Digital Cables....do they make a difference?
Apr 22, 2023 19:46:23 GMT
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robbiegong, optical, and 2 more like this
Post by Bigman80 on Apr 22, 2023 19:46:23 GMT
I have been on a bit of a digital rampage recently. The driving force for this was pretty much down to the concurring opinions of a couple of audiophiles who visited here for a day of digital extravaganza!
Both said (and i concur) that at times, the Aqvox can sound a little bit analytical. I absolutely agree with this, but didn't really know why...after all, the PSU is well sorted and if all we are told is to believed, DACs dont make a difference. So, with that in mind, i turned to the more affordable, and IMO the easier thing to play with, and that was cables. Could the analytic approach of the Aqvox (on certain material) be fleshed out? Could i bring some midrange richness to the party by changing cables?
Lets find out!
First of all, i have posted some pictures of the cables i have in my possesion right now. Yes, i can lay my hand to every cable here...told you i went a bit mad lol.
I have tried to put a fair bit of info into the cable types, but there will be stuff i have missed.
Wireworld Micro Eclipse 7 (AES/EBU) - Price: £75ish each to make - I have two of these. This conductor is OCC copper, and is verified by Wireworld to be 110R. It has Neutrik XLR's on both ends. One cable is 75cm, the other 1m.
SAEC 6N (BNC-BNC) - Price: £75 after import - 6N OFC copper, measures at 75R according to SAEC.
Clearer Audio Alpha Line (BNC-BNC) Price: £35 & £30 respectively OCC conductor, OFC braid. Measures 75R according to Clearer Audio. I have a 1m and a 0.5m of this cable.
SAEC DIG4000 MKI (RCA-RCA) - Price: £160 after import. This is an PC-OCCA cable, with guaranteed 75R performance.
Airbow (BNC-BNC) - Price: £125ish after import. No material info available, but OFC is most likely according to online info. No performance figures either.
Mogami 3080 (AES/EBU) Price: £16. OFC, 110R guaranteed by Mogami.
Neotech 4001 (AES/EBU) Price: Unknown. On loan. Silver Plated OFC. 110R guaranteed by Neotech.
So, where to begin? Ok, lets answer the question in the title: Do digital cables sound different?
In a word, yes.
Now, bearing in mind that these cables all conform to the industry standard, and that according to the good people of ASR etc, the cable should make absolutely no difference to the sound that comes from the speakers. Taking things at face value in terms of spec and measurement, the cables are not faulty, or of strange construction.... They are....Perfect.
So, why does BNC-BNC sounds different to AES. Why do RCA-RCA sound different to them botH? Why is it that certain cables sound more energetic than others? why is it that AES has (generally) more heft in the LF?
I cant answer that because i don't know. What i do know is that the more cables i get, the more "fine-tunable" the sound becomes. This proved to be particularly infuriating to be honest, as the pairing of cables (one from streamer to Mutec, one from Mutec to DAC) could have done with changing whenever the album changed. Listening to Fleetwood Mac - TITN, the pairing of Wireworld to Wireworld was utterly sublime. Move to Beck - Morning Phase, and the Precision and resolution from the SAEC DIG 4000 and Clearer Audio was utterly divine, whereas the Wireworlds soundstage became unpinned and pace became too relaxed.
Listening to the cables in isolation between Streamer and DAC (Mutec omitted) doesn't appear to have clarified things any further. So, whats best to do? Use a consistent loom of one type and suck it up, or try to keep unearthing more cables???
More to follow!
The Follow up:
Having spent many weeks experimenting with these cables and swapping them into combinations of mixed set, the results were very surprising.
However, to save a bit of time for both the reader and the writer, the outcome for me was that the Wireworld cable was my favourite out of all of the cables, but i suspect that was due to the AES configuration. Of the BNC type, the SAEC was the winner, i think. The Clearer audio was probably the best price wise and in truth got you about 80% of the performance for 20% of the price.
Based on this experiment, i can say with ease that every cable made a change to the sound i heard...however, there was is a little caveat here. The shorter versions of the same cable almost certainly lose something compared to the longer version. I had a 50cm Wireworld and a 1m wireworld. The 1m sounds better for some inexplicable reason. Same with the clearer Audio BNC.
