The Importance of the Digital Cable

Hi Andrew,

the Veloce surprised me, its sound was so much better than the Canare. So much better. Yes I would agree on Black Cat’s cable. I would love to get into the Coppertone ICs and SCs. By all account they are marvellous performers. The construction is slightly outside the norm, and they are beautifully made. I would say the Black Cat is slightly more delicate than some cables so has to be treated with at least moderate respect and care. 

Hi Bigkidz. I understand why you might not see such a major impact from cables, because you build your components tailored to your overall system requirements and probably taking into account measures around noise elimination. That’s so cool that you build your own components. I’m guessing you are a manufacturer, but won’t put you on the spot and ask ; )
The dedicated all-in-one streamer is definitely the future in my modest opinion . A top notch streamer with everything integrated also includes cabling throughout the signal path, so such a solution is beneficial. But its nice to have the flexibility of changing the DAC as we know that DACs sound so very different in the way they present music and i feel are such a key component with audio. I can usually tell the difference between a ladder DAC and Sigma Delta type DAC. The R2R DAC has a certain ease to the sound - very un-forced. Its a big open soundstage and the sound extends and is focused a bit farther back, so perhaps a bit more laidback sound. However the detail is still all there, just a little less thrust forward.
Thanks Classdstreamer, I will review that video. 

I find it so surprising that these digital cables can have such a major impact on the sound. It goes to show that some of these frontiers we are bridging here as audiophiles can not be easily explained, although the noise factor, cable refections, and metallurgy / topology are key. Audio is a complex pursuit, but I guess that is part of the joy. I am now understanding that, as you note above,  components interact in different ways with seemingly inconsequential changes to configuration, especially with cables. Makes one ponder on some of the other future-think ‘tweeks’ pursued by folks such as Miller Carbon. So easy to guffaw at these ‘out there’ quantum physics type of things because we don’t understand it. But the changes can be profound when we get everything in synergy. My guess is Miller Carbon’s system sounds pretty incredible.

Thanks for the responses all. Calvin&Hobbes, Thanks for the great links and superbly detailed reply. 
So EMI / RFI comes to the fore again. Just as with streaming, this is a key culprit in sonic degradation.

Thanks GHDprentice, thats a great story on the transport to DAC. its exciting when one discovers how something considered less significant ends up making a profound difference. By the way, if you can remember what brand/kind of cable was it?

Of the two cables I mentioned, the Canare looks to be the better shielded of the two. The Veloce is beautifully constructed and ‘soft’ the way Chris does things (wonderfully), but the Canare is very well constructed too, with significant outer shielding and heavy duty connectors - although I prefer the Black Cat connectors and the general ‘feel’ of the cable. So If outer shielding has been addressed so well on the Canare, then it must be internal? I believe the metal / wire itself must influence the signal transfer integrity.

Hi Yuviarora, the Veloce I believe might use cotton as Chris utilizes Japanese cotton in his cables. You seemed to have delved pretty deeply here, trying different topology types.

Hello Melm, I thought the forum was open to discuss the subject we love. I have ‘googled’ but there is no substitute for talking with the audiophiles here with many years of practical experience. So are you saying that the digital stream/signal from computer to DAC is not a binary signal with packets etc., but rather a square wave, which is then converted to analogue by the DAC?

Jond, thanks, i will check out the Jorma digital cable.

thanks Roxy and Pauly for the response too

Hi Kijanki,

Thanks for that really superb answer. Very informative indeed. So you are reinforcing the notion that electrical noise i.e. EMI / RFI are the primary contributors to that very slight but audible change In sinewave i/ conversion clocked signal? So, aside from the clock itself, which as you indicate is never perfect, the cable transferring the digital signal is differentiated in performance primarily by ability to shield from EMI / RFI?

Hi MillerCarbon,

Thanks much for the input. I do believe powercords will be a positive upgrade for me, but I have yet to venture down that road though will in the near future. I am in the same boat as you regarding some of Synergistic Research’s products ( I have the Foundation speaker cables and set of four cable risers - which dramatically change the sound). As you’ve probably experimented with different types, can you state your preference for powercords and cables that are not priced into the stratosphere (I know some of your system is very expensive).

GHD LoL! You are not alone on the memory front. I do like the ‘Transparent’ sound. Having heard the newer range I can say with certainty that the newer version of Ultra is much more capable that the old pair I have. I do have a pair of Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables and they sound quite good especially considering the price. I took home on trial from Bestbuy a pair of ‘Oak’ I believe it was, and was not impressed. Thought the soundstage was strangely forced and un-natural.

Thanks for clarifying Saleh. Yes, I believe I get it -  that the zero / one is an expression of on off for electrical signal, where certain amplitude is represented as a binary, which is in actuality an electrical signal. So, say ten zeros and five ones in a specific on/off configuration represents a certain analogue signal. Thats a gross simplification but is that what is correct?

A major recognition of CFarrow. Thank you kindly sir.

Thanks for the heads up Redwoodaudio! LoL you must have read my mind as i was thinking to try an regular IC XLR cable as AES/EBU digital which I most certainly won’t now.

