dCS Vivaldi Cables?

Kingsrule · Jul 26, 2016

Has anyone actually tried different cables on their Vivaldi stack?

It seems like the defacto go to is Transparent Reference XL clock and AES/ebu cables (especially here in the US) but I haven't seen much talk about any brands in detail.
Really interested in comparisons to Transparent.
I wonder what dCS in England uses as their reference cabling?

bonzo75 · Jul 26, 2016

The nordost distributor here has the vivaldi stack and also deals in ansuz and audience. He sells ready solutions for the stack, i.e. looms based on your preference. Obviously his first preference is Odin

GuillaumeB · Jul 26, 2016

Kingsrule said:
I wonder what dCS in England uses as their reference cabling?

I'm pretty sure dCS use Valhalla 2 in their reference setup. This came up in a discussion with a dCS rep a few months ago. I'll double check at my end and confirm...

Cheers

Guillaume

Enatai252 · Jul 26, 2016

GuillaumeB said:
I'm pretty sure dCS use Valhalla 2 in their reference setup. This came up in a discussion with a dCS rep a few months ago. I'll double check at my end and confirm...

Cheers

Guillaume

I started with the Original Valhalla and recently switched to the Valhalla 2. I have not tried the Transparent XL but hear good things about it

microstrip · Jul 26, 2016

Enatai252 said:
I started with the Original Valhalla and recently switched to the Valhalla 2. I have not tried the Transparent XL but hear good things about it

DCS endorses both brands. Transaparent Audio have a Vivaldi system in their SOTA listening room.

Cincy2 · Jul 27, 2016

microstrip said:
DCS endorses both brands. Transaparent Audio have a Vivaldi system in their SOTA listening room.

I know why. It's a great partnership.

Cincy

jfrech · Jul 27, 2016

I've tried a few brands. However on my Scarlatti Stack vs Vivaldi stack. (only used their clock cables b/c dCS at the time were using firewire-I had a Audioquest Diamond) On Scarlatti I had a full loom of digital cables by Cardas. Lightning 15. Then Purist Proteus Provectus Praesto. Then began moving to Transparent as the Vivaldi pieces came in.

All were better than stock. Cardas is a pretty nice jump in performance for not near as much $$'s. Purist were better still. Then when Transparent came out with the current version of Ref XL digital, I tried one...and was hooked. When my upsampler arrived last fall, I used 2 stock AES/EBU (was Van DenHul in the inbox). I was thinking all was just fine until my dealer loaned me a pair of Transparent Ref XL.

What I find is the same signature on digital cables as we hear on the signal cabling. Cardas was warmest...nice mids. Purist beautiful midrange more even and more extended than Cardas. Transparent much more quiet backgrounds, resolution, ease and beauty everywhere.

So my guess, it's best to stick with the brand you like for signal cabling.

Custodian · Aug 4, 2016

Watch out on the clock cabling. Key issue (only issue?) is the 75 ohm impedance spec. Anything different will produce internal reflections. I had our lab test a range of cables and some very upmarket digital cables were not so close to the required impedance.

Speedskater · Aug 4, 2016

Right this moment, I can't find the spec for S/PDIF but I found this on balanced AES/EBU cables:

The specification for digital audio was developed jointly by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) & European Broadcast Union (EBU). The key difference between twisted pair specifications for digital audio cable and standard analog audio cable is the impedance specification. AES/EBU, with its broad tolerance, allows cables with impedances from 88 Ohm to 132 Ohm to be used.

microstrip · Aug 4, 2016

Does DCS supply any digital (signal or clock) cables with their equipment?

jfrech · Aug 4, 2016

microstrip said:
Does DCS supply any digital (signal or clock) cables with their equipment?

Yes. In my Vivaldi boxes the clock cables seemed pretty generic, I'd have to look, but something like Beldin. The AES cables were pretty good, Van Del Hul.

microstrip · Aug 4, 2016

jfrech said:
Yes. In my Vivaldi boxes the clock cables seemed pretty generic, I'd have to look, but something like Beldin. The AES cables were pretty good, Van Del Hul.

Where did you notice great improvement? Replacing the clock or the AES cables?

jfrech · Aug 5, 2016

microstrip said:
Where did you notice great improvement? Replacing the clock or the AES cables?

Actually both. Surprising the improvement better digital cables can make. If you had to do one or the other...I'd do the clock cables first...

Custodian · Aug 5, 2016

jfrech said:
Actually both. Surprising the improvement better digital cables can make. If you had to do one or the other...I'd do the clock cables first...

I agree with you: clock cables make a big difference. As I mentioned previously, key issue is 75 ohm impedance to minimise internal reflections. Worth trying a decent video cable such as Stereovox component video. Some exotic digital BNC cables from audio cable manufacturers were way out.

cyclopse · Aug 5, 2016

jfrech said:
Actually both. Surprising the improvement better digital cables can make. If you had to do one or the other...I'd do the clock cables first...

I guess it's not just about zero and ones.

Eichenbaum · Aug 6, 2016

Custodian said:
I agree with you: clock cables make a big difference. As I mentioned previously, key issue is 75 ohm impedance to minimise internal reflections. Worth trying a decent video cable such as Stereovox component video. Some exotic digital BNC cables from audio cable manufacturers were way out.

I cannot find any Stereovox dealer. Where did you buy it?

Custodian · Sep 8, 2016

cyclopse said:
I guess it's not just about zero and ones.

Actually clock cable exactly about that. Reflections because of load mismatch can screw up by creating reflections back down the cable.

Speedskater · Sep 9, 2016

Custodian said:
I agree with you: clock cables make a big difference. As I mentioned previously, key issue is 75 ohm impedance to minimise internal reflections. Worth trying a decent video cable such as Stereovox component video. Some exotic digital BNC cables from audio cable manufacturers were way out.

Conveniently, 75 Ohm coax is the most inexpensive value for a bulk cable company to manufacture. So even unlabeled coax is probably 75 Ohm impedance.

Custodian · Sep 9, 2016

Speedskater said:
Conveniently, 75 Ohm coax is the most inexpensive value for a bulk cable company to manufacture. So even unlabeled coax is probably 75 Ohm impedance.

Bad assumption. The issue is as much to do with the connectors as the cable.

Speedskater · Sep 9, 2016

Custodian said:
Bad assumption. The issue is as much to do with the connectors as the cable.

At such low RF frequencies, connectors are not an issue. Nor for that matter are short (1 or 2 meter) coax cables.

************************
The mis-understanding about connectors is caused by digital signals looking somewhat like square waves. So people examine them as infinite frequency square waves. But in fact they are low-pass filtered so they need to be treated as low frequency RF signals. A 44.1/16 S/PDIF signal can be viewed as a 12MHz RF signal.

dCS Vivaldi Cables?

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