@Op I may be simplifying too much.
Analog cables
- Speaker cables
- Interconnects - RCAs or XLRs carrying analog signals between components (analog outputs from a DAC, phono stage, preamp)
Digital cables move digital signals - I have a network player/preamp so it’s all in one box. And many folks have separate components for streamer, DAC, Clock and music libraries connected using digital connections.
- This is where I think it gets confusing because there are a variety of USB, Optical, Coaxial, HDMI, AES and I’m sure there are others