hey Zoom
Not sure what to say about the BDP-1 tripping on the BIT's - haven't had an issue at all.
I pretty much have ALL my electronics plugged into my BIT20>> 4BSST2, BDA2, BDP1, BP20, OPPO 203, Classe CA100, and LG OLED TV!
I think my BDP-1 is an early unit as well.
As for power cords in your next post, I DO find power cords make a difference. I was a non-believer forever until I bought a PS Audio power cable on the used market for less than $200. I plugged it into my 4BSST2 and it made a very noticeable difference immediately. I even brought my wife over to the listening position and did the A/B test without telling her which cable was the new one. She picked out the difference right away. More clear bass lines, especially.
SO....while I think i understand the logic in the miles and miles of cables - for some reason the last 3 feet makes a difference. I also use PS Audio cables for the BDA2 and BDP1.
TJ
That makes sense with your load. That's good that you can have your BDP plugged into the Torus.
Regarding the power cables, I have limited practical experience, but I've been some explanations out there. I don't doubt your experiences, but am puzzled by the mechanisms by which they sound different.
The power draw argument doesn't make sense to me. If I have 14/12 AWG wiring for 15A/20A circuit respectively throughout the wall, then how does the last few feet put so much strain on the power draw, especially if the components used draw little power and you are using low gauge power cables. If you stick 12 or 14 gauges for each component, then it's practically the same as the wire behind the wall. It should still be a low impedance connection.
The other thing that I can think of is shielding. Either the shield helps keep the noise out or the noise inside that is generated by the components themselves. In that case I can see how the shielding of a cable might provide benefit in the local environment of the rack.
In my rig, I've tried placing very noisy things on top of my gear and cables to induce problems, but that doesn't cause any problems either.
There is another thing that I've been wondering about: if the shielding is not required, does it cause more problems than its unshielded counterpart. Could the shielding be negatively affecting the sound, while perhaps making things sound nice in some people's rig. For example, some people like using shielded CAT7 cables with ground attached for example, even though that's introducing noise to the ground plane.
Here's a thought/practical experiment that I would love to do or have someone do. Suppose you have a shielded room that completely blocks out any external noise and there is nothing inside that room that can cause problems. In that room you have a single audio component like a media player + DAC + headphone amp built into the chassis (like a BDP+BDA+BHA in one body). So no interconnects or other cables required. The radiation argument won't matter here. Only thing required is a power cable that can be plugged into the wall. The incoming power from the other side is very clean, if not perfect textbook.
In that situation, I wonder if an unshielded or shielded made of similar design and gauge would perform better than the other. Would the shielding be working against it? In this case the shielding is not required, so would the addition of a shield help or make things worse?
I've read a few times that Vovox recommends their unshielded stuff over their shielded stuff for every cable type, even though their shielded equivalent cable costs more. They find that the shielding makes things worse and is compromising to the signal. They think of shielding as a necessarily evil, to be used only when required.
I'm just thinking out loud. I just realized that aside from the wire, I haven't even considered the connector as far as impedance goes.
