So we have a flame war over him asking the questions? That's kind of silly.
Yeah, we've been over and rehashed several times, and I probably got into the protest over that with my first post. Anyway, here's the article I always used to post in the speaker cable threads:
Ultralink cableMind you, I have these on my mains, or at least a similar design (I used Canare Quad Star from Blue Jeans). I did it because I thought it was a cool project. I did not expect it to sound any better than 14 gauge zip cable. Heck, on the distances I've been using, I don't expect it to sound any better than 16 gauge cable.
Now, I know that a certain person will come on and swear up and down that he hears differences with his cables. I concede that that is possible, since he uses extraordinarily thin cables, which probably attenuate the high end to some degree due to resistance. He will disagree with me, and say that I never listen to anything, so I don't have a right to talk. Hence our general tiredness of this topic.
In any case, there is very little magic involved with transmitting a signal from an amplifier to a mechanical transducer.
As for the digital cables, although we haven't gotten into this one, this article is worth a read:
Coat hangerWell, that wasn't quite the article I wanted, and it's awful old, but basically the demo's there near the bottom.
I don't know about optical, but here's something to think about: data integrity in computer networks is a tad more important than audio, as far as the industry is concerned. (audiophiles may have a different opinion). However, the computer/network industry has no problems using optical/electrical converters in networks; in fact fibre is often favored. For those who say that there are correcting mechanisms, sure. How about fibre channel then? Not so many correcting mechanisms, and it has to be faster. Optical fiber and copper work about the same; heck, optical works better because it goes farther.
That said, I don't use optical in my setup. Why not? no particular reason--I didn't have any optical cables lying around. But the connectors aren't necessarily as solid as Coax from what I've seen, and the cables can be bent into breaking. Copper just seems more durable. But that's an emotional response--I haven't done any reasearch on that.
I doubt any of this will convince you; it's remarkably hard to convince people of anything online. But I changed my mind. Granted, I have never been on a Kimber factory tour, but I did read up on their stuff extensively. I have a hard time believing that my audio is so bad that veils will be lifted and things will be tightened if I just change a length of copper.