I did a little bit of experimenting here and found that you can shorten then up to about 70-75cm before i felt i preferred the 1m version again. This may be all be in my mind, but i am just reporting what i found when i ran the experiments.
SO, my system now has a full loom of Wireworld cable in it. Who would have expected that!
Both said (and i concur) that at times, the Aqvox can sound a little bit analytical. I absolutely agree with this, but didn't really know why...after all, the PSU is well sorted and if all we are told is to believed, DACs dont make a difference. So, with that in mind, i turned to the more affordable, and IMO the easier thing to play with, and that was cables. Could the analytic approach of the Aqvox (on certain material) be fleshed out? Could i bring some midrange richness to the party by changing cables?
Lets find out!
First of all, i have posted some pictures of the cables i have in my possesion right now. Yes, i can lay my hand to every cable here...told you i went a bit mad lol.
I have tried to put a fair bit of info into the cable types, but there will be stuff i have missed.
Wireworld Micro Eclipse 7 (AES/EBU) - Price: £75ish each to make - I have two of these. This conductor is OCC copper, and is verified by Wireworld to be 110R. It has Neutrik XLR's on both ends. One cable is 75cm, the other 1m.
SAEC 6N (BNC-BNC) - Price: £75 after import - 6N OFC copper, measures at 75R according to SAEC.
Clearer Audio Alpha Line (BNC-BNC) Price: £35 & £30 respectively OCC conductor, OFC braid. Measures 75R according to Clearer Audio. I have a 1m and a 0.5m of this cable.
SAEC DIG4000 MKI (RCA-RCA) - Price: £160 after import. This is an PC-OCCA cable, with guaranteed 75R performance.
Airbow (BNC-BNC) - Price: £125ish after import. No material info available, but OFC is most likely according to online info. No performance figures either.
Mogami 3080 (AES/EBU) Price: £16. OFC, 110R guaranteed by Mogami.
Neotech 4001 (AES/EBU) Price: Unknown. On loan. Silver Plated OFC. 110R guaranteed by Neotech.
So, where to begin? Ok, lets answer the question in the title: Do digital cables sound different?
In a word, yes.
Now, bearing in mind that these cables all conform to the industry standard, and that according to the good people of ASR etc, the cable should make absolutely no difference to the sound that comes from the speakers. Taking things at face value in terms of spec and measurement, the cables are not faulty, or of strange construction.... They are....Perfect.
So, why does BNC-BNC sounds different to AES. Why do RCA-RCA sound different to them botH? Why is it that certain cables sound more energetic than others? why is it that AES has (generally) more heft in the LF?
I cant answer that because i don't know. What i do know is that the more cables i get, the more "fine-tunable" the sound becomes. This proved to be particularly infuriating to be honest, as the pairing of cables (one from streamer to Mutec, one from Mutec to DAC) could have done with changing whenever the album changed. Listening to Fleetwood Mac - TITN, the pairing of Wireworld to Wireworld was utterly sublime. Move to Beck - Morning Phase, and the Precision and resolution from the SAEC DIG 4000 and Clearer Audio was utterly divine, whereas the Wireworlds soundstage became unpinned and pace became too relaxed.
Listening to the cables in isolation between Streamer and DAC (Mutec omitted) doesn't appear to have clarified things any further. So, whats best to do? Use a consistent loom of one type and suck it up, or try to keep unearthing more cables???
More to follow!
The Follow up:
Having spent many weeks experimenting with these cables and swapping them into combinations of mixed set, the results were very surprising.
However, to save a bit of time for both the reader and the writer, the outcome for me was that the Wireworld cable was my favourite out of all of the cables, but i suspect that was due to the AES configuration. Of the BNC type, the SAEC was the winner, i think. The Clearer audio was probably the best price wise and in truth got you about 80% of the performance for 20% of the price.
Based on this experiment, i can say with ease that every cable made a change to the sound i heard...however, there was is a little caveat here. The shorter versions of the same cable almost certainly lose something compared to the longer version. I had a 50cm Wireworld and a 1m wireworld. The 1m sounds better for some inexplicable reason. Same with the clearer Audio BNC.
I did a little bit of experimenting here and found that you can shorten then up to about 70-75cm before i felt i preferred the 1m version again. This may be all be in my mind, but i am just reporting what i found when i ran the experiments.
SO, my system now has a full loom of Wireworld cable in it. Who would have expected that!
) although you could have some of these