Since the preceding post was written, difficulties with this set-up have emerged due to subtle accumulations of RFI on the tone arm cables. To its credit, PhonoCube has enough sensitivity to render this RFI in the wire more audible than any other phono stage I have heard. Also, I am certain that the turntable itself is acting as an antenna and passing on certain amounts of RFI/EMI to nearby PhonoCube. Simply put, at the heart of the matter is that this "minimal signal length TT/PhonoStage hook-up" involves the danger that high-frequency energy can be passed fairly directly into the phono stage. I advise caution, esp. for people who live in areas of high RFI/EMI.
Two things were done: 1.) light-weight, flexible foil shields were installed on the tonearm wire, and 2.) an RFI housing/trap was built to surround PhonoCube. However, night-time listening must be conducted in dim light until I cover the shields and traps with nonreflective material: a 125 Watt shined at the TT system from across the room is enough to cause discharges.
The results of installing OTA digital cables (straight, with no knots or uneven lengths) was positive. I do not know if it is the correct impedance, but with its fast transient response, OTA Stratos wire is perfectly fitted to transmit the bandwidth of digital audio data (which, unlike analog audio, occurs in the Megaherz range).
Surprisingly, the performance of these OTA digital cables deteriorated quite alot with shields. Unshielded, they were clear, detailed, precise, focused, pure. Shielding obliterated their purity. They became awkward, wanting in precision and emphasis. Unshielded, I took a pleasure in digital OTA comparable to the one I get from the bloom given off by well-designed tube amplifiers. Shielding made it grey, warm, blurry. I do not know the precise reasons, but make the effort to construct shields and you will see for yourself.
Two things were done: 1.) light-weight, flexible foil shields were installed on the tonearm wire, and 2.) an RFI housing/trap was built to surround PhonoCube. However, night-time listening must be conducted in dim light until I cover the shields and traps with nonreflective material: a 125 Watt shined at the TT system from across the room is enough to cause discharges.
The results of installing OTA digital cables (straight, with no knots or uneven lengths) was positive. I do not know if it is the correct impedance, but with its fast transient response, OTA Stratos wire is perfectly fitted to transmit the bandwidth of digital audio data (which, unlike analog audio, occurs in the Megaherz range).
Surprisingly, the performance of these OTA digital cables deteriorated quite alot with shields. Unshielded, they were clear, detailed, precise, focused, pure. Shielding obliterated their purity. They became awkward, wanting in precision and emphasis. Unshielded, I took a pleasure in digital OTA comparable to the one I get from the bloom given off by well-designed tube amplifiers. Shielding made it grey, warm, blurry. I do not know the precise reasons, but make the effort to construct shields and you will see for yourself.