Actually guys, when you are talking about digital, you are partway correct about "just" being 1s and 0s. You are also missing a VERY BIG point. It is not actually 1s and 0s, but specific voltages that are read as either an "on" or "off".

For this discussion I will use 3.3v as on! With CMOS ICs (used widely) and with FPGAs (programmable logic devices) there is an area that allows for jitter, etc and still recognize the correct 1 or 0. But, with loss, a 1 can be seen as a 0 and with noise, a zero can be seen as a 1. Exactly were the separation points are is decided by the design and manufacturing of the chips. So, cables do make a big difference. I am not saying spending $100/ft is needed, but junk will give you trash in digital. Analog is a different story, but you have to recognize that certain frequencies travel on different parts of the wire (interior, exterior)and the A-D (analog->digital) converter still has the "faults" explained above.

Sorry if I went a little deep, I tend to get deep in explainations for some reason.



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Aggie Engineers Rock