warm digital cable

AQ VDM 5...not sure if it SOUNDS warm, but it's heavy and shiny and has lots of silver in it, and I like to take it out of the system and feel it sometimes. It's become a close friend. It seems to like me.

mapman, you make an interesting point.

however, what happens earlier in the chain--turntable/arm/cart. or cd source, exerts the greatest affect upon the sound of a stereo system. although, you can always get a conrad johnson mv 125 amp and have as much warmth as you like.

Cardas neutral ref is warm but the Zu Ash mk3 is more detailed. Both are better than stereovox vx2. The black cat may be worth a listen tho as its from the same guy as the illuminati, stereovox and Kimber

I'd question whether any digital cable has a signature sound that is evident in general from application to application. Jitter is the one thing that can affect sound that can be attributed to a digital cable, and even in this case the actual results will vary from setup to setup. If you hear a difference fro one digital cable to another, I'd be willing to bet it is a result of jitter. I have no idea what characteristics of a digital cable could be used to determine whether the resulting sound is warm or not. Maybe certain jitter characteristics could translate to a "warmer" sound. But if so that is a not a good thing. Jitter is a form of distortion associated with the time dimension. You always want to minimize jitter for best sound, ie get the timing of the D/A process correct, not use it to flavor the sound.

01-26-12: Mapman
I'd question whether any digital cable has a signature sound that is evident in general from application to application....

I second Mapman's comment. Given reasonably good quality, I see no reason to expect a high degree of correlation between the effects of a given cable on jitter in one system, and its effects on jitter in another system. And many reasons to expect a low degree of correlation. The same even applies to the effects of a given cable on jitter in one system, and the effects of a different length of the same cable type in the same system.

An example: Impedance mismatches can be a significant contributor to jitter. No impedance match is perfect. If the input or output impedance of a component that is being connected is inaccurate to some degree, relative to the 75 ohm ideal for S/PDIF, then a cable whose impedance is SIMILARLY inaccurate will provide a better impedance match to that component than one that is more accurate.

The other major contributor to jitter that can be affected by the cable is noise, that is either "picked up" by the cable, or that results from ground loop effects between the components that are being connected. In general, a shorter cable length will minimize both of those effects. However, a shorter cable length will often worsen the effects of impedance mismatches, unless the cable is very short (see this paper). Whether noise-induced jitter or jitter than results from impedance mismatches will be a more significant issue in a given system cannot generally be predicted.

Putting it more generally, the effects of a given cable on jitter are dependent on a complex and largely unpredictable set of relationships and interactions between its parameters, including length, impedance accuracy, shielding effectiveness, shield resistance, propagation velocity, etc., and the technical characteristics of what it is connecting, including signal risetimes and falltimes, impedance accuracy, jitter rejection capability, ground loop susceptibility, etc.

My suggestion to the OP is simply that you try a variety of different cables at different price points, and make your own choice.

Regards,
-- Al