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Why does my DAC sound so much better after upgrading digital SPDIF cable?

I like my Mps5 playback designs sacd/CD player but also use it as a DAC so that I can use my OPPO as a transport to play 24-96 and other high res files I burn to dvd-audio discs.

I was using a nordost silver shadow digital spdif cable between the transport and my dac as I felt it was more transparent and better treble than a higher priced audioquest digital cable a dealer had me audition.

I recently received the Synergistic Research Galileo new SX UEF digital cable.  Immediately I recognized that i was hearing far better bass, soundstage, and instrument separation than I had ever heard with high res files (non sacd),

While I am obviously impressed with this high end digital cable and strongly encourage others to audition it, I am puzzled how the cable transporting digital information to my DAC from my transport makes such a big difference.

The DAC take the digital information and shapes the sound so why should the cable providing it the info be so important. I would think any competently built digital cable would be adequate....I get the cable from the DAC to the preamp and preamp to amp matter but would think the cable to the DAC would be much less important.

I will now experiment to see if using the external transport to send red book CD files to my playback mps5 sounds better than using the transport inside the mps5 itself.

The MPS5 sounds pretty great for ca and awesome with SACD so doubt external transport will be improvement for redhook cds


128x128karmapolice
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
I have seen measurements showing jitter in Toslink, but they were showing >100kHz and even in the MHz range, so it has no influence on music.

Most jitter measurements are not useful if not even bogus. One number is insufficient unless there are plots to back it up.   When I reduced jitter from 22psec to 7psec with improvements to my Synchro-Mesh reclocker, the difference was easily audible to me and my customers.  You can never have jitter too low or inaudible IMO, at least not with todays technology.

It said these can effect jitter if all (cable and connector) are not 75ohm.

Very true, although the losses, dielectrics and even the conductor materials also have an effect.  The ONLY coax cable to be using is a BNC-BNC.  If you must have RCA connectors, use BNC to RCA adapters that are 75 ohms on the BNC end.  I verified last year that even Belden 1694A is not close enough to 75 ohms. I had used it as a reference for tuning my products and had to go back and retune all of them when I got an aerospace quality cable that is quite close to 75 ohms.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

rechsm
13 posts
 
I've got Steve's Synchro-mesh reclocker and cables and I have to say I find it annoying when people insist that he's got to be marketing the placebo effect when he's politely putting the data in front of you. And inviting you to check it for yourself. 

If you don't want to look at it, that's fine, but before you question his motives I think it's polite to point out that he's recommending an optical cable that he doesn't make, and in other threads he's recommending a whole ethernet rig that consists mostly of stuff made by other vendors like Wireworld. I'm particularly impressed that the guy only sells results he can prove empirically (he put it in his name!) and his biggest flaw in my opinion is that he is too polite to point that out when he could. 

Let me share with you this experiment I just did. My DAC, an Aesthetix Romulus, has a CD player in it. I put in a CD and press play, and I cue up that same track on Tidal via Sonos, which everybody knows is a lo-fi piece of garbage. I have the Sonos wired into my DAC via Steve's reclocker and cables. 

I cue everything up so I can switch between the CD and the Sonos source playing the same track. The added clarity and detail via Steve's rig is easy, obvious to hear. It just sounds better. It could be, of course, that the CD player or CD or whatever just sucks so much that it makes the bits here in the same room sound worse than bits coming from California. It could be placebo effect, of course.

The simpler explanation, which is that the bits going to the DAC are the same, but the Empirical rig is just dealing with jitter better. And if we think of each link in the digital chain as adding or reducing jitter, we're closer to understanding why it sounds the way it does.

I'm an idiot and whatever is wrong about this should reflect on me and not him. Obviously I'm a fan of his work and I think we can learn a little bit from him. But that's just me.

--Matthew
boxer12
1,703 posts
 
Anyone who thinks "bits are bits" are fooling themselves. If that is the case try a toslink cable from best buy & compare it to a true 75 ohm coax cable. I've done it / The difference is not subtle. I'm also sure that Steve's " Synchro-Mesh reclocker" would improve the sound even more. Just saying there are improvements to be had with the bits. 
zipost's avatar
zipost
112 posts
 
i strongly recommend looking into NBS cables.   Their coaxial cable are outstanding!  
cogito1965
16 posts
 
Ah! The ol' "Better hearing", "Better equipment" argument. Neither will defy physics. Moving your speakers 1" will have an infinitely larger effect on your systems sound compared to changing Toslink or RCA cables.
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