To adapt or not to adapt?

[Clive197]

I am now the proud and delighted owner of a Chord Qutest. My conundrum is about the 2 sp/dif cables I use from my streamer and disc player which are both RCA - RCA. I now need BNC at the dac end. So the question is do I buy new digital cables RCA - BNC or use (a good quality) adaptor. My dealer says buy new cables and the manufacturer says I would never notice the difference, hence my puzzlement.

What does the panel do/think?

Oh yes, forgot to mention, my dealer did give me 2 Atlas adaptors free.

[Sherwood]

I am now the proud and delighted owner of a Chord Qutest. My conundrum is about the 2 sp/dif cables I use from my streamer and disc player which are both RCA - RCA. I now need BNC at the dac end. So the question is do I buy new digital cables RCA - BNC or use (a good quality) adaptor. My dealer says buy new cables and the manufacturer says I would never notice the difference, hence my puzzlement.

What does the panel do/think?

Oh yes, forgot to mention, my dealer did give me 2 Atlas adaptors free.

I can recommend this cable. I use it in my system. https://www.designacable.com/neutrik-bnc-to-rca-lead-van-damme-75ohm-plasma-coax-cable-cctv-video-spdif.html

Well made and inexpensive.

Geoff

[Yomanze]

I use RCA to BNC with no adapter. Less impedance changes that way, but RCA will inevitably introduce one...

[Stryder5]

I have 2 outputs on my DAC one sp/dif one RCA, amp end RCA.

I have two identical cables apart from the connectors one RCA to RCA, one sp/dif to RCA they both sound the same.
If I use a connector on the RCA to RCA I hear no difference.

[nonuffin]

If you have a cable with an RCA connector at one end and a BNC connector at t'other end, the RCA connector has already removed all the benefits of a pure BNC connection. On that basis you might as well use the FREE adaptors :)

[Barry]

I wouldn't get too hung up about the impedance of RCA connectors. True they aren't a constant impedance design and can never have an impedance greater than about 57 Ohm and in practice will lie between 30 - 40 Ohm, dependant on he material used to support the centre pin, but the impedance mismatch occurs over a short length electrically, so the electrical mismatch is not as bad as it might be. If true 75 Ohm BNCs were necessary, I'm sure both Sony and Philips would have specified their use.

[Yomanze]

I wouldn't get too hung up about the impedance of RCA connectors. True they aren't a constant impedance design and can never have an impedance greater than about 57 Ohm and in practice will lie between 30 - 40 Ohm, dependant on he material used to support the centre pin, but the impedance mismatch occurs over a short length electrically, so the electrical mismatch is not as bad as it might be. If true 75 Ohm BNCs were necessary, I'm sure both Sony and Philips would have specified their use.

RCA was chosen because it was cheap and accessible, not because it was right.

Signal reflections used to be much more of a problem, altering the transition points between samples, many DACs now reject the incoming clock anyway, I bet the Chord Qutest does...

My DAC uses no reclocking, and has a true 75R SPDIF front end, so I use BNC.

[Barry]

RCA was chosen because it was cheap and accessible, not because it was right.

Signal reflections used to be much more of a problem, altering the transition points between samples, many DACs now reject the incoming clock anyway, I bet the Chord Qutest does...

My DAC uses no reclocking, and has a true 75R SPDIF front end, so I use BNC.

No doubt RCA was chosen because it was cheaper than BNC, but if it seriously degraded SQ I'm sure Sony/Philips wouldn't have specified it. Despite doubts about the impedance of the connector, as long as the impedance of the cable is 75 Ohm, that is sufficient to clearly hear the difference between various external DACs.

Regarding signal reflections - many people claimed that the cable length needed to be at least 2m long to avoid aliasing, ignoring the fact that connection to an internal DAC would only be a few cms.

[Stratmangler]

Regarding signal reflections - many people claimed that the cable length needed to be at least 2m long to avoid aliasing, ignoring the fact that connection to an internal DAC would only be a few cms.

The internal connection is I2S, not S/PDIF

[Clive197]

Thanks guys, your comments re RCA plugs are very interesting. I’m definitely getting the feeling that staying with the BNC adapters is the way to go, however a dealer who I have known for many years has offered me a half mtr Atlas Mavros Ultra RCA-BNC cable with £90 off. Ooo ahh missus, decisions decisions.

[Yomanze]

Thanks guys, your comments re RCA plugs are very interesting. I’m definitely getting the feeling that staying with the BNC adapters is the way to go, however a dealer who I have known for many years has offered me a half mtr Atlas Mavros Ultra RCA-BNC cable with £90 off. Ooo ahh missus, decisions decisions.

Nah, way too expensive even with £90 off. I would get one of these (Belden): http://www.bluejeanscable.co.uk/store/digital-audio/index.htm

I don’t think in your case these things are going to make any real difference though.

[Sherwood]

Nah, way too expensive even with £90 off. I would get one of these (Belden): http://www.bluejeanscable.co.uk/store/digital-audio/index.htm

I don’t think in your case these things are going to make any real difference though.

I have no problem with other people spending money unnecessarily but why not try my suggestion first. I am using this cable in a very good system and I am very happy with the results.

Geoff

[Barry]

Nah, way too expensive even with £90 off. I would get one of these (Belden): http://www.bluejeanscable.co.uk/store/digital-audio/index.htm

I don’t think in your case these things are going to make any real difference though.

Can't complain with those prices. :)

[Clive197]

Ok guys. Decision made, it was very tempting to stay with the adaptor on the Binary Star but I would have always wondered if that was right. So I have purchased the Atlas Mavros Ultra and have it all up and running listening to Nora Jones. Thanx for all your inputs.