[art]

Well, against our better judgement, (OK, mostly mine, as I was the lone hold-out), due to the encouragement from the members here, we have decided to make SPDIF cables again.

So, since I have a good idea what questions you are going to ask, here is my take on them:

"Why is it so long?"

C'mon....16' isn't that long, is it? OK. Maybe it is.

"You still haven't told us why yet."

Has to due with controlling reflections. Sorry to give an abbreviated answer, but I don't feel up to telling our competition how we do it. At least not today. This one you will just have to take on good faith. (Actually, I know of a few competitors that already know the answer. They would concur if you asked them. Just don't: buy our cables instead.)

"Are these cables directional?"

Well, all SPDIF cables are directional to a very slight degree. Any cable will have small impedance perturbations along its length. The magnitude of these, and where they occur, relative to the source and load end, will have a very slight effect.

"How 'slight' Is it audible?"

Maybe 0.25 dB difference in return loss, when measured one way, and then the other. Probably not audible to most, but I would not be surprised if trained listeners could pick out the difference. Mind you, different means just that: different. We by no means intend to indicate that one way will sound better than the other. Only different. And yes, it will depend on the system as to which (if either) has a slight preference.

"Can we use them rolled up, and not all stretched out? They are too long for my set-up, unless they are rolled up."

Yes. In fact, that is the condition that I measure them in. Rolled up will work just fine.

"You aren't going to use that stupid UBYTE name again, are you?"

Yes, I am afraid so. But as there will only be one cable (instead of 2), there will be no need to differentiate between the U-Byte 1 and the U-Byte 2. (It's a joke.........don't have a cow.)

"OK, wise guy, what does UBYTE stand for? Other than your bad attitude?"

Thank you for noticing. Usually Beats Your Terrible Engineering.

"But isn't there some other guy already using that name?"

Yes, many years ago, after we stopped making cables, one of our principles let one of his strange friends use that name. As long as he acknowledged where it originated. As far as I know, he did. Not sure that guy still makes cables, but if he does, well, he can move over for a while. We are taking the name back.

"Fine. But isn't it just some cable that you picked out of a catalogue, and stuck some expensive BNCs on the end?"

Well, yes. To both. Yes, it is a cable out of a catalogue, as is most everyone else's. And yes, the BNCs are very expensive, as they have to be made special for this cable. But we had to go through a lengthy evaluation process to find the best one. Any one can buy a cable, stick connectors on the end, and claim it is the greatest thing since the electric guitar. We actually put a lot of effort into coming up with this cable design.

"So, that means that we could go out and make our own. And not have to deal with you."

Again, yes. If you are prepared to buy 1000' of cable. When you find out how much it costs per foot, you may change your mind. And then you would have to know where to source the connectors, and pony up the money for them as well. (They aren't available off-the shelf, so get ready to pony up and wait.)

Sure, you could round up 6-10 of your buddies, and buy a roll of cable for about the same price as you would pay for assembled cables. Don't forget to factor in the cost of the connectors. (And what would you do with the 800-900 or so feet of cable left over? Surely, you aren't going to call us and ask if we want to take it off of your hands, are you?)

"So, it sounds like you are trying to justify gouging us for some off-the-shelf cable assembly."

No, to both of those. Yes, it is possible for the hobbyist to make a cable exactly like one. If you want to deal with the frustrations of collecting all the parts. (Which is one reason we stopped making them...................grrrrr.)

No, the justification process has yet to begin.

"OK, other than it is long, has BNCs, and you tried to talk everyone out of making their own, what is so special about it?"

Well, here is what it is made of:

The centre conductor is copper. Not copperweld (which is steel-covered copper), as in some cables.

The shield is copper. Not tinned copper, or aluminum foil over a thin copper shield. Copper. Lots of nice, shiny, expensive copper.

(Has anyone looked at the price of copper lately?)

The dielectric is foamed Teflon. Not polyethylene, foamed or solid.

The impedance is 75 ohms. Measured on a each and every cable that we will produce. Measured on both a network analyser (frequency domain) and on a TDR (time domain.) You will know that you are getting exactly what you paid for. A 75 ohm cable. Not a 50 ohm cable. (As one of my buddies sells. "But I had a friend who works at Motorola, and he said that it was 75 ohms." I hope he isn't reading this, as he is tired of hearing me razz him!)

