Review: Cardas Clear AES/EBU Digital Data Cable
Review: Cardas Clear AES/EBU Digital Data Cable
Steve Graham tackles the sonic differences of digital cables.
I know, I know
Cable reviews, yawn. They aren’t the first things I read, and you likely don’t either. I’ll try to be as concise as possible.
A quick summary, for you instant gratification types
Expensive? Yes
Good? Very
Before we proceed
Rating cables is a lot like ranking vacuum tube performance. Not only is it down to personal sonic preferences, but is also highly dependent on the equipment involved. The Cardas, and an Audioquest I used for comparison, might not be the secret sauce for your system. I can only convey what they sounded like in my rig.
My system
Power is conditioned by a PS Audio AC Regenerator (not current generation). Digital source: NAD Masters 50.2. DAC: PS Audio DirectStream ver. 1. Line stage: ARC Reference 3. Power amps: Schiit Audio Aegir ver. 1 (two run in bridged mono ~80 wpc). Speakers: Spendor D9 ver. 1, REL Classic 98 subwoofers (2). Analog interconnects: Cardas (self-terminated with Neutrik XLRs). Speaker Cables: Kimber 4TC.
Since 2020, my digital source has been connected to the DAC with a 1.5m Audioquest Carbon AES/EBU cable. The Carbon, still current in the AQ lineup, lists for $490 CDN, 380 USD. The 1.0m Cardas Clear AES/EBU Cable retails for 1,240 Canadian dollars, 750 USD.
Listening
I put about 150 hours on the Cardas cable connecting the NAD source to the PS DAC before serious listening commenced. The tracks listed below are a small sample of those used in my listening tests.
On Every Street, from the Dire Straits, Best Of album. (16/44.1 CD rip)
All the tracks on this album were remastered and HDCD encoded. For those not familiar, HDCD was a way of encoding 20 bits of information on a standard 16-bit CD, all the while maintain compatibility with standard CD players. HDCD also incorporated adaptive digital filtering for better CD sound. Unfortunately, it came along too late to catch on. Had it been present at the beginning of the CD era, there might have been fewer gripes about early CD sound quality. Anyone not sure of the value of high-quality remastering should compare this album’s track of, Sultans Of Swing, with the one on the original eponymous Dire Straits CD. I ripped this track with the paid version of dBpoweramp, which decoded and saved the 20-bit data.
At any rate, the soundstage was deeper with the Cardas cable and vocals were somewhat recessed in that stage. All the while, Mark Knopfler’s voice was markedly more human-sounding. Some might prefer the thrust-forward presentation of vocals with the AQ cable. Overall, I preferred the more layered, spacious, and articulate sound of the Cardas.
España by Emmanuel Chabrier. (16/44.1 CD rip)
An Erato/Radio France digital recording. I started out with the AQ cable and it seemed like I was sitting too far away from the orchestra. The impulse was to lean forward to hear the instruments more clearly. When replaced with the Cardas, it was like moving from row M in a concert hall to row D. A startling improvement. Position of instruments was more precise and more layered front to back. The slightly delayed reflected sound of instruments on opposite sides of the recording studio was more clearly audible. This led to a better sense of Radio France’s studio 103, the location of this recording. The Chabrier, like the Dire Straits, had a deeper, and at the same time, a somewhat recessed soundstage. Though it may seem contradictory, both recordings were more intimate and involving.
Giant Steps from the album of the same name by John Coltrane. (24/192 download)
I wouldn’t say there was much difference between the two cables when playing this recording. The microphone recording Coltrane’s sax seemed to be placed very close. Maybe it’s the sheer sheets of sound from Coltrane that grabs and holds the listener’s attention.
At this point in my evaluation, the Cardas was slightly but noticeably better at portraying instrumental and vocal timbre. Timbre, as defined by the Cambridge dictionary is: “A quality of sound that makes voices or musical instruments sound different from each other.” It isn’t just making a piano sound like a piano. It’s about rendering the subtle differences of say, a Steinway versus a Bösendorfer. Or a Fender Telecaster’s sound versus a Stratocaster’s. This assumes you are hearing the Fenders “straight” and not through effects pedals, as seems prevalent with many of today’s guitarists.
