1.5m for 75ohm digital coax?


Hey everybody.

I am going to upgrade my RCA coax cable connection between my Monarchy DIP (re-clocker)and Musiland MD10 DAC. I'm upgrading from copper to silver.

I have read numerous posts on this and other forums that one should use at least a 1.5 meter length to prevent signal reflections(or something like that). Is this length really necessary? I only need a .5m cable and these silver cables are expensive.

Mike
mmarvin19

Showing 1 response by kijanki

Sidssp - Signal reflections are caused by length. For very short distance there is no transmission line effect. We have transmission line at about <8x ratio between signal travel time and rise/fall time. Signal travels 0.5m at about 2ns and rise/fall times are often in range of 20ns - we don't even have transmission line. If cable in question would be 1m or slew rate would be higher (good transport) then go with 1.5m to make impedance boundaries reflections (if any) come after transition.

Mike - at these frequencies signal travels on the surface only (skin effect) and many copper cables are already silver plated for that reason. I would pay more attention to shielding (braid and foil) and connectors. If you build cable yourself and one side has RCA connector then find one that is 75 ohm.