Heretical Digital Cable PLUS
75 Ohms? Nope..

NOTE: This cable has been replaced by the Flexible Carbon/Graphene Digital

Mad Scientist Heretical Digital Cable PLUS (HDC-PLUS) also uses carbon fiber for the main conductor. It is the top-of-the-range version of the Heretical Digital Cable

Every digital cable makes an attempt to be "75-ohm", whatever that actually means. There is a very good reason for this - it's written into the SPDIF standard. But the HDC-PLUS makes no such claim. In fact, it has around 37ohms of actual resistance in the main conductor, about half of this "75 ohm" value. Most digital cables strive to be lossless, to have zero resistance - you have even maybe read about how crucial low resistance is, and that is why silver is often used.

But this is not heresy for the sake of it. No, this is a different approach, and judging by the sound, it works really well.

We've had the most amazing feedback from HDC customers. The thing we hear over and over again is "I used to use a high priced cable but the HDC is much better and is now my reference". We started keeping note of the prices of the cables that HDC was replacing. I won't name names here, but contact me and I can let you know. But I can reveal the prices of the cables that HDC replaced: $2450 (!!), $1400, $900, 600 euros. $350. See the Reviews section for more.

But we thought that we could do even better. Turns out this wasn't very easy. Most of what we tried didn't work. But after many prototypes we started getting some good results, and now that the final design is done, we are pleased that there is a distinct improvement in sound.

For a detailed description of how the Heretical Digital Cables work, see the main product page here. Or see this blog post.

The HDC-Plus differs in several ways from the original HDC. It still uses the same carbon fiber core, but now it uses a ultra high quality silver-OCC ground wire and a passive copper foil shield. It also uses different construction techniques. The result is a cable that produces a more palpable sense of realism - it's just better than the already very-good HDC.

Heretical Digital Cable PLUS

Compatibility

Heretical Digital Cable PLUS works with the vast majority of sources and DACs, On our test systems they run fine at 192kHz/24 bit, but there are a few combinations that it doesn't work with. It's very obvious - you either get no sound or clicks/pops. If this happens to you, please return the cable for a refund.

The reason that HDC-PLUS doesn't work with some systems is due to the voltage loss. Because of it's high resistance, HDC consumes around one third (1 meter cable) to one half (1.5 meter cable) of the voltage that the source sends.

Normally this is no problem. The SPDIF standard is 0.5-0.6V output, with 0.2V min input voltage. However, not every device strictly adheres to this standard, so there are some combinations of source and DAC that do not work. We are working  to compile a list of combinations.

RCA Plugs

The standard plug for HDC-PLUS is the KLE Copper Harmony. You can upgrade this to the KLE Absolute Harmony plugs.

Prices and Options

Heretical Digital Cable PLUS is dark blue, available in 1 meter and 1.5 meter lengths. Both lengths sound the same, so no advantage to use a longer cable than needed.