The best digital IC, period.


I've spent a great deal of time, too much really, to find the best IC between my transport to my DAC. After listening to six cables from some big names and big $$ as well as some not so well names for small $$. The winner came out to be a HAVE/CANARE $25 IC. With this cable there is no eye candy at all, ZED, but it's combination of GEPCO International, VSD2001 high definition 75ohm serial series digital coax, and CANARE true 75ohm RCA terminations, simply killed all of the esoteric cables with a few others coming in very very close, but the HAVE/CANARE $25, 3' was just beyond belief. Now I know that people feel strongly to use at least 1.5M in length for a DIC, but with this company I tried cables at length of 12" to 1.5M, i tried them all and the best of the buch was their standard 3' cable, defying the math. Hey, for 25$?
rpg

Showing 13 responses by rpg

Ozzy, let this forum know your perception of this IC after introducing it into your system. I am very interested if you have similar results.

Almarg, thank you for your comments and description about the complexities of this interface as well as the links to other forums on the topic!

Rpg
Bombaywalla, type in HAVE/Canare into your web browser and you will be brought to the HAVE website. They provide their telephone number to call them or you can select Digital IC's from their menu and order the cable. You will know you are on the right website as there is a picture of an Elephant on it. Enjoy!
Ozzy, you have had some time to break-in the HAVE/Canare 6' Digital IC, what is your conclusion with this cable? If you have found it was not the best Digital IC you have used, what did you replace it with that sounded better and what was the retail price of the better cable, still, I have yet to find a better cable considering all sonic qualities of Digital IC's.
Ozzy, Wadia 171i Dock/Transport connected to one of the two digital inputs on my Cambridge AZUR 840C CDP. With the HAVE/Canare cable we could not tell the difference between playing a CD and the Wadia,(loss-less files) this was the only cable that could pull this off and that was after an intensive effort that took a great deal of time. During this effort I even included my budding Audiophile teenager helping out with his young ears picking up on the micro elements of the sound reproduction. These components are connected to Krell balanced amplification and Sonus Faber speakers.
Maybe John A would not be happy, but Corey G would be. As for Jafox's comments about HAVE/Canare analog cables I agree, they don't measure up, but for digital they are one of the best. Again, for a small $25 listen for yourself! If you don't like them you can throw them in your pile of extra cables & stuff, or you will be as surprised as I was and make them a permanent IC in your system.
Ozzy, let us know what you think after a listen. My 6' pair that I tried sounded dark and a little slow compared to my 3' cable, but the math suggests 1.5M minimum, so it will be very interesting to hear back from you! Happy listening!
Rpg
Steve, always in search for real performance at sane prices, can you tell me what these cables you are suggesting cost? I will not deny there must be cables that can compete with my findings, but I only tried six cables and have never heard of Ridge Street cables. Can you elaborate a bit more please? Thanks!
Ozzy, no, the six foot cable lacked articulation and sounded a bit too warm for my taste. Your system being different than mine may not have a problem. Measure exactly what you need to the inch, HAVE will custom make you a cable without extra cost, just tell them what you need.
Rpg
Audioengr, $685. I'm trying to share my experience that a $25 can, and most likely is, nipping at the heals of such crazy expensive cables here.
Hey Ozzy, did you go for it and if you did what do you think. You mentioned you needed a 2M cable, can you get by with 1.5M? If you can this is one of the most popular length for a number of technical reasons.
Ozzy, I'm glad your pleased. I think the HAVE/Canare option is a great place for people to start especially in the dark waters of IC's. I believe there indeed may be other cables out there that may sound better in their system than the HaveFlex, but I think the improvement might only be slight and you might get sucked into cables nearing the price of your equipment, I tell you, this cable business seems to be quite the racket with a lot of players making big claims. Yes, give your cable some time to break in, a couple of weeks I found and that bit of sharpness you detected will smooth over just a bit with no loss of resolution or extension. Enjoy, and forget that just because the cable is inexpensive does not mean it can't be a world class performer in many peoples systems, with the money you potentially may have saved, you can purchase a lot of music, and is that not what it's really all about?
Rpg
Ozzy, thanks for the feedback. A number of cables I tested were smoother at the top, a Kimber comes to mind, but for me I liked the extended detail of the HC cable in which some may call it a bit bright. However when I compared it to strait CD playback the HC cable sounded closest to the CDP. Thanks again!
Rpg
Bob, here is the link. You can also call them, they have their number on their website. I hope this link brings you exactly where you want to be, good luck and enjoy!
Rpg

http://store.haveinc.com/c-360-spdif-digital-audio.aspx