Pioneer i-Link owners!

gmt steve

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All you fellas who use the i-Link functions on your Pioneer equipment; can I ask if you have upgraded the freebie cable Pioneer provide? And if so what do you use and where did you get it? Does anyone know if the Ixos firewire cables are worthwhile?
 
I only upgraded(?) to one from staples (£20) with better shielding and couldn't notice any difference, looks better though.
I thought the idea of digital cables was that we didn't have to buy more expensive cables anymore as they wouldn't make any difference.
Anyone with any more thoughts?
 
Coaxial and optical connections can be adversely affected by poorly specified cables with insufficient bandwidth.

I've been wondering the same Steve, although I suspect there should be no difference via i-link as by default it must conform to a 400Mbps standard.

I've seen some more audiophile looking leads here, but as miniman has found out, I'm not certain that they'll have any significant gain over the supplied item.

Any experts out there?
 
Originally posted by RobDickinson
Saw one optical cable spouting gold plated connectors....
:D

Thats outrageous they of course should be silver!:clown:
 
Provided the cable is working, there is no difference between cables so far as sound is concerned. If there is a problem, you would expect either silence, or dropouts, not a vague change of sound quality.

I didn't get a free cable!
 
Originally posted by ancientgeek
Provided the cable is working, there is no difference between cables so far as sound is concerned. If there is a problem, you would expect either silence, or dropouts, not a vague change of sound quality.

I didn't get a free cable!

To be honest, everyone is missing the point. :)
We are talking high speed digital data here; I'm worried about poor sheilding etc on the Firewire cable causing problems with all my existing analogue cables.
 
Ah, gotcha! Check out the link I posted then Steve, that cable would appear to have effective shielding.
 
Slightly off your point, but HDMI cables are being sold in 5m lengths for £40 and for £250.

Does anyone know the supposed difference between these?
Eg Molex v Silver Cable.

Dak
 
Hi Dak

Off topic again and I might have mentioned this before, but looked at your sig, why not use the Majik purely as a power amp for your rears or centre? ie remove the jumper bars between pre-out and power-in and feed the pre-outs from the AX5i into the power-in on the Majik. Just a thought.
 
I'm worried about poor sheilding etc on the Firewire cable causing problems with all my existing analogue cables.

Oh I see. Such interference could best be heard by selecting the analogue input with no source material playing and turning up the volume. Listen for a while; if you can hear anythng, pull out the firewire cable so no current can flow in it, and listen again. If there's a change, then there may be a problem. But if there's a problem, I would guess it's more likely to be an earth loop via the ilink cable than radiated energy from it.

I believe the ilink signals are balanced over twisted pairs, as well as being shielded. It would have to be a bad cable to transfer radiated energy to an audio coax.

And of course there's not so much going on on the ilink when you aren't using it!
 
Hi, I have been thinking about that since you suggested it, the thing is all the kit is hidden away in a distant cupboard: the LK140's auto power on and I can do it all on the remote with the remote repeater system. Add the Majik and I have to go to the cupboard everytime. Lazy I know but there it is.
Dak
 
Dak, I've kept my Majik powered up 24/7 since I've had it (except holidays), no problem!
 
Originally posted by ancientgeek
Oh I see. Such interference could best be heard by selecting the analogue input with no source material playing and turning up the volume. Listen for a while; if you can hear anythng, pull out the firewire cable so no current can flow in it, and listen again. If there's a change, then there may be a problem. But if there's a problem, I would guess it's more likely to be an earth loop via the ilink cable than radiated energy from it.

I believe the ilink signals are balanced over twisted pairs, as well as being shielded. It would have to be a bad cable to transfer radiated energy to an audio coax.

And of course there's not so much going on on the ilink when you aren't using it!

I see you have the same (relevant) kit; what cable do you use?
 
I see you have the same (relevant) kit; what cable do you use?

Dunno. It would be the cheapest CPC cable. £1.39+VAT I think!

I am not a believer in posh digital cables, as you can see.

But I also don't use analogue interconnect at all, except for once in a blue moon vinyl, and of course Sky+ to DVDR75 recording (SCART).

And when the DVD player is switched off, there's no signal on the ilink anyway.
 

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