Cables... advice on what digital cables to use

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice on digital audio cables as there’s quite a lot of conflicting info.

So what is the consensus on Coaxial vs Toslink, specifically QED performance Coax vs either Qed performance optical or Fisual Hollywood Glass optical.

Or would I be better of getting a better Coaxial cable?

Source: Tidal upto 24/48Khz over UPnP or CD
Renderer: Cambridge Audio CXUHD
DAC: Beresford Caiman SEG 30 Inc Dorado

2nd question

Toslink to mini optical adapters, are they a bad idea (for my CCA)?

Thanks

Hi Dan

Rather than the brand of coax, the important parameter is the cables stated impedance.
The characteristic impedance of the cable is created by having uniformity from inner conductor to outer shield
with then inner conductor at exact spacing from the outer shield. We can see straight away a RCA at either end is
not obeying this essential requirement. Rather digital links must be used with a BNC connector. But as usual
the marketplace wins by offering basically silly RCA's for this purpose.
.
Coax is in the case of digital links is forced to usually 75 ohms by a fixed resistor, so the cable appears
as having the cables characteristics impedance. If the resistor was not there the characteristic impedance
is then tied to the length of cable requiring knowledge of wavelength. Whilst 75 ohms is common there
is good reason to rebuild your equipment to use 50 ohm which is the broadcast standard. The lowering
of impedance also lowers propensity for noise intrusion.

In this regard coax wins hands down over toslink as it is being forced to be a transmission line
( although toslinks works and is convenient ) and obeys well known principles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_line

In the circumstance of a digital link it is usually best to make your own, using high quality coax cable.
which leads to converting your equipment ,or indeed buying equipment with a BNC already fitted.
Which will be as rare as the proverbial you name it... so out with the soldering iron if you want it done properly.

First i would ask which input gives the best SQ on the DAC, coax or toslink?

Then chose a cable , looks like Beresford make a coaxial cable, this might be a good option for synergy.


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"there’s quite a lot of conflicting info"

What, in Hi-Fi choices, surely not so, I though it was all resolved with no conflicting views.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barwell1992

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice on digital audio cables as there’s quite a lot of conflicting info.

So what is the consensus on Coaxial vs Toslink, specifically QED performance Coax vs either Qed performance optical or Fisual Hollywood Glass optical.

Or would I be better of getting a better Coaxial cable?

Source: Tidal upto 24/48Khz over UPnP or CD
Renderer: Cambridge Audio CXUHD
DAC: Beresford Caiman SEG 30 Inc Dorado

2nd question

Toslink to mini optical adapters, are they a bad idea (for my CCA)?

Thanks

---

if done well i doubt you will notice much difference. i use all 3 (usb too) and dont notice a lot of difference, if any.

Thanks for the reply’s so far !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Light Dependant Resistor

In the circumstance of a digital link it is usually best to make your own, using high quality coax cable.
which leads to converting your equipment ,or indeed buying equipment with a BNC already fitted.
Which will be as rare as the proverbial you name it... so out with the soldering iron if you want it done properly.

---

Very interesting, if my equipment were older it would defiantly be on the cards to crack out the iron, however not sure I fancy doing it in a 2 month old £700 Bit of kit.

If it had to be Toslink VS RCA would you sway towards Toslink ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Discopants

First i would ask which input gives the best SQ on the DAC, coax or toslink?

Then chose a cable , looks like Beresford make a coaxial cable, this might be a good option for synergy.


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I’ve messaged Mr Beresford him self about something else so I’ll also ask these questions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pharos

"there’s quite a lot of conflicting info"

What, in Hi-Fi choices, surely not so, I though it was all resolved with no conflicting views.

---

:rolleyes: maybe I should just buy what the magazines say I should buy :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by struth

if done well i doubt you will notice much difference. i use all 3 (usb too) and dont notice a lot of difference, if any.

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To be honest that’s what I’ve always thought. Just sanity checking really, I know swapping the plastic Toslink cable for glass is an easy win as it seems clear cut that glass is better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barwell1992

To be honest that’s what I’ve always thought. Just sanity checking really, I know swapping the plastic Toslink cable for glass is an easy win as it seems clear cut that glass is better.

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yup, i used a fisual glass one for a while. currently not tho as ive misplaced it :eyebrows: a well made one of any type is fine. its as much to do with how well the ends are cut n polished

Yes given the industries wrong choice with using RCA connectors vs BNC the correct choice to terminate digital cables, Toslink
has much appeal. which begs the question is there anything that can be done to improve it. Possibly ensuring no radiated red frequency light
escapes at the junction points. The junction points too might be improved by focussing the light beam - to a degree this is already done,
via the fittings, but I think could be improved upon with encapsulation. Also the receiving and sending conversion I do not think is optimized
for light transfer,rather just borrowed from the coax way of doing digital transfer. Might be a future topic in the DIY section. to discuss.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Light Dependant Resistor

Yes given the industries wrong choice with using RCA connectors vs BNC the correct choice to terminate digital cables, Toslink
has much appeal. which begs the question is there anything that can be done to improve it. Possibly ensuring no radiated red frequency light
escapes at the junction points. The junction points too might be improved by focussing the light beam - to a degree this is already done,
via the fittings, but I think could be improved upon with encapsulation. Also the receiving and sending conversion I do not think is optimized
for light transfer,rather just borrowed from the coax way of doing digital transfer. Might be a future topic in the DIY section. to discuss.

---

Ive got a chord mojo , generally accepted sound quality of inputs in the mojo owning community is USB > coax> optical and this is backed up by a hierarchy of sampling rates supported. So I don’t think a single rule can be applied to all circumstances.


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