Schiit Audio Bifrost 2
Mar 16, 2024 at 7:59 AM Post #4,774 of 4,957
Mar 16, 2024 at 10:33 AM Post #4,775 of 4,957
I don't think one has to get fancy with S/PDIF cables at this level anyway. I just use those $15 very thin 75-Ohm terminated Superbat or the like SDI video cables from Amazon.
I agree completely. As you've referenced above, there are really only two things that are important here: good quality construction, and a true 75-ohm impedance from end to end. I have a couple cables using Canare wire and connectors that meet both those requirements, and they were pretty inexpensive (around $25 for 1/2 meter and $30 for 1 meter, IIRC).
 
Mar 16, 2024 at 6:51 PM Post #4,776 of 4,957
There is NO NOISE generated on a digital signal. Stop the nonsense.
Digital electronics generate HF noise when they operate. Why do you think Schiit uses isolation transformers in Unison on both sides of the USB receiver? I mean... heck, sigma-delta ADCs and DACs both generate very measurable amounts of HF noise (which is why it's often best to only listen to 24/96 versions of recordings, and not the 24/192 versions, incidentally). Why do you think an optical connection sounds noticeably warmer/darker on many DACs? Why is if you disconnect a notebook computer from the wall power that the output of a connected DAC sounds warmer/darker?

Not about noise specifically, but this page goes through the issues that S/PDIF has.
 
Mar 16, 2024 at 8:50 PM Post #4,777 of 4,957
Digital electronics generate HF noise when they operate. Why do you think Schiit uses isolation transformers in Unison on both sides of the USB receiver? I mean... heck, sigma-delta ADCs and DACs both generate very measurable amounts of HF noise (which is why it's often best to only listen to 24/96 versions of recordings, and not the 24/192 versions, incidentally). Why do you think an optical connection sounds noticeably warmer/darker on many DACs? Why is if you disconnect a notebook computer from the wall power that the output of a connected DAC sounds warmer/darker?

Not about noise specifically, but this page goes through the issues that S/PDIF has.
None of that matters to your 0 or 1... it either gets sent through or it doesn't there is no inbetween.
 
Mar 16, 2024 at 8:58 PM Post #4,779 of 4,957
Wait is this WHY?!?!?!?

I've noticed this consistently on many DACs.🤯

While Coax I find it sharper than USB most of the time.
Has nothing to do with the transfer of the data, it's still digital 0 and 1... how the DAC manufacturers handle the digital > analog stage(s) can vary... they may make some paths better than others.
 
Mar 16, 2024 at 11:04 PM Post #4,782 of 4,957
There's this thing called jitter.
How much jitter are you actually getting? You would need quite a lot to make a difference. Make sure you are using a in spec cable (note proper spec'd cable, not expensive cable).
 
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Mar 17, 2024 at 12:36 AM Post #4,784 of 4,957
Mar 17, 2024 at 12:59 AM Post #4,785 of 4,957
An interesting article, with some samples, that you can compare to recordings you have.

https://audioxpress.com/article/audio-electronics-is-digital-jitter-really-a-problem
Cool. One engineer's opinions (with a lot of handwaving), with references to other magazine articles including one of his own. He also admits that there may be more to the picture than things like SNR and frequency response. I would argue there certainly is, so on that I agree with the author.

Luckily I don't hear SNR and frequency response graphs. I have this really complex thing in my skull that gets impressions of things like imaging and fullness that aren't a simple 1:1 with what you see on 2 dimensional graphs. Psychoacoustics is a thing. We're not even close to fully understanding the brain.
 

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