Does the quality of a digital signal matter?


I recently heard a demonstration where a CD player was played with and without being supported with three Nordost Sort Kones. The difference was audible to me, but did not blow me away.

I was discussing the Sort Kones with a friend of mine that is an electrical engineer and also a musical audio guy. It was his opinion that these items could certain make an improvement in an analogue signal, but shouldn't do anything for a digital signal. He said that as long as the component receiving the digital signal can recognize a 1 or 0 then the signal is successful. It's a pass/fail situation and doesn't rely on levels of quality.

An example that he gave me was that we think nothing of using a cheap CDRW drive to duplicate a CD with no worry about the quality being reduced. If the signal isn't read in full an error is reported so we know that the entire signal has been sent.

I believe he said that it's possible to show that a more expensive digital cable is better than another, but the end product doesn't change.

There was a test done with HDMI cables that tested cables of different prices. The only difference in picture quality was noted when a cable was defective and there was an obvious problem on the display.

I realize that the most use analogue signals, but for those of us that use a receiver for our D/A, does the CD players quality matter? Any thoughts?
mceljo

Showing 3 responses by stanwal

Of course not, these expensive CD players are just a rip off. Since the cheapest ones at Walmart are already perfect what use is there in paying more then $59.95 for one?
If Shadorne's argument is correct then why should the quality of the DAC or CD player matter? Even cheap one seem to measure very well. "Signal quality much less of a factor than in analog"? No wonder my LPs sound so much better. Why do transports make such a difference? A friend of mine didn't believe they would until he heard different ones on his system. Why do the best CD playback systems cost so much unless they are susceptible to degradations just as analog is?
The problem with the just 1s and 0s is that it simply doesn't hold up in practice. To repeat a story I have alluded to before, years ago a large Japanese CD pressing firm send [I think] HiF News some different pressings of the same CD, some with standard material and some with a mix of materials that would cost slightly more and which they were attempting unsuccessfully to get the record companies to adopt. There was such a huge difference in sound between them that they had to download them into a computer to see if the data was the same. It was exactly the same, if digital is so foolproof what made the difference? The laser system is a mechanical one and constitutes a change from analog to digital, they are not ones and zeros but REPRESENT ones and zeros in the same way the groves in an LP represents sound waves. Many mechanical factors can interfere with the ability to correctly read the pits and translate them into digital signal.