in search of good firewire 800 to 400 cables

[tresaino]

I recently received a (used but almost new) Weiss DAC2. As Chris and several of you pointed out it is indeed a great converter, my big old Avalons have never sounded so good with digital! I would now like to buy an excellent but "reasonably" priced 800 to 400 firewire cable without adaptors. I first thought about the GoldX which several of you recommended, but from initial searches it is not available as 9 to 6 pin, nor is the one from monster cable.

I can't believe to be the only aficionado using a new mac with firewire 800 connections and Weiss DAC2 with firewire 400 ? Would be grateful for any suggestions you might have, thanks.

 

PS1: sharing an afterthought: I left the esoteric cable route years ago and find myself happy - i.e. equally touched emotionally when listening to music - with "normally priced" cables not exceeding the 300 to 500 dollar price range, now my personal upper limit for such things. But I have to admit to be somewhat surprised by the firewire cheapos out there. I know some audiophiles swear on the importance of the right digital interconnect, not me but still.. is it really true that firewire cables make only such a small difference? I think Daniel Weiss was in this camp in an older thread.

 

PS2: apologies in case this has been discussed extensively previously.

 

[Guest WATERLOGIC]

You are saying that DAC2 is great and your system never sounded so good - so why do you need a better cable ?

 

Maybe you found DAC2 sounds clean and clear but maybe a little bit sterile (as I did when auditioning Minerva).

 

If this is the case, trust me, no cable can correct this.

 

WL

 

 

 

[Bob Stern]

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Advice-FW-800-cable

 

[rockrabbit]

Although there is another thread talking about this, I'd like to answer you here...

 

Try AudioQuest... they make Firewire cables using solid copper with welded ends, not soldered!

 

http://audioquest.com/

 

sadly they do not make FW800, only FW400, so an adapter will be required

 

[Bob Stern]

AQ's cables may be welded, not soldered, but you can be sure that soldering, not welding, is used on the Firewire jack in both your computer and your DAC, as well as every electrical part on every circuit board therein. So what's the point of one less solder joint?

 

[tresaino]

Bob thanks for the link, have read and will probably end up trying the 4-to-6-pin adaptor route, although it caused initial difficulties to some. Funny that most cables are indeed in the cheapo domain. Well, only until Nordost and the others discover us, right?

 

Waterlogic, you have a point, if it sounds good why not leave things as they are... I do however beg to differ on the sonic merits of the Weiss, not at all sterile to my humble ears and am not planning to "correct" anything. I know other DACs are considered even better, but this will do for me for quite a while - until I hear something clearly that much better. BTW, I think you misunderstood me, I said best sound so far "with digital". I'm not an analog snob and am really happy and excited to experiment with computeraudio. However, I have to say that so far results with the dozen 24/96 downloads from hdtracks have been.. mixed, some really very good (Waterlily in 24/88.2, Steve Vai life) others so-so (Gershwin on Harmonia Mundi) others really bad (several from Chesky - is an overrated 'audiophile' label despite what people write about them).

 

[Guest]

I have mine made over in Taiwan, all high purity silver shielded, with Rhodonium Plated ends and Cryod. Take about 100 hrs to break in but sound fantastic once they do...

 

[ted_b]

hardly...most detractors tend to call it a bit warm.

 

Some have used 4-6 GoldX cables (so the power wire is missing) then use an adapter to get back to 9-6. My Macbook is 6-6 so i have used many combos (mostly GoldX) and found using 2M 4-6 with a 6 pin adapter is best sound.

 

[wgb113]

Lots of configurations available at reasonable prices and good quality. I have several and have never had an issue.

 

Bill