Recommended RCA Coax Digital Interconnect?

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RIPit

Don't Fear The RIPer
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I need to upgrade my Coax RCA digital interconnect, as I started cheap to experiment. This will run from my Cyrus CDXt Transport into my Reimyo DAC. I have got up to £500 to spend, so I can't afford a Valhalla at this point.
I was going to buy the Nordost Silver Shadow as all of my cable loom is Nordost (apart from the Wireworld Supernova Toslink from Sonos ZP80 to DAC).
Any suggestions?
 
Before I spent a great deal on digital cable I'd try some at mid-price first. When I had a transport / DAC (dpa E-transport and DAC) I tried a variety of digital cables. I did not notice the differences apparent with analogue interconnects or speaker cable. I tried cables ranging from the cheap dpa digilink, dpa black slink (at £125 - pretty good), a kimber select cable at around £500 using their black pearl silver and several others. I did not notice the differences one might expect and the law of diminishing returns seemed - to me - to kick in a good deal earlier with these cables. I kept a couple of what I felt were pretty good - one of which is a silver cable with eichmann bullets the manufacturer of which I forget.. if you'd like a listen pm me I'll happily post it to you to try.
 
Missing link £30 digi kit or NVA soundpipe digital about £45
Best 2 digi cables I've used.
You may be tempted to try the Missing link cryo reference @£120 but I found it vague and phasey compared to its ridiculously low priced baby brother.
 
Townshend Isolda - think its only a hundred for the digital cable and they do a trial at home too.
 
if you can solder use a 75ohm sat coax and a couple of low mass rca plugs .....should be able to make one for a couple of quid ...I recently had a switch round and needed a 2m digital ...knocked one of these up and to be honest its very hard to tell it apart from its more exotic siblings....cost 10 to 100 times as much.
 
Synergistic Research cables with the active shielding was very good and the shielding did make a difference (well I thought so). The other that I tried was from Silver Arrow Cables he had an experimental Palladium digital cable which was much better then some very very expensive Spiltech cable.
 
I second Zanash on this.
"75ohm sat coax and a couple of low mass rca plugs"

I use HT100 OFC, teflon insulated with and OFC copper shielding. Good for all sorts of stuff and it makes a fine for digi interconnect.

It's only an electrical signal after all. Pure copper is good. The rest is fairy dust and really nice LOOKING cable and terminators:)
 
speedy.steve said:
I second Zanash on this.
"75ohm sat coax and a couple of low mass rca plugs"

I use HT100 OFC, teflon insulated with and OFC copper shielding. Good for all sorts of stuff and it makes a fine for digi interconnect.

It's only an electrical signal after all. Pure copper is good. The rest is fairy dust and really nice LOOKING cable and terminators:)
Click to expand...

I'll third that but use true 75ohm BNC ior RCA connector. If not pleased the one I would recco is the Mapleshade active, thers NO turning back just expensive.


rollo
 
Deaf Cat said:
https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?t=17155&highlight=expensive

1st post, then goes OT, just a bit.
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What a fantastic thread! I would have liked to have seen the debate settled properly in a pub carpark!
As I cant find any links for the Virtual Dynamics master, I will follow a couple of the suggestions and audition the two Missing Link cables.
I already have a Chord Prodac digital cable (£50) right now, and it sounds like I won't hear a lot of difference if I spend 10x what I paid for the Chords.
I will also buy a couple of £10ish cables off eBay.
I will et you know what I think.
 
Whilst I agree in part to the 'knock up some rca's and 75 ohm coax' sentiments expressed here by some and that this approach will indeed allow your dac to lock on to the data stream 'tis a little less contentious to suggest that different cable termination and construction can and does make a difference ie it isn't 'just' an electrical signal it's an ultra high frequency digital signal where differences in cable geometry,materials and termination does have a measurable as well as audible effect.
That said I wouldn't fork out more than £50 for 1m terminated and have had good results with £12 VanDam plasma grade.
 
