don’t make a cable in that type. I bought a Wireworld Supernova (their best quality cable by a wide margin) and I have to say the TOSLINK sounds really good. I made sure to use a very short cable. As long as the DAC designer made all of the ports support the same level of sounds quality there shouldn’t be a difference when applied optimally. Once I’ve settled in with the TOSLINK I’ll compare CDs switched over to digital coax. I’m betting they will be comparable.