You've probably got an impedance mismatch between the output of the transport & the input of the DAC. Just because two components have matching jacks doesn't mean that they are going to have matching impedances. It is what is on the inside that counts electrically.
As such, the coaxial in & out of each component might be a better match than the xlr's. Since neither jacks are probably exactly what they claim to be ( 110 ohms for xlr or 75 ohms for rca ), you'll probably have to experiment a bit with what interconnect works best with these components. As mentioned in a few of my other posts, interconnects act as impedance transformers between components and are kind of a hit or miss deal whereas what works best as a speaker cable is pretty much set in stone. Finding an interconnect that allows the output of the transport to "load up" efficiently while also presenting a suitable feedpoint impedance into the DAC will provide the best sonics. This is due to increased power transfer / reduced vswr / lower jitter / reduced ringing.
As far as CEC goes, they've literally built MILLIONS of RF transceivers in the past under various brand names. Electrically, their RF based circuits were always stable and very long lasting. Having said that, they were never quite up to what some of their competition had to offer in terms of power tranfer / impedance matching. Given that the digital signal out of a transport is an RF based signal, your problems ( that could be impedance based ) wouldn't surprise me.
As far as power cords go, that's a whole different ballgame. I would not doubt that Psychic's / Larry's observations pertaining to VH Audio's Flavour 4 working well is true. It is a high capacitance / low inductance design, which is what one wants in a power cord. While i like this cable electrically, it is a bit rigid for use with a transport. If you're going to use this or any other semi-rigid cable with a component of this nature, i would try to find a way to keep the cable itself from transfering mechanical energy back into the component. The physical coupling to the chassis of the component makes such a cord a prime candidate to feed air-borne vibrations into the transport. When it comes to transports, a highly flexible mechanically damped power cord is very desirable.
One more thing. The CAL Delta is somewhat high in jitter from what i can remember. It is not a bad transport, but i would expect the CEC, when properly set up with a DAC of the quality that you have, to be a better performer. It's just a matter of working out the bugs. This can be frustrating but also quite educational. Sean
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