Why do digital coax cables matter?

I know a guy that makes and designs cables. There are some reasons known why cables in general sound different but exact reasons are not always well understood - he conjectures it has quite a bit to do with the dielectric. But sound different they do as you will find if you listen to them. If you are afraid of being fooled do a simple blind test.

Thanks
Bill

Steve Nugent Wrote:

'Jitter measurements are a rat-hole IMO. Jitter has never been effectively correlated with SQ anyway, and based on my experience, it is very dependent on the spectral signature of the jitter. Single jitter measurements are useless to say the least.'

Bingo - we have a winner.

I have mucked around with all sorts of sources and thats it exactly.

Thanks
Bill

Dcbingaman wrote:

'Fortunately, HDMI 1.3+ provides for this and is generally superior to any SPDIF interface, (even with million dollar cables), for this reason. Buy an Oppo BDP-95 and a DAC with an HDMI 1.3 input (Meridian HD621), and you won't have to worry about jitter.'

You must listen to different HDMI stuff than me. On my NAD M51 SPDF and USB easily bests HDMI. And when fed with an Off-Ramp which has jitter below 10ps you can easily hear the improvement over any other method. HDMI is far from jitter free - not by a long shot.

I hasten to add it probably has nothing to do with the interface per-se but what's feeding it via the interface.

Also anyone one who thinks there is any method available today where you don't have to worry about jitter they are whistling dixie. Even on sources with jitter below 10ps like the Audiophello 2 and Off-Ramp you can easily hear the difference.

I have a Playback Designs DAC that they advertise as jitter immune. Even on that DAC you can hear the difference when fed with a low jitter source like an Off-Ramp - although it is not as great as with other DAC's - but it is still there.

Thanks
Bill