I do not know of any other cable manufacturer that measures each and every cable that they make. I doubt many have the ability to make any measurements at all. We do, so we do.

In a way, it is kinda like dealing with a plumber: $5 to turn a wrench, $100 to know which one, how and where to turn it.

"So, you are going to gouge us!"

No, not our intentions at all. Yes, we will make a profit. We are capitalists. The dealers will want their cut as well. (Greedy buggers!) But my intention is to make it as affordable as possible.

"Which means how much?"

Well, I don't set the prices around here! I have convinced the others that we should sell the initial run for $200. After that, they will probably insist on raising the price.

But, in the meantime, rest assured that the cables do exist, and we will be ready to start shipping very soon. Thanks to all of you who encouraged us to proceed, and if you guys don't buy any.........well, you know who is going to get chewed out around here.

Won't be the first time......won't be the last. I have dished it out, and I have to ability to take it as well. Trust me.

"You probably deserve to be chewed out."

Yes, especially if someone comes to me at about 2 PM tomorrow and claims that I used up all the dual-wall heat shrink tubing several months ago. And never replaced it.

It could happen. In fact, it probably will! (I forget if I used it all up. One way to find out................)

Pat........for the staff at Analog Research-Technology

[kyrill]

Amen...
Hi pat
I cant find something yet on yr webpage?
would that cable as you describe it, not make a good analogue IC also with proper rca plugs?
kyrill

[art]

When it comes to SPDIF, there is no such thing as a proper RCA plug.

As for the website.........yeah.......that is a small problem. The guy(s) who did the original design have moved on. I am the only person only partially-competent, when it comes to working on the website design, still here. I say partially because......well.......I have made my share of mistakes trying to work on it in the past after the others left.

Anyone want to help out? For a small fee or big discount on a cable?

Thanks,
Pat

[kyrill]

my fault
i meant RCA plugs for an analogue IC. i changed my post

[miklorsmith]

Cool beans, sounds like a reasonable price to me.

The difficulty is with the BNC connections - I have BNC cables and they all have RCA adaptors on them because the gear is 90% RCA connected.

[RJ]

Hi Pat,

Put me down for one when they are available. I have one of your modded CD Players and a Velluto amp. I need an SP/dif cable to go from a Squeezebox to a DAC.

RG

[art]

Cool beans, sounds like a reasonable price to me.

The difficulty is with the BNC connections - I have BNC cables and they all have RCA adaptors on them because the gear is 90% RCA connected.

We used to be in the 10% that made transports and D/A boxes with BNCs.

Adaptors will muck things up, though. We have supplied them when asked for, but the cable is best on gear with BNCs.

The theory being that a manufacturer that uses BNCs probably makes quality equipment. (Well, I won't bore you with how bad we found almost every input and output stage was, but that 10% figure might be high!) Anyway, the present thinking here (with the non-RF gang) is such:

1.) Gear with BNCs will most likely be...how should I put this.........."expensive". (Trying hard to be tactful.)

2.) Customers with that kind of gear are not only willing to pay a price for anything, but won't be willing to accept anything that looks like a "bargain". Rationale being that if it is good, it can't be inexpensive. And vice versa.

3.) We can raise the price and sell them to that share of the market.

My rationale:

Most gear has RCAs. BNC - RCA adaptors will lower performance, but would allow use by a larger share of the market. Since 99.9% of their gear probably does not input/output impedance(s) close enough to really take full advantage of our cables, the mismatch created may not hurt all that much. Yes, some.

So why even try them at all??????

Good question.

Hear them for yourself, and you will know why. This cable will sound noticeably better than anything in its price range. Even with an adaptor. With proper terminations on both ends, I would match it against $1000 cables.

So, give them a try. Even if it does requires an adaptor.

And help me keep the price down! Unless you really want to pay $600 for one. I guess that you could twist my arm to charge you that much. The rest of the gang here sure wants to, but hard to believe, I don't have the chutzpah to do that.

Yet.

And try to imagine how much better it would sound if you gear was designed properly, and could use BNCs.

No, this is not an attempt to solicit more SB3 mod business.........RJ! I hope you realise what a can of worms that you have opened.

