Silver Coax question. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[theMaximus]

I can see that a lot of people are raving about silver digital interconnect and some even claim that CD sounds better with this miracle digital interconnect than using the analog output from your CD/DVD player. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't DAC more likely to dictate the sound from your CD player than interconnect? As I understand it, by using digital connection from your CD player to your receiver/preamp, you are bypassing the DAC in your CD player and using the DAC in your receiver/preamp, which may or may not be better than the DAC in your CD player. I always thought that good interconnects can prevent your hifi equipment from sounding worse than it is but can never take the sound quality beyond your component's limit. If your CD player's DAC is better than that of your receiver/preamp, which they normally are for high quality CD players, I doubt if you can get better sound by using a digital connection rather than analog. I guess there is no harm in trying both connections to see what you like better since sound quality is very subjective. It is definitely worth a try. However, I for one tried Audio Magic's silver digital coax and found the analog output from my Cambridge Audio Azur 540C CD player sounded better than using the built in DAC of my Rotel RSX-1056 (which I'm using as preamp for RB-1070 stereo amp) via digital coax. I guess there is a chance that Cat Cable's silver cable is far superior than my Audio Magic's.

[aud19]

I think it's more of a case of making the most of the signal to the pre/pro allowing it's DAC's to as good of a job as they possibly can. Depending on the DAC's in your player vs pre/pro, YMMV.

Jason

[Lex]

I thought about just wiping your post, as it really is a little bit anti-htg-advertiser. However, you gave it the benefit of the doubt, so I am going to let it stand. However:

If your CD player's DAC is better than that of your receiver/preamp, which they normally are for high quality CD players, I doubt if you can get better sound by using a digital connection rather than analog.,

Sorry, that statement isn't necessarily true. You don't know what kind of pre-pros they have, do you? Truly, only the very best CD players would possibly have the best DACs in them, and it's likely true that not very many people that are buying the cable actually have one. (Like 2000.00 or higher CD player)

I don't know anything about this Aud Maj cable you mentioned, and don't really want to, but I am going to venture to say, it can't have better materials than the new CAT Cables Clarion Digital Lynx (Yes, that's the name now). Also, the CAT is conditioned on a cable cooker to break it in. Some believe in this sort of process, some don't. It's ok either way, but I do condition it. The CAT's record speaks for itself. It's just just one or two people. Heck, I've shipped 6 this week alone.

Doug

[aud19]

Nice name BTW Doug :T ... :rofl:

As I said your mileage may vary depending on your DAC's in your player vs pre/pro. Most of us don't have better DAC's in our players as Doug pointed out. To be honest, people lucky enough to have truly high end systems should have at least as good or better DAC's in the pre/pro anyways where this cable would make a great deal of sense... What would be the point of having a $5000 CD player playing through a $500 receiver?

Jason

[DrJRapp]

I always thought that good interconnects can prevent your hifi equipment from sounding worse than it is but can never take the sound quality beyond your component's limit.

Yes, you are correct, interconnects are passive devices that in themselves cannot improve upon the sound......however, in some cases the limitations of an interconnect may help bring balance to a system. For example: If a system is overly bright, an interconnect with more of a "rounded" high end (read that high frequency loss) will make the system sound smoother and have better, fuller, soundstage. However, if a system's components lack detail and high end extension, there is no way that an interconnect is going to create that.

From an engineering perspective, theoretically, a copper wire is a better conductor of digital signals than is a silver wire. We have tons of data in support of that in NASA studies. Of course there always is the possibility of the "magical" effects of synergy coming into play. Also, if the so called "digital" signal is really an analog signal with digital superimposition components (which I believe was stated in an associated thread) then real improvenments may be possible with a silver conductor.