Cardas Caps on unused digital jacks?

For infinity_audio…

you will be happy with multiple uses for

Platinum Tools

P/N 2039, Copper Foil Strips

Available on eio.com

The rubber ends on some door stops will fit perfectly too.

Cardas caps are to prevent EMI/RFI intereference to enter the chassis thought the so called "darn little holes" in the middle of the RCA jacks. I used a total of 46 in my system and some equippment might not sound as good if you use some, and of cause some do. If I have to use them to cover ALL the RCAs I will br broke... do some blnd test to see if they help, then use... Also, they can be also as long as it's a RCA jack.

If it's all or mostly about keeping the jacks clean...why not use those soft-plastic thread-protector tips every hardware store sells for about 8¢ apiece?

They were a little tight when installing on some of my gear. When I finally took them out, the tighter ones left surface scratches on the jacks.

So if you have the urge to buy some, make sure you expand the caps to prevent scratching your jacks.

I cover everything with those nifty little dudes. I tape three of them together for my unused balanced ports :)

Are these better than shorting plugs?

This is a very subtle tweak, but I beleive they offer an improvement. After covering all the unused jacks in my system with Cardas caps, I listened for several weeks. I then removed them all and noticed that the HF had a bit of an edge and the mids were a bit unfocused. I would recommend covering all the unused jacks, as this is a relatively inexpensive tweak.

As for unused XLRs, the same test yielded similar results, but the cost for Cardas XLR caps is several times the cost of RCA jacks.

Good luck!

Gunbei- that's the reason I use them I don't think they changed the sound for better or worse, but it keeps things neat and clean.

I use 'em too. Look neat and give me a gear-dude's peace of mind.

Drrdiamond, could you please share any sonic differences you may have noticed after installing the caps thus far?

I use Cardas Caps too. All the unused inputs on my pre have them. I threw one on the digital out of my cdp and didn't notice any sonic difference. I did it mostly to keep out dust.