2. cables
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Digital coax cable, real world experiences?

Yes I know ANOTHER cable thread....lol
Guess that is why it has its own complete section
My question regards a cable I have not really paid much attention to previously, the digital coax connection from my media server to my preamp.
I was using a very old generic connection that is at least 15 years old but acquired a pretty cheap tributaries digital coax cable and thought oh well lets change it.
I was shocked and stunned at just how much more detail was present and the depth and solidity of bass was near overwhelming, granting I was listening to some pretty bass intense material at the time but still!
Now do not get me wrong I was once one of the biggest cable naysayers you would find and still think the majority of me now hearing changes is the quality of the rest of my system as previous "lower fi" systems just did not truly reveal any note(pun intended) worthy changes.
So my question is if I heard a significant difference with a fairly inexpensive cable what may occur with really going up the food chain on a digital coax cable? Or was it more that my previous no name very old cable was just that ..very old and poor.
Thoughts and real world experiences on digital coax cables?

uberwaltz

Showing 9 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@jea48 


Not just 1 and 0

Yes It is only 1 and 0 and clock timing

Clock timing information errors (rise time and reflections) is the source of jitter. Eliminate jitter and then it is ONLY 1 and 0's



shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@janehamble 

No need to be aggressive and offensive. I was just saying your equipment is NOT lousy. Far from it, you have the most amazing setup and the most amazing hearing acuity. 

You stated Blue Jeans was "OK" but with Audioquest you were "Gobsmacked" as "It wasn't just 'different', it was better. Much better."

This really does sound like a dramatic difference and I sincerely apologize for jumping to the conclusion you were somehow unhappy with the Blue Jeans cable.

Have you considered why the Schiit Eitr or your Hegel DAC might perform much better with one OK digital cable versus another?  Or do you believe that cables are much more than wires, shields and connectors and have some kind of electronic digital filter or digital EQ or digital noise filter built in? After all digital signals are supposed to be 1s and 0s and presumably the Hegel DAC rejects any clock jitter that might vary with one cable versus another?





shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@dlcockrum

I see you are now following and contradicting or poking fun at my every post on almost every thread. Thank you for the attention, I am flattered! You really have a great sense of humor. I shall try listening to my toes tonight!
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@janehamble

I am sure your equipment is among the very best available. I am happy for you that the sound changes dramatically between one digital cable and another as that is a wonderful result and must be encouraging if you were not happy at first.

Just curious, how do you know when the equipment is finally working properly? If the Audioquest Carbon is better than a Blue Jeans cable how do you know or judge how close you are to the equipment running properly? How do you tell when you have the cable that best fixes the sound so that it approaches the ideal sound.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@itzhak1969



Absolutely there is a correlation. However it is opposite of what you state. Well designed equipment should reject extraneous parasitic noise and minimize distortion from ordinary bits of wire. Badly designed and faulty equipment will always suffer terribly as whatever wire you use can’t ever eliminate all the problems with the design.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@jea48

Yes clock jitter is inherent in cables. The discovery by Stereophile was perhaps surprising in its day but everyone understands it today. This is why you need good equipment that is totally immune to inherent clock jitter on ALL the cables if you are seeking accurate high fidelity.

The problem with switching cable direction or another cable is that the jitter is just different but STILL there. So you can get impressive improvements but never achieve 100% clean jitter free performance by swapping cables. The source of the problem is in the component or DAC and its inability to reject jitter effectively. Jitter immunity is a major design goal for some high fidelity manufacturers others ignore it.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@uberwaltz 

All I am saying is that differences in cables can also be caused by equipment. You seem to agree.


shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@uberwaktz @dlcockrum

I did not say uberwaktz equipment was inferior. I just observed that it seems to be affected by the cabling in an adverse or positive manner?

Are you saying it is not affected adversely by the one cable and improved upon by another?

If you agree the equipment appears to be audibly affected by the cable then why would it be nonsense not to suspect the equipment just as much as the cable.

Perhaps it would be worth checking ten cables and if 9 worked equally and perfectly then one could suspect the 1st cable was faulty. However, if ten cables gave ten different sounds then how do you know when it is working properly or even if it is working properly at all? In this case I would be concerned or suspect about the gear. There is a lot more to gear and lots more to go wrong than than bits of wire.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Try to upgrade your gear next - a big difference says more about your components quality than the cable.
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