I don't have an HDMI choice, so I have no idea about it being better. I have, however, been experimenting with DSD vs PCM by playing the same album on Qobuz and Tidal. I think I mostly prefer PCM for its better delineation of instruments. It also handles attacks better. However, every now and then DSD seems more airy and I prefer that on a few albums. My accountant wife says one has to go. I think I'll keep Qobuz.
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 there’s no DSD available to stream from Tidal or Qobuz. I think you meant to say hi-res vs red book. |
I don't think you are set up to make sensible comparisons between SACD (which is natively multi-channel DSD) and PCM sources. PCM includes CD quality and higher resolution formats. As such it can be two-channel on CD and most streaming services, or multi-channel. If you really want to compare the same recording played back through several digital formats, buy a release or two from 2L.no which includes both hybrid SACD and Pure Audio Blu-ray disks in the same package. You immediately eliminate all the uncertainties about streaming. For less than the cost of most cables, you can buy a Sony universal disk transport which plays CD, SACD and Pure Audio Blu-ray as well as DVD and 4K video disks. It comes with an HDMI cable. In my opinion, by far the greatest improvement in sound quality comes when you add extra channels to a good 2-channel system. The further improvement possible from DSD over CD is immediately apparent in quiet passages of classical recordings - simply play a hybrid SACD and switch your transport/player to the CD layer. Hi-res (which is just PCM with higher sampling frequency and/or greater bit-depth than CD-quality) also blooms in multi-channel. Pure Audio Blu-ray goes way beyond SACD for number of channels, going from 5.1 for SACD to 32 virtual channels for Dolby Atmos. You owe it to yourself to grab a pack or two from 2L.no and find a dealer that can play them through a resolving system. Here's what a typical 2L.no pack contains:
One day, streaming might catch up, but until then ... |
I meant to say MQA for Tidal. And I do have a multi-disk player, the McCormack UDP-1. It was A rated by Stereophile and is still a very good multi-disk player. I have been comparing SACD and DVDA to my streamer. Now, somebody could say that I can’t really compare unless I own a much higher end streamer and a new multi-disc player. Sorry, there has to be a cut off line somewhere. At least for me. If Elon Musk had the interest he could make the ultimate comparison. Most dudes with a lot of money are too busy making a lot of money to be interested in audio. Also, I often write when I am listening to music and unless the sound is jarring in some way, I kind of don't care about the overall quality. My Moon 280D sounds quite good at 96kHz and above. |
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