RIPit said:
What a fantastic thread! I would have liked to have seen the debate settled properly in a pub carpark!
As I cant find any links for the Virtual Dynamics master,
Click to expand...

Google...?

RIPit said:
I will follow a couple of the suggestions and audition the two Missing Link cables.
Click to expand...

Interested to hear what you think of your testing:)
I have the Missing link ones on my list to demo, one day.

RIPit said:
I already have a Chord Prodac digital cable (£50) right now, and it sounds like I won't hear a lot of difference if I spend 10x what I paid for the Chords.
Click to expand...

Are you not even tempted to borrow a cable at the top of your budget just to see.......?
I borrowed one at three times my budget just for fun, somewhat taken a back what difference i heard, even with my somewhat basic kit.

Try borrowing a Chord Signature Digital, (£180ish), as I heard quite a difference between the, Codac, Prodac and Signature.
If you do get to demo the diy cables like Zanash's be good to hear your thoughts.


Have fun!
:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Neil said:
Before I spent a great deal on digital cable I'd try some at mid-price first.
Click to expand...

Good point Neil, my digital coax is faulty and I'm about to buy a new cable myself, seems Missing Link gets positive reviews. Or is TOS optical the way to go?

I see references to using 75 ohm plugs. I do not know of any RCA-sized plug that can present 75 ohm impedence, despite what manufacturers claim. And anyway unless you also have 75 ohm sockets on the CDP and DAC then a 75 ohm plug doesn't get us anywhere. Tip: 75 ohm RCA sockets aren't made.

Shielding coax is great but not necessarily a must-have. Coax has almost coincident conductors so its electromagnetic design is near perfect... unless you bend it. Then shielding begins to look worthwhile.

I AM going to look at "almost 75 ohm impedence" connectors just to play the game, but what I've found so far has 36 metre length of cable attached. Eeek. I'll let you know when I find something more practical for the home amateur.

Tony
 
I have ordered the Missing Link Binary Star. Should get it later in the week.
After having spoken to Janice (I think??) I hope it is a great cable. She was very helpful.
I will probably give their Cryo Refernce interconnects an audition as well. I already have expensive Nordost Quatrofil which I have spent close to £3K buying ... It will be intereting to compare their £400 cale against Nordosts £900 equivalent ... although the Nordost does come in a spectacular wooden box! It does also sound fantastic by the way:D:D:D
 
also... i compared the missing link cryo reference XLR's to the Nordost Valkyrja (a very good cable indeed) and to these ears, the missing link cable was preferable, im a big fan of their cables and i use them for everything but speaker cable, and thats only cos i cant afford the cryo ref speaker cable :)
 
Just watched the Horizon programme on making decision.

Beware of the power of suggestion.
For hifi read powerful naming, clever wordsmithing, fancy looking gear, what others say on web forums who might just have a vested interest and yes even the boxes the gear comes in:)).
All these things might be tricking you into believing the gold fairy dust price is better:D
 
well i personally have no other motive other than respect for what ML do and offer for reasonable money. The whole cable thing has been a trial for me, and i was genuinely sick of mucking about with them. Tried some missing link stuff at a mates and we were all blown away by it.

Over on the cyrus forum the missing link stuff has a lot of fans, and for good reason, it works well and doesnt cost the earth.

Also to put it into perspective, i use their Alaqeia interconnects that i purchased in kit form for £50 each, so hardly the top of their line, so im not lining their pockets with gold, and yet they have always given me superb service and advice.
 
speedy.steve said:
Just watched the Horizon programme on making decision.

Beware of the power of suggestion.
For hifi read powerful naming, clever wordsmithing, fancy looking gear, what others say on web forums who might just have a vested interest and yes even the boxes the gear comes in:)).
All these things might be tricking you into believing the gold fairy dust price is better:D
Click to expand...

Stop trolling.
 

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