We were told only use 75 ohm cable for SPDIF purpose. So what is the impedance of typical analog RCA audio cable?
Another question is I have a 75 ohm TV antenna cable, is it suitable for SPDIF purpose?
Some people said that wrong impedance may not cause problem if the cable is short enough, if it is true, then what cable length will cause problem?
I ask these because I just made a SPDIF cable with two spare RCA plugs and a 75 ohm TV antenna cable (3 feet), I tested it using RMAA and found no problem (+- 0dB freq. response, -146dB noise level, 0% THD and so on) and I can't hear any problem as well. Does it mean that I don't need to spend money to buy a standard cable?
Thanks.
a] The longer the cable the more important the 75 Ohms is. At 3 feet it's not important, at 50 feet it's rather important.
b] But some poorly designed components are sensitive to cable differences and lengths.
c] Typical nice analog audio cables very well may be about 75 Ohms. It's the cheap sweet spot for cable manufacturing.
d] RG-6QS (Quad Shield) is designed for the very high frequencies of cable TV so it's not the best choice for digital or analog audio. Ordinary RG-6 is a better choice.
e] At 3 feet, I suspect almost any cable would work.
(Yes I have references for & [c] )
Analog audio cables may not be closely matched to 75 ohms (they don't need to be), but analog video (composite video) cables with RCA connectors (the yellow ones) are an excellent choice for SPDIF digital.
As was said, short cables (a few feet or less) should work with just about any coaxial cable.
Besides the wire itself, the plug used on the end partly dictates the overall impedance based on its geometry, including the center core's diameter and distance (the ratio) from the outer shield. F-pin and BNC connectors would technically be the proper termination to maintain the 75 Ohm rating that S/PDIF is looking for, however in real world use, and looking at the jack panel on the back of most consumer gear, RCA works just fine, at least for the short distances we might use in a home.
Properly terminating coaxial wire such as RG59 or RG6 (often used for TV/cable/satellite wiring) should work just fine with RCA plugs for your application, in fact it might be even better (in practice) than commercially purchased RCA wires that claim they are "75 Ohm". [Non truly are, the RCA's geometry simply wont allow it, as they were never designed from the get go to be 75 Ohm, but they are close enough for most situations, so they work.]
The wire you have prepared should be fine.
I don't think there is an answer to your question "At what distance should I start to worry" because it is very gear dependent. In one situation a 4 meter wire might have problems, yet in another situation a 6 M wire works fine. If all your wires stay within the same rack and don't exceed 3 to 4 meters tops, I doubt you'll have any problem, with most gear. If you have to run the wire across the room or to other rooms of your house, there could be issues.
We were told only use 75 ohm cable for SPDIF purpose. So what is the impedance of typical analog RCA audio cable?
Another question is I have a 75 ohm TV antenna cable, is it suitable for SPDIF purpose?
Some people said that wrong impedance may not cause problem if the cable is short enough, if it is true, then what cable length will cause problem?
I ask these because I just made a SPDIF cable with two spare RCA plugs and a 75 ohm TV antenna cable (3 feet), I tested it using RMAA and found no problem (+- 0dB freq. response, -146dB noise level, 0% THD and so on) and I can't hear any problem as well. Does it mean that I don't need to spend money to buy a standard cable?
Thanks.
I just tried searching "transmission line impedance mismatch" and got a lot of pages including 2 Wiki pages with a lot of math that will tell the average person nothing useful. What happens with mismatched lines is the signal doesn't get absorbed on either end of the cable and reflects back and forth on the line. This shows up as pulse distortions depending on the length of the cable vs the length of the pulses involved. Get enough distortions and you may reach the point where the digital information is _sometimes_ wrong. More distortions and more data lost.
I did find a few pages to show the effect and this one is quite good. While the pulse times are faster than SPDIF, the principle is the same.
http://www.avtechpulse.com/appnote/techbrief12/ (http://www.avtechpulse.com/appnote/techbrief12/)
The simplest way to avoid problems is to use proper transmission line and connectors.
