Would you pay $1000 for a 1-metre cable?
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Thursday May 25, 2023
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
@smanzoli: Fact: Audiofools cannot hear, proved by blind tests against cheap ones (not even good quality ones, CHEAP ones).
@sukadukaku: I Just bought 10 USD last Weak for 2 RCA to RCA .. š
@zorst99: I've made my own RCA cables what I've found is that using the leftover wires from my cable company works great with good connectors. I use 75-ohm wires with the good connectors, which are the type that tighten down to the audio device. I've found that once connected, it's one and done. I don't have to go back from time to time to spin the connectors to the amp or streamer, etc. In the past, from time to time, I could hear something coming slightly loose and had to do that. So it's just the cost of connectors, my time, and a little solder.
@efwaves4665: You always will have suckers that will buy overpriced stuff. 1000 dollar and more for a cable of 1 m. Really ? Are they made in gold ? Even then, you be stupid to buy it.
@bob-s-bit-s: studio spares in the uk sell low cost cable if it's good for them it's ok for me
the low cost 16 way loom cable is more heaver
they sell tons of it if cable are put away where you can't see it
all this cable B S out there ac hum can be a right hum note the gain got to be hell high to pick the hum
@mikereilly2745: Speaking of sounds affecting people - I worked with a guy , My friend Andy , He's British and has the same accent as you
Well , we were in sales , I had to compete with him everyday , all day. His voice alone would absolutely hypnotize customers . We all experienced for years . We sold cameras and telescopes etc... I told him that he absolutely should be
selling hi end jewelry . This was in Venice Florida US , It would have been like taking candy from a baby . lol!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @mikereilly2745: No-one who bought from Andy didn't want to be sold to. They just wanted to be given a reason to buy. Everyone's happy!
@mikereilly2745: A few years ago , I had guitar player friends over for a jam. Greg accidentally left a short 2 ft patch cable behind . I've
never seen someone go in to a panic lol! Over his ''greatest patch cable''. He feels that this cable is somehow , A million times better than any other . Granted , It is a very well made cable , But , Yes people get crazy ideas in our heads about
our audio equipment. If you clean , vacuum , and wash your car , Do you feel that it somehow runs better ? lol!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @mikereilly2745: Guitars are different. I've had my favourite cables over the years. I don't want anyone to explain it or tell me what my choices should be. They'll be taking my cable out of my cold dead hands.
@mikereilly2745: Aside from being a guitarist , I'm an astronomer , I once had to buy 100 feet of super crazy expensive , ultra blah blah
cables for data of ''all'' kinds . It cost 21 dollars a foot. All the different cables bound together barely fit inside a 4 inch
conduit. And I thought that was crazy lol! Thank you as always for your excellent show.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @mikereilly2745: It wouldn't surprise me if there were cables that cost $1M a meter for some very specialised and precise purposes. Don't tell the audiophiles 'cos they'll want some.
@chenkarp: There is nothing wrong in being an idiot
@server1ok: Most Herring Gulls have this cable embedded in the spine for a clear and loud audio generation.
@johngerndt7188: I applaud your pointing out that the equipment that makes the recording is made of fairly ordinary stuff. You probably get some pushback from those who clearly distinguish making from reproducing. It's a worthy distinction but suffers under close scrutiny, most things do. You miss the opportunity to suggest plainly (remind your audience) that the purpose of Any company is to make money and one that specializes in audio might just take the imperative to makes as much money for as little investment possible, that company might produce a cable that they think they can sell a few of to a few people and still realize great return on their investment, seemingly in this case, investment in a sales pitch. This from a guy (myself) who has indeed spent $500 on an "interconnect" pair, several times! -- Stuff's got to be connected to other stuff, pick a level of quality to start and audition your way up the ladder to your operating threshold (for most people: $50)
@junsantos9629: In Filipino, ARAY means OUCH š
@vladnickul: I can say that at CERN we don't have cables at this level of cost. :))
@miket2394: Sure, I would buy a Ā£1000.00 cable. Once I have the cable installed or "interconnected", I will light incense and utter litanies of praise to the Omnissiah. Thereafter, I will affix purity seals on the blessed cable. I will then spend some time inspecting my new bionic arm and leg as it literally cost me, my biological arm and leg to procure this blessed cable. The flesh is weak and cheap too.
