[shamu144]

I received mine yesterday. After 4 hours burning, my first impresions are mitigated but very promising... I need more time to settle my opinion.
 
The presentation is slightly different than that of the Apogee WE I have been using for quite some time now... Fuller, richer, but achieving this by adding more density and weight to the notes (feeling more organic?), and not by modifying the tonal balance. Very nice holographic soundstage imaging, especially depth.... Supreme coherency. Lot's of silence. Overall, a more relaxed and smoother presentation (nothing to see with tube smoothness but rather with the liquidity of the music), though not by a big margin. I think I can understand why some would call it lifeless, since it eases the flow of the music, and depending on the rest of your system or what you ar eused to, it could lead to a too much laid back sound. But it seems to work very well in my system (very fast and resolving). It can also feel a little thick/muddy at times if you are used to a slighty thinner sound, but pay attention to articulation of notes, it is still excellent, with plenty of microdynamic...
 
It looks like a winner for me, but I need more time to become more familiar with its sound. Anyway, thank you so much Slim.a for bringing this to our knowledge, as it seems a solid recommendation.

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

I think I can understand why some would call it lifeless, since it eases the flow of the music, and depending on the rest of your system or what you ar eused to, it could lead to a too much laid back sound. ... It can also feel a little thick/muddy at times

 
That would be the type of sound I personally try to avoid at all costs.  Do report back after more use.  

 

[downsize]

I just don't understand cables that impart their own characteristics on the sound .... A good cable should impart NOTHING on the sound. Neither adding nor subtracting anything.  That is called "transparency" , and that is ALL I want a cable to do ...

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

I have been searching for about 7 yrs to find a digital cable that beats the $100 cable I still use today. I replaced a very expensive Kimber Orchid when this it was bettered by this cable. Since then, I have tried the Stereovox ( not enough bass ), Nordost Silver Shadow ( not enough bass and too etched ), Oyaide DR-510 ( way too smooth and lifeless ), Analysis Plus Digital Oval ( not bad really ) and the Tara Labs Digital One ( too lush and warm ) .....
 
No matter what I have tried, I have never been able to improve upon the cable my cousin makes. You would think I would wise up and quit looking , but the audiophile mindset never rests !  LOL

Quote:

I just don't understand cables that impart their own characteristics on the sound .... A good cable should impart NOTHING on the sound. Neither adding nor subtracting anything.  That is called "transparency" , and that is ALL I want a cable to do ...

 
Hi downsize,
 
Could you be more explicit about what cable you are referring to?

Also, could you be more specific about your test system? Did you make sure that the digital part of your chain was 75 ohms throughout?

 

[lag0a]

From what I've read online in various forums, Oyaide power cables are known for a smooth and laid back sound signature. I don't know if that also applies to their digital interconnect line of products but they should be pretty consistent. This is a good thing if you use in wall power without a power conditioner as it would cut down the brightness or digital sound of your audio gear as you need power for your gear to send that signal through the Oyaide digital interconnect which relays part of its sound signature to your whole audio system. I believe all cables impart some signature to your audio gear but some does a better job at introducing music closer to your taste or live presentation depending on the metal, geometry, RF/EMI rejection, connectors, and so forth.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

From what I've read online in various forums, Oyaide power cables are known for a smooth and laid back sound signature. I don't know if that also applies to their digital interconnect line of products but they should be pretty consistent. This is a good thing if you use in wall power without a power conditioner as it would cut down the brightness or digital sound of your audio gear as you need power for your gear to send that signal through the Oyaide digital interconnect which relays part of its sound signature to your whole audio system. I believe all cables impart some signature to your audio gear but some does a better job at introducing music closer to your taste or live presentation depending on the metal, geometry, RF/EMI rejection, connectors, and so forth.

That's what their coaxial cable sounds like so you may be right.

 

[SaiSai]

I have one as coaxial cable, bought another two yesterday as interconnect cables, they work well together and sounds awesome to me!

 

[suseeb]

 
Quote:Hello slim.a, I would like to buy Oyaide DB-510. But to connect the Digital output of my CDP, I need a BNC Female/RCA Male adaptor.
Please suggest some Good quality branded adaptors. Digital cables with the combination of two different type of connectors is a correct way?
My Paradisea DAC has both RCA & BNC inputs. For the Pure 75 Ohms, I crave for BNC. Still I can connect a BNC in DAC side only.
Thank you,
Suseeb. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoFGR /img/forum/go_quote.gif Damn that is not the answer that i wanted to hear Sending the dac19mk3 back to china and receiving it back after 7-10 days is too much of a hassle for me right now, damn first my C2C upgrade version compass and dac19mk3 became discontinued so soon and now this. I should have put more thought to it before buying my DAC, i thought that power is power spdif is spdif and cables are cables until the day i tried the blue dragon V3 on my Q40s , do you believe that moving from x-fi titanium -> optical toslink to hiface -> Qyaide DR-510 will still be a worthy upgrade ? any shops for the hiface ?

