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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
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,888 posts
 
Kijanki, I am with you to date in terms of not hearing any noticeable difference using various cables with various sources. I also compare to phono source in my system and find most any good quality digital wire tends to work similarly well.
rja's avatar
rja
2,356 posts
 
Gentlemen, this thread is nearing 14 years old! Shall we bake a cake?
bazza
12 posts
 
To my ear and eye solid silver wire sounds best for digital signals. You only need to see what a solid silver HDMI cable does for a plasma TV to know. The irony is that silver is the worst conductor for analog signals (at least to my ear)
frogman
7,373 posts
 
****The irony is that silver is the worst conductor for analog signals (at least to my ear)****

Not quite. Silver is the worst conductor for analog signals because of the way that many audiophiles tune their systems.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The digital cables are carrying "analog" signals. They're all analog signals. You didn't think they were carrying 1s and 0s did you?
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