An important thing to remember is there is no such thing as a 'digital' signal on a cable. What it is is an ANALOG _representation_ of a digital signal. All the problems with analog signals on a cable (loss, HF roll off, reflections, etc) apply to 'digital' signals. Keep the analog signals clean and you'll have no problems.
G²
I have references for & [c]
I'd be interested in a reference for [d].
d] RG-6QS (Quad Shield) is designed for the very high frequencies of cable TV so it's not the best choice for digital or analog audio. Ordinary RG-6 is a better choice.
What, besides cost and flexibility, is the performance downside of RG-6QS in this application?
Thanks all. Although I don't have enough knowledge to understand all of the replies it seems that my cable should just work fine.
I think my cable is RG-6 after a photo search.
I've found SPDIF rather resilient when run over cables that are not to spec. I've got a 30' run that is made of a standard 1/8" phono jack extension cable (because it's what I had) with adapters on either end. The far end has a splitter to feed it into an old set of cambridge soundworks 4.1 speakers that needs separate inputs for the front and back pairs. A very hackish solution and definitely not in spec, but it works fine.
Are you sure your speakers aren't being fed by a TTL signal?
F-pin and BNC connectors would technically be the proper termination to maintain the 75 Ohm rating that S/PDIF is looking for
I thought that BNC connectors were matched to 50 ohms?
Both exist:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/BNC_50_75_Ohm.jpg/800px-BNC_50_75_Ohm.jpg)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNC_connector (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BNC_connector)
---
I think my cable is RG-6 after a photo search.
RG6 and RG59 look the same in photos, but RG6 is slightly larger and stiffer, which makes it harder to work with in a tight stereo cabinet. If the center core wire diameter is around 1.02 mm, then you have RG6, if it is .64 mm then you have RG59. Both should work well but be careful not to bend them too tightly; in best practice never more than 6 inch diameter circles should ever be attempted. Many people understand the danger of snapping the inner core, but what a lot of people don't realize is you also potentially can compromise the performance of the wire if it is bent more tightly than this, even if you don't snap or kink the center core.
I have references for & [c]
I'd be interested in a reference for [d].
Just to review:
d] RG-6QS (Quad Shield) is designed for the very high frequencies of cable TV so it's not the best choice for digital or analog audio. Ordinary RG-6 is a better choice.
I think that what is being referred to is the fact that most quad-shield RG-6 has what is known as a copperweld center conductor. This means that the wire is copper over steel (for strength)
This is, however not a 100% generality as I have seen quadshield RG6 that has a solid copper center conductor/
If you are putting a cable TV signal down the line, the lowest frequency is usually 50 MHz and skin effect is so strong that the fact that the center of the cable is steel which has only a fraction of the conductivity of copper, isn't an issue. Only the center is steel, and very little of the signal flows there. The signal flows mostly on the outside which is copper.
There are even more extreme cases of this sort of design of the larger cable TV cable (used for trunk lines) where the center conductor is an aluminum tube with silver plating. Again skin effect is so strong that the fact there is no conductor at all and just a hollow tube doesn't matter.
I think that what is being referred to is the fact that most quad-shield RG-6 has what is known as a copperweld center conductor. This means that the wire is copper over steel (for strength)
This is done for economic reasons only. I have in front of me copperweld RG6 and RG6QS. I also have solid copper RG6 and RG6QS.
So if you mean "most inexpensive cable" instead of "most" I'll agree, but I still want to see any evidence than the preponderance of RG6QS being copper-over-steel is higher than that of RG6.
I've found SPDIF rather resilient when run over cables that are not to spec. I've got a 30' run that is made of a standard 1/8" phono jack extension cable (because it's what I had) with adapters on either end. The far end has a splitter to feed it into an old set of cambridge soundworks 4.1 speakers that needs separate inputs for the front and back pairs. A very hackish solution and definitely not in spec, but it works fine.
Science and practical experience backs you up.
