[Lilac1]

Hello, I'm contemplating picking up one of these as I'm going to be comparing quite a few expensive DAC's in the forthcoming months.

Is this a good choice for absolute neutrality, or should I consider another cable?
Note that I have experience with the analogue valhalla selection, I'm just curious if their digital cabling is somewhat equal.

 

[scootermafia]

Screw that, get an Oyaide ready-to-go RCA or BNC cable. You can't argue with the 18 gauge OCC silver center conductor, carbon semiconductor and foil and braid shielding layers, the silver shield...and it'd save so much money. It's one of the nicest coaxial wires I've ever worked with...all coax is is a very good center conductor, properly shielded from static and interference and vibration, with a tubular braid shield return. I don't see how any other cable could be more cost-no-object than the Oyaide wire at $60 per meter or a little more for a terminated cable. Kosmic.us has these Oyaide cables I think.

 

[Patrick82]

I have owned a Valhalla Digital AES/EBU and sold it because I liked a cheap Toslink better for my computer. Electrical connection between computer and DAC is horrible. However, between my Cary 303/300 CD player and Benchmark DAC1 the Valhalla AES/EBU sounded very good at 192kHz upsampling. The other digital cable I tried was a cheap yellow RCA video cable, going from that to Valhalla Digital didn't impress me. The Valhalla analog cables give much bigger improvements, especially when using Valhalla as a headphone cable.

 

[Lilac1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have owned a Valhalla Digital AES/EBU and sold it because I liked a cheap Toslink better for my computer. Electrical connection between computer and DAC is horrible. However, between my Cary 303/300 CD player and Benchmark DAC1 the Valhalla AES/EBU sounded very good at 192kHz upsampling. The other digital cable I tried was a cheap yellow RCA video cable, going from that to Valhalla Digital didn't impress me. The Valhalla analog cables give much bigger improvements, especially when using Valhalla as a headphone cable.

Good to know the digital to analog difference, it's not going anywhere near a computer, but still being used between a source with a good digital out to a dac.

But since valhallas go by being reference cables, I was mostly wondering if anyone have tried better, similarly priced coax cables.

 

[scootermafia]

Oyaide Digital Interconnects | KOSMIC.us

The DB-510 at $165 is going to be tough to beat. I don't know what sort of voodoo tech is in the digital Valhallas but they're going to be at least 10x the price, and with the OCC silver center conductor, cryo treatment, and high tech shielding it's a nice deal that not too many people know about.

I scoped out the Valhalla stuff and it's damn nice, some very high tech stuff, but at $3000+ it's not cheap.

 

[Lilac1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootermafia /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oyaide Digital Interconnects | KOSMIC.us The DB-510 at $165 is going to be tough to beat. I don't know what sort of voodoo tech is in the digital Valhallas but they're going to be at least 10x the price, and with the OCC silver center conductor, cryo treatment, and high tech shielding it's a nice deal that not too many people know about. I scoped out the Valhalla stuff and it's damn nice, some very high tech stuff, but at $3000+ it's not cheap.

It's hard to judge source components without a clear reference, so if something holds reference quality, it helps in judging wether or not the other components are on par.

But I see that the valhallas are available in different lengths than your example cables. Is there an optimal length for a digital coaxial cable?

 

[Pars]

Hard to say if Nordost or Oyaide control the impedance strictly at 75 ohms or not... my bet would be not. Silver, cryo, etc. should have no effect here either. 1.5M or longer is supposed to be best for digital; reduces the impact of reflections arriving at the same time as an edge transition at the receiver. If I were to spend money on a digital cable, I would probably do a Stereovox XV2 or possibly Art Audio.

Or build my own.

 

[Lilac1]

Thanks!

 

[scootermafia]

The Oyaide with BNC is impedance controlled. No RCA digital cable can hit true 75 ohm due to the shape of the end termination. But the BNC Oyaide is set to exactly 75 ohm. It's tech is not quite as lavish as that in the Nordost, but how expensive is your entire system?

 

[Currawong]

A few of us found that using an 18ft/5m regular Canare BNC to BNC cable gave the best results. All the Van Den Hul cables I have here are technically 75 Ohm (except the RCA plugs) and switching them around I noticed no difference. For Valhalla money I'd honest buy a better DAC.

 

[alvin sawdust]

Would like to throw my hat into the ring with the kci pegasus.Received my cable last week and it has left me scratching my head at how much difference a cable transfering 1s and 0s can make.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alvin sawdust /img/forum/go_quote.gif Would like to throw my hat into the ring with the kci pegasus.Received my cable last week and it has left me scratching my head at how much difference a cable transfering 1s and 0s can make.

Just wondering, in comparison to what cable previously and with what equipment?

 

[alvin sawdust]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just wondering, in comparison to what cable previously and with what equipment?

Previous cables were virtual dynamics master LE 2.0,the missing link cryo binary star,chord signature (which i thought was crap) and a canare which i thought was real value for money.
The pegasus has 24k gold signal cable and a pure silver return cable with xhadow rca's.
I use it between a teac p700 transport and monarchy nm24 dac,amp is darkvoice 337se.I dont feel the need to open my wallet again for a while.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scootermafia /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Oyaide with BNC is impedance controlled. No RCA digital cable can hit true 75 ohm due to the shape of the end termination. But the BNC Oyaide is set to exactly 75 ohm. It's tech is not quite as lavish as that in the Nordost, but how expensive is your entire system?

generally yes, but Eichmann Bullets do, as they utilize a radically different design. if you want to get right down to it, no connector that has to be soldered can maintain a perfect 75ohms connection and only cheapie canare type and a couple other industry type (non-audiophile) connectors produce them. other than Bocchino, which have other reasons they dont copmply; making a 75ohm B2 wouldnt be an easy task hey scooter??

as far as recommendations. i'll stay out of that one sorry OP

 

[Pars]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quote: Originally Posted by scootermafia The Oyaide with BNC is impedance controlled. No RCA digital cable can hit true 75 ohm due to the shape of the end termination. But the BNC Oyaide is set to exactly 75 ohm. It's tech is not quite as lavish as that in the Nordost, but how expensive is your entire system? generally yes, but Eichmann Bullets do, as they utilize a radically different design.

Reference, other than the manufacturer saying they are 75 ohm with no further specs (tolerance, etc.)?

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp if you want to get right down to it, no connector that has to be soldered can maintain a perfect 75ohms connection and only cheapie canare type and a couple other industry type (non-audiophile) connectors produce them. other than Bocchino, which have other reasons they dont copmply; making a 75ohm B2 wouldnt be an easy task hey scooter?? as far as recommendations. i'll stay out of that one sorry OP

Canare "75 ohm" RCAs aren't. But they are pretty nice RCAs...

The reason that RCAs cannot be true 75 ohm has to do with the center/ground shell spacing. Apparently the WBT next-gen come the closest, but only if you also use their female RCAs.

EDIT: I think I understand what you were getting at, in that if you split the center and ground shield to solder the conductors, as in most RCAs, you cannot maintain the impedance.