What difference does the quality of a digital interconnect make?

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a friend asked me if I could mount a new mini jack on his wire connecting PC music to his stereo

about 10 meter cheap wire with cheap RCA plugs

resoldered everything
put crimp tubing on RCA plugs
and I filled the mini jack with epoxy

and today he told me it now sounded much better than ever before
I was very surpriced :scratch:

and I have to say he is just a simple guy who knows nothing about cables (or anything else related to hifi for that matter)


ups, sorry, I had not noticed this is about digital cables
 
Just to put digital transmission into some sort of perspective, I once worked on a project where a £130 accessory had to work at the end of 1km of cable! With standard bell wire we achieved 250m with screened Belkin cable of the perfect spec we got to 1km.
The driver's and receiver's and associated circuitry had to be optimised for the task, the only downside for the user was that to operate a £130 pond accessory at 1km would have cost £5000 for the cable (only £200 for the bell wire and 250m)...
So maybe cable does make a difference, when you push the extremes:D
 
Using mobile devices like you said would have been easier, it was a "marketing/Sales" requirement, total divorced from reality. There was a marketing war between the firm I worked for and our closest competitor, and they claimed up to a 1km link, so we had to!
This is not uncommon, look at the features that end up on even the basic kit (I can web browse from my blu ray player, my wife's phone does everything). There have been numerous projects where everyone is scratching there heads at some of the requirements, and when you have to produce a product at a price it can get fun. The usual cry from the sales team is; "we cant sell it without..."
 
OK. I am of the generation which still expects to watch TV on a TV, talk to people on a phone, and browse the web on a computer. In each case the product design and human interface has been optimised for one application so it does it well. I don't want to send texts from my kettle or browse the web using my toaster! I deliberately chose a phone which just does calls and text, but even then it had an awful FM radio included too.
 
The general consumer market is driven by "Bells and Whistles" which have more to do with marketing glitz than real purpose.

Some features make sense, like browsing the web on a cell phone (if you have the eyes of a 17yo). Personally, I seldom use my phone for anything other than talking to another person.

Many industrial products have specs like the 1KM requirement mentioned above, where the cost of the cable exceeds the cost of the product.

Try DeviceNet cable, I found some for as little as $1393/1kft, or about $4500/KM. The high cost cable is over $7000/1kft ($21,000/ KM.

18-1P PVC/NYL+15-1P FOAM DIEL- ECTRIC IND FOIL + O/A BRD SHD PVC DEVICENET ROHS (Per 1000ft)
 
OK. I am of the generation which still expects to watch TV on a TV, talk to people on a phone, and browse the web on a computer. In each case the product design and human interface has been optimised for one application so it does it well. I don't want to send texts from my kettle or browse the web using my toaster! I deliberately chose a phone which just does calls and text, but even then it had an awful FM radio included too.

I agree, I need a new phone and I am struggling to both find one that actually allows me to talk to people, and more irritating, trying to get it through the sales persons head that I don't want a;
camera, mp3 player, web browser, back scratcher blah blah blah extras,
all I want to do is phone people and occasionally knock out a mobile phone salesman...
As to browsing on a phone, I can barley see a 24" monitor these days:)
 
At the company I used to work for (TV development) we used to call it marketing check boxes. Just look at the features of a mid range smart TV today, it supports numerous broadcasting systems (both analog and digital), 3D, a lot of web services, recording, ... Nobody uses all these features but the competition has them so we had to have them to...
 
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I deliberately chose a phone which just does calls and text, but even then it had an awful FM radio included too.
Mine too. Why an FM radio? But I have to say the phone part sounds half decent, unlike so many. I'm beginning to feel like a Luddite. :(

All my life I've pushed for bigger and bigger screens, only to see the world retreat into tiny screens held in front of the nose.
 
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