Digital Interconnect

I have a Marantz CD94 & CDA94 DAC, I listen using Stax headphones, and am looking for a modest yet discernable upgrade for the interconnect. I am currently using an optical interconnect that has no markings at all but I prefer it to a Neotech Ruby x 3 cable.

Will an upgrade to the optical cable make a significant difference? Any recommendations?

Is there a electrical cable which will clearly outperform the optical?

I've looked through several forums and don't see a clear preference for a digital/electrical interconnect. Perhaps someone with the same combination that I have can share their preferences.

Thanks for reading,

Don

 

Hi Don and welcome.

It really will be a case of "suck it and see" I'm afraid. We all prefer different sounds and digital interconnects will subtly alter the presentation of your setup.

A general rule (although not universal) is that the SPDIF connection is usually preferred on most setups. Places to start would be the VDH First Ultimate (exceedingly natural), Tara Labs (just plays music), Cardas (warms things up ableit with slight dryness), Kimber DV60 (excellent all rounder). No real winner for me, and the differences range from non existant to life altering depending on many factors. Best to try a few if you can.

What sort of presentation do you prefer and what cables are you using between Dac and the Stax?

 

mike,
what sort of prices are these cables? i too will be looking for a digital i/c in the next week or so.
cheers


julian

 

Julian,

I've tried to be sensible, all of the above (if bought s/h) should come in between £50 and £100.

It's so system dependent, it's impossible to say one will outperform the other. The Cardas is only really there for those in search of warmth, there are of course many others worth looking at.

So what's the beast then? Does it use one of those funny belts or are you concentrating on the PC side?

 

Also try the Apogee Wide-Eye, $50 in the States, doesnt sound "digital" at all...

 

i've not spun a cd for 3 weeks now! and i've moved my other hi-cap onto my pre as a consequence.
the pc stuff is just so convienient just set up a playlist and go, plus the fact that i can control the thing via the remote, whichever pc i'm using at the present time or with my phone (once i get a bluetooth dongle). i'm using a squeezebox playing flac (lossless) compressed files so ultimate quality is damn good. the sbox is surprisingly competent when it comes to replay, it's more hi-fi and not as 'groovy' as the cd5/hi bringing detail to the fore at the expense of the bass and there is noticable wilting when things get hectic but it's definately not offensive. however once my new dac arrives that should be fixed - hence the interest in digi cables.
the only pain is ripping all those cd's... although if i get bored of that i can always listen to one of the multitude of internet radio stations - although they do sound noticably crap though as 96k mp3's :chunder:.

i may eventually go for a transport - probably an audiomecca as they look cool and are cheap as chips these days but i'm planning to use my dvd player as an emergency backup transport but can't see it getting much use with cd's though.
cheers


julian

 

So finally we like the same things

I had to play some CD's yesterday and I couldn't believe how tedious I found the whole procedure.

I'm storing everything in AIFF files, uncompressed, and using the DVD player as backup. But the access this gives me to my music collection more than makes up for any quality gap I may experience in any A-B comparison. I actually think the Powerbook times better than the Denon CD player

Are you looking for a Nokia Bluetooth Dangley thing? I think I've got a few.

 

right that's it i'm scrapping the lot .

the convienience things is just so much better. only problem is that i'm out of disk space so a new sata controller and 160gig drive are on their way hopefully arriving tomorrow.
you really should look into flac (or apple lossless i guess if you are power booking). the squeezebox server decompresses the flac file to a wav / aiff and then squirts it over the airwaves and into a 2 meg buffer in the squeezebox itself. it's then clocked out to the dac a-la dac 64. it'll also handle apple lossless, and various lossy formats too. i can't praise the thing highly enough AND it eliminates all the wires and crap from pc to hi-fi as it works with wireless b / airport although you also have the option to connect it up to your network using conventional patch cable too.

not sure about the nokia dongle - basicly i need a bluetooth usb key so that i can pop it into one of my free usb ports and then bridge this to my network. this will let me use opera on my p800 to access my server machine from say - the garden.

cheers


julian

 

Ooh you posh git you've got a garden now have you

 

well after a weeks holiday it's more like a small patch of jungle that has so far defeated the best that i can throw at it in chemical warfare and caused my strimmer to have a mental breakdown.
plans are afoot to stamp out all chlorophillic life with the use of a small chainsaw and large flymo but it's not going to be an easy task and some of us may not return.
cheers



julian

 

The ultimate hifi add-on a garden, you Barsteward, what next then? an NEC dishwasher and an M3 eh?
Get yee gone oh foul creature

 

wm,
you've seen my kitchen, no room for any dishwasher and how dare you suggest i would ever covet an m3!
cheers


julian

 

Thanks Merlin and others for your generous responses. I'll talk to the folks at the shop and see if I can arrange to test various. I don't really know how to answer your question about presentation as I don't have experiences associated with a type of presentation. Hopefully I will be able to A-B cables and will be able to put some description with what I hear.

Between the DAC & the Stax are Neotech KHS124A - OFC interconnects.

I'll report back when after some listening.

Thanks again,

DonB