Just found a cheap Acoustic Research cable at http://www.2shopper.com/Acoustic_Research_Pro_II_Series_5_1_SACD_DVDA_Audi_p/pr- 136.htm
Listened Water Music via it and Optical. It does deliver something more than the optical. Which is better? I can't tell and they are different. I am not expert.
Your ears, your equipment, your money, your choice. Pick one that you like and you will be happy. No other opinion really matters more than your own.
You really won't know until you listen for yourself, others will pick one over the other and state their preferences and will defend it against naysayers.
Some prefer the analog cable and say it is warmer and some prefer the optical saying that it is more accurate and others accuse it of being too sterile and cold. Others say the opposite.
good luck and whatever choice you make, it is yours alone.
If you can't decide which you prefer right now, keep them both and switch them out on occasion until you can decide which you prefer. You probably still won't be an "expert", but you'll have made a decision. That's more than a lot of people do in their entire life. Besides, who wants to be an "expert" at picking out cables?
Go out an devote your life to something worthwhile; not picking audio cables. It's just hifi, guy!
I use those SACD/DVDA cable to play those SACD/DVDA disc. Optical is for the 6.1 or 7.1 theater. Anybody need both sets. I only listened to the disc once and will likely use both.
One thing I am not clear is about the SACD disk. On the case there is a label which reads "this disc can be played on both SACD player and regular CD playeer. Why did they make the disc this way? There should be difference when played on diffferent players. My guess is that a regular player picks up less signal from the disc than a SACD player since they can't put two separate tracks on a single 80 minute disc.