Recently I got into a heated discussion with pro engineers and audiophiles on facebook on the sonic differences between DACs. I have gotten in a Synergistic Galileo SPDIF which I noticed improved the sound a lot. The pro engineers that I know jumped in and said I was hearing things as you only need a 75 hm SPDIF to get it right. Their claim is that with Phase Lock Loop tech, any well-engineered receiver should be able to handle the jitter and error correction properly.
I did some more A/B testing and sure enough, I still heard the Galileo presenting more music detail and a richer sound all around.
At this point, noted digital expert and designer Gordon Rankin (Wavelength Audio, Audioquest, etc.) jumped in and said it was not right for those commenting to assume it was a bad cable when they had not heard it. It seems Gordon feels digital is very complex but cables can matter. He feels the same about usb. There is some speculation about only a handful of cables producing a good "eye pattern" when tested on a TDR device but I think it is safe to say, we may not actually know why these cables sound different.
So I was curious what you think of digital SPDIF cables? Do they sound different or is it all snake oil?
I did some more A/B testing and sure enough, I still heard the Galileo presenting more music detail and a richer sound all around.
At this point, noted digital expert and designer Gordon Rankin (Wavelength Audio, Audioquest, etc.) jumped in and said it was not right for those commenting to assume it was a bad cable when they had not heard it. It seems Gordon feels digital is very complex but cables can matter. He feels the same about usb. There is some speculation about only a handful of cables producing a good "eye pattern" when tested on a TDR device but I think it is safe to say, we may not actually know why these cables sound different.
So I was curious what you think of digital SPDIF cables? Do they sound different or is it all snake oil?