Why do digital cables sound different?

I share others' puzzlement here. Differences between coax and AES/EBU are perhaps easier to accept, but when comparing two different brands of coax, what can possibly be going on? In a conversation with a leading DAC designer earlier this week, he agreed there should be no differences as long as the cables are properly designed, which includes hitting the right impendence measurements. And he added that not all cables are designed properly. (There's also the camp that contends that cable length is very important in digital cables due to relections or something.) But increasingly, the DACs do such a good job of handling all of the timing issues that cable differences should be diminishing. I think I'm just repeating what others have said, but here's my new thought: my BS detector will really start ringing if I hear a claim that some brand's digital cables have sonic properties similar to their analog interconnects and speaker cables. E.g., Cardas Lightning has the characteristic Cardas warmth and fullness, Nordost digital cable is ultra fast but lean, etc. To my mind, whatever it is that lends cables their different sonic characteristics (if you believe that), will not lend the same characteristics to digital cable except by pure, unlikely coincidence. -Dan

Ask and ye shall receive. Frogman set off my BS detector. I'm open minded here and do no want to attack anyone personally, but a family resemblance suggests that the listener is projecting a family persona on the family members. Because the job of a digital cable is quite different from the job of an interconnect or speaker cable. If an interconnect rolls off high frequencies, will its digital counterpart also roll off the JUST THE BITS THAT CARRY THE HIGH FREQUENCY INFORMATION?

Fair enough, Frogman. Good post. I am mostly a subjectivist, have a lot of money invested in cables and hear a lot of differences between things that many argue must sound the same. I think being open minded works both ways. In this particular case, the idea of family resemblances flies so strongly in the face of common sense (to me, at any rate), that I feel we must temper our observations with an open mind to the possibility that what we observe may be influenced by what we expect to hear.

Jeez, that was terrific. Who are you?

"Yes" is the short answer. I don't necessarily agree, but that seems to be the point of view of this community.

Precisely. Which is why it is so curious that digital cables do seem to sound different from one another.

When in doubt about anything related to digital, just invoke "jitter".

Did you test only by doing a rapid A/B between cables? In my experience, that methodology usually yields a "no difference" conclusion.

Allow me to defend my position with this observation from personal experience: switching between tape and monitor when dubbing to a cassette deck, one might be hard-pressed to hear much difference. One would be very wrong.