Thank you so much for the responses!
Still waiting to decide between a C2500 or a BADA with the USB converter.
I've been researching this issue quite a bit, and it is pretty interesting...
A 1m cable is pretty much the worst-case scenario if you assume a 25nS rise-time and a 12nS round-trip for reflections(s) caused by any impedance mis-matches since the reflection will approximately coincide with the 0V segment of the V rise, approximately when the '0' is registered as a '1'. Any deviation here would directly correlate to jitter.
spdif
With a 1.5m cable the reflection round-trip would take about 18nS and would arrive ~ 6nS after the 0V point, and most likely after the '1' state had been registered.
I heard back from Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio today and he said it would also be okay to go
very short as well. He suggested as short as 6".
So what I will probably do is to compare a 0.25m to a 1.5m and see if I can hear a difference. Almost just for curiosity's sake if for no other reason.
You are right I have all Kimber in my system, but would also consider StraightWire and Wire World.
Nate M. from Kimber said he would make me any length I want and if I didn't like it I could return it. So, I'll probably compare a 0.25m
Kimber TGDL (hex braid silver-teflon) to a 1.5m WW Gold Starlight like you, or possibly the Straightwire. The Platinum WW is just too expensive for me even though I'm sure it is a fantastic cable. The Kimber looks very nice, but also it isn't shielded (other than the two braided ground wires) so I don't know if that could be an issue with such a short "jumper" length...
Even if I go with the C2500, I'd still consider the BADA USB converter and run it into the S/PDIF input on the 2500. We'll have to see. It probably won't be before tax time...
