Posts: 17117 Location: Pacific Northwest Joined: August 25, 2002
75 Ohm coaxial cable (without a ferrite bead, IME). A twisted pair does not provide the necessary 75 Ohm characteristic impedance for an S/PDIF digital application.
RE: Dig. Coax in/out audio cables., posted on October 3, 2016 at 14:56:12
Actually, if done correctly, a twisted pair CAN provide the necessary 75 Ohm characteristic impedance for an S/PDIF digital cable, w/- or w/o a physical shield (usually without)...
RE: Dig. Coax in/out audio cables., posted on October 3, 2016 at 15:37:47
Posts: 17117 Location: Pacific Northwest Joined: August 25, 2002
You might be expressing the notion that a twisted pair will pass signal for a digital application, but it won't provide a precision 75 ohm signal transfer from end to end for an S/PDIF digital application. The only reputable S/PDIF digital cable I've come across in the past 20 years that is not a coaxial cable is the Kimber AGDL silver digital cable, which is not even a twisted pair, it's a tri-braided geometry design. I have found no mention of the characteristic impedance of the Kimber AGDL. On the other hand, a balanced AES/EBU digital application interface depends on the mirror-image of a twisted pair for noise cancellation purposes, and the 110 ohm characteristic impedance of an AES/EBU interface involves a generous 110 ohm ± 20% (88-132 ohm) range.
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Text taken from http://www.epanorama.net/documents/wiring/cable_impedance.html
"A twisted pair of 22 gage wire with reasonable insulation on the wires comes out at about 120 ohms for the same mechanical reasons that the other types of transmission lines have their own characteristic impedances."
I tend to prefer the "non-digital" cables for that connection. I have had several versions of the same interconnect to experiment with.Each having a different connector on them. The 75 ohm versions always sound "dark" up-top.Copper RCAs tend to have a little warmth to them.The finer gauge ICs tend to be quicker and I really like the Eichman RCAs on the digital cable. Your selection may depend on whether you use a CD player/transport or a memory-player or "stream".Each presents its' own set of sonics.How these mate with your system will be the determining factor. Just keep "plugging and chugging,make notes and also allow the different cables to "settle-in" (3-4 day evaluation.prior to change).
RE: Dig. Coax in/out audio cables., posted on October 7, 2016 at 02:05:22