What difference does the quality of a digital interconnect make?

[merlin el mago]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but a couple of years ago a Greek audio e-mag lab-tested 30 commercial SPDIF cables:
http://www.avmentor.gr - Group_test_spdif_coaxial_cables_2011

The procedure they followed is detailed in page 2.

[The link above is Google translated so cannot guarantee it'll be readable, but you can always check the images (eye patterns etc.) which are kinda self-explanatory]

Very good link, thanks to share

 

[jan.didden]

So what can be conclude from this fantastic link?

jan

 

[SY]

So what can be conclude from this fantastic link?

jan

That high end audio magazines are complicit in the spread of ignorance? Not exactly news....

 

[s2udio]

So what can be conclude from this fantastic link?

jan

This !

EEVblog #29 - Audiophile Audiophoolery - YouTube

 

[SY]

Felonious Munk does the "outrage" thing much better.

 

[marce]

Andrew T:
http://www.onsemi.com/pub_link/Collateral/AND9075-D.PDF

My conclusions from the presented data (didn't bother with the listening impressions) was that there was not a lot to worry about with most of the decently engineered and shielded cables. The non shielded cable with the return and signal wires separated would worry me, especially if I had to have it EMC qualified.

 

[marce]

This !

EEVblog #29 - Audiophile Audiophoolery - YouTube

All I can say is like me he obviously does not understand Quantum effects on Audio cables (both analogue and digital)

 

[qusp]

I particularly like this assertion, for a digital cable (stupid enough for analogue)

Based on the principle of bi-wiring, with separate ducts for high and low frequencies with the conductor of high strand is made from an alloy of gold, silver and copper.

 

[s2udio]

All I can say is like me he obviously does not understand Quantum effects on Audio cables (both analogue and digital)

Obviously an Absolute Idiot .....

 

[wa2ise]

It can be if the cable is assembled from, for example, gold plated solid core silver ...

Boky

Actually, silver plated copper is better. Gold isn't that good a conductor, but it doesn't corrode as much as silver or copper, thus its use in connectors.

Any decent cable designed for video work will also work well here. RG59 or RG6 will work well. The RCA connectors, while not the greatest, will be okay, at the source and at the destination. What you don't want to do is have any splices or intermediate RCA connectors in the cable run. You'd get reflections that would not be absorbed by either the source termination or the destination termination. Use a single cable.

 

[Pano]

The level can vary all over the place, and it is the receiver that gets all those 1's and 0's and send them on to the DAC or whatever.

Welllll..... not quite all over the place. A few years back a friend and I were designing a DAC and chose to use logic gates to clean up the incoming SPDIF signal. Worked like a charm - if the signal was hot enough. But many sources, e.g. laptop computers, don't output a very strong SPDIF signal. Result? No sound at all.

Most SPDIF receivers are more tolerant than that, of course, but you do need to be within the window.

 

[jan.didden]

The point was that the music level does not vary with S/PDIF level.
The spec says something like > 0.5V and < 7.5V. Or thereabouts - it's some time I checked. That's pretty much 'all over the place' in my book

jan

 

[Pano]

Yeah, it's tolerant, unless you screw up like we did. Needed a signal >1V and many sources don't supply that. Agree that audio level won't change, unless it stops working, then the level drops to nothing.

 

[TheGimp]

That is why a lot of designs using logic gates are operating them in the linear region by using a feedback resistor. They ac couple, and are only looking at hysteresis of the inverter to determine thresholds.

 

[DF96]

If sources and receivers are out of spec then cables could make a difference. The answer is to fix the ends, not the middle. As I often say, cable sensitivity is a sign of poor design.

 

[TheGimp]

I think a better solution for the receiver end would be a high speed comparator like the TI TLV3501.

 

[nannoo]

the fact this thread is still going is ridiculous.
a properly engineered digital cable, and in many cases any cable, is fine for a digital connection.

Anyone who tells you there is an audible difference between XXX brand and a basic model is worthy of being ignored, there is no difference at all.

Moderators:
Why on earth is this thread still open?

 

[SY]

Moderators:
Why on earth is this thread still open?

No rules against ignorance.

 

[TheGimp]

Or stupidity.

Ignorance is not being aware of. Stupidity is being aware of and choosing to ignore the truth.

 

[samoloko]

would anyone please point to relatevely cheap but proven good cable and connector to be used with spdif