Can anyone recommend a good set of leads to connect my DVD player to my surround sound receiver?

Thanks

 

Oops...Ignore me

I thought you wanted scart leads not digital connects, next time I'll read the post

 

Any decent digital coax. Don't pay more than around £25, as digital data transmits in binary the cable can have no effect on the sound. Avoid optical unless you only have optical as this requires reclocking and can introduce jitter. If you need 5.1 due to SACD or DVD-A, or you prefer to use the DVD players decoding (?) then the cables become more important, as an analogue cable can have an influence on the sound. It's one for your ears really, but I have leads ranging from £6 (Tandy Gold, superb for the £) up to £120 (Audioquest Quartz) and TBH, I'd only spend around £20 on a phono lead these days. You'll need 3 pairs for 5.1 though Decent speaker cable gives a bigger sound improvement than interconnects.

Take a look at QED, Audioquest, Monster etc. Also, there's a cables forum on www.avforums.com

 

Cheers cb, i'll check those out.

 

Get the cheapest - its only a short hop and digital. I dont buy all this overpriced cable stuff 'digital ready' and all that...

Corrado, is that right for optical? I connected my AV amp using that pricier fibre optic stuff as I thought it was best... Why offer it if it is no improvement over standard digital connects? Cheers for any clear up!

D

 

Yes, what do you mean by re-clocking? And what does this involve?

 

IXOS

 

QED

 

To clarify: for 5.1 surround you either need 1 75 Ohm coax digital lead (if the decoder is in your AV amp, which is usually the case), or you need three pairs of analogue cabling.

In simple terms, optical transmission makes it harder to accurately recover the clock at the receiving end, which can lead to increased jitter and inferior sound. However, the effect is quite small and you're unlikely to notice much difference especially with 5.1 soundtracks that have to be decompressed anyway.

It most certainly is possible for the quality of the digital cable to affect the signal, but again the differences between cables are likely to be hard to detect unless you have a particularly revealing system and sensitive ears.

What equipment do you have?

 

Andy,

I'm running the following:

Panasonic S75 DVD
Pioneer C 501-S Receiver
Pioneer 5.1 surround sound speakers (can't remember model)

Can you recommend best lead(s) to connect DVD to receiver as I have just bought receiver/speakers and haven't got a clue!

Cheers

 

Although your DVD player includes a surround decoder (ie. it has a set of 6 sockets on the back for analogue audio), I wouldn't use it - there's one in your amp already. So, all you need is a single digital 75 Ohm cable to link the digital output on the DVD to one of the digital inputs on the amp. Just pop into your local hi-fi shop, see what they have in stock and don't spend too much money. £20 is more than enough - in fact, at a pinch, any phono-phono cable will work. I used a tatty old bit of wire in my system for years and only recently upgraded; the sound became a bit sweeter on CDs, but with DVD I can't tell any difference at all. Spend any extra budget renting movies.

 

dont get dragged into buying top quality cables just cause someone in a shop told you, unless you have top quality stuff and you really want to sit there and see if you black isnt as black as it should be just go out and pay for the £10 priced cables which will do you, ive had the £100 cables on mine and couldnt tell the difference in quality between a £10 cable.

 

I really cant buy that mate - digital is a series of 1's and 0's; it either 'is or 'isn't'; no fuzzines or analog issues about it...

 

Well, yes - but the issue isn't in distinguishing between 1 and 0, it's in determining exactly when the transition between the two occurs. When a high speed digital signal is sent along a transmission line, distortions to the signal occur as a result of (amongst other effects) impedance mismatch between the source, connectors, cable and load. These result in the edges no longer being sharply defined in time, but varying slightly in position between one pulse and the next. In cases of extreme mismatch, edges can cease to be monotonic - the signal actually turns back on itself rather than transitioning smoothly from 1 to 0 and back again.

The receiving end needs to synchronise its own internal clock to the data bits as they come in, in order to sample the signal at times when it's stable and not undergoing a transition. In order to do this, it locks onto the transitions between bits. If these transitions are well-defined and regular, that makes the receiver's clock more accurate, and it's this clock that ultimately drives the DAC - the more accurate and stable it is, the better the sound. So, a clean incoming digital signal really can affect the sound you hear.

My new digital cable has a more accurately controlled 75 Ohm impedance, which leads to better matching between source, connectors and load, and therefore less distortion to the digital waveform. This results in a more stable clock, and better sound.

 

Andy / Steve,

Cheers for the advice guys

Tom