Stranded or digital conductor ? - audio digital coaxial cable

[bomber2007]

Hello guys,

I don't know much about this kind of stuff, but I'm wanting to connect my DVD/CD player to my surround home theatre reciever using an audio digital coaxial cable.

All of my local shops sell the audio "Monster Standard THX digital coaxial cable".

I read that it has a "stranded conductor", but most other audio digital coaxial cables use a "solid conductor".

What is the difference ?
Is one type better than the other ?
I'm not sure if I should purchase the "stranded conductor" cable which most shops are stocking, or should I find one with the "solid conductor" ?

I plan to use the connection for both DVD and CD.

Thanks!

[olyteddy]

Meh. Wire is wire. Don’t buy the really cheap ones and don’t waste your money on Monster.

[Dogg]

They are typically a higher quality cable than your standard RCA audio cables and are typically shielded. Aside from that, any of them will work. But, as pointed out above, don’t waste your money on Monster cables.

[MysticEyes]

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10236

[bomber2007]

Thanks for the info / tips guys.

I’ve only just started spending decent $ on CD/DVD Player and surround sound system / receiver so this is really the first time I dealt with these audio digital coaxial cables…

I get the idea Monster Cables are known to be expensive !?, which is a bit of a pain, because basically it seems they’re really the only audio digital coaxial cable my 3 local stores are selling (apart from very cheap ones which might be too cheap ?, they’re only half the price of the Monster cable).

So am I being recommended to stay away from Monster Cables because of the expensive price ?, or is there also something not good about the quality I’ll get out of them ?

Another thing that confuses me is the particular model of Monster audio digital coaxial cable my 3 local stores are selling is the Monster THX “STANDARD” cable.
On the packaging and website this model only mentions Dolby Digital Surround Sound and does NOT mention DTS, this “STANDARD” model cable can be seen here on the Monster website, it is the bottom one out of the 2 shown:
http://www.monstercable.com/thx/audio_cabl...igital_coax.asp

But the audio digital coaxial one above it “ULTRA SERIES” does mention DTS.

Does this mean only the top one “ULTRA SERIES” will play DTS, but the “STANDARD” one which is the only one my local stores are selling will NOT even play DTS ?

Seems like a bit of a bastard act !, the stores are giving me the option of buying something too cheap, or buying the overpriced one to get decent quality…
I really want to go with quality so I might have to buy the Monster cable, which is why I also asked the DTS question in this post.
I’ve been setting my new system up for weeks, all I need is the digital coaxial cable and I’m done !, the things is I can buy the Monster Cable just 5 mins around the corner, so to order a cable which is a bit cheaper off the internet from America and have it sent to Australia (paying for packaging / posting etc) might not even make it worth it, yes, these Monster people do seem like bastards !

Thanks.

[platinumsword]

Hey bomber2007

Have a look at this thread and checkout some of the links, you can learn a little bit.

Link: http://club.cdfreaks.com/f149/expensive-hdtv-cable-really-better-than-cheap-one-239888/

Other brands found in Australia like

Philips
Belkin
JH

These will just do you fine and you won’t pay the steep price.

[bomber2007]

Thanks for the info everyone, seems like I don’t need to be paying anywhere near the Monster cable price.

I don’t know if I need to post this as a new topic because it’s sort of changing the topic, but it’s still related to the audio digital coaxial cable.
I used some blank DVD’s to burn some DVD-Audio discs at 24bit/48000 of friends recording in their studio.
Will these 24bit/48000 DVD-Audio discs play through an audio digital coaxial cable and actually play at 24bit/48000, or would it downsample to 16bit ?

I know with friends studio recordings I’m not really going to hear a difference between 16/44.1 and 24/48000, but as the master recordings were made at 24bit/48000 I would like them to play on my system that way.

I’m a bit confused as I read that when DVD-Audio is in Dolby Digital Surround or DTS you have to use the 6 point connection ?, but my friends studio recording is not surround, though it is at 24bit/48000, will the audio digital coaxial still play this type of recording at 24bit/48000 ?

Thanks very much for all the info / tips.

[CDuncle]

[QUOTE=platinumsword;2151360]Hey bomber2007

Have a look at this thread and checkout some of the links, you can learn a little bit.

Link: http://club.cdfreaks.com/f149/expensive-hdtv-cable-really-better-than-cheap-one-239888/

Other brands found in Australia like

Philips
Belkin
JH

These will just do you fine and you won’t pay the steep price.

[/QUOTE]

Excellent articles.
Thanks for the link.

[bomber2007]

Hi guys,

After I saw ALL my local electronic shops sell the Monster THX “STANDARD” version for audio digital coaxial cable, I decided to look on their website at the 2 types of audio digital coaxial cable they are offering.