šPraise be to the Omnissiahš
@audiononsense1611: It would depend on my gear's overall value and the difference, if any, it had on improving (doubtful as 1M would not be long enough). I would buy used from a known source or from my local dealers (I get discounts). I don't usually buy new unless I can't find locally...
@tonyrooibos: Great report back. I am in 1000 % in agreement here, and would say from an electrical engineer's point of view that even measuring the difference between this expensive s..t and cheapest cable available requires equipment of such precision it is unavailable to most labs barring maybe government and defence agencies. Even the test probes of such good equipment would be "sub-standard" to this c...p, and your hands and body amongst other items would affect the measurements too. Then as I always say it is a free world, with supposedly free speech, and uttering such nonsense pushing this mis-information, as these cable producers have done is your right same as authors as fairy tales, and movies with Bambie and Terminator.
@pietroscarpa2384: Lol, the audiophile market seems to be a big scam š
@iAmCodeMonkey replies to @pietroscarpa2384: Not all of it. Anything above $50-$100 for cables is getting there though.
@Vanflowne: Between 5 and 10ā¬ x meter. I' m working on a cable's and wires factory. Don't be fooled, distributors of esoteric cables are SCAMMERS like the cosmetics industries of anti-aging facial creams.
@barlow2976: Having upgraded my amp should I be happy with the Ā£2 lead? Do I believe an audiophile cable will be an improvement? I'm not sure, but I've just bought three Audioquest NR2 power cables, used on eBay, for around forty quid each. I won't need to buy them again, and I believe I hear the difference with my amp, maybe on my streamer, and not on my CDT.
Even if you're sceptical I think it foolish to spend Ā£1K on an amp, and use an unshielded cable. Basically, you are a cheapskate.
@MrKentaroMotoPI: Shun Mook Impingo Discs are much more important than cables.
@rickmilam413: I've done it. 3 sets of interconnects, all at comparable prices. System involved was in a separate space. I was able to not only differentiate them but name the brands. In fairness they were all rather different. They were what we had on hand. I could have picked at least two that would have been harder. Having said that, immediate A/B's are good for identifying, or not, some things but not others. Other elements of performance relate more to connecting to the music and don't lend themselves weel to quick A/B's. I used to design speakers and I spent a lot of time comparing caps. No, that wasn't blind. Also participated in Floyd Toole's computer automated A/B setup where things can be changed instantly. Floyd was a smart many but it was apparent to everyone present that he didn't discern some differences very well. This took plavr ay yhr Trbrl gsvyoty bunt the same basic setup he developed with the NRV in Canada.
@CraigAdams-s9i: If the interconnect is digital, then none of this matters, only the length.
@AnthonyToth-t5v: No
@user-wy6xd5ip8w: In the '90s, I was on staff at a studio where Audioquest made several direct 2-track recordings (1/4 inch, mind you; they didn't want to pay for 1/2" tape). I think we ran a B67 at 15ips.
Before their arrival, a case of Audioquest XLR cables would arrive, and we were instructed to connect everything with them. There were generally only 25 cables, so we would quickly run out.
Audioquest cables would be used to connect the mics to the studio-installed 70/80's era cabling. š
When we ran out, random studio cables would be used.
Unlike all other recordings, we encountered strange grounding issues and hums from parts of the studio we would never have.
Upon further inspection of the Audioquest XLR cables, we found that they were manufactured by tying pin 1(ground) to the XLR housing, šæwhich essentially bonded audio ground to anything and everything.
Anyway, they were able to write something like "recorded exclusively with Audioquest Cables" on the CDs.
@jefferysmith5921: snake oil...
@karldegroot3131: You make me laugh! So damned funny you are. Wish I lived next door. I'd cut your lawn for free but a beer!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @karldegroot3131: Believe me, my lawn definitely needs it.
@zedcarr6128: I make my own cables for audio, and instruments, using good quality Sommer Cable, and Neutrik Connectors, for a very affordable price for parts. Less than Ā£10 per metre.
I've tested some of my cables, and the frequency response for the -3dB points, was DC to over 11MHz. THAT cable is good for audio.