You shouldn't worry too much about BNC vs. RCA coaxial. Even if Kingwa has found that BNC has 10 times less measured jitter, I found that the difference was rather small in my system. For example I tried all digital cables in both the BNC input and the RCA input.
To use the RCA input, I used a cheap BNC to RCA adaptor (nothing fancy). The difference was rather small between the two inputs. Of course, the BNC one was superior but it was a small change in sound quality.
The change in sound quality is much bigger when changing digital cables or transports.

On the other hand, I did try the optical input with the dac19mk3 but it was clearly inferior to the spdif inputs (RCA and BNC).

If you are not planning to upgrade your dac in the short term, and in my opinion, the Hiface + Qyaide DR-510 should provide you a big jump in sound quality compared to your current source (x-fi + optical). By the way, even after listening to the 2 inputs (BNC vs. RCA), I wouldn't personally send back to china just for upgrading the BNC input. It is not worth it in my opinion as the quality of the digital cable and the source affected the sound the most.

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

Hello slim.a, I would like to buy Oyaide DB-510. But to connect the Digital output of my CDP, I need a BNC Female/RCA Male adaptor.
Please suggest some Good quality branded adaptors. Digital cables with the combination of two different type of connectors is a correct way?
My Paradisea DAC has both RCA & BNC inputs. For the Pure 75 Ohms, I crave for BNC. Still I can connect a BNC in DAC side only.
Thank you,

 
Hi Suseeb,
 
Most of my equipment have BNC connectors, so I didn't really put too much time searching for the best bnc to rca adapter. I am curently using a cheap one bought from Blue Jeans Cables. (see here: http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/adapters/index.htm)
 
Van den Hul makes some nice adapters (see here: http://www.vandenhul.com/p_IA01.aspx). They seemed very interesting but I could never find where to buy them.
 
While I am aware that in theory that having 75 ohms is very important in digital audio (to minimize reflections, jitter...), I have that the "sound" of the cable itself is more noticeable than the type of connectors/adapters (to these ears).

 

[slim.a]

Quote:

From what I've read online in various forums, Oyaide power cables are known for a smooth and laid back sound signature. I don't know if that also applies to their digital interconnect line of products but they should be pretty consistent. This is a good thing if you use in wall power without a power conditioner as it would cut down the brightness or digital sound of your audio gear as you need power for your gear to send that signal through the Oyaide digital interconnect which relays part of its sound signature to your whole audio system. I believe all cables impart some signature to your audio gear but some does a better job at introducing music closer to your taste or live presentation depending on the metal, geometry, RF/EMI rejection, connectors, and so forth.

I very much agree with the your statement. All the cables impart some signature to the chain.
 
When judging the Oyaide digital cable, one has to take into account not only the sonic signature of the main components (headphones, DAC, amp) but also the interconnects and power cords.
 
In my personal (subjective) experience, I have found that the sonic signature of systems using no power conditioning and "stock" power cords (using pvc coating and sub par conductors) are rather follow: bloated lower midrange, harsh and unrefined highs. In such a system, using the Oyaide digital cable will give you the impression that the lower end is slow and thick and that the highs are not sparkly enough.
On a properly tuned and fast system, the Oyaide will sound the closer to the truth.
 
Some people judge equipment and components relative to each other. While it is important to use such a method, one should also listen to how a specific component brings closer or farther away from the sound of live instruments and voices. My ears find it less objectionable to have a bass/midrange/high "imbalance" than to have deviation withing the bass, midrange and highs.
What I mean is that I put more emphasis on how a specific component preserve the timber of instruments and voices rather than what I think the balance between bass/midrange/highs should be.
 
There is a difference between having a component (or cable) that has a neutral tonal balance and a component thas is tonally neutral. The Oyaide is (to my ears) the most tonally neutral digital cable I have tried to date (include cables that cost more). When you listen to specific instruments that hard to render by digital components: violins, pianos, glass harmonicas... the Oyaide is the one that gets the closest to have a real instrument in front of you.
 
