Digital Coax

Posted by: Timo on 14 September 2018

I am in the process of "moving on" my XS2 and ND5XS -- with a view to get an SN2 and Chord Qutest as replacement. Unless I change my mind of course... As transport I have Allo's DigiOne Signature on the radar.

Obviously, this change involves cables -- a digital coax (BNC-BNC) and an analogue interconnect (RCA-DIN). So far I thought about getting Chord Shawline -- the two cables would cost about £400 (about £200 for each cable). But I have started wondering -- is a 50/50 split a good idea? Or should I prioritise the analogue cable and "just" get a decent coax cable? I remember discussions here with a number of forum members expressing great satisfaction with "modestly priced" coax cables.

So I wonder whether I should rather get an analogue Chord Epic and a digital coax from Flashback Sales (about £45), for instance. That would be only very little more expensive than the "balanced" Chord Shawline combo.

Informed forum wisdom would be appreciated -- informed meaning empirically based views...

Cheers!
Timo

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Singlespeed

I think the recommendation from Naim is to use a properly terminated BNC for optimum performance, but they just chuck in the adapter for convenience. Still, if it sounds good, maybe best not to overthink things!

Agreed, for the money it was a cheap alternative to try out Can anyone recommend a specific Belden/Canare option?

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Simon-in-Suffolk

ChrisSU posted:
I think the recommendation from Naim is to use a properly terminated BNC for optimum performance, but they just chuck in the adapter for convenience. Still, if it sounds good, maybe best not to overthink things!

Yes it is best to use direct adapters so as to maintain the correct characteristic impedance and avoid connection losses... although to be fair using is an adapter is going to cause minimal variation here, but given the choice best not use one if you can... but not the end of the world if you can’t.

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Gazza

Singlespeed posted:

I think the recommendation from Naim is to use a properly terminated BNC for optimum performance, but they just chuck in the adapter for convenience. Still, if it sounds good, maybe best not to overthink things!
Agreed, for the money it was a cheap alternative to try out Can anyone recommend a specific Belden/Canare option?

I use a Belden1694a that I got from bluejean cables. Mark Grant cables have it on their website for £20 , but out of stock. Others have tried a Mark Grants HDX1 pure copper which is £30 for a metre and is apparently quite good. Naim DC1 as better than the Belden, but not enough to justify being £280 more expensive.

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Timo

Is the Belden 1694 reasonably flexible? I would only need a short length between Allo and DAC. A flexible cable would be much appreacitate for easier cable arrangement.

Cheers!

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Gazza

Not really...I have a 0.5metre length......it would be easier to thread it thru the system if it was 1m.....not that much more expensive

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by Patu

I've used minimum length of 1,5 meters since I read somewhere that digital coaxial cable should be minimum of that length. Not sure how valid this argument is but it had something to do with reflections. Anyway I ordered one with 1,5 meter length and forgot about it. With Belden it really doesn't matter (price wise) if the cable is 1 meter or 1,5 meter long. DC1 is around 2 meters if I remember correctly.

Posted on: 22 September 2018 by ChrisSU

DC1 is 1.25m. A bit of choice would make cable dressing a lot easier.

Posted on: 23 September 2018 by Singlespeed

Emailed Mark Grant a couple of times but not had any reply? Perhaps the 3.5mm termination is something he doesn't do for some reason? Maybe it's a less than optimal way to use 3.5mm on coax digital cables?! Will have a look at bluejeans - thanks. The (1.5m) Gotham has been playing away to itself for 24hrs now so going to have another listening session today....

Posted on: 23 September 2018 by ChrisSU

Perhaps a 3.5mm jack isn’t optimal, but that’s what the Mojo has, just like the Hugo has RCA, not BNC, so that’s what we need to use. That’s why the likes of Flashback have started making these options, which at least removes the need for adapters.

Posted on: 23 September 2018 by Singlespeed

ChrisSU posted:
Perhaps a 3.5mm jack isn’t optimal, but that’s what the Mojo has, just like the Hugo has RCA, not BNC, so that’s what we need to use. That’s why the likes of Flashback have started making these options, which at least removes the need for adapters.

Agreed but there is a whole lot of BNC to RCA cables out there. Just to be clear, I do have a BNC to 3.5mm Flashback cable & despite the use of an adaptor on the Gotham cable, I'm still preferring it to the FB at the moment....