Low-cost digital cable shoot-out

Posted by jedrider (A) on December 9, 2016 at 19:35:12

Well, I recently acquired these Audioquest Digital Cables:

VDM-XR 2M $17 BestBuy
VDM-1 1M $16 Ebay
VDM-3 1M $40 Ebay

Well, after using first a video cable and then an old random Monster cable, I could detect no significant difference between optical and USB to my, then, newly acquired S.M.S.L. DAC, so I thought that was that.

First I got the VDM-XR and it was a clear improvement over USB and even a glass fiber optical cable that I was using.

Then I acquired the VDM-1 and it was actually more musical than the XR, removing that high-frequency edge that caused me to waver often in my listening satisfaction. Their construction seemed similar though, so maybe one is a newer generation than the other?

Finally, I just received the VDM-3 and I certainly paid the going used rate for this cable. It appears to have silver plating on the connectors, which appear to be what is upgraded from the VDM-1 as the cable itself looks similar. Now I get a LOT of nice high-frequency detail that I really enjoy.

The SMSL DAC is a $100 DAC, but has an upgraded power supply and a new opamp, and I always thought it had edgy highs, but no more. Now, the sound is dimensional, although I suspect the midrange is not as full as it should be because, afterall, it is a relatively inexpensive unit.

Note as source I mostly used a SONY CD player, but computer audio has optical and USB outputs and I give the edge to optical in that case as the DAC probably does not have an optimized/XMOS USB input.

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Topic - Low-cost digital cable shoot-out - jedrider 19:35:12 12/09/16 (3)

RE: Low-cost digital cable shoot-out - Duster 10:59:38 12/10/16 (2)

RE: Low-cost digital cable shoot-out - jedrider 15:26:14 12/10/16 (1)

RE: Low-cost digital cable shoot-out - Duster 15:48:34 12/10/16 (0)

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