B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable

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headshrinker2

B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« on: 2 Jun 2011, 03:42 am »
During the past few weeks I have been evaluating the following system:

Bryston B100SST integrated
Bryston BDA-1 DAC
NAD C541 CDP (digital out)
Totem Arro speakers
Audioquest Type 4 speaker cable
Chord Company Cobra Plus interconnect
Various budget coaxial digital cables

Everything sounded just fine, but I can't say I was enthralled.  Today the UPS guy was kind enough to bring me a Wireworld Starlight 6 Coaxial Digital.  Holy smokes!  This one very modest change/upgrade has elevated overall system performance dramatically.  At the risk of sounding like McDonald's commercial.. I'm lovin it!  Everything is starting to fall into place.  CD after CD sounds fantastic.    With the previous budget digital cable, I was clearly not hearing what the BDA-1/B100SST combination might be capable of.  I will be upgrading analogue interconnect and speaker cabling next.  If the audio keeps getting better like this, I may never leave my stereo! 

Two conclusions so far... (1) B100SST/BDA-1 is a very special combination and (2) budget for high quality cabling/speaker wire.  I have a feeling that I may not be in any hurry to purchase separates, once I make the cable/speaker wire upgrades.

Back to the tunes...



lanchile

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #1 on: 3 Jun 2011, 01:01 am »
I am glad that you love the sound of your new toy (B100). With the B60 and B100 I do not need separate equipment for sure!. :thumb:

jaxwired

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #2 on: 3 Jun 2011, 02:32 am »
Your experience mirrors my own.  I also found that  coax digital cables sound different.  Go figure.  Makes no sense, but there it is. 

BTW, I now use a wireworld supernova 6 Toslink between my Apple TV and DAC and it sounds splendid.  Wireworld seems to be doing something right.

headshrinker2

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #3 on: 3 Jun 2011, 02:58 am »
@lanchille,
Thanks!  I'm really enjoying the music.  The Wireworld Starlight 6 is on it's 2nd day of break-in and the sound continues to change.  Anybody who doesn't believe in cable break-in needs to come to my house :)

@jaxwired,
I also have a Wireworld Supernova 6 (MacBook Pro---> BDA-1).  Terrific cable!  Major upgrade to the Bellkin Toslink I had previously been using.  I agree that WW is doing something right.  I've been so pleased with their stuff in my Bryston system that I am giving serious consideration to putting together a full WW set of cables, interconnects, and power cables. 

werd

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #4 on: 3 Jun 2011, 08:30 pm »
@lanchille,
Thanks!  I'm really enjoying the music.  The Wireworld Starlight 6 is on it's 2nd day of break-in and the sound continues to change.  Anybody who doesn't believe in cable break-in needs to come to my house :)

@jaxwired,
I also have a Wireworld Supernova 6 (MacBook Pro---> BDA-1).  Terrific cable!  Major upgrade to the Bellkin Toslink I had previously been using.  I agree that WW is doing something right.  I've been so pleased with their stuff in my Bryston system that I am giving serious consideration to putting together a full WW set of cables, interconnects, and power cables.

Thats good news, not that i didnt expect it. A great tell for a system's ability to resolve musical info lies in it's ability to hear significant differences in a coax or xlr digital cables.

If you are hearing differences in coax your system has great resolution. That cable is so far up the chain and close to the source that it's sonic character has to stay true through a bunch of potential component degradations. Including wires amps, speakers and room.

I find the digital cable to be the most influential cable in my system. To test it try using complicated rhythms found in jazz or symphony. I like to use John Scofields "Uber Jam" as a test reference. That recording will screw with your digital coax. You can go from a base cable to a higher end cable and have that recording sound completely different. Almost unrecognizable from a cheapy to a better one like your Wireworld.

This is because cheap cables can not resolve the inner timings and rhythms. It just messes with it so much you lose the beats. And yes there are beats in complicated jazz outside of 4/4 timings. Once you have a system that can resolve the information you need to keep that information intact and nothings wrecks it more than a digital coax or xlr.

Until recently my favorite digital connect was a coax - an Atlas opus in 75 ohm.  That cable beat everything including all xlr's i tried. I just recently found a Wywires in xlr that i prefer since it offered better resolution with a great sense of timing. The Atlas still lays down the beats better but not by much. I have a bigger soundstage now and great rhythm
with the Wywire xlr.

So there you have it. Have fun looking at coax now and for a bigger bang go get a BDP and really be blown away by how much a digital cable can have an affect.


StigO

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #5 on: 6 Jun 2011, 07:20 pm »
Why not try Bryston BNC - RCA digital cable?

headshrinker2

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #6 on: 6 Jun 2011, 09:16 pm »
Stigo,
I'm pretty happy with my current Wireworld Starlight.  If I had a local Bryston dealer, I would try the Bryston BNC to RCA you mentioned.  Are you using the Bryston cable?

robb

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #7 on: 7 Jun 2011, 02:38 am »
I cannot find the Bryston digital cable on their website. In face I cannot find any cables at all

Rob

adol290

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #8 on: 7 Jun 2011, 03:03 am »
I cannot find the Bryston digital cable on their website. In face I cannot find any cables at all

Rob

http://bryston.com/canare.html

StigO

Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #9 on: 7 Jun 2011, 07:10 am »
Stigo,
I'm pretty happy with my current Wireworld Starlight.  If I had a local Bryston dealer, I would try the Bryston BNC to RCA you mentioned.  Are you using the Bryston cable?

Yes I'm using it and happy with it :) Used to have Nordost RCA-RCA connected to my digital player. Preferred choice is to use AES-EBU, BNC-RCA, RCA-RCA and then optical.

Ron D

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Re: B100SST + BDA-1 + decent coaxial cable
« Reply #10 on: 7 Jun 2011, 01:41 pm »
Very happy with my Bryston RCA-BNC cable feeding my BDA-1. While I haven't compared it to anything else when I loaned my BDA-1 to a buddy so he could compare it to his BCD-1 he had both my cable and a stereovox cable (can't remember which model but I believe an earlier version as I know its a few years old) and he preferred the Bryston over it in his system (BCD-1/BP-26/7B-SST2/PMC OB1i).