Thanks for the suggestions. I do have a contact over at PS Audio, so it can't hurt to ask. Meanwhile, I can go with my present pedestrian cables to get an idea of what that's like before I start climbing this upgrade ladder. Stay tuned...
HDMI cable for I2S
Well, the old upgrade itch had to be scratched, and even though it's a little behind the times now, I've invested in a refurbished PS Audio PWT and a used PWD MKII for my redbook CDs. The former is currently being assessed by the folks at PS Audio because it seemed unnaturally noisy when I received it, and the DAC hasn't actually arrived yet but should be here in the next day or so. So now that I can connect the two via HDMI using the I2S protocol, I need to stir up the old question of whether I'll get any advantage by shelling out some money for a high-quality HDMI cable? There's been a lot of verbiage devoted to this debate, but I would like to hear some real-world experiences. Have any of you compared different HDMI cables in this application, and did it make any difference? Of course one can carry this to its logical extreme, but I was thinking more along the lines of Audioquest Carbon (I use the coax versions of these in my system and think they're very good) or even their very modestly-priced Pearl cable. There's a Wire World Silver Starlight 7 available here on Audiogon just now, but I just can't work out whether it would make an audible difference over a standard (read: cheap) high-speed HDMI cable. Thanks for any input you may have on this.
BTW, speaking of logical extremes: http://www.audiolab.com/audioquest-diamond-hdmi-digital-audio-video-cable-with-ethernet/?utm_medium=...
BTW, speaking of logical extremes: http://www.audiolab.com/audioquest-diamond-hdmi-digital-audio-video-cable-with-ethernet/?utm_medium=...
Showing 7 responses by cooper52
Update: the PWT has been repaired and returned to me (high praise for PS Audio's customer service for how they handled this issue), and I'm currently listening via I2S through an old Monster HDMI cable I already had. Haven't really made my mind up yet about the combination of PWT/PWD hooked up this way, but the things I'm unsure about might not be the fault of the cable. I'm starting this journey at the ground floor (so to speak), awaiting a Pangea cable I ordered from AudioAdvisor. We'll see if it sounds any different. I'll give it at least a week or two before making any judgments. |
Further update: the Pangea cable has been in the system for a while now and to be honest, I can't hear any differences between any of my various HDMI cables. Maybe doing so (if any such improvement is to be had) would require a really big step up the price ladder, but as it stands I'm not very happy with what I'm hearing. These issues will be addressed in a separate thread in the Digital section where I think that discussion would be more appropriate. |
justinm, thanks for your posts and for sharing your experience with the cables. I'm still really on the fence about spending some serious cash for a significant upgrade to the HDMI cable, as it sounds like this would make only a minor difference. I was wondering if you had experimented with different power cables in the PWT/PWDII combination? Did this make any difference? I'm trying hard not to blame my speakers for the things I dislike about this setup. That conversation is over in the Digital section of the forum. |
Update: am currently trying out a Transparent Audio High Performance HDMI cable I found here on Audiogon and initial impressions are that though it sounds slightly smoother than the Pangea, there's not a huge amount of difference. Not really an incentive to climb further up the upgrade ladder here, I think. |
Johnread57: I did a little poking around about the Oppo and discovered that while it doesn’t support the I2s protocol, but you can buy an add-on card that will enable I2s output via HDMI. Here’s the link: www.oppomod.comThey have a number of different cards, so scroll down to the "I2s Card Upgrade." They confirm that it’s compatible with PS Audio but I’m not sure if it’s compatible with your particular Oppo model. I have no experience with this company, so can’t comment on their quality/reliability. My own experience with the PS Audio PWD II is that the I2s/HDMI connection was indeed significantly superior to the coax connection. |
And a final update here: I’ve jettisoned both of the PS Audio components, the PWD II and the PWT. Sorry, but I just never was able to come to terms with the sound of them, and no amount of playing around with the cabling could tame their shrillness. Not sure if anybody else has had this issue with these units, but in the end, I kept my Cambridge Audio CXU player and replaced the PWD II with an AMR DP-777 DAC which is in fact a tubed DAC (I swore I’d never go there, but DANG this thing sounds good!) and I’m a much happier camper. I see there’s a newer version of the AMR DAC (the SE version) but I don’t know how much this improves on the original. AMR’s website lists all these as "Legacy Products" now, so I’m not sure they’re even in the business of manufacturing them any more. Any of you know more about this? |