Two weeks ago today I received my SW1X DAC III Balanced. Up until last night I had been listening on a daily basis with signal fed from my Aurender W20 via a well regarded S/PDIF cable from a very well regarded company. Granted it was not a mega dollar cable. Last night just out of interest I substituted a 1.5 meter Silver Apex IC for the dedicated S/PDIF from the other company. I wish I had simply started out with the Silver Apex IC. The sound quality took a significant leap forward in just about every imaginable attribute. Now I have ordered a custom made S/PDIF from Analysis Plus that utilizes the Silver Apex cable rather than AP's standard "single crystal" copper S/PDIF cable. The guy I talked to at AP is Steve Sinkoff who has a very interesting background. A former insurance defense trial lawyer like me (though I am still stuck practicing to afford my toys). He let me know that he was a huge fan of Silver Apex before taking his post-retirement gig at AP and plans to order such a custom S/PDIF for himself. AP has a custom cable division and Steve evidently works for it. I ordered it yesterday and I just got an email notification from UPS that I will have it by tomorrow evening. A lot of you folks have had exposure and experience with far more expensive cables that I have. Cardas Clear Beyond and Auditorium 23 are my previous sweet spots. The Silver Apex is less expensive than Cardas Clear Beyond and I like it far better. Right now the only CCB remaining in my system is a set of XLR's between my ARC Red 6 and Ref 150SE where I continue to think it is well-suited.
Just to say this again, hopefully needlessly, I have zero connection to any aspect of the audio industry and know nobody at AP other than my brief conversation on the phone yesterday with former barrister Sinkoff.
In what sonic ways do you prefer the Silver Apex to the Cardas Clear Beyond? Can you compare and contrast your sonic impressions in detail for us, please?