Out of the 2 types of THX cables on their website the one named “STANDARD” mentions in the info that it supports Dolby Digital Surround Sound but does NOT say it supports DTS.
The other named “ULTRA SERIES” says it supports both Dolby Digital Surround Sound and also DTS.

The info from the website here:

---

Monster Standard® THX-Certified Digital Coaxial Interconnect Cable

Monster Standard® THX-Certified Coaxial Digital Audio Cable provides hookup to DVD and other components that utilize Dolby Digital Surround Sound. High-purity copper stranded coax delivers an improved signal and lower energy loss for amazing movie soundtrack and music reproduction.

Ultra Series THX® 1000 Digital Coaxial Interconnect

THX Certified digital coax audio cable for hookup of DVD and other components using Dolby Digital Surround Sound or high performance DTS. Allows you to enjoy your favorite movies and music with the superior quality that Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound can provide.

---

So I emailed Monster through their website to ask the question, and here is the response I got:

Hello Brent,
For your application, the Monster standard does not support DTS as DTS does require a larger bandwidth capability. For DTS I do recommend going with the ULTRA series cable.
Monsterously,
Eric Vitug

I can not believe this, as all my local shops sell the “STANDARD” model as their main and best cable for audio digital coaxial (and all told me even though the packaging does not mention DTS it would play it, none of them even stock the “ULTRA” model.

So, all these cables look the same to me, even the ones which are only half the price of Monster and less, so how do I know which plays DTS and which doesn’t, the email I got from Monster above mentions bandwidth, but when I was looking at them in the shop I couldn’t even see anything on the packaging about bandwidth…

This has totally done my head in !

[MysticEyes]

Hello Brent,
For your application, the Monster standard does not support DTS as DTS does require a larger bandwidth capability. For DTS I do recommend going with the ULTRA series cable.
Monsterously,
Eric Vitug

I use some old video dubbing cables I had laying around. They are RG59U cable with those old large gold RCA connectors. DTS works fine.

[platinumsword]

You do not need to pay monster cable prices, I really find it hard to believe that all you have to choose from is monster cable.

You can swim through many different forums on the web, you will get similar responses that you do not need to pay the high price of monster cable.

Look harder, you will have no issues with DTS.

Since you can’t take advantage of Monoprice.com, you should be able to find a cable and I am guessing a rough estimate of $30.00 to $60.00.

You could also make you own, if you can find the cable in bulk and the heads.

[bomber2007]

Sure I can find stuff on the internet.
It’s just that I’ve had my new set-up fpr weeks, and don’t want to wait ANOTHER week to order a cable off the internet.
I would really like to purchase a cable before the weekend so that’s why I first limited myself to what was locally available.

Which is Monster “STANDARD” at $80 Australian.
Another type at about $23, I have no knowledge on this stuff so I didn’t know if it was too cheap to be decent ? (I was told here “don’t buy really cheap ones”).
And for $60 I found the Belkin (blue) PURE AV20100-03.

[MysticEyes]

[QUOTE=bomber2007;2151893]Sure I can find stuff on the internet.
It’s just that I’ve had my new set-up fpr weeks, and don’t want to wait ANOTHER week to order a cable off the internet.
I would really like to purchase a cable before the weekend so that’s why I first limited myself to what was locally available.

Which is Monster “STANDARD” at $80 Australian.
[B]Another type at about $23, I have no knowledge on this stuff so I didn’t know if it was too cheap to be decent ? (I was told here “don’t buy really cheap ones”).[/B]
And for $60 I found the Belkin (blue) PURE AV20100-03.[/QUOTE]
How long a cable do you need? $23 is way too much to pay. At 3 feet this cable will do all that is required and work every bit as good as the Monster.

3ft High-quality Coaxial Audio/Video RCA CL2 Rated Cable M/M RG6U 75ohm Gold...

Home Centers here usually have RCA dubbing cables for less than $10.

[bomber2007]

Only about 30cm’s.

[debro]

The difference between stranded cables & solid core cables is that stranded cables can bend easier & further than solid core cables. Technically, the solid core conductor has better conductivity than stranded cables, but stranded cables won’t break as quickly/easily, if you’re messing around with them alot, which happens on very rare occasions.
Solid core cables (RG6) have a maximum length of about 260m, while stranded cables (RG59) have a mixmum length of about 180m to satisfy the 75ohm requirement - both well exceed the 0.3m you need

That said … anything shielded will do. Run down to Jaycar & grab some decent quality stranded RG59 (usual stranded) or RG6 (solid core) shielded cable and make your own - you can get plugs which only require a mini-screw driver (also at Jaycar).

