dCS Vivaldi Cables?

[Custodian]

Testing reflection in various digital cables we found some interesting cable variations



Ideally we should have seen a straight line. I won't embarrass any particular manufacturer by naming the particularly poor performers.

 

[microstrip]

(...) Ideally we should have seen a straight line. I won't embarrass any particular manufacturer by naming the particularly poor performers.

You will not embarrass any cable manufacturer with measurements. If you find that an excellent sounding cable measures poorly in your measurement of characteristic measurement it means that you should find something else to measure if you want to explain why it sounds so good.
Interested people can look at the Mogami site showing graphs of measurements in the section of their digital cables - they present much more information than pictures of screen oscilloscopes.

 

[Custodian]

This was primarily done for clock cables. Maybe unsurprisingly, those cables which showed minimal disruption of signal actually sounded best. Nice to see a convergence of subjective with measurement.

 

[microstrip]

This was primarily done for clock cables. Maybe unsurprisingly, those cables which showed minimal disruption of signal actually sounded best. Nice to see a convergence of subjective with measurement.

Yes, we can think that clock cables are more easily "predictable", as the clock is stabel signal. But as far as I know your Tektronix 7854 is a 400 MHz oscilloscope - it will show coarse mismatches, but some manufacturers claim that audible differences can show in the GHz zone.

An important detail concerning most quality digital cables is that they should not be bent with a very small curvature radius - it will severally affect the performance.

 

[Custodian]

Yes, we can think that clock cables are more easily "predictable", as the clock is stabel signal. But as far as I know your Tektronix 7854 is a 400 MHz oscilloscope - it will show coarse mismatches, but some manufacturers claim that audible differences can show in the GHz zone.

An important detail concerning most quality digital cables is that they should not be bent with a very small curvature radius - it will severally affect the performance.

Exactly. I viewed the clock cable as a much simpler, more predictable situation. From that point of view, I thought there was possibly little real benefit in exotic high end designer cables for the clock signal

Your point on bending is also a good one. Any thoughts on mechanical micro vibration in digital cables?