Why do digital cables sound different?


I have been talking to a few e-mail buddies and have a question that isn't being satisfactorily answered this far. So...I'm asking the experts on the forum to pitch in. This has probably been asked before but I can't find any references for it. Can someone explain why one DIGITAL cable (coaxial, BNC, etc.) can sound different than another? There are also similar claims for Toslink. In my mind, we're just trying to move bits from one place to another. Doesn't the digital stream get reconstituted and re-clocked on the receiving end anyway? Please enlighten me and maybe send along some URLs for my edification. Thanks, Dan
danielho

Showing 1 response by nglazer

Just because the current state of engineering science (which, in the digital audio sphere, is still relatively young)cannot adequately explain why digital cables might sound different from each other does not mean they do not. I have experimented with at least 7 or 8 digital cables, from the Illuminati D-6 all the way up to Kharma and PAD Dominus and they all have sounded distinctly different to me in A-B comparisons, with some audibly better than others to a significant degree. I did not imagine these differences; they are there and I hear them, as do others listening along with me. Rememember, it was not too many years ago that people were asking the same question about power cables: Why should they make a difference, they are just carrying electrons?

As Hamlet said: "There are more things on heaven and earth, dear Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosphies."

Bottom line: I think they make almost as much difference as interconnects. I wish they didn't (one less variable to deal with)but they do.

One man's humble opinion after over 30 years of dabbling in this mania.

Neal