@chriswilliams3918: This is NOT a cable review. Itās an opinion. To assess the benefit of this cable surely you should install it in a very high quality price appropriate system to see if it sounds different to the cheap cable you mention, or a recognised hifi cable at sensible cost.
@johanneswerner1140: ultra low mass. I call it flimsy....
@suat1970ozturk: No and never. I'm not sick of "more".
@Buzz_Purr: Driving a 600m cable is not so easy, it will have a large capacitance.
For a 1m 'interconnect' this is not a problem, as long as the output impedance isn't very high.
Clean contacts is what matters most!
And theoretically it helps if all contacts are made of the same alloy, to avoid thermo-couple effects.
Cables can also be microphonic.
This becomes a problem when you move around like Angus Young, while chewing on your favorite interconnect.
@basbass429: The only time i notice the CABLE, something is wrong with it, when it is damaged, severely corroded or not connected properly. Or if the cable really thing extreme low quality, for example the cheapest choice at your local home depot. Which usually comes as too thin (ultra thin) wires. Between the "better" home-depot cables and "audiophile cables", never ever heart a difference.
@QualityRecord: My "interconnects" are made from virgin copper, cast in perfect alignment with the earth's magnetic flux.
@QualityRecord: Keep the wires short, use thick wires, use a twisted pair. There I fixed it for you.
@msromike123 replies to @QualityRecord: And shield to ground on the output connector.
@QualityRecord replies to @QualityRecord: @@msromike123 True. I found grounds and shielding to be the most difficult to get right and troubleshoot when you don't get it right. One of the reasons I'm a fan of integrated amps and not of components.
@pizzafrenzyman: Leave my cables alone.
@ooievaar: My left speaker is a bookshelftype (Dali Lektor). My right speaker is floorstanding (Dali Oberon).
Sound is ok for me, but right/left not in balance because Oberon has lower impedance and a bit higher sensitivity.
My amp has no adjustment for that, just as an audiophile would like it.
Solution at no cost:
I changed my 2 mm diameter speaker cable for the Oberon speaker to a much thinner diameter wire.
I notice no sound difference and now right/left is in balance.
Perfect solution, at least for my non-audiophile ears.
@RonStephens-h7h: My own opinion about cables is that, yes, they do make a big difference to the sound quality. This was really brought home to me when I heard a demonstration by Audioquest many years ago, of their range at the time. I was aware of sonic differences between cables but was a little sceptical about whether these were really improvements rather than just differences, beyond QED79 strand over bell wire. However this demonstration left me in no doubt. I also noticed that the difference in sound quality became clearer as you went up the range. Itās difficult to get excited about them as physically, you appear to be getting very little for your money. But sonically they can make a bigger difference than say, upgrading your CDplayer. I donāt believe that measurements can really tell you much about how an interconnect will affect the sound of your system. Just listen with no expectation. If you can hear the difference and think itās worth the expense, great! If not, donāt buy it. In my experience most people are surprised by how much they can hear and will spend the money if they can afford it.
@msromike123 replies to @RonStephens-h7h: If you can't see it on an oscilloscope, then you can't hear it. Period. They have been using them for this for over a hundred years.
@multicyclist: If I were a billionaire and its profit (99%) was to benefit a charity? Yes.
@stephenbrown9998: I donāt use metric either
@jasongomez5344: I was once in a big comment ("2013 TAS Editorsā Choice Awards: Digital Interconnects") feud between computer savvy people from reddit and audiophiles insisting that very expensive USB cables somehow sounded much better than cheap ones. There are a lot of audiophiles who don't know the first thing about science and engineering.
@stepazalesak8588: Probably the only reason to spend more on a cable is durability. That's all
@buskman3286: I have participated in many double-blind tests of all sorts of equipment. Here is my favorite: A few years ago we performed a test comparing cables. A group of 6 people listened. I announced that the first was a 40 dollar cable. They listened. I then announced: "I am switching to a $1500 cable. Listen for the improvement in soundstage and imaging!" They listened. Everyone agreed that the improvement was astounding. THEN I explained that I hadn't changed anything...the same 40 dollar cable was in place for both listening periods. Much chagrin was the result. People often hear what they want/expect to hear. ;)
@audiononsense1611 replies to @buskman3286: I beleive you and your statement has been proven by others many times (I only pay attention when done correctly). That said, does not disprove cables matter as everything matters in the chain this has been proven scientifically too. Ex. $500 DAC in a $ 600K system and beat out a $25K DAC (Existing)!!! Why, it's called system Synergy...
