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.
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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@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. |
It's not always easy to know about vinyl. Remastered records from the sixties and seventies don't say that their source was digital. Also, I often wonder why an album sounds the way it does. Some early albums have been turned from mono to stereo. I find pushing the mono button on my preamp helps a lot. The soundstage remains as it does on good mono albums. If a stereo album has the drums coming out of one speaker and the guitat out of the other, I wonder if it has be turned to stereo. Chatgbt will tell me about how recordings were done in early stereo days It's a very good audiophile partner. It knows who engineered the album and where the mikes were placed. Sometimes a true AAA album sounds wonky because it's early stereo recorded with two mikes. |
@audio-b-dog I find Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct and Elusive Disc indicate when the vinyl is AAA. If it doesn’t state so, it’s a digital remaster. I just got several LPs delivered - Bill Evans “Waltz for Debbie” (Craft Recordings Original Jazz Classics), Dexter Gordon “One Flight Up” (Blue Note Tone Poet), Black Sabbath’s self titled album (Rhino HiF). All 3 are AAA and were stated as such on Acoustic Sounds website where I ordered them from. So far I’m extremely pleased with the quality of Craft OJC series of AAA vinyl. I own a few and they’re all great Rhino HiFi Sabbath is AAA cut by Kevin Gray. Simply superb. |
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