Internal digital Cables used in cd transports

[popmaster]

Hello, this is my 1st Post here on this forum, i have enjoyed viewing your topics,
+ Advice on all hi-fi matters.I have a ROKSAN ATTESSA ATT-DP2.P MKII TRANSPORT,
I'm up-grading this unit at the moment + I'm looking to up-grade the main,
Digital cable from the main board to the digital coaxial output.

Can anyone out there recommend the best quality cable that i could use for this purpose+
Where i could purchase this type of cable from,OR Link me websites me companies who could make this type of cable, I have heard that pure silver Cables are best suited for this purpose???.

Many thanks.

[Exalted Wombat]

Hello, this is my 1st Post here on this forum, i have enjoyed viewing your topics,
+ Advice on all hi-fi matters.I have a ROKSAN ATTESSA ATT-DP2.P MKII TRANSPORT,
I'm up-grading this unit at the moment + I'm looking to up-grade the main,
Digital cable from the main board to the digital coaxial output.

Can anyone out there recommend the best quality cable that i could use for this purpose+
Where i could purchase this type of cable from,OR Link me websites me companies who could make this type of cable, I have heard that pure silver Cables are best suited for this purpose???.

Many thanks.

I HOPE you're kidding us

[chris...]

I'm sure that nice Russ whatisname chap could help.

[popmaster]

Hello, Why would i be kidding, the better the data transfer cable the better,
the digital data transfer to the output BNC/RCA!!! From the Main digital board,
to the output sockets. just look at any high-end CD TRANSPORTS like,
ACUSTIC ARTS They make a big thing about designing a special cable doing the,
Job I'm thinking of!!!. It's like any cable the better the design + construction,
The better it will sound!!!.

[The Korff]

+1

[Richie Royale]

I think the gentlemen above are saying "don't believe the hype". Changing some parts in a set up might result in an improvement, but I doubt you will notice any difference by switching the digital cable.

Before you spend money on something as trivial as a cable like that, I would suggest you make sure that the room acoustics are well treated and that your listening position is well placed. This will make for a much more noticeable improvement than a small component.

[James Perrett]

If you can hear a difference between cables then your DAC is broken (or at least badly designed). Standard 75 ohm co-ax will be fine.

James.

[Exalted Wombat]

It's like any cable the better the design + construction,
The better it will sound!!!.

No. A cable needs to be adequate for its job. Beyond that, esoteric design offers no improvement. Anyone who tells you different is just trying to sell you expensive cable.

[Hugh Robjohns]

... the better the data transfer cable the better,
the digital data transfer to the output BNC/RCA!!!

Sadly, you've fallen for the hype from non-technical marketing people. The whole raison d'etre of digital audio is to make the data signal as robust as possible, and essentially immune from the kind of analogue degradations that poor quality cables can impose.

It is certainly true that a cable capacitance can 'round off' the edges of a digital data stream and induce a form of jitter. However, with any decently engineered cable intended for convenying digital audio data, you'd have to have hundreds of metres of the stuff before this becomes an issue.

As James states, any D-A converter will be quite capable of fully recovering the data without any numerical loses whatsoever regardless of the cable used. The slightly more contentious area is in jitter rejection, and here not all converters are equally well behaved... but the better designs are perfectly capable of rejecting even extreme amounts of jitter completely.

This web forum is hosted by a magazine that specialises in music technology at both amatuer and professional levels. Most people here have a grasp of the principles of digital audio and aren't taken in by the BS that pervades so much of the hi-fi arena.

If you are certain that you can hear a change in sound quality when you swap out short lengths of digital cable, then I'm afraid your D-A converter is incapable of operating to the required standard.

Hugh

[ef37a]

Popmaster.
I worked for 10 years for a company that made network equipment, mainly racks of passive patch panels. Tho' passive the individual modules had to be very carefullly designed especially as network speeds went to 1gig. The cables too were VERY important, they had to be made to very close tolerances, even the number of twists per mtr was checked (staggered for the 4 pairs BTW). Tens of thousands of ££s worth of analyser equipment was used to certificate this stuff, but what were the cable made from? Why, just standard high purity copper NOT even OFC* bllx, just the same stuff as in your 13A ring main or probably car electrics.

Silver cable would do nothing for the performance (I was told) but tread on and squash a data cable and you knock 2-3% off its top end data rate!

*Actually copper with a wee bit of 02 in it has a slighly better conductivity!

Dave. BTW: Be aware that cable and BNC connectors can be had in both 50 and 75Ohm versions. I would guess you need 75 Ohm (bit of that redundant analogue telly aerial lead will be fine...No! Really!)

[Martin Walker]

BTW: Be aware that cable and BNC connectors can be had in both 50 and 75Ohm versions. I would guess you need 75 Ohm (bit of that redundant analogue telly aerial lead will be fine...No! Really!)

Or a cheap one marketed as suitable for copying video from one machine to another

I bought one of these from Tandy years ago for £5 that's still doing sterling service for digital audio

Martin

[christianmurphy]

Don't listen to the skeptics. I can do you all types of digital cables. Depends what you're after. 'Creamy', 'crunchy' and 'valvey' tones at £400 a cable, and 'super high fidelity' at only £800. Let me know!

[GaryM]

Don't listen to the skeptics. I can do you all types of digital cables. Depends what you're after. 'Creamy', 'crunchy' and 'valvey' tones at £400 a cable, and 'super high fidelity' at only £800. Let me know!

Which SATA cable will give my office documents that "vintage" look?

[twotoedsloth]

For what it's worth... I can hear the difference between a $20 unbalanced patch cable and a $5 "store brand" cable (running from my bass to my preamp). I'm not saying it's worth spending hundreds of dollars, I'm just saying it isn't impossible to hear the difference between cables.

[. . . Delete This User . . .]

yeah, but that's a low level signal, in the analogue domain, with source and input impedance loading being immediately relevant...

not a straight DIGITAL feed down a 4 inch piece of wire INSIDE his CD player... from a board terminal to the SPDIF output.

[ef37a]

For what it's worth... I can hear the difference between a For what it's worth... I can hear the difference between a 0 unbalanced patch cable and a "store brand" cable (running from my bass to my preamp). I'm not saying it's worth spending hundreds of dollars, I'm just saying it isn't impossible to hear the difference between cables. 0 unbalanced patch cable and a "store brand" cable (running from my bass to my preamp). I'm not saying it's worth spending hundreds of dollars, I'm just saying it isn't impossible to hear the difference between cables.

Special case Two'. Guitar cables are about the one case where the capacitance can have a noticeable effect and not just because of top chop, the pickup resonance point can be shifted significantly and audibly. By definition the capacitance of a cable in a power matched system matters not a hoot.

Can you record the differences and pick them out?

Dave.