@ThinkingBetter: I have some discounted US$200,000 per feet interconnect cables carefully coated in the best of snake oil nano carbon fiber silver shielding for isolating out the worst of neutrino radiation interference that is highly damaging to the soundstage and resolving qualities of your speakers. If you want stereo and 2 feet or more, I can provide 20% discount.
@errolallen5007: $1200 cables are for suckers who canāt tell the difference but pay for snake oil for bragging rightsšššššššššš
@MrSlipstreem: Of course you need low mass connectors! They can wobble more quickly to keep up with the high frequencies!
@fretbuzz_: Yesterday on the YouTubes I saw a video by an "audiophile" that bought these 2 devices to put on the floor in front of his speakers to break up the reflections. Im not joking when i say they looked like a 2ft square thing you would see at the entrance of a ranch to keep the cows from getting out. They were made out of some rare wood that was selected to absorb sound waves. He didnt say how much they cost but did say he had them imported from japan. I dont think they will help with his sound but maybe if he has small children it will keep them from pushing in the dust caps.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @fretbuzz_: Diffusors are definitely a thing in acoustic treatment. Whether the devices you mention have any useful effect or provide value for money, well I'd need some convincing of that.
@vargulavideo: I got a pair of WOWLED High-end Pure Copper from Amazon Warehouse - half price at Ā£11. Best ever, so happy with the extra nuances from the cymbals.
@Gma7788: Inside your amplifier is kinked wire.
You're better off removing kinks and terminals that have leads that protrude beyond the circuit board.
In theory you'd rebuild your amplifier so it doesn't have 90 degree bends in the circuit board and in wire joints.
It's really dumb having 90 degree bends every 2 centimetres.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Gma7788: Nitpicking audiophiles might worry that when going round a bend, some electrons have a short path than others.
@msromike123 replies to @Gma7788: @@AudioMasterclass Sure they would, just like they worry about 1 meter of 14 gauge Home Depot lamp cord on the left speaker run and 1.5 meter run on the right. The EMF travels at the speed of light to trasnsmit information, the electorns themselves slowly drift at less than 0.3mm per seconnd (a fifth of the speed of a snail) or so from negative to positve terminals. The phase difference in EMF for a 0.5m mismatched speaker wire would be about 1.6 nanoseconds, 3.4 picoseconds on a 1mm mismatched wire on the amp system board. Not simply inaudible, but well beyond any tolerances of components in the amp and beyond the ability to even measure it outside of a specialized Digital Electronics Lab.
@Gma7788: By now, you should have realised that motzart isn't actually playing.
Its somebody pretending to be motzart.
Performances are just so the artist can get paid so they can eat.
@MrM4Mus1c: As someone whoās tried a fair yet comparably modest amount of cables, and also studied physics, (namely material science & solid state physics are the ones you want for this), so would like to think I have a basic understanding of whatās happening with materialsā¦ & having been into HiFi for 28 years+, I conclusively can say that interconnects can make difference.
Although, there are obvious terms and conditions to this & taking a cable and plugging it into another system wonāt necessarily give them same results.
The reason Iāve posted this, in spite of all of the ācables donāt make a diffā comments (keep it scientific and open minded please) is because I enjoy this channel & the topics discussed - Iād love to see this explored on here more. The conversations and presentation styles are great. Great work & thank you.
ā¦ back to it: As Iāve said, the cable is just part of the system, itās not the entire system, & as for āsnake oilā, I wouldnāt go so far as to use that term, Iād simply say however: there are cables that are expensive, cables that are cheap, ones that make the sound nicer, or make it sound worse (in my opinion), ones that are a good value, ones that are great value and some that are expensive - even if they make a noticeable difference.