First off, while SPDIF cables carry digital signals, the digital signals are not sharp edged square waves because consumer SPDIF outputs are generally fed though a low pass filter to minimize EMI so that the equipment can pass FCC Part 15 rules. Typical bandpass runs from 8 to about 20 Mhz.
Secondly, the impedance of a transmission line has negligible effect until the transmission line is 1/8 wave or longer at the highest frequency being passed. The wavelength of 20 MHz is about 15 meters or about 50 feet. The effect of any mismatch depends on how bad the mismatch is. A 2:1 mismatch is considered to be not that bad.
SP/DIF is generally very resilient, with outputs that put out a lot more than minimal voltages and inputs that require a lot less than specified voltages to work well. For example I'm driving two S{/DIF inputs in parallel with a simple Y cable in my AV system. Not pretty, but it gets the job done.
Are you sure your speakers aren't being fed by a TTL signal?
I'm not sure what you mean by a "TTL signal" in this context, but they are definitely being fed by SPDIF.
The signal path is as follows:
HTPC Toslink out -> standard Toslink cable -> Marantz 6200 Toslink In -> Marantz 6200 SPDIF out -> long non-spec SPDIF connection and adapters -> Cambridge Soundworks speakers.
This allows the same music to be played on the speakers connected to the Marantz 6200 and the Cambridge Soundworks simultaneously. This only works for PCM signals, not AC3 or DTS, but that is a limitation of the Cambridge Soundworks speakers. The Marantz 6200 does not output anything on the analog outs when fed a Toslink or SPDIF signal.
I actually have a third and forth sets of speakers connected to another receiver that is fed from the Toslink out of the Marantz. That is over a 60 foot optical run which also works fine. A rather hackish full house sound system, but works great.
RG6 and RG59 look the same in photos, but RG6 is slightly larger and stiffer, which makes it harder to work with in a tight stereo cabinet. If the center core wire diameter is around 1.02 mm, then you have RG6, if it is .64 mm then you have RG59. Both should work well but be careful not to bend them too tightly; in best practice never more than 6 inch diameter circles should ever be attempted. Many people understand the danger of snapping the inner core, but what a lot of people don't realize is you also potentially can compromise the performance of the wire if it is bent more tightly than this, even if you don't snap or kink the center core.
Thanks. Because I only got replies like RGxx yesterday I only searched RGxx but today when I searched the text printed on my cable (5c2v) I got many results that put RG6 and 5c2v together. I wonder if they are the same?
Your cable is marked with a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) designation , but yes, it is effectively the same as RG6.
Thanks mzil!
Both exist:
A general point is that, up to 10MHz, it doesn't really matter. On short runs, it doesn't really matter.
RCA/phono connectors were never designed to work at 6MHz, and often exactly the same cable is used for audio and video connected to phono connectors. On short runs, it's usually good enough for SD analogue composite video, and more than good enough for SPDIF digital audio. Cables designed to work with analogue HD video (or shall I say, cables that work really well with analogue HD video) are probably some of the best consumer cables out there. If they make great HD video cables, they'll make exceptional SPDIF cables. Though they normally come in triplets!
(I'm not claiming any audible difference from using better cables for SPDIF. I doubt there any detectable differences even in the SPDIF raw signal over short runs, never mind the audio that's decoded from it. On longer runs, you might reach a point where differences became detectable.)
Cheers,
David.
I think that what is being referred to is the fact that most quad-shield RG-6 has what is known as a copperweld center conductor. This means that the wire is copper over steel (for strength)
This is done for economic reasons only.
I don't know about that. The copperweld product I see has a lot more tensile strength, which might mean something outdoors and when strung from pole to house, etc. In general the outdoor cable TV system runs around here seem to be bare unsupported coax.
There is a standard RG-6 product with a built in steel support wire, but I don't see it used very often.
I have in front of me copperweld RG6 and RG6QS. I also have solid copper RG6 and RG6QS.
So if you mean "most inexpensive cable" instead of "most" I'll agree, but I still want to see any evidence than the preponderance of RG6QS being copper-over-steel is higher than that of RG6.
