Hi Rlew.
Just taking your question at face value, you want analog I/Cs. Even when one is running I/Cs from a CDP or DAC to a preamp, you would want to use analog I/Cs.
A digital I/C is commonly defined as an I/C whose characteristic impedance, not resistance, is set at an industry standard: 75 Ohms for Single Ended/RCA S/PDIF or 110 Ohms for Balanced/XLR AES/EBU. A digital I/C is a single I/C used between a transport and DAC whose output and input respectively is supposed to be either an 75 or 110 Ohm impedance. The signal between a Transport and DAC is still in the digital domain. Hence, it's name: Digital I/C.
Analog I/Cs are just that; they are a left and right channel stereo pair that carries an analog signal that starts at the output of the CDP or DAC and runs throughout the rest of the system. For many reasons, there is no industry standard as to what analog I/C's characteristic impedance is. It's fairly all over the place from maybe 50 to 200 Ohms. Any I/Cs that are used between a CDP or DAC to a preamp, or from a preamp to amp that a manufacturer says are digital is probably saying they are "Digital Ready" which is simply marketing hype....like loudspeakers some years ago when CD playback was offering "Perfect Sound Forever" and a ton of speakers were marketed as "Digital Ready".
Finally, a bit of clarification. Impedance and resistance are not synonymous. Resistance is a DC characteristic while Impedance is an AC characteristic. Kind of a simple clarification but if that distinction isn't understood, all kinds of confusion can and usually does result.
Cheers!
Robert
RSAD
Just taking your question at face value, you want analog I/Cs. Even when one is running I/Cs from a CDP or DAC to a preamp, you would want to use analog I/Cs.
A digital I/C is commonly defined as an I/C whose characteristic impedance, not resistance, is set at an industry standard: 75 Ohms for Single Ended/RCA S/PDIF or 110 Ohms for Balanced/XLR AES/EBU. A digital I/C is a single I/C used between a transport and DAC whose output and input respectively is supposed to be either an 75 or 110 Ohm impedance. The signal between a Transport and DAC is still in the digital domain. Hence, it's name: Digital I/C.
Analog I/Cs are just that; they are a left and right channel stereo pair that carries an analog signal that starts at the output of the CDP or DAC and runs throughout the rest of the system. For many reasons, there is no industry standard as to what analog I/C's characteristic impedance is. It's fairly all over the place from maybe 50 to 200 Ohms. Any I/Cs that are used between a CDP or DAC to a preamp, or from a preamp to amp that a manufacturer says are digital is probably saying they are "Digital Ready" which is simply marketing hype....like loudspeakers some years ago when CD playback was offering "Perfect Sound Forever" and a ton of speakers were marketed as "Digital Ready".
Finally, a bit of clarification. Impedance and resistance are not synonymous. Resistance is a DC characteristic while Impedance is an AC characteristic. Kind of a simple clarification but if that distinction isn't understood, all kinds of confusion can and usually does result.
Cheers!
Robert
RSAD