Al,
I too enjoy your erudite and illuminating posts. Thanks!
I have used many high quality AT&T Glass, XLR and BNC cables between various transports and DACs and have found there is no way to predict which will work best with any given combination.
As an example; I recently replaced an expensive and highly regarded XLR cable, which worked great in other systems I've owned, with a relatively inexpensive BNC cable. The BNC cable bested the XLR cable in every respect in this particular application.
So unfortunately, as much as it would make life a bit simpler, there's no theoretical way to select the "best" digital cable. I'm always surprised by how different digital cables can "sound". I remember the old "bits is bits" days fondly.
I too enjoy your erudite and illuminating posts. Thanks!
I have used many high quality AT&T Glass, XLR and BNC cables between various transports and DACs and have found there is no way to predict which will work best with any given combination.
As an example; I recently replaced an expensive and highly regarded XLR cable, which worked great in other systems I've owned, with a relatively inexpensive BNC cable. The BNC cable bested the XLR cable in every respect in this particular application.
So unfortunately, as much as it would make life a bit simpler, there's no theoretical way to select the "best" digital cable. I'm always surprised by how different digital cables can "sound". I remember the old "bits is bits" days fondly.
