This comes to you courtesy of Joe Prosser. > Quite obviously, coax is the *IDEAL* medium for digital transmission > because it provides essentially *perfect* rejection of any spurious > non-digital signals. > > When the size of the coax cable is properly matched to the font of > the digital source, 1's flow (lengthwise) down the center conductor > while 0's pass (broadside) down the shield -- and NO other numbers > can get through. > > Unfortunately, many low-cost A/D converters and CD transports save > money by using cheap, public-domain fonts in which the 0's are oval > rather than perfectly round. The resulting null-distortion causes > unnatural (and easily recognizable) compression of the sound stage. > This effect can be partially corrected by using specially designed > coax with a slightly oval cross-section. > > WRT the transmission of 1's, there are two competing bodies of > opinion. Most purists tend to favor the minimalist approach of > using a sans serif font with a solid center conductor; however, > some recent studies suggest that there may be real benefits to > a twisted center conductor in combination with a slight serif > at the base of the 1's. Apparently, the serif allows the 1's > to engage the spiral conductor and impart a stabilizing spin -- > in much the same way that the ogive at the base of an artillery > shell engages the rifling in the gun barrel.