Comparison: Even if the sometimes questionable activities of something can be measured, like taking taxes, the perceived value is not the same as the measured result - opinion plays heavily here. Does taking taxes from people benefit even if it can be measured what theyāre used on?ā¦ does a 2% difference justify a Ā£300 cost for a cable? There are no facts, only opinions here.
The other thing Iād say is that the āsystemā needs to be able to allow you to hear the difference the cable makes, & vice versa - also the new cable has to be that much further ahead than the old cable (or vice versa); so the system needs to have the technology internally to carry a very high quality signal and not degrade it before it even gets to said cable. 1 cable of type A and 3 cables of type B are not equally to 4 cables of type A, so the system as a whole from source to speakers (even the room surrounds), matter. Think of it as a chain from the power that your router / CD player receives, (in truth the original recording is the start), all the way through to the deconstructing noise outside of your window of trees blowing in the wind or that pneumatic drill digging up the pavement and sending drowning out sound energy into your room; it all mattersā¦ & more importantly, interferes. You want to hear the small tiny crumbs of the music at this level, the micro noises, so anything that is not on the recording, the buzz of a light switch or spin of a hard drive, is unwelcome. & thatās a key thing to recognise on cables, good cables donāt add, they simply become invisible. The best cable is no cable at all. If you could load a CD into your head, or LP for those who prefer, this would likely be the highest fidelity you could get from that source material. I wouldnāt try however.
To (almost) summarise, if youāve bought a component (not some cheap as chips component from the local Argos, or Tandy / Rumblelows, if you remember them, but an actually high fidelity & highly resolving system), and youāre feeding it a high quality source material, not to mention you have a half decent room set upā¦ then cables are the way to squeeze that extra 2-10% out of what you wonāt change. Albeit at what cost (and therefore value), is a separate question. And expensive is not equal to better necessarily. A Ā£300 - Ā£1000 cable when your next best DAC is Ā£30k plusā¦ it starts to make more sense, even for that extra 5% clarity gain.
Everything matters and cabling is included. Even the quality of your carpet, thin vs thick pile, whatās behind your head in the listening position, toe of speakers, spikes or isolating feet, glass windows in the room, speaker distance from wall, noise traps in cornersā¦ if youāre talking science, sound travels differently in cold air vs hot airā¦ it all matters and to my ears, such improvements can be heard (both a curse & a blessing - Iāll save that for another day). Not the hot vs cold in a room, that would be weirdā¦ only outside on a cold day, you may hear distant traffic if you listen carefully.
Again, to make a final analogy before I close: a Ford Fiesta or an F1 car both get you to the local shops, at what cost & value is questionable if all I want to do is get to the shops. They are notably different, and even if the F1 car can only do 20-30mph, is it worth me buying the F1 car or is it snake oil? Itās a matter of opinion.
Final final comment (before the final comment): trying to keep it scientific, run a test, but it would need to be a highly resolving one. Letās do it by ear as opinion does matter. Itād be good to compare it to a scientific study afterwards to see how things match up, i.e. using a mic to record then compare. For the human test, 1st it would be necessary to certify the listenerās ears are up for the test - I even find listening is more accute at night - then with a highly resolving system, letās say at least a Ā£20k-ish plus system to be sure, Ā£8k each for: speakers, amp (ideally pre amp & power) & DAC, grab a cheap as chips loom of cable, so OEM stuff from wherever, & listen & note down parts of a very familiar song. Actually take notes. Then swap out the entire run of cables with expensive ones (that come with a 5 star Best Buy or Highly Recommended review from a reputable HiFi reviewing platform, Ā£1k a cable (new) should be good enough. Speakers cable probably Ā£1k for a 2m run - just pulling some numbers from review memory) & listen. Then if you fancy, change 1 cable at a time. Always helps if someone can swap out as you do a blind test.
ā¦ then share what you find. Happy experimentingā¦ & remember, yes there are marketing departments out there trying to sell you unaffordable thingsā¦. Most importantly of all, thereās beautiful music and thereās technology.
One more comment: As YouTube doesnāt seem to object to my long winded storyā¦ think of a signal flowing down a perfectly straight narrow stream. In that stream are blue and red balls, being dispensed perfectly so they all arrive as blue and red balls in that repetitive order and perhaps in a continuous column on 5 balls, one after the other at the end. If there are small pebbles in that stream, hence imperfections in the material or a wire or interference such as RF that impacts the perfection of that flow, then the balls at the other end will not all arrive in the perfect red - blue arrangement. They arrive, but not as ācleanlyā.
