Why do digital cables sound different?

For sake of clarity, i am not Sean125. I didn't want anyone to confuse my departure with his arrival. Given our different points of view on power cords, it should be obvious that we aren't one and the same. Toodles... Sean
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Sean, "departure"? What did I miss?

I use the i2s stock cable.Would upgrading this type of cable help my Dac & Transport sound better? If so, HOW? Are silver conductors better then copper for this type?

I have a question for the engineers here. When playing around with cables I found something odd. Let me give you an example. If I used a particular belden cable design, albeit in different guages, using all teflon insulation and silver coated copper, I found a consistent flavour to these cables regardless of their application. You will have to trust me that I verified this with some blind testing, but once I recognised the flavour I could always hear when one was inserted into the system. This happened whether a fat one was used for a power cable, or a speaker cable, or a thinner one was used as an audio interconnect or a digital interconnect. I am not saying I didn't hear other things about these cables, but I am saying that there was a consistent additive quality, perhaps some form of ringing, regardless of the application of the particular type of cable.

I recently added such a cable to power a CD player that was connected to the system I was listening to but was not the source I was listening to and immediately heard its sonic signature. I was not expecting to hear it, and was stunned to hear it, so I don't think the issue was psychologically induced.

So other than me being mad (which is a whole 'nother question), is it possible that any cable connected to a system is an antenna of some sort and introduces audible effects even when used as a digital cable, provided there is some analogue component that is electrically connected in some way to that cable?

Red: I've heard very similar sonic traits when using certain analogue cables as digital cables. Since the impedances between transport to DAC would normally be very different from DAC to preamp, another line level source to preamp or preamp to amp, i don't know why this is. Having said that, some folks that i've talked to that have cables built to their spec insist that every manufacturer introduces their own sonic signature into what they make. That is, the grade of copper or silver, how the wire is formed or drawn, etc... all plays a key in the sonic signature. As such, some folks have had cabling made to the same spec by several different manufacturers and they all sound different. This is the kind of stuff that boggles the mind yet would probably reveal quite a bit if someone were willing to devote the time to research the subject. Then again, maybe that's why "audiophile" cables cost so much i.e. we have to pay for all of the R&D that's taking place : ) Sean
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