Firewirecables

[CoenP]

Hi,

Now that I am posting here I would like to share my experiences with FW cables.

Some of you wondered if these make any difference to the sound.
Well, I can assure you that they have a major impact.

I played around with the stock 0.5 meter cable that came with the M-audio BoB and several others of 1 m length from low-end to mid-end Monster and Audioquest. I preferred the 0.5m no brand cable above all others, however it is not feasable to have it in my system right now. Also directionality has to be taken in consideration, though this is more subtile. I found the differences between them quite audible, being simply able to detect which cable was attatched. It seems that length matters most and I have no final verdict on quality. Still feeling this is an area that can be improved upon, I am considering to add 1m of OIYADE cable to my toolbox.

There is more:

The Firewire system is however way less reliable and user frienly than usb. I had several problems with the connectors not making a good contact. Both male and female connectors are on all cables have connection issues, loosing the ability to play music without a clear reason. Sometime I didnt even dare even looking at them... Furthermore the 4 and 6 pin standards make it difficult to select an expensive cable since my laptop has a 4 pin exit and my pc a 6 pin (and I want to use both). Adapters proved a working solution not solving the connection issues.

Booting the M-audio BoB (Break out Box) while connected, crashes my PC, something warned for in the manual yet not a thing you can allways prevent.
Networking to transfer files from my internet enabled laptop to the PC system also proved very cumbersome. Now I'm back to USB sticks :-). Furthermore, unexpectedly the laptop took over the BoB when conncted.

I'd say Peter was wise not to select the firewire system for his NON OS DAC if it were only for above reasons.

Nevertheless if you stick with a FW system, experimenting with different cables may prove very worthwile.

regards, Coen

SQ

[PeterSt]

I can immediately confirm that length matters. I ever started out with 10m towards the my Fireface800, but it sounded gray as hell. So I moved the PC towards the "stereo" and used 1m instead, and all was so much more fresh.

On the connectors ... I found that the electrical driver matters a lot. They also wear out. Over time I replaced my fireward interface card 3 times by now, and always you can see it coming. Suddenly the connection (after a reboot, nothing touched) becomes more difficult, and in the end it won't go at all anymore. Remedy : buy a new one.
Notice that this too is about length (I still use that length for connecting the HTPC (movies)) ... hence power (??).
Btw, Texas Instruments chipsets seem to be the best.

2 additional c I hope.
Peter