Digital cables - have to be over 3ft? [Archive]

ToddL

12-22-2005, 01:45 PM

I can't figure out any logic to this but I was told that digital cables need to be over 3ft. I don't get it, has anyone heard of this?

Mr Peabody

12-22-2005, 08:39 PM

In general I'd say that was a false statement. However, if the manufacturer recommended it in the owners manual for some reason I'd follow their suggestion. I only had that happen once, when I bought an Audio Note DAC they recommended to use a digital cable 1/2 meter in length.

kexodusc

12-23-2005, 04:46 AM

Sounds pretty ridiculous. Lots of people make their own cables to whatever lenght they want.
3 ft seems to be the most common length for manufacturers.
Can't see how going shorter could cause and detriment.

Florian

12-23-2005, 06:55 AM

I once did a comparison over at DALI where we tried a 3ft digital cable and a 25ft one and the difference was zero.

-Flo

GMichael

12-23-2005, 07:10 AM

I once did a comparison over at DALI where we tried a 3ft digital cable and a 25ft one and the difference was zero.

-Flo

How about under 3 feet? Any reason to think this would matter? I was planning on getting a few shorter cables to help clean up the mess behind my system. Why use a 3 foot cable to go 6 inches?

ToddL

12-23-2005, 07:10 AM

Thanks for confirming this. A digital signal is a digital signal until you are talking about miles I guess. I think the mix up was in that it is easier to do setups with a longer cable because in a thick HDMI they don't bend well.

ruadmaa

12-23-2005, 12:33 PM

How about under 3 feet? Any reason to think this would matter? I was planning on getting a few shorter cables to help clean up the mess behind my system. Why use a 3 foot cable to go 6 inches?

To the best of my knowledge, the shorter the cable the better (less resistance). Incidentally, there is no such thing as a digital cable. Cables pass electricity, it doesn't really matter what form it is in. You will also run into the same thing with HDTV. Many dealers will try to sell you a High Definition digital antenna. There is no such thing. ALL high definitition tv signals are received by a standard UHF/VHF antenna. Beware of snakeoil!!!

Please don't argue with me on this, if you want to buy a special "DIGITAL" wire go do it.

ToddL

12-23-2005, 02:23 PM

To the best of my knowledge, the shorter the cable the better (less resistance). Incidentally, there is no such thing as a digital cable. Cables pass electricity, it doesn't really matter what form it is in. You will also run into the same thing with HDTV. Many dealers will try to sell you a High Definition digital antenna. There is no such thing. ALL high definitition tv signals are received by a standard UHF/VHF antenna. Beware of snakeoil!!!

Please don't argue with me on this, if you want to buy a special "DIGITAL" wire go do it.

Component video and digital coax you are completely right, but how about HDMI? as far as I know they have a 100% digital transfer.

GMichael

12-23-2005, 02:58 PM

To the best of my knowledge, the shorter the cable the better (less resistance). Incidentally, there is no such thing as a digital cable. Cables pass electricity, it doesn't really matter what form it is in. You will also run into the same thing with HDTV. Many dealers will try to sell you a High Definition digital antenna. There is no such thing. ALL high definitition tv signals are received by a standard UHF/VHF antenna. Beware of snakeoil!!!

Please don't argue with me on this, if you want to buy a special "DIGITAL" wire go do it.

I currently use optical cables to my CD player.