The path to audio nirvana continues. The most recent equipment upgrade tomy system is a Proceed DAP digital to analog converter. With this purchase I also
needed to buy a digital coax cable. The cables I have tried so far are Audioquest
Video 2 (2 meter, $109), Audiodyne datalink (.5 meter, $60) and Transparent Premium Digital Link (1 meter, $250).

Associated equipment:
Magnavox CDB-473 CD player/transport
Proceed DAP
Nordost Black Knight interconnect to pre-amp
db Systems dbr-15 pre-amp
Audioquest Ruby interconnect to amps
db Systems db-6-ma 140 watt Mono amps
Heavy Monster Cable speaker wire (30' run)
Vandersteen 2Ce speakers on Vandersteen sand filled stands

Test Recordings
Reference Recordings RR-38CD Howard Dunn w/ Dallas Wind Symphony,
Fiesta. Tracks 1 and 5 (first two minutes of each)
Loreena McKennitt, The Visit, track 5, Greensleeves
Jackson Brown, Running on Empty, track 9, The Load-Out
Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler, Neck and Neck, track 8, Tahiatian Skies
Rick Wakeman, The Six Wives of Henry the Eight, track 4, Jane Seymour
Mercury 434 346-2, Byron Janis piano, Moussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition

Test Period Jan. 20-25, 1998

Observations:
All of these cables are handsome and well constructed. The Transparent is the
coolest looking of the bunch with its silvery braided outer jacket. The Audiodyne is
well constructed and is actually terminated with gold plated 1/4 turn BNC connectors
and has gold plated RCA adapters. The Audioquest is also a very handsome cable
with gold plated RCA adapters. All three cables are directional in that the shielding is
grounded at one end only. For these tests, the grounded end was attached to the
digital output of the CD transport.

In most respects the Audioquest and Audiodyne cables exhibit similar sonic
characteristics. The Audiodyne seems to have a slight edge in low bass definition
whereas the Audioquests revealed a bit more of the woody texture of Bassoon.
Castanets sounded different on the two, but I could not say which sounded better or
more realistic. Both sounded very good.

I returned the Audioquest cable and my dealer (Audio Advice, Raleigh, NC)
loaned me a Transparent Premium Digital Link cable to try. I therefore could not put it
head to head against the Transparent cable. The differences between the
Transparent and Audiodyne are more pronounced (of course, so is the price
difference). The Transparent cable clearly opens up the soundstage and is
unforgiving in its revelation of recording defects, hiss, breathing, foot movement, etc.
Switching back to the Audiodyne consistently closed in the soundstage (though it still
had nice depth and width). As for bass definition, power and weight, to my ears it is a
draw. All three cables yielded nice focus and placement of instruments and vocals.

The most significant thing I heard, though, is a hardness that the Transparent
cable seems to add to (or reveal in?) the music. Repeatedly, while I liked the
broadened soundstage, the glare bothered me. Overall, it made the sound seem a bit
thin. This was especially noticeable on the solo piano and on the Jackson Brown and
Loreena McKennitt tracks. The overall effect was that I heard more detail but less of
the emotion in the music.

Certainly, my system has its weak spots ... the speaker cables and possibly the
CD transport being the most obvious. In the past I have auditioned Transparent Music
Link and Music Link Ultra interconnect cables against MIT 2, Monster Reference A and
Audioquest Ruby. On that occasion I also found the Transparent cables to leave me
with a hard, almost harsh sound. In that case, I preferred the sound of the MIT
interconnects.

Based on what I have heard so far, I am going to keep the Audiodyne cable. It
is very well made and the company, which has one of the best internet sites I have
seen in the audio realm (www.audiodyne.com), was a pleasure to deal with. Is it the best cable you can
buy? Of course not, but then again, neither is my system. It is reasonably priced and
can clearly stand up to some of the better cables in the business. It is revealing, fast
and full range and allows the music ... and its emotional component to shine through. It
must be remembered that when comparing the sound of components, and especially
cables, subtlety is the name of the game. Even the differences which I have singled
out such as soundstage width and hardness are pretty slight and take careful listening to quantify.

As everyone will tell you, let your own ears be your guide.

One of the good things about Audiodyne is the service they provide to their customers. Ordering through their webpage is easier than most companies and they ship using 2 days FedEx. So how does the Datalink sound? I did a comparison with a cheap 75 ohm video cable of the same length which I've been using as a reference in digital cable testing. After broken in for 28 hours, the Datalink sounds similar to Kimber interconnects. There is a sense of smoothness and wider soundstage but the fullness of the midrange is gone. Everything seems to be at the same level. The vocals also sounded brighter and harsher than the 75 ohm cable. The difference is as apparent as differences in DACs. In the end, I returned the Audiodyne. If you like Kimber PBJ then you might like the way the Datalink sounds.

Equipments:

Parasound C/DC1500
Yamaha RX-992
AKG K70 headphone