I need an aes/ebu digital cable to connect from my Ayre CD/SACD player to the DSD, what a reasonable price cable would you recommend? Thanks for any suggestion.
Here is a good entry level cable. If you order from TMR call and get a discount on the price. Iconoclast is also a good solution. 4x1 generation 1 single XLR.
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Good Morning, here is a short narrative by cable designer Galen Gareis with regard to AES/EBU and SPDIF applications. If you are looking for a great value cable then take a look at our BAV XLR cable. Information and pricing is available on our website. You have no risk in trying this cable. Order it and try it for a month. If you don’t love, call for an RMA. You will receive a complete refund if not satisfied.
https://iconoclastcable.com/bav/index.htm
Bob
AES/EBU and S/PDIF
The ANALOG signals are designed around the FREQUENCY of the signal, not the CURRENT. The 1x4 RCA uses a smaller 30 AWG wire that improves the DCR and current coherence. The wire’s self inductance changes the wire’s cross sectional impedance and alter where the current flows in the wire. Smaller wire will have a more uniform current distribution across the wire with frequency than larger wire.
The 4x4 XLR and 1x4 RCA are made for ANALOG signal to improve the current coherence in the wire with FREQUENCY. The total current isn’t the issue, but where the current is in the wire cross section.
The current in the signal wire is LOW as the impedance the cable plugs into is very high, 47K, and the signal level is low. E = I * R. If the signal, “E” is low, around 1 volt, and the load impedance is high ® than the current “I” will have to be low. This is why we can use smaller wire on RCA and XLR cables.
Higher VOLTAGE can carry more CURRENT for the same reason. If we up the VOLTAGE we see the current has to go up with the same load. E = I*R, R is a fixed load so “I” goes up when “E” goes up. But a phono stage is low voltage by design.
The developement of ICONOCLAST showed that the general TONE of the cable hinged on the current coherence in the wire design for IC and speaker cables. For the critical IC, I decided to up the bar for ANALOG signals to see what could be heard, if anything. To my surprise the quality did improve so we now have the GEN II IC designs for ANALOG. Digital looks at the load IMPEDANCE, not current coherence so much, and it needs 110ish ohms for AES / EBU and 75 ohms for SPDIF. The cable’s impedance is key on the digital side;
4x1 (four wires each one strand) XLR =100-ohms for AES / EBU.
1x4 (one wire four strands) RCA = 70 ohms for SPDIF.
The signal wire design isn’t as important as the IMPEDANCE at RF, opposite analog.
The BAV XLR is ONLY 4x1 XLR as the pros use AES/EBU digital signals, and where analog is used, the ICONOCLAST design is STILL better than all current design studio ANALOG XLR cables. So it is a win-win for the pros. One cable that is better at everything and is durable and flexible.
For HOME analog, the GEN II four signal wire design RCA and XLR are the best ICONOCLAST IC there is.
I have a Van de Hull that I am not using at the moment but that I really enjoy when I do.