Switching from older HD650 to the ALO recabled Beyer T1s, the gap in resolution and tonal neutrality between the Oyaide and other cables (even high performance ones) is more apparent.
 
Does it mean the Oyaide should be used in any system? No, as it requires systems that have very little "excess fat". By that I mean that if you haven't tackled issues such as interconnects, power cords and power filtration, there is a definite possibility that the Oyaide will sound slow. On a perfectly "tweaked" system, the Oyaide can bring you very close to the representation of real instruments.
With the Oyaide in my chain and using a good recording such the "Vivaldi - Concerto for 2 violins - Carmignola and Mullova", you can not only hear the sound of violins as being ... violins but you clearly hear the distinction between the Stradivarius and the Guadanini played by the two soloists. While I high performance cable such as Hifi Cables Sobek can also render violins convincingly, it doesn't dig as deep in the recording and the violins are not as different sounding as it the case with the Oyaide.
I don't even mention the Stereovox XV2 because one of the reason I sold it was because it made violins sound a little artificial. (I tried the XV2 in many transport/DAC configurations and also on a high end speaker system).
 
This is a pretty long post but I hope it helps put in perspective my review. Every reviewer (or listener) put a different emphasis on specific areas of sound reproduction. Ultra high end audio might get every parameter right but in the case of mid range equipment, you are bound to have compromises. To my ears, the Oyaide has the less objectionable compromises but other people with different equipment will undoubtedly reach different conclusions. This is what makes this hobby fun.

 

[slim.a]

For those who are considering buying the Oyaide digital cable, I recommend reading the thread that upstateguy started over here: http://www.tweak-fi.com/apps/forums/topics/show/3573532-oyaide-cable

 

[googleborg]

edit: there's just no point.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

For those who are considering buying the Oyaide digital cable, I recommend reading the thread that upstateguy started over here: http://www.tweak-fi.com/apps/forums/topics/show/3573532-oyaide-cable

Pretty good discussion. Sorry I don't have time to participate in another forum. I'll just post some background info here since this thread is relevant.
 
1) I owned the Oyaide DR-510 (RCA) while slim has the DB-510 (BNC) --> possible source of variation
 
2) The differences among all these cables was subtle. Certainly not on the level of some SS vs tube amps I've heard. But, I heard better dynamics and speed with the BJC. There was less grain and a larger soundstage with the Oyaide. This wasn't just a result of the Oyaide having less treble, it really sounded like it had better quality treble. Neither was harsh-sounding, though the BJC had a bit more treble and associated detail, while the Oyaide had a slightly thicker and warmer bass.
 
3) When I got my new coax, I realized the other 2 cables were inferior in almost every respect. Soundstage, speed, detail, neutrality and transparency.

 

[suseeb]

Hello slim.a, last week I received my BNC Oyaide BD-510 and connected to my Paradisea DAC,
sorry slim.a, in the sound there was no dynamics, energy, enthusiasm. It was very smooth n soft,
there was no attack. Then I decided to add an BNC-RCA adapter and pluged in the cable to RCA
input. Yes, now I fell the fullness by get back all the missed things, now the sound is as that what
should be.. I think the cable should  be broken in at least 100hrs. So, the BNC connection not
suitable for every system & every one's taste. Please tell me that when we add an adapter to BNC,
is there any change in the impedance causing distortion? It is said that the outer body mass of the
(outer shell)RCA connecter should be less like in the Eichmann's connecter. Is it correct?
Regards.   
   

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Hello slim.a, last week I received my BNC Oyaide BD-510 and connected to my Paradisea DAC,
sorry slim.a, in the sound there was no dynamics, energy, enthusiasm. It was very smooth n soft,
there was no attack. Then I decided to add an BNC-RCA adapter and pluged in the cable to RCA
input. Yes, now I fell the fullness by get back all the missed things, now the sound is as that what
should be.. I think the cable should  be broken in at least 100hrs. So, the BNC connection not
suitable for every system & every one's taste. Please tell me that when we add an adapter to BNC,
is there any change in the impedance causing distortion? It is said that the outer body mass of the
(outer shell)RCA connecter should be less like in the Eichmann's connecter. Is it correct?
Regards.   
   

This description of the Oyaide is pretty much spot on, according to my hearing.
 
I should also clarify that my current coax and both the BJC cables (1.5ft and 6ft) were more similar in their tonal balance than the Oyaide. This further indicated that the Oyaide was the one that was soft and smooth as opposed to the other cables being bright and lean.