Digital coax cable

I'm looking for a digital coax cable to hook up a blu ray player to an AVR.  Anybody seen any for sale?  I already checked the Steren store and no go.

Thanks

Coax is coax, no such thing as "digital" coax. Try the little electronics store on the Ajijic Plaza, SE corner. They have lots of wire, cable, and connectors. If all else fails I may have a piece. How long need it be?

David wrote:Coax is coax, no such thing as "digital" coax.  Try the little electronics store on the Ajijic Plaza, SE corner.  They have lots of wire, cable, and connectors.  If all else fails I may have a piece.  How long need it be?

In audio circles it is know as ''Digital coaxial audio cable''. If you do a Google search, you'll know what I'm talking about. It's the connectors that make it different.

What are the connectors?

Nothing unique about them, been around for decades.  Called RCA plug used for audio.  Get 'em at the store on the Plaza.

David while the cable looks the same it is not. The jacks on the end of the wire can be RCA or BNC the wire is much better than normal RCA audio cable wire. Different electrical characteristics and triple or guad shielding is normal for a higher quality digital cable. A good quality digital  coax cable is very stiff.  Three types of digital audio.  Toslink or plastic optical digital which is whats used most often and is actually a Japanese phone standards turned into a home theatre standard for audio.  Second is Digital coax as we are talking about and the third is fiber optic like ST506 glass fiber optic cable.  

The original posters request for Digital audio coax is a legit request.  Normal RCA audio cables are not up to snuff for the digital world but would probably work but not correctly.  Analog audio and a digital signal sent on a coax cable have very different electrical requirements.

Good luck finding cable.  I looked and left mine NOB or I would have given you one as I don't use an external DAC anymore.

Z

Does digital coax provide a better signal than a good HDMI cable? I use HDMI to connect from Bluray to AVR. Am I missing something?

Coax is Coax, 75 or 50 ohm. RCA cables are not coax, but RCA connectors are RCA connectors, gold plated a little lower in resistance and higher in price.

gatosigi wrote:Does digital coax provide a better signal than a good HDMI cable?  I use HDMI to connect from Bluray to AVR. Am I missing something?

No, you're not missing anything. It is just that my AVR doesn't have HDMI inputs since it is an older model. HDMI is the way to go if you have the outputs/inputs.

Why not buy a set of RGB cables like those for connecting a sat box to a hi-def TV?

David wrote:Why not buy a set of RGB cables like those for connecting a sat box to a hi-def TV?

The BRPlayer only has coax and HDMI outputs.

RGBs are a set of 3 separate cables, use one. They're coax with gold connectors.

David wrote:Coax is Coax, 75 or 50 ohm.  RCA cables are not coax, but RCA connectors are RCA connectors, gold plated a little lower in resistance and higher in price.

No it is not!!! Digital Coax cable is usually triple or Quad shielded and very stiff. These cables have less loss per foot as the Digital signals we are talking about are very different than the normal analog audio.  Look up on the poles in Ajijic and you will see a new grey cable about the thickness of my thumb. It is the new Telecable backbone and it is Coax also.  Lots of different types of Coax. I found 10 types without looking hard.  Yes most folks have only seen the 75 or 50 ohm cables with RCA,BNC, or F connectors on the ends. RG59, RG6, RG8 are three examples of Coax.  RG59 is used for cable TV.  RG6 is very much like RG59 but better and used on our Satellite dishes. RG8 is used for making interconnects like how you connect the sound from a CD player to a receiver or integrated amp.  These are the three most popular types of Coax. Lots of others types used  in Ham radio as one example.  Use the right cable and connectors for the job.  Gold doesn't corrode thus higher priced cables have gold.  Never could measure the difference in resisitance it must be pretty small between gold and silver colored RCA jacks for example. If you live in the humid tropics gold is a good idea otherwise you have to twist the plugs once in a while to get the corrosion off the cable ends if no air conditioning. Some people have special rooms in the humid tropics to keep electronics dry. I have a friend who is a cable engineer
and it is a bit of Voodoo like Antenna are.

Its never simple is it?


Z

Apparently not!

Here is a good article explaining the difference.
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/digitalanalog.htm

As you can see it really only matters over long runs of cable and then you may get some audio degradation.  In most cases, your hearing would probably not detect the change as these are all electronic bench measurements. However if you have the hearing of an 8 year old you might notice the difference. Don't sweat it. Unless you are a complete audiophile, go with what you can find in a good cable. Upgrade if you think you will hear the difference later.

mrum wrote:Here is a good article explaining the difference.
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/digitalanalog.htm

As you can see it really only matters over long runs of cable and then you may get some audio degradation.  In most cases, your hearing would probably not detect the change as these are all electronic bench measurements. However if you have the hearing of an 8 year old you might notice the difference. Don't sweat it. Unless you are a complete audiophile, go with what you can find in a good cable. Upgrade if you think you will hear the difference later.

