Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions What does a "bad" digital coax cable sound like?

I just hooked up a long (around 25 feet) of Samson's Super Duper Hi-Fi Digital Coax Platinum Series Cable (bulk, quad shielded coax with compression RCA connectors, hand assembled by my five-year old to keep labor costs down) connecting my DVD player to my receiver.

What exactly will I hear, or not hear, if there's interference or a poor RCA connection to the cable?

Since the cable is carrying 1's and 0's, will I hear dropped sound? Pops? I need to know what to listen for in my new cable, if I hear a problem, I'll need to address some QC issues. Might even have to send my kid to fetch me a beer, while I have to do the darn RCA fittings myself.

if the cable is broken or not hooked up right, I think you hear nothing, if I can remember correctly.

nothing.

So, sound quality is not effected AT ALL by interference of any sort on a digital audio signal sent through a coax cable? The sound is either "there" fully representing the source fidelity, or ... silence?

Really?!

If this is so, I've just found my favorite new audio signal transmission line...and optical cables would have NO advantage over coax.

Yep. Here's the thread.. Toslink

Okay, I read through that toslink thread and found this from Alan (who seems like he knows things):

"The only advantage of an optical digital (Toslink) connector is that it is totally immune to hum pickup from AC fields where a connector crosses an AC power supply cord. "

So Alan states that a digital signal transmitted along a coax CAN pick up artifacts/interference from AC fields that impact sound quality. This statement is counter to much of the other discussion that supports a binary view of sound quality over a digital coax line.

What am I missing/not getting? Can my long-run digital coax cable pick up hum from an AC cord (or other source of interference) or not?

I'm not trying to be ornery, it just comes naturally!

Alan further says "From a practical point of view, I've never had trouble with hum pickup using a standard shielded coaxial cable, but that does not mean it could never happen. Coaxials are usually less expensive".
You have to make the call based on your wiring. If your crossing a enough ac cords to cause hum, then optical. It's cheaper to try coaxial first.

Sam, it isn't the "digital signal" which could possibly pick up hum or other interference with a coaxial cable in extreme and unlikely circumstances. The interference would ride in on the cable and cause a sound separate from the intended music, but this doesn't affect the digital 1s and 0s themselves.