It might only impact 2% of the balls, maybe itāll it be the balls that represent the midrange of the signal, maybe itāll be 10%. Can you notice it, how good is your eyesight, how good is the rest of the system and the original configuration in regard to keeping that red-blue pattern!? This is how I see the impact of interconnects and ānoiseā. But mentioned before, the less wires there are, the less chance for this given the same material.
When the sounds of a song starts to sound like individual instruments and not just sounds; when the beat of popular song sounds like someone is beating a drum in front of you or a piano in the recording has creak and dampening or you can hear the wood of a guitar when its strings are strum, then youāre onto something! Good luckā¦. Your wallet will NOT thank you!
@dustman96: If you are a complete and utter fool.
@AndiPicker: "That speaker cable sounds and looks so great, what brand is it?. "Flymo!"
@NeungView: I've recently paid Ā£20 for a 3 meter cable, and I thought that was overpriced.
@VintageGearMan: I did back in 2004 or 5 changed out all my crappy no name RCA patch cables to Monster. Yes,,, there was a more detailed sound and imaging but only slightly. Back then Monster was making superior studio cables unlike today. My hearing was excellent then to be able to actually hear the difference. Now,, Monster makes crap cables and good luck finding the ones I have and they all still work perfectly. Paying a grand per 1 meter now? No way. I bet the then Monster cables were just as good for a bazzillion less dollars.
@VintageGearMan: This just keeps getting better!
@VintageGearMan: Oh man,,, the quick photo of the mixing console tells it all! When you factor in all the signal paths in it alone,,,,,,,,,, and a $1000.00 dollar 1 meter interconnect cable/in the real world ,,a patch cable,,, is going to make that much of a difference (NOT) so agree!
@VintageGearMan: HA!!!! Another fantastic realistic factual vid! I just cannot get enough! Thanks greatly!
@kellygrant4964: The highest that I go is the Worlds Best Cables found on amazon. Like the looks, the build quality is excellent... and well that is about it. When you can see nice cabling it makes you feel better and in the end that brings some pleasure to when you are listening to you system. I would never use the old red/white rca things but I would never buy this level of cable either. There are people that have spent over 100,000 on their systems and this is the type of stuff they would buy just because it is more inline with the prices of their other gear. Not that it makes any difference.
@Albee213: Of course it's nonsense. But if you spend 120K on your turntable, 80k on a receiver and preamp and 100k on speakers. Seems a little silly buying some $7.99 "interconnects".
@isaachunt5799: most audiophiles have a screw loose. very few are even into music. they use music to listen to their system. a real music lover uses his system to listen to his music.
get a life ffs. ocd in it's highest form this idiotic behavoiur is.
@isaachunt5799: ic cables make zero difference. speaker cables do a little.
@johnb6723: No.
@PilipDilip: Love your channel. The absurdity I think you captured perfectly using the mixing desk as a "benchmark" of miles of audio cable spaghetti. I would like these cable cuckoos to explain why the internal PCB tracks are not made of thick gold with an extra layer of shielding and why my supposedly "top 20" of all tested amplifiers the Nilai Hypex class D uses a down and dirty 4 pin CPU power connector for the audio signal in on the PCBš¤£ As well automotive crimp connectors on the speaker cable terminals. Outrageous sacrilege! In fact the audio in cable was mistakenly not supplied so I had to hack up a connector with modified automotive crimp connectors pressed onto the pins of the PCB male connector, beyond sacrilege!
@rickmilam413: My interconnects retail for $11,700 for a 1 meter pair. If you can explain to me why the manufacturer specifies interconnects and digital cables in mettric and speaker cables in feet. The lady's comments were as over the top like many in this industry I'm in. I highly recommend to my customers and anyone interested that they follow the advice of early 20th Century composer Charles Ives "Stand up and use your ears like a man". I loan this stuff out (the 12K ones are the most expensive, with the starting point being a couple of hundred US dollars). There is a great deal more to the sound than the things you mention. Yeah, most anything will give you flat frequency response. One of the first things I hear in lesser cables is what I call "smearing". Cable insulation is a dielectric - it stores and releases energy. There are many other elements that are over my head. I simply listen and decide if the improvement, assuming there is any, is worth the money for my budget. Skin effect is more complicated than you mention. Based on your comments, and assuming you have a competent system, ile. decent, not necessarily high end, I suggest you follow Mr. Ives's advice...