Tomic601,

Thanks for that great comment;

‘what a nice thing to upgrade that cable for you - class act ! ‘

Yes CFarrow is exceptionally generous and I am very grateful. I will report on my findings when I get it installed. 
You are right, it is a wonderful voyage and I am getting ever closer to the objective of ‘high-end’ sound. 

Hello all,

An update and a bit of a review…

Fellow audiophile CFarrow, has very kindly sent me the Black Cat SilverStar 75 and which I received on Wednesday evening.

I couldn’t wait to try it and at my son’s behest, headed over to his house that very evening so we could both listen. To think that only 6 months or so ago i never considered that the digital cable could impact the sound to such a degree. In highly resolving systems, even small changes can have a profound impact in the sound overall.

The Veloce has proven to me how a carefully designed and engineered digital cable will bring out the music to much better effect. Better organization of the soundstage with more space between instruments (less homogenized). Clearer lines defining images. Better dynamic shading leading to improved dynamics and musical presence. Better definition throughout the frequency range.

The latest upgrade thanks to CFarrow, re-affirms to me that digital cables are not created equal and can sound different. The SilverStar sounds even better than the Veloce. How can that be? The adage goes that one can’t imagine it sounding much better until one hears it for oneself. The same kind of improvements noted above going from the Canare to the Veloce describe what I observe, only those improvements are greater; i.e greater clarity and musical energy overall.

I played several CDs that evening, all demonstrating to my son and I how great the Black Cat SilverStar is.
The Corrs, an excellent album by the Irish family band honouring their mother by playing a collection of the Irish music she best loved.  Not an audiophile grade album of highest quality in terms of sonic quality but superb nonetheless. Andrea Corr’s voice was dominant. It was palpable and human, even moreso than the Veloce. The energy of the band was fully realized. Drums had real force and energy. Cymbals vibrated and sizzled. The soundstage widened and deepened even more. Instrument tones and textures were rich.
But when i put on The Fixx, an album I have had since the early 90’s, I approached that audio nirvana. I know this album well and have listened many times over the decades. It is well recorded. In fact now i know it is very well recorded. The energy and clarity was breathtaking. Sounds were jumping way outside from the speakers I hadn’t ever experienced in listening to this album. Perhaps it was a culmination of the system as a whole. This is the first time playing this album on my son’s system; a Devialet Expert Pro 220 connected using the Black Cat Silverstar and fed by a Parasound Halo D3 as transport driving Magico S3s, so it was likely a combination of everything together that contributed to such a stellar result.

We ended the session listening to the inimitable Jagjit Singh, and Mehdi Hassan. The SilverStar conveyed all the nuances even more effectively than the Veloce. At that point we wound up the session as we both had to turn in and get up for work early in the morning.

in concluding I will say that the SilverStar may not be for every system. It is an amazing cable that delivers so much detail and information. If a system is inherently bright, this might be a bit too much of a good thing. Such systems require tuning down upper frequency detail a wee bit. For me though, the SilverStar is superb. It works perfectly with neutral sounding systems and adds much. My audio journey continues.

Thanks so much CFarrow.

Jim (Tomic601), thats one heck of a system. Must sound amazing. I heard an aesthetix preamp years ago and was bowled over by how much insight it brought to the sound. Haven’t heard the Lampizator yet but by all accounts it phenomenal.

Hi Unfairlane,

you said do an ok job. Respectfully, that is just the point. There is an ok job, and then there is an outstanding job. I understand a regular rca cable might actually work, as in generate sound. But it will sound nothing like the SilverStar. The Canare produced good results. Just not as good as the Veloce, and certainly not anything like the SilverStar

Desktopguy, thats a great example. Oyaide has a great reputation. It’s easy to discount these things, but to know, one must try it out. For my system, the Black Cat SilverStar has elevated the sound very significantly. My son has good ears and he is equally impressed.

Haha MacDude, i have to say I agree with you that the Black Cat SilverStar (even the Veloce) are just one another level compared to the Canare. 

Aubreybobb, that is fascinating. Could you clarify what is needed to complete the optical chain you describe from router to amplifier? A set of transceivers (one to send at one end of cable and one to receive at the other I presume?) then stp glass optical cable to carry the signal? So is the tranceiver connectable to the DAC’s ‘toslink’ port? Could you suggest a model of transceiver? How would that be accomplished? Just trying to understand more clearly how to do this.

Thanks much
AK

Ghdprentice, that is well stated. Thanks

I just have to say, this evening I’ve been listening to the Black Cat SilverStar MkII drinking a few wee drams of Finlaggan single malt scotch, and, well, wow! Resolution and transparency of this Chris Sommovigo masterpiece is just off the charts! The Veloce is a fine cable indeed, but it is completely eclipsed here by its up-the-range sibling. Each type of transport I’ve tried sounds different with this cable. The whole; ‘the transport doesn’t really make a difference’ thing is simply wrong. This cable has demonstrated that to me very clearly.

Yes, everything matters.

System resolution determines the degree to which those sonic changes are noticable. Many think we are batty because the sound systems they listen to are not quite resolving enough to hear any significant changes.