Lynx AES 16 Breakout Cable Choices

[ZenZoo]

Hello all,

I was wondering what are our cable choices for Digital XLR Cables other than the "stock" Lynx cable.

I found a local dealer who has been working with Straightwire to develop a couple of choices for a single cable coming off the card.

 

Here's the info on their best cable:

INFO-LINK digital cable is unsurpassed in its quest for musical perfection. Utilizing laboratory grade solid silver conductors with the highest grade Microporous Foam Teflon insulation, no other design approaches Info-Link captivating balance of rich resolution. Special digital phase-angle research and ultra high velocity of propogation make this special. There is no reference digital transmission without Info-Link. XLR!

 

Are their other worthy choices???

 

I'm using Vista and going to the McIntosh MDA1000 DAC.

 

(I haven't bought the sound card yet, but it seems to be one of the best choices out there...

if I should consider others, please let me know). Thanks for the help!

 

[DSD_mastering]

We have all custom cables for our Lynx cards and converters made by Chris Stubbs at Redco. We use Mogami Gold with Neutrik Gold XLR's

 

Regards,

Bruce

 

[ZenZoo]

What's the going rate for one of these cables and what's the easiest way to purchase one?

Has anyone heard a cable that beats it?

Thanks,

Kelton

 

[Suteetat]

Cardas made a cable for me using its Neutral Reference digital cable. My local dealer sent them

one of my Redco cable and they rewired it with Cardas cable.

The first time they sent it back to me there was some problem so I had to send the cable back

to Cardas again but I just got the returned cable and it is fine now. Much better than the stock cable.

Unfortunately it took several months to get this right and in the mean time my configuration changed with the change

of DAC. My Cardas cable uses one Neutral Reference cable but split into dual XLR configuration.

 

I also have locally made cable using Kimber silver AGSS interrnal wire single XLR cable which is much better than stock cable.

 

I had Redco Morgami wire (can't remember which model it was) but I found stock Lynx cable sounded better in my system.

 

 

 

[ZenZoo]

Several Months seems like a very long time to wait...

I guess they haven't perfected it yet.

I'd need a single XLR Config - I wonder if they have made one of those yet or if it would be trial and error like yours.

Cost???

Just trying to get an idea. I think the Straightwire cable will run between $270-$350 depending on length.

It better be damn good for that price!

 

[DSD_mastering]

At Redco.com, you configure your own cables. Depending on the quality and length, we spent about $120 for a 10ft Mogami Gold with 8 Neutrik Gold XLR connectors. We use this in one of our mastering rigs and sounds as good as you can get.

 

 

Regards,

Bruce

 

[ZenZoo]

Thank you Bruce!

If it's good enough for Puget Sound Studios, it's certainly good enough for me. I'll order one on Monday.

Best regards,

Kelton

 

 

[tmfidelis]

You may wish to inquire about the sonic characteristics of the Gotham Audio AES wires. What are the other components in your system?

 

Regards,

 

Tim Marutani

Emeryville, CA

 

[ZenZoo]

Since you asked, I'm using a Custom HFX Media PC (about as loud as a pet rock) --> Lynx AES 16 (just ordered) --> ?Cable? --> Mcintosh MDA1000 DAC --> Rotel RSP-1098 Preamp in Stereo Bypass Mode --> Rotel RMB-1095 Amp (200W x 5) --> B&W 703's ... with Synergistic Research Ative Shielded Cables, PurePower 1050 and RGPC1200.

 

I have 3000 CD's stored in WMA Lossless and using WMP for Playback.

NOW... I'm looking for the best converter to use to go from WMA Lossless to WAV. I'm going to post this question separately as well...

 

ANY recommendations are always welcome!

 

Thanks,

Kelton

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Kelton - I use Gotham wire for my Lynx cables. Also, I highly recommend dBpoweramp for converting your files. So far it's the best program I've found.

 

[ZenZoo]

Hello Chris,

Can I get some info on the Gotham cables - where to buy, approximate cost, etc.

 

I just tried dBpoweramp and it's nearly there, but it doesn't transfer the album cover art for me. Am I missing something?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Best regards,

Kelton

 

[ZenZoo]

Upon further reading...

 

dBpoweramp: Wave

Supported by this Codec

 

Encoding: Yes [.wav]

Multi-processor Encoding: Yes (with dBpoweramp reference)

Decoding: Yes [.wav, .wave]

ID Tag Reading: Yes [Wave LIST Tags]

ID Tag Writing: Yes [Wave LIST Tags]

Unicode Tagging: No

Supports Album Art: No

Gapless Encoding & Decoding: Yes

Explorer Audio Popup Information: Yes

Explorer Columns: Yes

Unicode Filenames: Yes

.......................................

