[rockadanny]

Or I need a coax cable, which is different than RCA interconnect?

[GentleBender]

Good question. I found this information with a search. https://www.clooms.com/coaxial-vsrca-audio-cable/#coaxial-vs-rca-audio-cable-can-you-use-rca-for-digital-connection

Digital coaxial cables differ from RCA. Thus you cannot substitute the RCA for digital use. A coaxial cable transmits digital signals in a single cord, while an RCA cable transmits analog signals using two or three-cord connectivity. Hence, RCA is a connector and not a cable.

Coaxial Vs. RCA Audio Cable: Can You Use RCA for Digital Connection?

It depends on whether it’s an audio or video connection you need. Because the digital coaxial cable is backward compatible with ordinary RCA cable, you can use RCA only for digital audio connection.

[Letitroll98]

Any coax rca cable will work for digital audio transmission, but not as well as a 75 ohm digital cable.  BNC connectors are better at maintaining that 75 ohm standard, some rca connectors claim to maintain 75 ohms, but I haven't measured them.  Unfortunately the audio industry hasn't embraced BNC connectors for digital, so we're stuck with rca or balanced cables if your unit has them.

[Wayner]

BNC is 50 ohm.

[Speedskater]

RCA, SPDIF is rather a low frequency for digital data transmission. So just about any reasonable RCA coax will work fine for shorter lengths (say 10 feet/3 meters).
For longer lengths (say greater than 15 feet/5 meters) it should be close to a 75 Ohm coax. (say 50 to 125 Ohm)
The longer the coax the closer to 75 Ohms, it needs to be.
at SPDIF frequencies, the connector is such a short fraction of a wave length, it's impedance doesn't matter.

[maxima95]

BNC can be 50 or 75 ohms.

[jtcf]

Yes you can use any RCA cable for digital. I'm actually using one in my system now.Oddly enough after I replaced my preamp the digital cable I had been using was no longer compatible. There was a glare that was getting on my nerves. I swapped out several other RCAs from my stash and the winner to my ears was an older cable from a now defunct company. You never know.

[viggen]

I have limited experience with digital coax cables but to my ears rca cables sound better.

I tried D60, HDVX, Oyaide and a few other digital coax and they all sound sharper and thinner to me compared to rca cables.

[Speedskater]

In digital cables, it's a question of momentary drop-outs. With SPDIF just about any coax will work at 3 feet. But if you take a mis-matched coax and make it longer and longer. At some point those momentary drop-outs will start to occur, how your error-correction deals with them, determines the sound. As the cable gets even longer it stops working entirely.

[Rusty Jefferson]

It's likely to 'work' fine, but may not depending on the equipment and the cable. Regardless, it won't harm anything to try. It's not right, or best sounding, but may work for your application.

[Speedskater]

True! industrial audio consultant Dick Pierce noticed that a long time ago. Some top rated digital hi-fi equipment had poorly designed digital input & output stages that made it seem like there were great differences in the cables.
But why not try? It's a go/no go situation.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

Funny, I'm in the process right now of setting up a bedroom system with a LUMIN D2 feeding an old Peachtree iNova.  I have an e-mail in to Peachtree asking how to best hook it up.  I have a Benchmark 75 Ohm BNC male to Coax RCA male that I might be running from the BNC out of the LUMIN to one of the digital coax inputs of the iNova.

While I wait for Peachtree's response, maybe someone with more knowledge than I (and possibly some experience with the iNova) can tell me this: In the above scenario, would the LUMIN's DAC be doing the converting and not the Peachtree's? This question exposes my level of ignorance, but hopefully I can learn something here.

Thanks already for any input.

[Speedskater]

Well the LUMIN D2 has digital & analog outputs, and the iNova has digital & analog inputs.
So depending on how you connect them, either could so the  Digital to Analog Conversion.

[opnly bafld]

LUMIN D2 -  Wolfson WM8741 decoder chip for each channel

Peachtree iNova - ESS ES9016, 32 bit, 24/192 Sabre32 Ultra DAC

[Rusty Jefferson]

... In the above scenario, would the LUMIN's DAC be doing the converting and not the Peachtree's? ...

In the scenario you described the Lumin will be sending a digital signal to the Peachtree which will convert it to analogue.  However, the Lumin is likely the better component to do the conversion. I'd go analogue out of the Lumin to feed the amplifier.

Also, the Lumin has the ability to adjust volume with the addition of a remote, making it more of a streamer/dac/preamp. Get a nicer but still compact amplifier and it becomes the center of your system and would likely outperform what you're about to do (imo).

[avahifi]

Digital coax cables are specified to be 75 ohms.

Normal RCA coax cables can be all over the place in their specifications.  Thus I suggest you stay with known digital cables for your CD connections

Frank

[Speedskater]

While SPDIF digital cables have a specified Radio Frequency Characteristic Impedance of 75 Ohms.
This only matters for long cables (say well over 15 feet/5 meters).
For shorter cables the tolerance is about 50 to 125 Ohms. Almost all reasonable coax cables are in this range.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
as per:  Steve Lampen @ Belden
04/06/2007

[rollo]

Digital coax cables are specified to be 75 ohms.

Normal RCA coax cables can be all over the place in their specifications.  Thus I suggest you stay with known digital cables for your CD connections

Frank

   Sound advice. Look for 80 Ohm for analog cables and only 75 Ohm for SPDIF with a BNC connector if you can.


charles

[timind]

Funny, I'm in the process right now of setting up a bedroom system with a LUMIN D2 feeding an old Peachtree iNova.  I have an e-mail in to Peachtree asking how to best hook it up.  I have a Benchmark 75 Ohm BNC male to Coax RCA male that I might be running from the BNC out of the LUMIN to one of the digital coax inputs of the iNova.

While I wait for Peachtree's response, maybe someone with more knowledge than I (and possibly some experience with the iNova) can tell me this: In the above scenario, would the LUMIN's DAC be doing the converting and not the Peachtree's? This question exposes my level of ignorance, but hopefully I can learn something here.

Thanks already for any input.

I recommend using the analog out from the Lumin directly into the Nova. It'ii probably sound better, and you don't have to worry about a digital cable.

When I got my D2 a year ago I was using the digital out to a Benchmark DAC3 and was happy with it. I then compared the D2's analog out to the DAC3 fed by the Lumin. I was surprised how much better I liked the sound from the D2, so I sold the DAC3.

[Jeff_From_Michigan]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my specific use case. ! I think I'll go with analog out from the D2 for now. I appreciate the input, and my apologies for somewhat hijacking the thread for a minute.