Many of us simply think that, "hey, digital is nothing more than ones and zeros, so just as long as those ones and zeros get to their destination without changing state or being corrupted, a perfect transmission will occur and no sound difference can possibly be heard, end of story."
As explained by a couple of responses above, there is one aspect of digital transmission that many audiophiles don't get. It is called [drum roll please]...timing.
Those ones and zeros must enter the DAC chip at exactly the right time to be converted into the proper analog waveform shape. If the timing is off (by mere picoseconds) the constructed waveform will be there, but not exactly the correct shape it should be. And that is where much of the sound differences of different cables come into play (and CD transports, etc., for that matter.)
I suspect that, for various reasons, all digital cables have slightly different timing characteristics. Whether your DAC chip and associated circuitry is compatible with a particular timing characteristic determines the sound outcome. The cable's timing, and whether the DAC "likes" it, is not dependant on the cost of the cable.
Stop thinking so simplistically, digital audio is not just about the ones and zeros - that is only part of the story.
As explained by a couple of responses above, there is one aspect of digital transmission that many audiophiles don't get. It is called [drum roll please]...timing.
Those ones and zeros must enter the DAC chip at exactly the right time to be converted into the proper analog waveform shape. If the timing is off (by mere picoseconds) the constructed waveform will be there, but not exactly the correct shape it should be. And that is where much of the sound differences of different cables come into play (and CD transports, etc., for that matter.)
I suspect that, for various reasons, all digital cables have slightly different timing characteristics. Whether your DAC chip and associated circuitry is compatible with a particular timing characteristic determines the sound outcome. The cable's timing, and whether the DAC "likes" it, is not dependant on the cost of the cable.
Stop thinking so simplistically, digital audio is not just about the ones and zeros - that is only part of the story.