Straight Wire's Info-Link is one of the best performing best value digital cables in the industry.
Straight Wire has great experience in manufacturing digital cables.
With digital USB and DAC cables, manufacturing quality is particularly important for the cable to perform consistently between production runs and even well designed cables using good quality materials
will not perform well if the manufacturing process is not well controlled.
As usual, Straight Wire digital cables are offered in several performance levels to match the equipment and performance level desired at very reasonable prices.
Owner Steven Hill believes excellent digital performance can be achieved at affordable prices and there is no need to spend more money on a USB cable than the DAC itself!
Certainly Stereophile magazine is in agreement and list Straight Wire Info-link and USB-link as recommended cables that offer great performance for a bargain price.
As with video cables, multiple shields and better insulation are important to minimize interference and reduce error in digital data transmission.
The less the receiver chip has to work to correct data errors, the more the time sensitive low level transient information is preserved that creates the imaging, air and spaciousness in the
analog and ultimately acoustical domain. This is why digital cables sound different. Manufacturers like Straight Wire go to great lengths to reduce jitter and propagation delays in digital circuitry
between and even within large silcon wafer chips. Relatively speaking cables are a significant and influential element in the digital chain.
Note unlike analog interconnects, digital cables sound better in longer lengths.
This is because even with the very best termination, signal reflections occur at the interface, and with high speed propagation digital signals,
these reflections are less likely to resonate and interfere with the original signal over a longer length due to the propagation delay between reflections.
Cables less than 1M should be avoided. 1.5M is a popular choice.
Straight Wire does extensive testing of its digital cables so they conform to standards.