Intro
Contents
Sometimes a cable has an effect on music which prompts you to think: ‘I did not expect this’. The new Art Speak SPDIF cable has a surprise in store.
People convinced that a cable for transporting digital signals cannot make a difference are advised to stop reading now. This review will raise your blood pressure. You have been warned!
It is not binary
How can a SPDIF cable, the transport medium of the proverbial 1s and 0s, have an impact on sound? If you have been following Alpha Audio for a while, you will know that there are no 1s and 0s going across the cable, but electrical signals. The transition from one binary value to another is expressed by means of a voltage difference. The electricity in an SPDIF cable behaves not differently from other cables, the difference is in the processing of signals in connected equipment.
You know then, I hope, that the quality of that processing depends on the quality with which that signal is delivered, especially when it comes to errors and distortions (noise) that has impact on the time dimension of the voltage changes: the sample frequency of the original signal being reconstructed.
Expectations beforehand
Based on previous listening experience, the expectation is that a good SPDIF cable delivers a balanced sound image, free from harsh edges in transients, pinched sounds of wind instruments and metallic or bare sounding strings of grand pianos or violins.
A good SPDIF cable will also ensure that the background is as quiet as possible, allowing you to hear more detail and prolong the reverberation in recordings as you hear it. This is all relative to the ability of the whole chain behind the cable in making this heard or the insensitivity of the DAC to the quality of the signal coming in.
When comparing SPDIF cables, the audible differences between them are often small; it requires careful listening and comparison. So read this review with that in mind.
Cheers Martijn, will check it out. 🙂
Cannot be bought from a store or webshop? Is it a prototype ?
No. Ordering is only through the mentioned e-mail address. It is a legit manufacturer. We’ve testen a lot of his creations over time and visited him. Just use the search function on ‘Art Speak’.