Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Best Coaxial cable for DSP speaker ?

Dpstjp here you go Adjustable SPDIF cable

PS Carl you are right it goes off track ...

$149 - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, etc.

Yes, I am a cable believer but I'm also an electronics engineer too.

I have that same MIT Oracle digital cable between my MS600 and Simaudio 650D DAC. The different settings do indeed change the sound but the difference is more shifting from "relaxed/laid back" to "detailed/precise" rather than simply adjusting the treble/bass mix. However, for me there was a setting where the sound just seemed to gel. I think the adjustment is more like MIT's interconnects and speaker cables that let you adjust the resistance to match that of the equipment you are connecting, with one setting working best in a particular system.

This MIT Oracle digital cable would be ridiculously expensive to connect Meridian equipment to Meridian speakers, though, since they are designed to work together in the first place.

FWIW, as someone who can hear audible differences between cables, in analogue connections, and power, when I switched to DSPs, the lengths were long and I didn't have a lot of budget left, I had Mark Grant make me up some Belden 1694a with crimp Canare connectors (pretty much identical to the Blue Jeans coax SPDIF cable). It sounds great, and although I might try some Kimber when funds allow, as I swear by their analogue cables, I don't believe it's particularly influencing the sound in this application. I believe that the way in which Meridian implement MHR to transmit upsampled audio between components including to DSPs largely mitigates the differences one might otherwise notice, as it is much more robust and less prone to jitter? I certainly don't worry about it as much as other cables I have used in the past, as it just doesn't seem to warrant it. My 818 sounds wonderful, as did the 808.2i before that, using the same cables. A Naim streamer, though, sounded somewhat brighter and thinner run direct to the DSPs D2 input. My conclusion is that in this application a good quality, well constructed cable like the Belden colours the sound far less than the components it's connecting, just make sure you have MHR enabled

Is it possible the MIT cable might simply using some form of adjustable attenuation? John Kenny includes ones which cost about �10 with his JKDAC on request. They're not adjustable, but did make a difference when I demmed the DAC a while back before going Meridian. Made the sound more natural and laid back. Meridian is already a very balanced sound so I haven't bothered to fiddle with them in my system.

That takes me back to thinking of Meridian's philosophy regarding Hot Rod or Hi Fi?

Meridian equipment is designed to work as a system and as such cables are not required to adjust the sound, compensating for distortions elsewhere (however pleasant).

Keep it digital until the last moment to preserve the original integrity of the audio.

Just thoughts, Chris

With digital, if you deviate from the specification (unavoidable if the specification says 75R and RCA connectors) you are making the sound objectively worse, even if subjectively it's an improvement. There are gains in noise immunity to be made by using improved shielding on the cable and connectors.

I would use the without question Lautus Interconnects I have found these cables to be quite special for both analogue and digital purposes.

They are available on free home demo as well and by free I mean you don't pay upfront, you just pay the postage when you return them.

Generally only made up to 3 metres for digital SPDIF but custom lengths can be made.

Sorry, now we are deviating from the topic anyhow let me throw in a question.

Improved shielding seems one of the key factors of a good cable. Some swear by copper, others aluminum or a mix of shielding to get the best result.

I am thinking what an OEM can do, I can do as well as DIY solution. What if I lead my standard supplied M-powerlead and the already very good M-SpeakerLink cables through separate copper tubings, or alu cable gutter, or wind alu foil around them and a protective braiding is that shielding as well?

Re IMT, these were the perfect cables for my former 500 series/ magnepan setup. Only in the digital domain the Apogee Wyde-eye was satisfactory for the SPDIF until I changed to AES/EBU. In my DSP5k set up I chose a different one again but mainly to keep, one brand throuhout the chain. I think we all have some preference at one point, listening is so important... and believing... and budget.

Wyde-eye is Apogee's own 75R Coax terminated with Canare RCAPs. So in reality one of the better off-the-shelf cables for SPDIF out there.

Not sure their explanation quite holds water - in order to find the quarter wavelength, you have to calculate it from the bandwidth of the signal - in digital audio transmission, wouldn't this change according to the bit/sampling rate, etc? So wouldn't this mean you'd have to use a different cable for 16/44.1, 24/96, etc, etc?

Below a certain length, given a certain bandwidth, the cable is not acting as a transmission line anyway, is it?

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