[TheeeChosenOne]

http://www.i2digital.com/

Chris Sommovigo apparently is striking out on his own.  He's the designer that made the vaunted Kimber ILLUMINATI D-60--the best selling audiophile digital interconnect in the world.

He has introductory pricing at the moment so don't wait on the fence too long.........He offers a 31 day trial.

On other boards, early users have even sold their $2k Kharma Digital.  Also has bested top-line stuff from Acoustic Zen, etc.

[Psychicanimal]

My friend Deano is the one who sold his Kharma--I saw the ad in A-gon.  Lak purchased the 1/3 m cable and I heard it outperform a $450 Purist Audio Proteus.  Now 1/3m is way too short.

I plan to get the i2digital after one more comparison...

[OBF]

Is the thing very flexible, so a 1 foot cable could bend enough to connect a DAC that's sitting on top of a player?  I notice going to the 1m cable doubles the price which seems kind of ridiculous to me, like maybe the 1/3m is just a gimmick so they can say pricing starts at $100.  Otherwise why not offer a .5m?

[Hantra]

I have to say that I was once told by a guy I respect in cables that .75 meters was the minimum length for a digital cable.  Something to do with signal propagation screwing up on shorter lengths. . .  

Any opinions on that?  I'd try this cable if I could do it that cheaply. .

B

[Psychicanimal]

I have to say that I was once told by a guy I respect in cables that .75 meters was the minimum length for a digital cable.  Something to do with signal propagation screwing up on shorter lengths. . .  

Any opinions on that?  I'd try this cable if I could do it that cheaply. .

B

Great cables are not cheap.

Someone told me it's at least 1.5m--that's what my Phoenix Gold's length is.

[Psychicanimal]

Is the thing very flexible, so a 1 foot cable could bend enough to connect a DAC that's sitting on top of a player?  I notice going to the 1m cable doubles the price which seems kind of ridiculous to me, like maybe the 1/3m is just a gimmick so they can say pricing starts at $100.  Otherwise why not offer a .5m?

It is pretty flexible...

[TheeeChosenOne]

I received an email from the designer.  He said that .5m or .75m will still be priced at the 1m price.  Plus there would be a 4 week delay.

Since, that's the case, it's a no-brainer to get the longer 1m length.

[PJ]

I have to say that I was once told by a guy I respect in cables that .75 meters was the minimum length for a digital cable.  Something to do with signal propagation screwing up on shorter lengths. . .  

Any opinions on that?  I'd try this cable if I could do it that cheaply. .

B

I could be wrong, but I think the only restriction is that the cable must be 75 Ohms. I am guessing the reason is to match the transmission line (the cable) to the load.

The length of the cable, combined with the velocity of propagation only affects the transmission delay, which will be in the order of ns.

[Den]

I don't know if you are wrong, PJ.  I don't know anything except for what I read,  but I've read the same thing about short digi cables.  I think the issue is something about reflections possibly going back to the source if the cable is too short.  I don't recall the length specified though.  ~1m I think.

[PJ]

Thats what it is. If the cable is not matched, reflections occur. Essentially the cable has to be of the same impedance as the input of the DAC.

R = (Zl - Zo)/(Zl + Zo)

Where R is the reflection coefficient, or the ratio of the reflected wave to the incident wave.

Zl = input impedance
Zo = Transmission line (cable) impedance.