Is there a better quality Firewire cable?

Gtfour45, these are certain expensive Firewire cables. It looks like they are only available in 6 pins, and I need 9 pins Firewire 800 into my Mac. Did you get them from Japan?

Doubtful. Remember if it is call 'firewire' it must meet a standard spec. So, the issue is does it meet the spec or not. If it does not meet the spec, the cable is defective, quality has nothing to do with it. How would one know if it is meeting spec? Testing it. How do you test it? You really can't with mega bucks of test gear. However, the standard's organization, located in New Jersey does some testing/certification. Try them. Most pure differences in cables are always due to one not meeting the spec, not its pricing.

Tbg,

"...digital cables also matter"

Please explain to me how a cable that is only passing 0s and 1s, and has error correction on the devices connected at both ends (in the case of FireWire), can possibly affect the end result? Jitter (timing issues) are not cable dependant, so how else can you explain what you think that you hear? I'm not trying to be a jerk - the science just doesn't add up.

Br3098:

Seems to be a lot of relevant discussion here regards USB cables (of which there appear to be more audiophile permutations than firewire); there seems to be a quite a bit of consensus that there are audible differences.

I tend somewhat to cable skepticism (though considerably less so after Chris Hoff of BPT auditioned some of his excellent stuff in my system last night), but I thought I could detect a pretty significant difference between a "stock" usb cord and the entry level Locus Design.

Does your worry about the science not adding up extend to all cabling, or do you think there is special reason for skepticism in the case of the newer digital applications?

Best,

John

Br3098,

Putting the science aside for a minute, have you listened to different digital cables? Who knows why scientifically, but there is a difference, at least to me along with a lot of other people.

One key factor may be this, as explained to me by a manufacturer:

"A cable is much more than the wire. You can use the best wire in the world, but if the wire connection to the connectors is not done well, the cable won't be good. A cable starts where it connects to and receives the input signal. The connector, the connection, the wire and the shielding and grounding determine if the signal passed in is the same as the signal coming out and entering into the receiving component."

There is definitely science in that, so maybe it's that aspect that determines "the sound quality" more than whether the wire is cheap copper, better copper or silver.

Tbg has an extremely nice system, so the highest quality Firewire will be audible.

Chuck