Generally, I heard varying degrees of better soundstaging with the Cardas cable. This, I think, depends on what one might call a minimalist or purist approach used to capture an event in a natural acoustic space, versus a multi-tracked studio concoction. Not that there is anything inherently inferior with studio concoctions. Perhaps live events, be it symphony orchestra or small jazz ensemble, stand a better chance of conveying an authentic acoustic space, as compared to a manufactured one.
I believe the Cardas presents the Coltrane track with more accurate timbre, but due to the recording process, not better instrumental placement. I heard both better timbre and recording acoustic with the Chabrier track and to a slightly lesser degree, the same with the Dire Straits track.
Birth of the Blue, Miles Davis. (24/192 download)
This is something special. Released in late 2024, this is perhaps the first time these tracks have been together on one record, but this deluxe remastering is new. And what a remaster and release it is! This is Miles Davis playing with the same musicians that would feature the following year on Kind Of Blue. The vinyl has been getting universally rave reviews. The three-track session masters were mixed down to 2-track analog tape which was then used to cut the lacquers. One criticism I must make is, like KOB, the rendering of piano is, at times, clangy and thin. Obviously, this is how the piano was captured on the session tapes and we must take what we can get.
I don’t know the provenance of the 24/192 download, but it sounds delightful. Don’t expect a KOB prequel, style-wise. Birth of the Blue predates Davis’s course change into modal jazz. BotB is almost a jam session, but what a session. I predict this recording will be, if not vital, certainly an important part of the Miles Davis canon.
With regards to the cables, the Cardas was noticeably better in both soundstaging and timbre. The recording does have soundstage depth, but as for width, it’s mostly hard left, centre and hard right. When the saxes are soloing, they are either hard right or hard left. Curiously, they didn’t seem to emanate from my Spendor D9’s speaker cabinets, but from a cloud of air around them. Kudos to the Kimber for airily “floating” the saxes.
I am of the opinion that pianos can be troublesome to record well. Listening to well-recorded piano, the Cardas consistently proved superior. It’s difficult to convey, but the Cardas just seemed to present a richer, more detailed, as well as a more spatially exact rendering. Curiously, virtually all the recordings that exhibited this trait were standard 16/44.1 CD-sourced. As much as we decry the inferiority of the CD format, it can yield some very satisfying musical performances.
My take on why digital cables matter
The first consumer digital format, Compact Disc, released in 1982, was compromised by today’s standards. The digital engineering of the CD was likely based on mid to late 1970s technology. That is almost fifty years ago. The consumer SPDIF interface between digital sources and DACs was flawed, in that two clock signals and music data is sent down one line. Audiophiles have been paying for that sonic compromise for almost fifty years. We owe the specialist cable manufacturers a debt for their work to mitigate the SPDIF compromise. Unfortunately for our bank balances, good digital cables aren’t cheap and cheap digital cables aren’t good.
Summary
In my system, the Cardas Clear AES/EBU cable out-performed the Audioquest Carbon. Which is as you would expect, the Cardas costs more than twice what the AQ does. To be clear (groan), I’m not dumping on the Audioquest cable. At its price level, it performs well. But in this instance and in my system, the more you pay, the more you get. The boost in performance from the Cardas was somewhat recording dependent. On some, small but appreciable. On others, quite a large improvement. The Cardas’s improvement was audible on both 16/44.1 and 24/192 recordings.
Would what the Cardas has to offer be worthwhile in your system? I can’t say. What I can say is, if you have a digital front-end that costs ten grand or more, you should consider spending the better part of a thousand bucks, or perhaps more, on a cable to get the best data transfer between your source and DAC. Using an inexpensive or low performance cable to connect pricey digital components is a false economy.
The Cardas Clear AES/EBU Digital Data Cable is a good a place to start your search for a superior connection. It could be a good place to end your search as well.
File under
Be careful what you wish for. It was on a whim that I requested the loan of the Cardas Clear AES/EBU Digital Data Cable, thinking it wouldn’t make a great deal of difference. I was wrong. With the encouragement of my lovely wife, I purchased the review sample. My only regret is, I wish I’d bought the Cardas years ago.
Price as tested: $1240 (Canadian), 1.0 meter length
Many thanks to David Geist of Tri-Cell Enterprises Inc., Canadian distributor of Cardas products for the cable loan. To locate a Canadian Cardas dealer, see: https://tricellenterprises.com/
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