Everything but Album Art... what's up with that?

I like seeing 3000 albums whiz by when I'm scrolling!

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Kelton

 

 

[tmfidelis]

FYI - Redo can supply the wire. Also, generally not thrilled with "gold" connectors unless one lives in a humid and corrosive environment like Brazil, Hawaii, Guam, etc..... Perhaps you can look at the XLR connector in the DAC. If is gold, you should mate it with gold as well.

 

Regards,

 

Tim Marutani

Emeryville, CA

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

WAV files and album art don't mix well. But if you use MediaMonkey or a program like it you will be able to associate album art with a WAV file. The only issue then is moving to a new program then the art doesn't follow with the tracks.

 

[ZenZoo]

Bummer! Looks like it will take a lot of work to have all the Album Art moved over to match WAV. Not sure I'm ready to do it myself... maybe there's a new program or upgrade on the horizon that will do it quick and easy. I'll just sit back for a while and enjoy WMA Lossless for a little longer. Although it's nice to know how to convert it over now if I want to. Thanks for the help... you have a great forum here!!!

 

[Suteetat]

I paid about $400 for the Cardas wire. However, Cardas over here is a bit more expensive than the US. I think Neutral Reference digital cable usually runs about $240 in the US. My dealer has to ship the cable back to the US and have Cardas shipped the cable back to them along with their regular cable order so that took even longer.

 

btw the Morgami wire that I did not like was Morgami VW-1 cable.

 

[ZenZoo]

..

 

[audiozorro]

The XXHighEnd installation guide has excellent recommendations for the organization of a music library that is failsafe for album art and WAV files. Basically everything associated with the album belongs in the album folder, including the music tracks, album art, lyrics, liner notes, etc. This is so intuitive. When I a pick a real CD or LP from the shelf of my physical music library everything associated with that album is contained within that package. Why should it be any different with the computer music library. But where the computer music library really shines, aside from the instant access and searchable aspects of any database, is that there is no limit for the amount of information that can be added to the album folder such as unlimited album reviews or videos and it does not depend on any proprietary organizational structure or computer program.

 

A simple folder structure such as

 

G:

--Music

---Artist

----Album

 

is all that's necessary though more complex (deeper) subdirectory structures are okay. Below are the exact words from the XXHighEnd installation guide.

 

Here drive G: denotes the harddisk, and as you can see it contains root folders like MP3, FLAC and WAV, under WAV there's things like Lounge and Percussion, and within the Lounge as selected here, the album sub folders recide. If we summarize this, it looks like

 

G:

--WAV

----Lounge

------Album

 

Now, it is not important at all whether G: = G:, WAV = WAV and Lounge = Lounge, but the *depth* is ! To make this clear, here's another good one :

 

G:

--Music

----Lounge

------Album

 

and it shows that this is really not about WAV or anything, but just the depth.

This is for one reason only : finding coverart automatically, and merely, find the correct coverart. If the structure is less deep all kind of files reciding in the root will be denoted as coverart, and your coverart will be a mess (and just wrong).

 

 

[ZenZoo]

Well, I took your guys advice and emailed Chris Stubbs at Redco.com and he gave me 3 choices on cables... guess what?!? I have 3 new cables on the way!

Mogami version

Gotham Version

Canare version

all 2M with a single Neutrik Gold XLR connection.

Should be very interesting...

If I get bold, I may go visit one of the local dealers who has the Info-Link Straightwire version which costs 10x more.

 

As for the WAV conversion, I may hold off a little longer. Hopefully Microsoft will release one for WMP11 in Vista. Not holding my breath. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[machinehead]

Can you post your findings on which cable you liked best and what the sound characteristics were like?

 

[jr465]

Hi Zenzoo- Did you ever get to compare the 3 different Lynx cables from Redco?

 

[jr465]

Hello All- I am looking to get some information on upgraded breakout cables for the Lynx AES16. I will need at least 2 ins and 2 outs with a wordclock synch line, and I cannot afford one of the high dollar options. Has anyone compared the lower cost options, and can comment on the sound of each? Looks like Mogami, Canare, and Gotham are some of the more popular lower cost choices mentioned in this thread.

 

Also, Ive never seen a picture of a custom cable. Do they look like the Lynx supplied cable (i.e. a length of umbilical then a connector from which the individual cables fanout from), or do the cables connect right up to the HD26 connector in some fashion?

 

Thanks In Advance