Are all digital ic created equal ?

[Yiangos]

Hi guys

I know spdif i/c need to comply to 75ohm spec and most analoque i/cs don't,
hence the "dedicated" digital cables but what about 110ohm aes/ebu (xlr) ones?Do i need a dedicated xlr digital cables or do i just pick a single cable from one of my stereo pair and use it as digital ?

[Themis]

I would advice you to stay on coax/optical S/PDIF.
XLR 110ohm are ok, but I'm not sure the analog XLR cable and connectors have proper RF characteristics for optimal digital use. Impedance is one parameter, but is not sufficient.

If absolute/optimal performance is not a concern, then any cable should do the job (sub-optimally).

[twelvebears]

Hi guys

I know spdif i/c need to comply to 75ohm spec and most analoque i/cs don't,
hence the "dedicated" digital cables but what about 110ohm aes/ebu (xlr) ones?Do i need a dedicated xlr digital cables or do i just pick a single cable from one of my stereo pair and use it as digital ?

I've actually had to deal with this situation myself recently.

I needed to be able to use all 3 inputs of my Benchmark DAC1 but there is one each of optical, 75 ohm RCA and 110 ohm XLR.

The RCA and optical weren't a problem, but I need to connect another 75 ohm RCA source (my new Squeezebox) to the remaining 110 ohm XLR input.

The solution was one of these RCA to BNC digital cables from Mark Grant: LINK

And one of these impedance transformers from Neutrik: LINK

[goraman]

Get a fast 75 ohm cable, a true 75 ohm with low mass RCA's in silver is ideal as silver is fast and if your CDP or DAC is fast it brings alot of life to the music.
And like digital cameras take 5 equal digital cameras take 5 pictures from the same tripod with the same subject and lighting and all 5 cameras will very widley in color,contrast ect...

Even digital cables make a small drifferance.

[Yiangos]

Dinitri,Twelvebears,Jeff,thanks for replying to my post.The reason i asked in the first place,was to try some cables i allready own.Enough of spending money on cables (laughs)
I did try a vanDenHul coaxial digital cable(forgot which one it was.I packed it with the other cables i won;t use) and it wasn't good.Kinda grainy.I tried VanDenHul "the first ultimate digital cable" and it was MUCH better.In the end,i settled in a vanDenHul "MC silver" xlr.Not a specified digital cable but rather a stereo pair i didn't use because to my ears sounded too "thin" but on a digital connection sounds marvelous.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I've actually had to deal with this situation myself recently.

I needed to be able to use all 3 inputs of my Benchmark DAC1 but there is one each of optical, 75 ohm RCA and 110 ohm XLR.

The RCA and optical weren't a problem, but I need to connect another 75 ohm RCA source (my new Squeezebox) to the remaining 110 ohm XLR input.

The solution was one of these RCA to BNC digital cables from Mark Grant: LINK

And one of these impedance transformers from Neutrik: LINK

are those for both digital and analogue cables or do you just need an adapter with analoge as aposed to a transformer

[twelvebears]

are those for both digital and analogue cables or do you just need an adapter with analoge as aposed to a transformer

Hi Hamish. tbh I don't actually know the answer to that but I do know that Googling for 'impedance transformer' only turned up the Neutrik units in the UK (Canare do one but no-one over stocks it) which just have a variety of options for male/female plugs/sockets depending which way round you want things.

The one I ordered does specifically say it's for digital though.

I'd ask either Mark Grant or Mark Bartlett at Audiocom unless someone else knows for sure.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Funnily enough the last person i asked was mark, he mentioned neutrik... But didn't say trasformers or adapters specifically .. If he doesn't notice il this give him another buzz when I have the money for the kit it's relevent to..

[Kris]

I've got some equipment that will only connect digitally via AES/EBU, I just use a format converter if I happen to need to change the cable type. And it's better to use AES/EBU cable rather than ordinary XLR audio cable. Canare or Hosa 110ohm digital cable are well made and respectable brands. Like S/Pdif, the standard was designed to use ordinary connectors, so you don't need special XLR connectors or (IMO) other snake oil.

As for sound quality, apparently S/Pdif (co-ax) sounds better than AES/EBU according to most people who have compared the two. But of course, being balanced, AES/EBU will be more suitable for electrically hostile environments and long runs.

If you want a technical read about interfacing the two different standards then http://www.rane.com/note149.html will give you the information as well as circuit diagrams to make a passive convertor.

Kris.

[jandl100]

I had my own digital RCA cable 'shoot out' last night.
Used between my Arcam DV29 (an excellent CDT as well as DVD player) and my Theta DSPro GenV DAC.


Contenders .... Beresford digi lead, Missing Link Dark Art, Apogee WydeEye and Belden 1694A.

The Belden got de-listed straight away - nicely explicit, but a bit grainy and forward.

StanB's lead is good - I liked it a lot - good musical flow and nice tonality, lots of detail but ultimately a little unfocussed in comparison to the 2 other contenders (both of which are more expensive).

The Missing Link Dark Art has been a fave for a while. Like a lot of the higher price ML cables it has a satisfying tonally fruity and realistically textured presentation. Yummy. A nicely presented soundstage, too, although dynamics are a bit on the too-cumfy side. But ultimately it lost out to ...

Apogee WydeEye ... just that much more rez and palpability than the Dark Art, if not quite as tonally rich. For my sonic preferences, the Apogee is the way to go from the contenders I have on hand.


Of course, there are lots more contenders out there, who could possibly sample them all?!