Digital Coax Performance vs. RCA Cable (in the DC output)

[jmalecki05]

I have been using Digital Coax with my DAP for almost a year with much success. I ordered a longer cable for use in my home theater with the same DAP and I will receive in a few days. (I also have been using for Dolby Digital 5.1 before HDMI existed).

Today, I was playing with the efficiency difference between the digital coax and phono outputs with their respective cables (slight advantage with dc, but not material enough to fuss over). But then I was thinking; can I use a phono cable instead of a designated digital coax cable?

Particularly, I will be testing for:
(1) will their be a difference in audio quality;
(2) will the difference be significant; and
(3) will the phono cable produce any audio at all.

I have my hypotheses, but I wouldn't be surprised with any of the results.

(Back in college, I worked at Radio Shack. I had a really cool boss who would let me take home any open products with the trust that I would return the next day in good condition. This is where I learned that (among other things), price and performance did not correlate with AV cables. E.g. - the basic, gold, and Monster cables for component video were identical on my 27 inch RCA Truflat. (yes, that was over 15 years ago)

I will post a follow up of my results after testing, which might not be until after the new year.

Let me know if this has been tested before and what were your experiences.

 

[lovinthehd]

I just pull out a cable with rca connectors and use it, whether its digital or analog. Never noticed any problems doing this, they're both coax cables and IIRC only slight differences in spec, mostly marketing.

Here's the explanation from bluejeanscable https://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/digitalanalog.htm

 

[Wisco_HiFi]

They are all the same. Just different colors on the outside. It doesn't matter what you use.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Swerd]

Digital coax cables are coaxial cables with 75 ohm impedance. They are identical to video cables in every way except for the color-coded RCA plugs. Audio interconnect cables, usually color-coded red/white or red/black, aren't required to have 75 ohm impedance. For shorter lengths (less than roughly 10 feet), they can be used instead of digital coax cables without any noticeable difference in sound.

I predict you will find:
(1) will their be a difference in audio quality? No
(2) will the difference be significant? No
(3) will the phono cable produce any audio at all? Yes

 

[BMXTRIX]

About the only time I've run into any issues is with the 'freebie' red/white cables that used to come with your audio gear. The build quality was so poor that the RCA ends constantly would have issues in them and if you hit the cable the wrong way, they would cut out or introduce static into analog signals.

That was only on maybe 5% of the cables I used. Maybe less. As well, I typically would use better build quality cables from the start.

Spending more than a few bucks on digital coaxial cables is wasted money. For short runs, a well built cable is all you really need, and there are tons out there.

Monoprice remains my go to place for some of this cabling, though I typically make my own.