IME the cable TV industry are aggressive users of copperweld coax, these days mostly RG6. It seems like their consumption of coax has to be right up there if not more than everybody else put together. This might be especially true given their field tech's propensity for replacing all of the outdoor coax in customer systems every time there is a cough or a sneeze. ;-) My house has been rewired that way so many times I've lost count!
FWIW the fraction of my interior wiring done by the cable company was RG-6 QS, solid copper, and really nice shielding - 80+% braid. Quite expensive stuff. My pole drop at my current house and at my prior were both done with an integrated support wire - not that there is anything surprising about that seeing as it was likely the same Time Warner install sub.
You should get away with a lot with S/PDIF because a lot of the design criteria really help. The Bipolar Manchester Encoding of ones and zeroes makes thresholding at the mid-point easy and clock recovery very robust. The limited bandwidth lets you low-pass filter to remove nearly all the ringing seen in those avtechpulse diagrams if you should mismatch. Any attempt to match impedance, how ever poor, is likely to be enough. And the 0.2V minimum voltage swing at the input should be well clear of the range where Bit Error Ratio becomes even measurable.
In my personal tests and other serious audiophile guys I know of, digital coaxial interconnects DO differ in how they deliver audio results between components. After testing top level cables I constantly notice repetitive difference even in audiophile grade coaxial cables. My undisputed winner is [removed] coaxial cable that constantly brings a much thicker and deeper sound, I think its hard to bit it in that price range, you may find them on [removed]. Other High-End coaxial cables are from [removed], very good ones no doubt but the top level cables cost quite a bit. So auditioning is a MUST for selecting good quality coaxial cables and you need to get a good one as it helps your source to really open up to the extend that cables allow so no short cut here. If the cables improve your musical experience (which I think they should) for years to come than that`s what really matters
I constantly notice repetitive difference even in audiophile grade coaxial cables. My undisputed winner is [removed] coaxial cable....
Please read
TOS #8 (https://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=3974). You are NOT ALLOWED to make such claims on this forum unless you perform a proper, scientific level-matched, blind listening test.
And once you perform a proper test, I suspect you'll come to a different conclusion.
It's usually super-obvious if the digital data gets corrupted. An analogy would be you bank account... Your bank account balance is a digital value, so if the data gets scrambled it's just as easy to get a one million dollar error as a one-penny error. If there's a glitch in your bank's computer you'll probably notice it, and if there's a glitch in your audio data it should be equally as obvious... If there are glitches in your audio data, you might even blow your speakers with a burst of noise.
...much thicker and deeper sound
Personally, those words are meaningless to me... It's not against the rules to use words like that once you've done your blind listening tests, but i prefer words that have a clear engineering-scientific meaning like "distortion", "noise", "frequency response", "bass", "treble," etc.
...
Thanks for your advice. Since I am now using quantum neural network bridges instead of coaxial spdif cables, can you recommend some? I am using the ones from NASA now, but the cosmic interaction between sound waves and my auditory cells was out of sync sometimes, I don't know why. Maybe some DNAs in the bridges are impure.
It's not against the rules to use words like that once you've done your blind listening tests
Uh,
no.
The usual "audiophile" speak of non-audio related terms which are completely subjective and open to redefinition on a whim, are useless for any sort of progression in discussion.
I constantly notice repetitive difference even in audiophile grade coaxial cables. My undisputed winner is [removed] coaxial cable that constantly brings a much thicker and deeper sound
The bad news is that it's probably just your imagination.
The good news is that you now own silver, that can be used to ward of vampires, which are quite real in audiophool woo woo world.
brings a much thicker and deeper sound
I'm intrigued as to how you can use the word thicker to describe sound.
Well, maybe in the British sense.
thick
adjective
UK informal: stupid
Some people said that wrong impedance may not cause problem if the cable is short enough, if it is true, then what cable length will cause problem?
A rule of the thumb is the quarter wavelength. If the analogue cable is shorter than ¼ of the wavelength, it will probably work.