I don't disagree with what you said. I will say if you have pro/audiophile level mixers/DACs and other such stuff I would use a better cable and connectors BUT I would not use cheap plastic audio cables (no shielding) that come with your DVD player!! Take one apart and you won't use them again. I make my own using good wire and Vampire brand connectors. If you have separate CD/DVD transports and DACs and such I have found a better cable and connectors help. The difference in cost between cheap coax and good coax is not that much but it does make a difference. I don't like some of the coax that the cable companies use as it has a steel core (copper coating) for strength pulling wire not the best thing for long term performance (solid copper core). Yea most people can't hear the difference but I and others can. I would not use a Quad shielded Coax for cable TV but would use it to make a digital cable to connect my CD transport to a DAC (Digital to analog converter). Funny when I had a DAC and CD player with multiple input and outputs I would play listening to the difference between Glass Fiber optics and a Guad shielded Coax cable The Coax always sounded better. You would think that the Glass Fiber optic cable should outperform the Coax solution but it did not. Of course another different pieces of equipment might produce different results. A lot of this is voodoo and a lot of this is science but avoid the free and cheap cables and connectors.

Z

Since the OP is looking to connect a Blu-ray player i would think any good quality coax would work just fine.

Beware the high tech marketing hype. Buy a good quality cable and I am sure it will suffice unless you have a $10K audio system you are listening to. (and have great hearing)

Same as prices for ANYTHING for your boat!

mrum wrote:Beware the high tech marketing hype. Buy a good quality cable and I am sure it will suffice unless you have a $10K audio system you are listening to. (and have great hearing)

Way around this is to make your own. You can build a $100 pair of 10ft interconnects for about $20 and most of that is for the connectors. You also get cables the right length for your system and avoid some of the winding snaking wires all over the place. I had a spool of RG6 for video and sat work, a spool of RG8 for making interconnects and a bunch of us would share a spool of RG8 (??) guad shielding for making digital cables. Good wires do sound better than bad ones but I do agree that the cost model is crazy for some of this stuff. But cheap wire is not worth it. I have seen cheap speaker wire that turned green in six months even though is said oxygen free copper it wasn't. All you need to make cables is a set of diagonal cutters, soldering iron, good quality solder, and at our age a magnifying glass laugh out loud. For the folks who have lost hearing yes it probably makes no difference but I can still hear (test last year) to 16,000. If you want to know if you can still hear go see the hearing guy at LCS and find out. Be nice and tip him if you can afford to. By the way he is an audiophile and a nice guy. For you folks who doubt this stuff remember any system is only as good as its weakest link and speaker wires and interconnects are part of the system. I can make my system brighter (more higher frequencies) by changing speaker wire. Improve bass response with a 12 gauge speaker wire (compared to 18 gauge ) that allows more current to get to speaker. I don't even want tone controls (bass and treble) in my system and luckily my integrated amp I use in mexico allows me to bypass these controls. Voodoo yes I will be the first to admit much is voodoo about higher end video and audio. I knew crooks in the industry and I knew honest folks who did things like invent Accoustat panel speakers and solid state amplifiers (Trans Nova) that are wired up like vacuum tubes with MOSFETS. You don't have to spend 10K to get good sound. A 1000 dollar integrated amp, 1200 dollar speakers, and a 1000 dollar multimedia DVD player will give you 90% of the quality of sound these days compared to a 10,000 dollar system. For two channel work avoid home theatre receivers as a rule. I consider NAD to be an exception to the rule and a few others but most home theater receivers sound bad to me. Its a wonderful hobby I still get excited with a good artist and a good recording but I can understand how some folks think much of all this stuff is bull****.

Z (The Geek and proud of it)

David wrote:Same as prices for ANYTHING  for your boat!

Or plane. Check out GPS price for a plane laugh out loud.

Z

Yup! Anything hobby or enthusiast related.

Congrats Z , you have the hearing of a 35 year old. Here is a site to do a rough home test.
http://gamquistu.com/games/hearing

The rest of us will just have to muddle along. I came in at 12K (barely).

Then again, the question pertained to Blu-Ray Video!