No doubt, critical listening is subjective. If I just spent thosands of dollars on cables, I'm sure I'd hear a difference too.
Do I need an expensive digital cable?
I have been using a fairly inexpensive optical cable to connect my CD transport to my Moon 280D streamer. I was told that an SPDIFcoax cable would sound better. For an experiment I purchased an inexpensive Pangea coax cable. It didn't sound at all because its terminator ends did not fit snugly in my equipment. I consulted chatgbt who often gives me audio advice. It advised that for the short run of 1 meter, an RCA interconnect would work. It did. And sounded much better than the optical. Chatgbt said that RCA interconnect was good enough.
Now, there is a twist to this story that might make those doubters think twice. A digital cable carries packets of information that are rechecked to assure that the streamer is recieving correct information. There is the timing concern, though. But my Moon 280D has an asynchronous DAC with a clock as part of the DAC. Any information sent by my transport, whether it is clocked by the transport or not, will go through the Moon's asynchronous DAC's clock. So ;there shouldn't be a timing problem. Should there?
Can anyone make a case that I should buy a "better" coax cable?
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I've never seen a 90 day free trial. Even the used cable I bought could only be returned for credit. When I bought my Sonus Faber speakers, I didn't even listen to the models above it in price. I didn't want to be disappointed with my new purchase. Although, I have now heard the model above with the more "romantic" sound. Kind of a tilted down tweeter. No harshness. At first I thought the tweeters on my SF speakers were a bit harsh, but I have tamed those tweeters by putting the right pieces in front of them. Especially by replacing my ARC PH-7 with a Pass Labs XP-25. Solid state in this case is less harsh than tubes. So many surprises for us audiophiles. |
@richardbrand I find remastered albums to be inferior to original, for the most part. I have more than just this example but…I have a Porgy and Bess CD that I bought in the mid 90s. It’s the Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recording. This album had been remastered since. I have a rip of that original CD on ssd that sounds vastly superior to any version on Qobuz or Tidal, including their 16/44 which most likely is a remaster as well. Bottom line though - streaming, in general, eliminated the need to spin CDs. Provided the master is on the level that meets expectations. That’s the key. |
Completely agree! But there are exceptions, like Dire Straits in 5-channel SACD and DSOTM in Dolby Atmos. Looking forward to getting the SACD 2-channel version of Rio After Dark home to compare with the CD. As an aside, RFI is a small part of the complete EMI spectrum, but they are otherwise exactly the same thing |
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