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I have "upgraded" the D400 (now D440 Pro) bundled SPDIF link cable with a French Viard SPDIF cable.
That leaves the crystal cable available for use as SPDIF cable for other devices such as TV box or Blu Ray player.
Does anyone know the quality level of the included Crystal cable? It look like a Piccolo Diamond cable without the nice solid steel piece with the logo.
In any case I do not know the quality of the Piccolo cable. What level is it as compared to other cables from, say, Cardas or Black Cat 75?
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I have heard the Crystal cable bundled with the Devialet D400, replaced it with an Audioquest Coffee and it sounded much better. I would guess the price for the materials used inside the Crystal cable to be about £100 and the rest is just marketing overhead.
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31-Jan-2017, 18:00
(This post was last modified: 31-Jan-2017, 18:44 by kerkhoffd.)
I think it is a Crystal Cable Standard Digital Diamond cable. I have one too. At first it sounded incoherent and lacking base. It took quite a while to settle in. After that I compared it to AudioQuest Diamond. I prefer the AudioQuest, but the Crystal Cable is a more than decent cable. I guess it depends a lot on the rest of the setup.
Aurender N10 - Kharma Enigma Signature AES/EBU - Devialet 400 - MIT SL-Matrix 28s - Audio Physic Virgo 25 Plus - IsoAcoustics Gaia II - AudioQuest Diamond RCA-AES between Master and Companion - Silent Angel Bonn N8 - AudioQuest Diamond Ethernet cable - Keces P3 with Hifi-Tuning Supreme 3 Silver fuse - GigaWatt 16A automatic circuit breaker - Vibex One 6 Cu - Shunyata Research ΞTRON Alpha Digital and ΞTRON Z PC-10 powercords - Qobuz 24 bit Studio
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03-Feb-2017, 16:38
(This post was last modified: 03-Feb-2017, 16:38 by Devialetuser.)
Just upgraded from the Audioquest Coffee to the Chord Epic 1M Spdif cable (£400). I find the Chord has the edge over the Audioquest by a fair margin. There is more sparkle in the upper frequency, without sounding fatiguing. Although the cable is yet to burnin, I am find that the detail retrieval is excellent.
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Currently I am using a transparent coax cable. It came in the performance box but on the cable its printed premium. Will have to ask transparent cable co about the discrepancy. Anyhow I find it very satisfactory for my needs. Not sure if an upgrade is necessary at this time. Overall I don't think the an upgrade would make a significant difference, but i might be completely mistaken.
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Thanks for the clarification. Well I remember not paying a whole lot for the transparent cable maybe around $150. However, after your reply i find it would be prudent to audition the audioquest coffee cable. Mine is a two D220 pro setup so I really cant justify spending £3700 on the Ref XL.
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Bring back an old topic, I recently got a second hand D400. I am now using Audio Request Coffee digital coaxial RCA and use a RCA-XLR adaptor on the companion end, it is sounding fine.
I will soon acquire an Audioquest WEL Signature XLR-XLR digital cable, I wondered if anyone has tried all XLR digital cable with a XLR-RCA adaptor on master end, will that work? I know the cable will then be 110ohm instead of 75ohm, does that matter to the D400?
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08-Mar-2021, 07:07
(This post was last modified: 08-Mar-2021, 07:07 by audio_engr.)
I ditched that Crystal RCA-RCA cable for Audioquest WILD RCA-XLR 3.0 metres DBS 72V [custom-made by Audioquest]. The AQ is a fantastic cable & 1 step down from AQ WEL Signature.
Roon Nucleus w/ Hypsos PSU & AQ Tornado + Roon RAAT > AQ Diamond ETH > etherREGEN using SFP + Hypsos PSU | CEC TL-5 CD Transport + AQ Z3 + 3 x Orea Indigo > AQ Diamond AES/EBU
Devialet 440-Pro CI > AQ Wel Sig RCA-XLR | 6 x Orea Bronze, 2 x Synergistic Research Atmosphere PC | B&W 802 D3 {Bi-wired} > AQ WEL Signature (Biwire)
REL G1-Mk2 pair | PS Audio PP 12 + AQ NRG-1000 | Puritan GroundMaster + RouteMaster | SAM DISABLED - DPM OFF - Northern Virginia - US