Why do digital cables sound different?

Drubin, you claim to be open minded.I say not open minded enough. Wrap your open minded brain around some of these observations and tell me what you come up with: In none of the posts concerning this subject( with the exception of mine ) is there a single direct reference to a musical observation as it relates to cable effects. I say, do a lot more listening , educate your ears, worry less about understanding the technical issues and more about understanding the beauty and meaning of music, recorded or not. That is what opens one's mind to better understanding the unexplainable, and much of what we are talking about here is unexplainable in my opinion. Concerning what set off your BS detector: I have recently tried various digital cables between my EAD Transport and DAC. I heard without a doubt a very similar change in the sound of my system when I used the Kimber silver digital cable as I do when I use KCAG between pre and amp or between DAC and pre. I don't claim to be able to tell you why that is only that I heard it. To me it is plausible that there is some connection here that we simply can't explain based on our understanding at the present. Obviously the manufacturer has certain design philosophies that carry over from one line of cable (analog) to another (digital); perhaps the materials used (silver)are the issue. I am confortable with the idea that there is something going on here that we just can't document yet. You see, my brand of logic tells me that something that is so often bandied about in so flip and simplistic a manner, such as the idea that "bits is bits" can't possibly do justice to the wonderfull complexity and subtlety of music. Like Karl I feel that the more I know the less I understand. Just friendly comments and hopefully food for thought.

Dekay, I believe they are one in the same, that Illuminati and Illuminations, name change for some reason and I believe less expensive.

Thanks Pops. David.

Fair enough, Frogman. Good post. I am mostly a subjectivist, have a lot of money invested in cables and hear a lot of differences between things that many argue must sound the same. I think being open minded works both ways. In this particular case, the idea of family resemblances flies so strongly in the face of common sense (to me, at any rate), that I feel we must temper our observations with an open mind to the possibility that what we observe may be influenced by what we expect to hear.

I just ordered the Mapleshade Double Helix Digital Cable. It is not a coaxial design. Since I have never used a digital cable before I thought that I would start with the unknown. I also enjoy talking with Pierre at Mapleshade who has freely shared some good basic advice on my setup. When my system settles down again I will try some other options from The Cable Company, but for right now there are too many changes going on (in my system) to perform sound auditions. When the time comes I will post to this or a new thread as there is not a lot on this subject at the site right now.