Do I need an expensive digital cable?

For digital coax, Belden 4694P from Iconoclast is difficult if not impossible to beat for the price of $86 for three feet (and the 30-day return policy).  Go to this link and scroll down to "S/PDIF Digital Audio":

https://www.iconoclastcable.com/bav/index.htm

OK My 2 cents

@audio-b-dog 

@audphile1 

Gentlemen, as a manufacturer we have had the opportunity to try so many options in audio.  Digital cables make a difference, to what degree is up to your own ears.  We have had decent results with cheap cables and better results with more expensive cables.  The cable we ended up with was the Jorma.  What did it do differently then the others, better overall separation of vocals and instruments, depth of sound stage, some clarity, etc.  Was it a big difference sometimes more that others.  It was just more likeable to our ears in our systems.

If you would like to hear one (I am not a dealer or associated with Jorma in anyway), I may know someone who has a 1M RCA terminated one he does not use.  I could ask him if he would mail it to you and what price he is asking.

Happy Listening.

@audio-b-dog 

What Moon told you about your DAC handling clocking chores regardless of the cable type used from the source is increasingly the case now and was referenced in a recent post about streamers.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-in-some-instances-does-changing-streamers-makes-a-bigger-difference

I am trying out an enhanced version of ai right now (Sonnet 4.6), and this is what it had to say.  Past dogma on this subject is being replaced by a new reality in many modern DACs.

Question:  Does the source device clock always override the clock in the DAC when using a spdif cable?

Answer:  No, not always — it depends on the DAC’s design and its clocking architecture. Here’s how it works:

Typical S/PDIF behavior (source clock dominates)

In a standard S/PDIF connection, the clock is embedded in the bitstream itself. The receiving DAC must lock its internal clock to this incoming signal using a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL). In this common scenario, yes — the source device’s clock effectively governs the timing, and any jitter or instability in the source clock gets passed along to the DAC. This is a well-known weakness of S/PDIF.

When the DAC can assert its own clock

Some DACs are designed to minimize or eliminate source clock dependency:
    ∙    Asynchronous reclocking / reclockers: Some DACs have a high-quality internal oscillator and a buffer that accepts the incoming S/PDIF stream, then re-reads the data using the DAC’s own master clock. This effectively breaks the dependency on the source clock and can dramatically reduce jitter.
    ∙    Large jitter rejection / FIFO buffering: Some DAC designs use a large FIFO (first-in, first-out) buffer to decouple the input clock from the output clock. The data comes in governed by the source, but it gets read out by the DAC’s own clock. This is more common in professional gear.
    ∙    External word clock inputs: Some higher-end DACs have a word clock input, allowing a dedicated master clock to govern everything, completely overriding the S/PDIF clock.

The key contrast with USB

This is one reason why asynchronous USB audio is often considered superior to S/PDIF — in async USB mode, the DAC explicitly pulls data at its own clock rate, making the DAC the unambiguous master. S/PDIF has no equivalent standard mechanism for this, so it requires the workarounds above.
In short, whether the source clock “wins” depends on how sophisticated the DAC’s clocking circuitry is. A basic DAC will be at the mercy of the source; a well-designed one can largely sidestep it.​​​​​​​​​

kn

Op good digital cables do make a difference Soix is right.

@bigkidz I no longer have a streamer and a CD transport.
Both were eliminated by a Meitner MA3i with a built in network/streaming card. 

Thanks for the offer though.