AudioQuest Cinnamon Digital Coax Cable at Vinyl Sound Toronto Canada

The AudioQuest Cinnamon is a 75-ohm S/PDIF digital coaxial cable from AudioQuest (Irvine, California, USA), available at Vinyl Sound in Toronto, Canada. Designed to connect CD players, DACs, streamers, and AV receivers with a clean, low-jitter digital signal, the Cinnamon features Solid 1.25% Silver conductors, a Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS), and Hard-Cell Foam insulation for precise 75-ohm impedance control. A combined foil and silver-plated braid shield and cold-welded gold-plated RCA terminations complete a digital coax cable that sits above the entry-level AudioQuest range and delivers a meaningful step up in noise rejection and conductor quality.

Solid 1.25% Silver Conductors and Hard-Cell Foam Insulation

The AudioQuest Cinnamon uses a solid center conductor drawn from a 1.25% silver alloy, offering lower grain-boundary distortion and superior conductivity compared to standard Long-Grain Copper digital coax cables. Solid construction eliminates strand-interaction distortion, which introduces timing errors and noise into the S/PDIF digital signal that manifest as increased jitter and a degraded noise floor at the DAC's clock recovery circuit. Hard-Cell Foam insulation surrounds the silver conductor, providing a low-dielectric-constant material that minimizes energy storage around the conductor and maintains the precise 75-ohm characteristic impedance that S/PDIF transmission requires. Impedance deviations caused by inferior insulation create signal reflections that compound jitter, and the Hard-Cell Foam geometry on the Cinnamon directly prevents this failure mode.

Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System and Combined Shield

The AudioQuest Cinnamon's Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System addresses the ground-reference modulation problem inherent in conventional coaxial cable shielding. A standard single-layer foil or braid shield absorbs RFI and drains it directly to the component ground connection, modulating the ground plane and introducing noise that the DAC cannot distinguish from timing information in the S/PDIF stream. The Cinnamon's Metal-Layer NDS interposes an additional metal layer configured to dissipate RF energy before it reaches the ground conductor, keeping the reference plane stable and the noise floor low. A combined outer foil and silver-plated braid shield provides comprehensive broadband RFI and EMI rejection, with the silver-plated braid delivering higher conductivity at high frequencies than standard tinned-copper braid designs.

Key Features

• Solid 1.25% Silver Conductor: Silver-alloy solid center conductor eliminates strand interaction and reduces grain-boundary distortion, delivering lower jitter and a cleaner digital signal compared to copper-based digital coax cables.
• Hard-Cell Foam Insulation: Low-dielectric-constant foam insulation minimizes energy storage around the center conductor, preserving 75-ohm impedance accuracy and reducing signal reflections along the cable.
• Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS): Additional metal layer dissipates captured RFI before it reaches the ground reference, preventing ground-plane modulation and reducing the cable's jitter contribution.
• Foil and Silver-Plated Braid Shield: Combined outer shield provides comprehensive RFI and EMI rejection across the full operating bandwidth, with the silver-plated braid offering superior high-frequency performance.
• High-Speed Data Capacity: Engineered for reliable S/PDIF digital audio transmission at all standard sample rates and bit depths up to 192kHz/24-bit.
• Cold-Welded Gold-Plated Terminations: Gold-plated RCA plugs resist corrosion and oxidation for long-term connection reliability, joined via cold-weld process to eliminate solder-related signal degradation at the termination point.

Technical Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the AudioQuest Cinnamon digital coax cable?

The AudioQuest Cinnamon is a 75-ohm S/PDIF digital coaxial interconnect built with a Solid 1.25% Silver center conductor, Hard-Cell Foam insulation, a Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System, and a combined foil and silver-plated braid outer shield. It is designed to transmit digital audio between CD players, transports, DACs, streamers, and AV receivers with minimum jitter and noise. Terminations are cold-welded gold-plated RCA plugs, and the cable is available at Vinyl Sound in Toronto, Canada.

How does the AudioQuest Cinnamon digital coax compare to the AudioQuest Pearl or Carbon digital coax cables?

The AudioQuest Cinnamon sits above the Pearl and below the Carbon in the AudioQuest digital coaxial cable range. The Pearl uses a Solid Long-Grain Copper conductor and a simpler single-layer shield without a dedicated NDS metal layer, while the Cinnamon advances to a Solid 1.25% Silver conductor and adds the Metal-Layer NDS for improved ground-reference protection. The Carbon steps further with a Solid 5% Silver conductor and a Carbon-Based 5-Layer NDS for the highest level of RF noise absorption in the AudioQuest digital coax lineup. Compared to competitors such as the Chord Company Chodette and WireWorld Starlight 8 Coax, the Cinnamon's silver conductor and Metal-Layer NDS offer a technically differentiated approach to jitter and noise reduction.

Does the AudioQuest Cinnamon support high-resolution digital audio?

Yes, the AudioQuest Cinnamon supports all standard S/PDIF sample rates from 44.1kHz CD quality through to 192kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio. The 75-ohm Hard-Cell Foam construction and solid silver conductor maintain signal integrity at higher sample rates where impedance accuracy and low jitter are more critical than at standard 44.1kHz or 48kHz. For sources and DACs that output or accept S/PDIF coaxial at 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, or 192kHz, the Cinnamon's design is well suited to preserving the timing accuracy those formats require.

What is the Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System on the AudioQuest Cinnamon?

The Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System on the AudioQuest Cinnamon is an additional metal shielding layer configured to absorb and dissipate captured RFI before it reaches the cable's ground-reference conductor. Conventional coaxial shields drain absorbed interference directly to component ground, which modulates the ground plane and introduces noise into the digital signal path. The Metal-Layer NDS on the Cinnamon interposes this additional dissipation stage between the captured RFI and the ground connection, keeping the reference plane stable and reducing the noise contribution of the cable to the DAC's clock recovery circuit.

What audio components is the AudioQuest Cinnamon compatible with?

The AudioQuest Cinnamon is compatible with any audio component using the S/PDIF coaxial digital audio standard via RCA connectors, including CD players, CD transports, Blu-ray players, network streamers, digital preamplifiers, AV receivers, and external DACs. Common source and DAC pairings include the Cambridge Audio CXC, Audiolab 6000CDT, and Bluesound Node on the source side, and the Chord Qutest, Schiit Yggdrasil, Topping D90, and Benchmark DAC3 on the DAC side. The Cinnamon supports all standard S/PDIF sample rates from 44.1kHz to 192kHz.

Where can I buy the AudioQuest Cinnamon digital coax cable in Toronto or Canada?

The AudioQuest Cinnamon digital coaxial cable is available at Vinyl Sound, an authorized AudioQuest dealer in Toronto, Canada. Vinyl Sound carries the full AudioQuest digital cable lineup in-store and online, with complete manufacturer warranty support for Canadian customers.

Why choose a silver conductor for a digital coax cable?

Silver conductors offer lower resistivity than copper and produce fewer and longer grain boundaries along the conductor length, both of which reduce the distortion and high-frequency noise accumulated as the digital signal travels along the cable. In a digital coaxial application, lower conductor noise translates directly to a cleaner S/PDIF signal at the DAC input, which reduces the burden on the DAC's clock recovery circuit and lowers the jitter floor. The 1.25% silver alloy used in the AudioQuest Cinnamon provides these benefits in a mechanically robust solid conductor format suited to long-term use in fixed installations.