BTW.......don't you have one of our D/A boxes? Or is that one of your buddies? Sorry, can't remember.

Pat

[art]

http://www.analogresearch-technology.net/ubyte.html

There is a reason why this post is at 4 AM. Can anyone guess why? (No, don't!)

Pat

[art]

Someone sent me this link:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=98c54757a14f3824b4bff56b4c3d542f&postid=1423488#post1423488

The only reasons that I provide it here are:

1.) There are about 1001 things that you can do to a SPDIF cable. About 999 of them are wrong. Making it "sound different" is easy to do. Make it sound good is something totally different.

2.) We shouldn't feel guilty for what ours cost. Stuff like what these guys are doing.........well, can't call it criminal, since no one is holding a gun to the head of anyone silly enough to buy one. Still, it reeks. I find it hard to believe that crap like that actually sells. Stuff like this makes us embarrassed to be in the same business, and having to compete against it.

Pat

[TONEPUB]

Art was kind enough to send me his cable a while back and I have been buried.

But, I finally got to it the other day and I'm kicking myself for not using
it sooner.  This cable is awesome!
I'd still like to put some more hours on it before I write the full review, but already
it's pretty easy to hear how good this one is.

He's right, it easily compares to a thousand dollar digital cable from other sources.

So, I suggest if you need one of these, write the check now, before they
change their mind and either stop making em, or sell them all to someone
else who will put a thousand dollar pricetag on them.

Don't say I didn't warn you!!!

Nice job Art!

[Bill@LakeGeorge]

Pat I just got to reading this and you are a riot, I can't stop laughing.  That being said this is one great cable my system with my modded SB3, by Pat, and his cable sounds sweet.

[kyrill]

i have ordered this cable as my faith in the knowledge behind the cable is great and as Pat having mod my SB3 S/PDIF output tuned the  SB3 to this cable
But another aspect of the cable dawned to me ( is that is the right expression? insight simmering through?) Because of its "unusual" length i dont have to put the SB3 at the other side of the room where the equipment is but much closer to me sitting position. I am already a bit older and see less easily  as i used to see details from a distance especially when my soft lenses are a bit blurred

[art]

OK, gang............bad news............

There is only one supplier of the connector that we use for this cable. They are getting impossible to deal with. We will decide in the next few days if we are going to continue with these, or not. Looking like "not", at this point.

Not trying to scare folks into panicking, and buying one now, because that is not the outcome we hope for. Just giving everyone a "heads-up", on what is going on.

Translation: if you really, really want one, we will sell you one. If you want one, just to hear what it sounds like, sorry. We would prefer selling our remaining stock to serious parties.

Thanks for you understanding and support.

Pat

[art]

Talked to our supplier again today. Just as frustrating to deal with, but we may decide to weather the horrible delay. We will all sit down this weekend, and make a decision.

Pat

[rpf]

Pat, are the contacts on the bnc connectors gold plated?

TIA

Rob

[art]

Yes, the center pin is gold plated. The outer shell is plated with shiny nickel plating. Unlike the good ol' days, when RF connectors were silver plated.

Pat

[art]

We are still mulling over what to do. One of our options is to bring back the original U-Byte 1. You know, the El Cheap-o freebie, that we include with the Legato. Maybe making it a bit nicer looking. The question is:

Will the world buy a $50 cable? Back in '92, the answer was "NO!" (Our dealers really hated us for this one.)

Since the response was so negative, and they wanted something more expensive, we used a much more expensive cable, and raised the price to $200.

They were still mad. They said it should sell for $600-800, based on its sound. OK, based on the way most companies price their products, yes, I can see where it could cost that much, at retail.

Just one problem:

It is only wire. Plain ol' coaxial cable wire. With expensive BNCs. None of us felt wire could ever be worth that much. End result, we stopped making both and alienated the dealers, even further.

"Life is hard, Beavis."

But.............$50.............direct......over the 'Net. Maybe, just maybe. Stay tuned.

Pat

[*Scotty*]

I'll buy one for $50 just to have one that works properly if I go to a BNC SPDIF connection.
Scotty

[NagysAudio]

Pat - You had dealers willing to sell your $50 cable for $800 and you said no? We feel so so sorry for you.

[art]

If it weren't for the BNC connectors, it would only be worth $10. It is only wire.

Pat