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Digital coax cable, real world experiences?

Yes I know ANOTHER cable thread....lol
Guess that is why it has its own complete section
My question regards a cable I have not really paid much attention to previously, the digital coax connection from my media server to my preamp.
I was using a very old generic connection that is at least 15 years old but acquired a pretty cheap tributaries digital coax cable and thought oh well lets change it.
I was shocked and stunned at just how much more detail was present and the depth and solidity of bass was near overwhelming, granting I was listening to some pretty bass intense material at the time but still!
Now do not get me wrong I was once one of the biggest cable naysayers you would find and still think the majority of me now hearing changes is the quality of the rest of my system as previous "lower fi" systems just did not truly reveal any note(pun intended) worthy changes.
So my question is if I heard a significant difference with a fairly inexpensive cable what may occur with really going up the food chain on a digital coax cable? Or was it more that my previous no name very old cable was just that ..very old and poor.
Thoughts and real world experiences on digital coax cables?

128x128uberwaltz
janehamble
123 posts
 
@ Shadorne

As you seem to have difficulties with reading, let me make this simple:

1) I never claimed or insinuated my equipment is 'among the very best available' - whatever you think that means.  I simply stated the brands I use. People here will decide for themselves if its good or no so good.

2) I said that I was OK with a Blue Jean coax - far from unhappy - until I heard the AQ Carbon.  What is this weird uber-contractor concept you have of equipment 'working properly'? As if we're talking about a light switch or faucet. 

3) How can I tell when I have a cable that...um..."works properly"?  Well (and this might come as a surprise), I sit down in a comfortable chair, pour myself a drink, put on some fine music, and then I listen.  For hours.  Try that process sometime.

I hope this is clear enough.  

sarcher30
596 posts
 
I borrowed a Nordost Silver Shadow spidf cable from a friend recently. I used it to go between a usb to spidf converter and my dac. I thought it was ok sounding. After I tried the Nordost I had a idea for a cheap digital cable. Knowing that RG-6 cable that we all use for cable tv has the bandwidth to pass 1000 channels of digital video. I decided to try it as a spidf cable. I just ordered some adapters to go from the F connector to an rca connector on both sides of the cable. At a cost of about $7. The 1 meter RG-6 cable was free from the cable company. After receiving the adapters I gave it a try. I was pretty surprised with the performance. It clearly bested the Silver Shadow. Much more focused sound, particularly the vocals.

After that experiment at home I took it to my local audio society meeting and tried both cables on a different DAC. This time I used it between a CD player and dac. The differences were even more pronounced there. The Nordost was much less focused sounding.

I have not been able to compare it to other spidf cables yet but think it would be very interesting to do so. 

Anyway it is a very inexpensive thing to try if anyone is interested.
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
@janehamble 

No need to be aggressive and offensive. I was just saying your equipment is NOT lousy. Far from it, you have the most amazing setup and the most amazing hearing acuity. 

You stated Blue Jeans was "OK" but with Audioquest you were "Gobsmacked" as "It wasn't just 'different', it was better. Much better."

This really does sound like a dramatic difference and I sincerely apologize for jumping to the conclusion you were somehow unhappy with the Blue Jeans cable.

Have you considered why the Schiit Eitr or your Hegel DAC might perform much better with one OK digital cable versus another?  Or do you believe that cables are much more than wires, shields and connectors and have some kind of electronic digital filter or digital EQ or digital noise filter built in? After all digital signals are supposed to be 1s and 0s and presumably the Hegel DAC rejects any clock jitter that might vary with one cable versus another?





jea48
4,268 posts
 
It's not just 1s & 0s.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-do-digital-coax-cables-matter

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desktopguy
334 posts
 
Most of my listening for the past decade has been desktop audio +/- headphones. I started using a S/PDIF converter years ago w/the 1st musical fidelity unit (I'm now up the 24/192 model). Anyway, for a long time I used toslink/glass to connect to the DAC.

About a year and a half ago, I got more serious about going to the next level of digital sound--and got my 1st multibit DAC, the Audio GD NOS 19. It was a revelation in somewhat warm, organic, relaxed digital sound.

Soon after getting this, I upgraded from toslink to coax, starting out w/an inexpensive 1.5M Billie Jeans. Not bad at all. Better sounding in some ways than toslink. Then, based on numerous positive comments I read, got a new, much more expensive cable: the 1.5M Oyaide DB-DR 510 (it comes in either BNC or RCA--I got the RCA version).

Done, and done. Best sound I ever heard from any cable. Immediate sonic success. As usual w/cables, the differences were small and subtle--but in low level signal situations, especially digital, small and subtle go a long way. In this case, all changes were sonically beneficial.

I would never go back. This coax cable (which cost ~$210) is a stone keeper.
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