@barlow2976 replies to @rickmilam413: Are you so confident of your ears' ability to discern your cables that you would gamble them in a blind test, I wonder?
@whome8192: Brits donāt use metric system. I hear stones, pounds, miles, miles per hourā¦get your nose out your neighbors arses. Start owning up to your selective use of US Customary Units, Imperial, and the metric system, and start spelling color the correct, English way. Not the French way, colour. Grow a pair England.
@eugenepohjola258: Howdy.
Lancaster Hi-Fi says that interconnects matter and presents data to back it. But Yes. The gear is Hi-End.
PS Audio advocates that speaker cables and power cables do matter. And again. PS Audio operates only in the domain of the best of Hi-End.
I would like to present the scenario of step by step upgrading. To me that makes sense. One may begin the process of upgrading with interconnects, speaker cables and power cables. I would not take away the satisfaction someone may feel having done these steps.
Personally I like the way Masterclass, Lancaster and PS Audio do their evaluations. Usually.
Aspects are illuminated from several angles and evaluated towards different premises.
What I don't like is evaluation done FOR me. For myself, I do the final evaluation myself.
Best Regards.
@denisdube8893: I agree with you sir
@theonlyegg: Is there any other industry that relies so heavily on subjectivity, BS statistics, hardcore marketing and placebo?
@barlow2976 replies to @theonlyegg: Religion?
@theonlyegg replies to @theonlyegg: @ good call. Also crypto and NFTs
@roccoxxxx1: No
@Kevinb1821: What I never got about expensive cables what about the wires that go from the port to the internal wires to the circuit boards? Are those wires inside the audio equipment also that expensive?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @Kevinb1821: You need to ask an audiophile.
@ZigSputnik replies to @Kevinb1821: And what about the wires from the individual components: capacitors, resistors, transistors, ICs etc?
@rejean2744: Don't forget burn in of your cables. Measure it in hours, not days or weeks, if you want it to truly matter in your system.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @rejean2744: Don't worry! Phil has been burning in a batch of electrons over the last five years. He'll sell them to you for a dollar apiece.
@rejean2744 replies to @rejean2744: @@AudioMasterclass Back in the day I "burned" a bunch of brains cells and that may cause me to buy some.
@bobkitchin8346: I can't think of a worse connector than a RCA, especially one that's not gold plated. They're subject to corrosion and they are press fit without any positive mechanical locking mechanism. But worse of all is that they are unbalanced, allowing any ac power ground loops to be injected into the audio signal. The only thing they have going for them is that they're cheap. That's why RCA designed them to connect their record changers to their radios back in the 30's. I think they even used them as antenna connectors. Shielded microphone cables are much better. I don't know why they aren't more widely used.
@Cypeq: Those RCA cables have 3 orings on them! Every audiophile knows it's worthy investment, none of the music detail will ever leak out through loose unsealed connector.
@paavobergmann4920: Betty creeps me out.
Anyway: A music equipment store assistant told me, the thing about oxygen-free copper was that it was more flexible and wouldnĀ“t break off the plug for extended use. Whereas conductivity issues could be remedied with increasing the diameter of the connector. Any thoughts on that?
@jeffcline7689: Is Betty AI?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @jeffcline7689: We're all AI, including me.
@jeffcline7689 replies to @jeffcline7689: @@AudioMasterclass The result is not as good for you but the graphics are better!
@bartj9378: well, no. I am not mad.
@yc-tai: Digital audio is killing hifi interconnect (rca cables), connect your server to yourvamp with wife or lan......
@Clint3571: Double blind test!
@Jared-91: My RCA cables cost about $30 from Amazon, and my speaker cables were found in a cardboard box in a storage unit. My system sounds awesome.
@adotopp1865: You don't have to understand why. You have to try cables out. Only an idiot would buy expensive cables untried or tested.
