[Doc B.]

Quote:

 
In what type of audio device do you see a 100K ohm load? I admit I haven't used my electronics training in more than 25 years...
 
Also, although I acknowledge this might apply to cables and interconnects, how would it apply to a digital (USB) cable?

Tube gear like preamps and amps often has an input impedance in the 50K ohm to 250K ohm range or even higher, like some guitar amps.
 
USB cables need to address some different issues than analog audio cables, like round trip delay. The copper in the cable must be able to operate very close to its theoretical maximum transmission speed (velocity factor) when streaming high res file data. Thus there is some indication that wire quality will be very important as well as cable geometry. USB cables also share with analog cables the common concerns for proper shielding and solid connections, which can both degrade the signal if less than optimal. All of these kinds of requirements tend to be addressed best with fatter or less flexible cable types and thus the balance of performance and convenience can be a tricky one. Surely at some point someone will make a USB cable that looks like a garden hose and costs beau coup bucks.

 

[sachu]

Quote:

That's interesting, because we have some Monoprice cables that measure about 3-4 dB down at 10kHz running from a 200mH source into a 100K ohm load. We had to retire them from use in the lab because of this. So it's not just a matter of faith, even if you can't hear the problem you can measure some of the problems that exist with some cables and the way they interact. It's not just source and load impedance that matter, though that is very important. Capacitance has a large influence and different insulating materials do color the sound in different ways. These are reproducible effects on a system that can resolve the differences - that said, a lot of systems may not show a difference. If a Monoprice cable costs $2.50...I'm not saying that multi thousand dollar cables make any sense at all, I've heard systems completely ruined by the use of some of the most expensive cables I've ever seen ...but if that $2.50 cable is in a $250 system the system might not have the resolution necessary to show a difference with a different cable. And thus you might not need to spend a bunch on a more expensive cable.

I have been using monoprice balanced interconnects, so far i can't say i have a problem with them nor can i say i hear a dip in the 10kHz region. especially a 3-4dB would be audible.
 
I will probably be using the same monorprice interconnects with me at the meet.
 
Single ended however i love my Crimson RM music Links. 
 
Looking forward to listening to the Bottlehead DAC and chatting with you again
 
Quote:

Sachu...I happen to have a wireless keyboard and mouse (and can bring a monitor if you can't get one) that has already been set up to work with a MacBook Pro...I assume it will work with your Mac mini...
 

That would be awesome!!
 
I don't think my mac mini has a display port, its DVI output only i think. Will check later tonight and let you know.
 

 

[palmfish]

Quote:

I have been using monoprice balanced interconnects, so far i can't say i have a problem with them nor can i say i hear a dip in the 10kHz region. especially a 3-4dB would be audible.
 
I will probably be using the same monorprice interconnects with me at the meet.
 
Single ended however i love my Crimson RM music Links. 
 
Looking forward to listening to the Bottlehead DAC and chatting with you again
 
That would be awesome!!
 
I don't think my mac mini has a display port, its DVI output only i think. Will check later tonight and let you know.
 

I have a spare 19" monitor I'm not using right now. It has VGI and DVI inputs, but I'm not a Mac guy so I don't know if it will work for you. I'm happy to bring it though...

 

[KingStyles]

Taking off work early on that friday, so I will probably be able to be there to help set up around 5:00.

 

[Doc B.]

 
Quote:

I have been using monoprice balanced interconnects, so far i can't say i have a problem with them nor can i say i hear a dip in the 10kHz region. especially a 3-4dB would be audible.
 
 

Certainly cables will react differently in different systems, and there is more than one Monoprice cable. In our case we didn't measure just a dip, the suckers rolled the HF off badly, measurable as 3-4dB down at 10kHz, certainly more at higher frequencies that we didn't measure. Most likely it's due to excessive cable capacitance, but we didn't bother measuring the C before we threw them in the trash. However this was not my initial point. My point is simply that cable differences we hear can be measurable. To those who don't hear (or don't want to hear) differences, I envy you at times.

 

[palmfish]

Quote:

 
Certainly cables will react differently in different systems, and there is more than one Monoprice cable. In our case we didn't measure just a dip, the suckers rolled the HF off badly, measurable as 3-4dB down at 10kHz, certainly more at higher frequencies that we didn't measure. Most likely it's due to excessive cable capacitance, but we didn't bother measuring the C before we threw them in the trash. However this was not my initial point. My point is simply that cable differences we hear can be measurable. To those who don't hear (or don't want to hear) differences, I envy you at times.

 
You make tube amps, right?
 
What is the damping factor for one of your amps?
 

 

[Doc B.]

The damping factor of one of our single ended triode amps is typically around 2 or 3 as we use no global negative feedback. The direction my posts took really doesn't have much to do with the meet at FPE and I apologize for derailing the thread with cable talk. But I'd be happy to talk about cables, impedances, damping factor, etc. at the meet.

 

[BIG POPPA]

Doc B, this is why we have the meets. Somebody gets something stuck in his head and gets it it answered at the meets. Vicious Cycle. Have some Livewire's trips coming and almost picked up some B & W P5's today.

 

[Equus]

And here I thought we went to the meets for the after-meets. 

 

[Austin Morrow]

Quote:

And here I thought we went to the meets for the after-meets. 

We do. 

 

[BIG POPPA]

Aftermeet's is the frosting on the cake

 

[curbfeeler]

Quote:

Hmm - bad news. It turns out the E-mu 0404 USB I was planning to use still doesn't work right in Win7. SPDIF is DOA, only analog outputs work, and E-mu/Creative aren't releasing any driver updates to make it work.
Does anyone have a 24/96k capable USB interface I could borrow to use with the XDA-1? Otherwise, I'll have to lug out one of my desktop PC's with SPDIF

 

I gave up on the E-mu because it was so fiddly. I use a much better USB to s/pdif device now, the jkeny-modified HiFace, Mk II. 24/192 with either BNC or RCA connection available. Your XDA-1 accepts RCA but not BNC. I will bring the jkeny with RCA, so we could audition it with your XDA-1. I'm using the jkeny Mk II with kernel streaming under win7 64-bit and XP 32-bit. Save the money you'd spend on a half-way solution and spend it on a jkeny HiFace.

 

[Equus]

Would love to hear that hooked up to my BADA, Stan, but I think it does BNC, and not RCA. 
 
If anyone has a good digital transport that does AES, BNC, or optical, I'd love to take some time and hook up the rest of my rig to it at the meet.  Trying to see how much it would be worth scrapping the SB Touch in the chain for something else.

 

[BIG POPPA]

Picked up the B&W P5's to bring to the meet. Started organizing the gear that is going to the meet. Starting to get into serious "Meet" mode.

 

[Doc B.]

If you remind right before the meet I'll bring an RCA to BNC adapter.