Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Digital Cables between 621 and Processors

To answer your question, I do not hear the difference between cheaper and more expensive cables that connect the HD621 to G68. But other designs (861?) may react differently to reflections from poorly built cables.

If a well built cable gives you peace of mind and lasts forever, isn't it worth the price of lunch?

Here we go again. My experience is I can't hear a difference and therefore my own personal opinion is the claims of the cable makers are nothing more than snake oil. So I use the cables Meridian includes.

Funny this come up considering I'm currently evaluating a number of digital cables. I make my own usually but I thought I should try the better "boutique" cables to benchmark that I'm doing it right.

Best digital tested in my system:
Wireworld Gold Starlight 6

Second best:
Meridian black cables with soldered WBT Nextgen RCA's

then there is alot of different cables that might not be much better than Meridian blue soldered cables.

I do really enjoy the Wireworld Gold Starlight 6 on mains L/R out from the HD621. There is never any strain, just pure dynamics and microdynamics better than the old M blues. I also tried the lesser Wireworld coax cables but I found them not as big step up from my old cables and therefore is not worth the $$ in my system.

I know its not the smartlink cables, but...

Which? Magazine (UK Consumers Association) recently lab tested a selection of (�10-�100) HDMI cables at 6.2Gb/s (more demanding than Bluray, but below the ultimate max spec of HDMI 1.3) and all passed the data without a single error occurring.

Their 'expert' viewers saw no difference in picture quality and their technical tests confirmed identical performances.

No comment on what the technical tests were, but the Consumers Association is an independent organisation who are normally pretty competent and thorough in their testing and analysis.

My own personal view is that cables can make a difference, but its as the result of something else, ie interference or something at the limit of its performance rating - in my case, poor design of a DVI plug on one of my cables that led to a poor electo/mechanical connection on the back of my TV - this resulted in HDCP handshaking issues. A cheap replacement cable, built to spec totally cured the problem.

I am a cable sceptic, and particularly so when it comes to digital cables. One thing I am sure of though, is that the Which? testers won't have heard of jitter.

The Meridian High Resolution (MHR) protocol was designed to overcome the jitter-inducing properties of coaxial cables - specifically the time-smear of the bit transitions caused by internal reflections inside the cable. (MHR does this by decorrelating the jitter from the audio signal by randomizing it during transmission). So it is possible that well designed and well terminated cables will have smaller reflections at their physical boundaries than poorly made cables, and will therefore induce less jitter.

Of course, with hi-res MHR between the HD621 and processor, and FIFO in the processor, this is kinda moot, no?

I think you will find they will have.

Digital data + very short cable runs + state-of-the-art error correction = inaudible differences

IMHO

Cliff

I agree, we are not talking miles of difference here. As usual, getting the room/acoustics right is the most important attribute.

Why I'm considering an expensive boutique cable rather than my perfectly fine M cables with WBT Nextgen RCA's soldered is just "topping" rather than anything else.

But I'm in the process of acquiring diffusion (mid/high frequencies) for the room (for which MRC won't do anything) so rest assured I'm not too delusional.. ;-)

I'm firmly in the don't-make-a-difference camp with VK et al here. But when these sectarian debates flare up I am always happily reminded of

"Are you with the Judean People's Digital Interconnect Front ?" "No! We're with the People's Digital Interconnect Front of Judea!"

Also I always like to point out that the fully digital studio where the CD was originally recorded was not cabled with Nordost Evolution Analysis Plus Ultimate 3, but with well-terminated Belden or Mogami coax. At about USD 0.10 a metre.

Regards

Mark

As I am sure you know, the crucial thing with HDMI cables is to get the high speed specification not the standard one; this has nothing to do with brand and very little to do with price.

I am surprised the Consumers' Association did not test 1.4. Actually, the licensing body HDMI have now banned use of terms such as 1.4 and are now insisting on cables stating their specifications such as high speed, deep colour, 3D etc etc.

They only stated at what speed they tested the cables at and no mention of what version HDMI they were testing with - possibly it had no relevance on the test or the 'sanitised' published results.

The past few days I have had the opportunity to do some cable evaluations. I went back and forth between the stock Meridian cables that Meridian supplied with the HD621, and my old Illuminati cable that dates to the mid-1990s. I heard a difference. With the Meridian cables, the system sounded slightly more closed in, less transparent, less natural. It was a subtle difference, but a difference that I continued to hear with different source material.

I am not sure I would pay for the difference between the Meridian cables and my current cable. However, I have read comparative reviews where the author indicated that other cable offerings bested the Illuminati. If true, that could suggest an improvement that is worth the expense.

I am now debating whether to attempt to audition some of the more well-regarded digital cables (e.g., Analysis Plus, Wireworld, Nordost, Acoustic Zen). I also ordered a Blue Jeans digital cable (cost $20), just in case it does some magic (I have read good things about their cables).

I have read and heard many cable debates over the years. All that matters to me is whether I can hear it.

I should also note that I found the difference in digital cables to be more apparent when I compared cables in a system featuring the Meridian 800 to the Berkeley DAC, rather than the 800 to the 861. Two things could explain this: Meridian's MHR makes cables less significant, as one poster suggested; or the Berkeley is more transparent than the 861 (and make no mistake, the Berkeley is more transparent), thus revealing more of the effect of the cable on the system.