Why do digital cables sound different?

Daniel,
I've just posted a reply saying that if you cannot hear a difference between a Cardas Highspeed and a Cardas Lightning 15 digital cable, you have a low fi system.I would like to retrack this statement.
What I really meant was, if you cannot hear any difference between these two digital cables, then the question whether different digital cables sound differently should not concern you because you are one of those few in the CANNOT HEAR DIFFERENCE CAMP. In that case, the question of why digital cables would sound different should not concern you either.
Go try out these cables and see if they sound diffently to you and then pursue the balance of your question as to what makes them sound different.

Whether different digital cables sound different is very dependent on the DAC design. Digital cables will typically NOT drop bits. Any degradation has to do with jitter that is introduced due to the cable losses. DAC's that completely re-clock the data stream will be much less sensitive to the quality of the digital cable and any jitter that the cable causes. However, most DAC's are not like this and therefore have some sensitivity to jitter.

Digital interconnects that exhibit low-capacitance, low-dielectric-absorption and generally low-losses will introduce the least jitter into the digital bit-stream.

This is why they sound different.

Audioengr ( hi !! ),

What part do you think vswr and impedance mismatches between source, cable and load play when it comes to transferring signals from transport to DAC ? Since we are dealing with an RF based signal, transmission line theories DO directly apply here.

Your statements about low dielectric absorption intrigue me. Shouldn't a cable that has a higher velocity factor be less prone to signal deterioration / absorption due to the signal spending less time in the cable ? If that is correct, than a cable that is "slower", such as those that make use of a teflon dielectric configured in a standard coaxial design, would be a relatively poor performer. If that is the case, cheaper "foam" insulated cables "should" perform appr 13% better than more costly Teflon versions given equivalent conductor materials. Any thoughts or comments on this ? Sean
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Due to different configurations they act as tone controls. And I DOOOOO hear quite a difference in some. Most to me sound way too bright. Some interconnects produce quite a difference in the sound of a system. Price does not seem to me to be a big factor, rather finding one that shapes the sound to my ears preference. I rewired a system for a friend that thought he had good sound (very harsh). The results were jaw dropping even to him (Tin ears). His ears at least are better than Julian H. He cost me a lot of money buying on his recommendations. YIKES!!!!

Hi,

Digital cables can make a HUGE difference. But all those fancy multi-megabuck cables with exotic materials won't buy you much, unless they also solve the key technical problems. At high frequencies, these cables MUST be impedance matched. Ie ...Coax connections should be 75Ohm. If not, reflections inducing jitter related distortions will occur, and this IS what differentiates these cables. This along with dialectric absorption and inproper shielding. It is my feeling that cables that sound sharper, cleaner, more resolved, are simply reducing the jitter component compared to others. If your DAC reclocks than these differences are less apparant. If it does not, as my EVS doesnt, you will be blown away.

When I went from a rather expensive "fancy" cable to an RG6U(Quad Shielded 75Ohm) design cheapo cable(email me if your interested in what this was)...The differences were as big as the difference between various DACs...not insignificant. I love it when something cheap does the same job of something much more expensive, and sometimes better.

Good luck