But frankly, you can stroll down to the local $2 store & grab anything off the shelves , and it will work - absolute minimum length though, don’t buy 5m cables when a 1m cable will do.

Monster is just a marketing company.

Broadband cable distances, however, vary with channel frequencies. For very long runs, where baseband and broadband cable would experience attenuation problems, consider using fiber optic cable. For baseband applications, the cable typically used is 62.5/125- micron multimode fiber, while broadband normally uses single-mode fiber. Baseband video signals can also be transmitted over unshielded twisted pair cable (you need suitable adapters for this). At least Category 3 UTP is recommended to provide attenuation properties similar to coaxial cable. These properties are sufficient for using UTP in such applications as video to the desktop and CCTV camera signals.

For most baseband video application almost any well-made 75-ohm cable will be fine. [B]The main requirements for video cable are adequate shield, and proper (75-ohm) impedance. A normal RG-59 cable (or better) is good to carry video signals (compsite video, S-video, RGB, component video etc.) for long distances. [/B]For best baseband video performance avoid cheap TV aerial cable, use proper pro-grade video cable, which has much heavier shielding.

[B]NOTE: For short (less than 1m) distances video connections (composite video), you can even dispense with the 75-ohm impedance. Many consumer BNC hook-up cables that come with VCRs, etc. are not 75-ohm. Because they are so short it doesn’t really matter. For any longer distances the impedance matters.[/B]

[bomber2007]

[QUOTE=debro;2152265]The difference between stranded cables & solid core cables is that stranded cables can bend easier & further than solid core cables. Technically, the solid core conductor has better conductivity than stranded cables, but stranded cables won’t break as quickly/easily, if you’re messing around with them alot, which happens on very rare occasions.
Solid core cables (RG6) have a maximum length of about 260m, while stranded cables (RG59) have a mixmum length of about 180m to satisfy the 75ohm requirement - both well exceed the 0.3m you need

That said … anything shielded will do. Run down to Jaycar & grab some decent quality stranded RG59 (usual stranded) or RG6 (solid core) shielded cable and make your own - you can get plugs which only require a mini-screw driver (also at Jaycar).

But frankly, you can stroll down to the local $2 store & grab anything off the shelves , and it will work - absolute minimum length though, don’t buy 5m cables when a 1m cable will do.

Monster is just a marketing company.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your info.
I don’t know much about this stuff but I’m pretty sure all the stuff you are refering to is V IDEO stuff.
I was talking about AUDIO digital coaxial cable.
Thought I’m sure the same sort of facts you spoke about apply !
Cheers

[bigmike7]

[quote=bomber2007;2152367]Thanks for your info.
I don’t know much about this stuff but I’m pretty sure all the stuff you are refering to is V IDEO stuff.
I was talking about AUDIO digital coaxial cable.
Thought I’m sure the same sort of facts you spoke about apply !
Cheers[/quote]

Yo-

All good audio cable is 75 ohm - so there is no difference between video and audio - especially at the short lengths talked about (< 1 meter) -eh!!

[platinumsword]

Know one is here to steer you wrong, we are just telling you that you don’t have to pay the high monster cable price to get what you want. Unless you have abundance of cash and price is not a factor then the choice is yours.

[bomber2007]

Last week I pulled out of a box an old audio cable (1 white and 1 red plug at both ends - L+R stereo), which I used to use to connect my early 90’s VHS Player to my early 90’s stereo.
I used 1 plug from each end and plugged into the digital coaxial point of my new DVD Player and the other end into my new surround sound receiver, and the sound worked, even the DTS indicator lit up on my receiver.
I didn’t expect it to work as I thought it would only work with a digital coaxial cable.
How will using a “digital coaxial” cable make a difference ?

[debro]

[QUOTE=bomber2007;2152908]How will using a “digital coaxial” cable make a difference ?[/QUOTE]
My first guess would be that the [B]standard [/B]for “Digital Coaxial” has been updated for these cables for better noise rejections & signal properties.

In effect, higher quality cables … but this would only affect people over longer lengths or if they have much electro-magnetic interference.

In Oz, to be able to import or sell an electrical product, the manufacturer (or at least importer) must adhere to maximum levels of electrical and/or electromagnetic noise for each product. This level is well below the threshold that would affect any shielded cable - that’s the point, right?
I also recognize the fact that the USA has very tight controls for electrical products, and similarly Europe.
In Asia & Eastern Europe (and possibly Italy/Greece) - what’s a standard?

So in the Western world … there’s not much difference between a $2 store chinese manufactured non “Digital Compliant” cable & an over-hyped, over-priced, over-glorified $500 Monster cable, unless you want bragging rights - and therefore a moron with too much money.