In case of SPDIF
Sample rate=44100 Hz
Word length=32 Bit
Channels= 2 (Stereo)
Biphase mark code=2 (Twice the sample rate)
Frequency=5644800 Hz (SR*Bit*Channel* Biphase)
Light speed 300000000 m/s
Propagation speed 0.7 % (coax)
Wavelength 37 m (speed/freq)
1/4 Wavelength 9 m
Much to my surprise even 9 m of the 'wrong' cable will do the job.
Wonder if my assumtions are correct
Much to my surprise even 9 m of the 'wrong' cable will do the job.
Wonder if my assumtions are correct
Not entirely.
You can have a standing wave on a cable at 1/4 the wavelength. So this length can already be critical. People usually consider transmission line effects as irrelevant when the wavelength exceeds 10x the length of the conductor.
In practice, since the impedance mismatch is fairly small when using 50 Ohm cable instead of 75 Ohm, the effect of the resulting standing waves is usually not large enough to cause problems.
All this assumes that the impedance of the inputs and outputs of the devices is according to the standard, which you can't take for granted, unfortunately. The SPDIF signal is fairly resilient to such imperfections, which means that manufacturers can get away with quite a lot of negligence. The effect is that you can have standing waves despite using cables with the right impedance.
Hence there's no point in being overzealous with the cables. The design of the SPDIF interface stems from the 80s, and it is like it is because there were cheap (analog) video cables with 75 Ohm and RCA connectors commonly available on the consumer market already, and the aim was to be able to use those instead of coming up with a new cable design. The bandwidth of the analog video signal used to be around 7 MHz, which is not far from what you need for an SPDIF signal at 44.1 kHz sampling rate, so the choice seemed sensible and economical. The RCA connector has no defined impedance (the fat center pin usually makes for an impedance way below 50 Ohm), but that's uncritical for single figure MHz signals. If your cable length is a few feet only, at such frequencies you can pretty much use anything that conducts.
@MykhailoM: If you experience
real sonic differences between digital cables (as opposed to imagined ones, which would be far more common), then this would point to a problem in your setup, and it would be much more sensible to hunt down what's wrong, instead of dropping cable recommendations that help nobody except the manufacturers.
General rule: Interconnects are not supposed to sound different. If they do, something is wrong and needs to be put right.
@MykhailoM: If you experience real sonic differences between digital cables (as opposed to imagined ones, which would be far more common), then this would point to a problem in your setup, and it would be much more sensible to hunt down what's wrong, instead of dropping cable recommendations that help nobody except the manufacturers.
General rule: Interconnects are not supposed to sound different. If they do, something is wrong and needs to be put right.
It also helps the cable sellers, for example someone awoke a years old thread on the What HiFi forums in the 'Hi-Fi' forum entitled 'What digital coaxial cable?'
A user named 'MykhailM' awoke the thread with a nice post recommending [removed] cables because it 'constantly brings a much thicker and deeper sound'
A later post was from someone who noticed the [removed] seller selling these cables had a username of 'MykhailoM' - however I'm sure this is just a coincidence and the thickness relates to the sound and not his wallet.
Hi!!
I'm trying to connect a mix dex to a soundcard by spdif coaxial cable but i'm having some issues...
-Using a compac disc player can configure sample rate from 44'1 to 96Khz. At every sample rate the soundcard syncs with no problem.
-With the mixer, with better and expensive cables, can sync with sample rates at 44'1, 48, 88'2Khz
but not at 96Khz where sound comes and gone, goes intermittent, discontinuous. This happend also with larger or cheapest cables at 88'2khz. The soundcard goes "sync", "no sync", "sync", "no sync"...
If i set, in the mixer, the digital master output level to the max (-5db) the sound goes less intermittent at 96Khz, and goes well, sync, at 88'2Khz with larger or cheapest cables.
Why don't have any problem with every cable at any sample rate with the cd player?
And in the mixer why this "intermittence" varies at higher sample rates, depends on the signal level?
Thanks!!