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Any audible difference between cheap and expensive BNC cables?

I recently added a Naim streamer (streaming from an SSD NAS) to eliminate my PC (and fan noise) from the equation, plus remove the need to run a USB across the room from PC to DAC. It already sounds better than my previous PC>USB>DAC setup and is connected with a cheap $6 Monoprice BNC to RCA S/PDIF that I nabbed on Amazon.

Would there be any audible difference if the cheap BNC to RCA was swapped out with a higher end BNC to BNC S/PDIF?

I've gotten huge gains from upgrading speaker cables. Upgrading my interconnects between sources and amps on the other hand produced negligible results. The dealer I bought my turntable from has a NORDOST Silver Shadow BNC to BNC at 50% off for just under $300. I'm just wondering what kind of difference, if any, I'd get in sound from upgrading. The Monoprice cable was supposed to be temporary but it sounds good so I'm on the fence about upgrading now since I've always been told digital is digital and buying expensive digital cables that pass the same 1's and 0's doesn't make any difference.

I'm on board with upgrading if it makes an audible difference but want to make sure I'm spending my monies wisely so I'd like to hear some opinions of people who have tested different S/PDIF cables and what, if any, changes they experienced. The DAC has RCA and BNC S/PDIF inputs but the streamer only has BNC out so I have to at least be BNC on the Naim side. The DAC side could be RCA or BNC.

Any thoughts?
samiamnot
samiamnot OP
25 posts
 
@lowrider57 I understand with speaker cable that you'll get different sound from different materials, e.g. silver producing a brighter sound that copper. But that's analog. With a digital signal, how can the sound be colored differently from cable to cable. Don't mean to be so clueless but if a good cable can carry a signal without jitter problems, wouldn't it sound the same as any other cable that doesn't have jitter problems. Hearing "differences" is just kind of vague. Can you elaborate?
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
Of course, proper impedance is important, so is capacitance and the impedance match of the devices being used. The digital stream enters the cable as a square wave. The design/material of the cable and its length will determine how much reflection happens. If the square wave becomes rounded or uneven, the source device will not get an accurate reading of the bitstream information. One result of the distorted signal is jitter.
The quality of the clock comes into play here. It may have trouble interpreting the signal and correcting it to match the original source.
Different cables may result in different sonic attributes.

That’s about where my knowledge of digital transmission ends. Those with more knowledge should chime in.

samiamnot OP
25 posts
 
I ended up ordering the Nordost Silver Shadow BNC. The reviews are all positive ones but still vague comments like "music became more real sounding", "very fast cable", "makes digital sound less digital", "open and detailed", "detailed with natural sound"...

All similar reviews with different buzzwords. Maybe that's a good thing and means it consistently delivers across various setups. Suppose I'll just have to wait until next week and hear for myself.

Thanks for all the input.
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
Digital cables terminated with BNC actually perform better than cables terminated with RCA.  If you have an RCA input for digital coax, you're better off getting a BNC cable and using BNC-to-RCA adapters.  The Black Cat BNC-to-RCA are the highest resolution and most transparent adapters.  The adapters that come with stock Nordost cables are normal gold-plated adapters, similar to many cheap adapters.  They are nice, but the gold-plating will soften the sound somewhat.
blueskywalker
91 posts
 
@samiamnot congrats on the order, i am sure you made the right decision;)
let us know how it sounds when its burned in 
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