@adotopp1865: 'Ultra low mass' Denis MorecroftĀ of DML design described the advantages of using less metal in phono plugs as reduced eddy current at the plug.
I've made up DNM Reson cables and it seems to be true. The less massive plugs are clearly a cleaner sound
@adotopp1865: Ā£1000 is about average
Look at Russ Andrews
@MOSMASTERING: It's been tested consistently.. so long as the metal is conductive, it's going to make no difference to the sound quality whatsoever. I saw a test with coathanger wire compared to Monster cables costing $2,000 a meter... zero difference. It's the ultimate in Audiophile snake oil.
@AudioMasterclass replies to @MOSMASTERING: True audiophiles can easily tell the difference between a $2000+ interconnect and a coathanger. Of course it has to be a wooden coathanger.
@MOSMASTERING replies to @MOSMASTERING: @@AudioMasterclass Hahaaa... brilliant!
@multicyclist: Give an audiophile 50 sets of cables to try out, and the response back will be 50 hallucinations.
@dustman96 replies to @multicyclist: Exactly.
@Hellseeker1: That's one big hell noo.
@alanhill1901: Does anyone else think you are listening to Eric idle with his tongue in both cheeks?
@AudioMasterclass replies to @alanhill1901: Possibly... https://youtu.be/aB3JNivlMnI
@maciejsuchecki7653: I am calling it audio voodooš¤£
@tmzwcky: Don't know if they're still around, but I've seen "audiophile" AC power cords selling for hundreds of dollars, too. They even had different models for 60Hz vs 50Hz AC lol. Even if the premise was plausible, I can't fathom the logic of thinking that this 1m power cord is going to make up for the 50km of whatever back to the power station.
@tmzwcky: Several years ago I was trying to research SPDIF vs optical digital audio and found a great thread - there was a huge debate raging with audiophiles SWEARING that some $400+ SPDIF cable made a huge difference, citing pretty much all of the things that you mentioned for these cables - "bass is much tighter!" "transients are WAY more accurate!", etc. Never mind that digital audio has no physical way of responding like that to any cable. Anyway, the thread culminated in a double blind experiment at a local audiophile shop with the expensive SPDIF cable vs literally a coat hanger with RCA plugs soldered to either end. The coat hanger won.
@vapno92: "If itās measurable" ... well, audiophiles have this "Itās not measurable, but I can hear it!"
@dustman96 replies to @vapno92: If it's not measurable then you most certainly cant hear it
@olafzijnbuis: The cable itself is, of course, a waste of money. But wait...
They paid import duty on it and VAT.
It is Taxation of Stupidity.
@MrFat.: Betty is scary asf! She needs some sunlight. š
@fogf1: A few years ago I had a conversation with a customer at a very high end audio store in northern NJ. I did some bench tech work repairing gear for them. This guy went on and on about how much better cable 'X' was than any other cable out there. How it 'opened the soundstage', etc... I went along with him because I wasn't going to deny a sale to the owner of the store, knowing full well that what he was spending on 2 meters of speaker cable was ridiculous. When he finally bought his cables and left I noticed he was wearing not one, but two hearing aids. He must have been 70+ years old. Yet his 'perfect ears' heard the difference in cables. Many , many years ago I had a conversation with a guy who, I'm sure, forgot more about electronics and sound than I'll ever know. Basically he said to get nothing less than 10 gauge stranded cable for speaker lines and you'll be set.
@bechhoefereric1291: Well for 1000 $ I rather buy DSD 256 sources
@lancewood1410: Nope.
@arthurfleck1554: No!
@AudioMasterclass replies to @arthurfleck1554: Great! Now you have made that decision you have a free $1000 to spend on something else.
@robertjermantowicz-uw3iw: The wire business is based upon obfuscation and fraud. No difference in sound quality between a $3 cable and a $1000 cable.
@robertjermantowicz-uw3iw: There are cables that cost a lot more than $1000. All targeted to the audiophool market.
@MacsMachines: Cheep as chips compared to the ultimate Nordost āOdinā. Have heard a system with a set of those interconnects and it soundedā¦well totally amazing, but it was already a Ā£100k+ new set up š š