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?
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 |
When I was learning. I used to read reviews and then go and travel to hear the component. All part of research and learning. That way I was able to evaluate the reviews and reviewers and learn about the different characteristics of sound that I read about. I would take off very early and drive the two hours to a city or when I traveled I'd go to hear something reviewed. All part of the learning process. If your research is always purchase driven then you and loose track of the forest from the trees. |
@audio-b-dog I buy mostly AAA vinyl. Exception is Mobile Fidelity that I really dig as they use high quality vinyl and the sonics are first rate. |
