2. digital
  3. 181412-7564

AES/EBU vs XLR cables for digital connection

I did look to see if this issue was addressed in earlier discussions but couldn't find any specific information, so here's the story: I've ordered a Sonnet Hermes streamer to complement my Sonnet Morpheus DAC, and since the DAC doesn't have the I2S port (it's USB instead, though I understand I can change this if I want to), the best available connection will be via AES/EBU. I already have a pretty good XLR cable (Clarus Aqua) which I previously used for analog connection but I'm wondering if there's any advantage to using a true 110-ohm AES/EBU cable or if the standard XLR (the impedance of which I don't actually know) will work just as well. Have any of you done an A/B comparison between these two types of cable? Opinions are welcome. Thanks.

cooper52

Showing 1 response by lcherepkai

lcherepkai
277 posts
 

I haven't compared aes/ebu directly to an xlr interconnect but I was using the Acoustic Zen MC2, rca on one end and bnc on the other, and tried using a .5m Moon Audio Silver Dragon (xlr) in its place (between a Red Dragon S500 and Audio Alchemy DDP 1).  I prefered the Silver Dragon and have used it there since.  I also tried the 6Sons Audio Golden Eagle interconnect as a digital cable and it is even better so yeah, you can go with a simple balanced interconnect and get quite good sound.  An aes/ebu digital cable may sound better but I am satisfied with this for now.

 

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