Recoton RCA Cable Review (Ultra Cheap Cable)

[AudioSceptic]

My solution was to split the difference -- I nabbed some zipcord that was labeled as "speaker wire" at the local charity thrift store.View attachment 203051

I thought, AR, that's a proper make, then saw "Recoton" (same as Amir's cheap RCA cable).

 

[Katji]

It seems to be the original AR logo, and isn't/wasn't AR a well-regarded brand?

...AR acoustic research...

[ps:] ok, I googled it...

 

[AudioSceptic]

Oh my gawd ... the world is ending, the moon will spin off it's axis and life as we know it is over...

I used an "m" instead of an "M" .... total destruction is imminent.

Really, dude...????

I agree with solderdude. It's important to get technical abbreviations right, and it's not even hard to do.

 

[Grooved]

Thank you...
I see now that Topping D90SE offered 123.407 dB.

Hi, 123.4 at 4V balanced but 120.2 "only" at 2V unbalanced

Well, no. That is the noise limit of APx555 analyzer with 2 volt output. The wire itself is likely far better.

Hi, when you set it 2V, is analog ("digital->analog->analog->digital" to be clear for everybody) internal loopback balanced or unbalanced? (even if it should not change anything in this specific case)

Just curious about another thing, did you already try a digital loopback on the APx555? with SPDIF, Toslink and AES cables and if so, what values the APx555 can reach?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Here we go .... just what the doctor ordered ....

AudioQuest - Wolf Subwoofer Cable with RCA Interconnect - 20M : Amazon.ca: Electronics

AudioQuest - Wolf Subwoofer Cable with RCA Interconnect - 20M : Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

Batshit crazy, and it's not even full-range!

 

[BlackTalon]

I think it's pretty obvious the only reason the tested cable looks identical to the loop-back is because the results are obscured by a veil...

 

[Endibol]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the ultra cheap, "vintage," retail RCA cable. A member kindly sent it to me. It is not available anymore but I see two-packs on ebay for $4.
View attachment 203024

The cable reminds me of the free ones you used to get in audio gear. It fits rather loosely on especially when you are used to today's stiff RCA plugs. The wire is still flexible and feels like it would have when new.

Recoton Cheap RCA Cable Measurements
The Audio Precision APx555 analyzer I use for testing has an internal "loopback" where using a relay, shorts inputs to outputs. In other words, it is the shortest and most optimized path between input and output. Let's measure that performance with 2 volts using 22 kHz as bandwidth and 1 kHz tone:

View attachment 203026

We see the stellar performance that we expect from Audio Precision. Only a second harmonic is visible at astonishingly low -148 dB! This is good 30 dB below threshold of hearing. SINAD measurement is therefore noise bound to the tune of 121 dB -- again about 6 dB lower than threshold of hearing.

Now let's switch the internal loop back with our cheap RCA cable:

View attachment 203031

That's right. Not a thing has changed. Same noise floor. Same distortion profile. Same output voltage.

OK, that is one tone but let's throw 32 tones at it to simulate "music:"
View attachment 203032

It can't be more identical than this. If turned on both graphs at once, you could not distinguish one from the other when overlaid.

Let's widen the bandwidth to 90 kHz and sweep every audible frequency and measure distortion and noise:
View attachment 203035

Again, identical performance to "no wire."

Folks at this point complain that "something is happening in timing domain." So let's run a step response with 1 MHz bandwidth (25X audible bandwidth) and see what happens to our edge:

View attachment 203036

Again, the two graphs land right on top of each other.

We could keep testing but you get the picture hopefully.

Conclusions
Electrically the Recoton RCA cable is as good as "no wire" internal loop back in the analyzer. So it doesn't get any better than that. In all performance vectors we get the same results. Even measuring up to 1 MHz, timing test shows the same performance.

From usability point of view, the connectors are a bit loose for my taste (although you could pinch the outer ring to fix). And cable is too thin to withstand repeated connection or disconnection. If these are not an issue with whatever cheap/free cable you have, you can feel confident that there is no performance impact on your audio equipment in using such.

Indeed, personally I use such cables when I need one that is not so stiff or too long. They take up much less space and are easier to route.

Next time someone shames you that your RCA cables are too thin and dirt cheap looking, you can point them to this review to show that they give you all the performance you or anyone else needs!

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Great to see another piece of evidence showing that you can connect your top-notch hifi-gear with cables costing a couple of bucks. You keep on wondering why there are still people spending ridiculous amounts of money on these....Probably just for the fancy box and the good looks?

 

[DrZingo]

Fun for them to since they can just always move the reality denial goal post by claiming "measurements can't pick up everything we are able to hear". You can keep inventing new perspectives, new metrics, and they'll always do this. There's no amount of quantification of human hearing that can be done that will satisfy their threshold of finding it convincing enough.

Is there one single example of someone able to reliably tell two pieces of audio equipment apart in a blind test by listening, where audio measurements of the kind Amir does couldn't?

 

[Midwest Blade]

It's a HUGE relief to see that ultra-cheap cables are just as sufficient and perfectly functional as "real" industry-grade, TOTL, "audiophile verified" cables or whatever.
Personally though, I wouldn't mind spending some more extra bucks just for aesthetic.

Nothing wrong with spending a few $’s, just make sure you know what you are spending it on…Amazon Basics, Blue Jeans and a few others, just stay away from the voodoo stuff.

 

[Midwest Blade]

I have no idea what they're supposed to do. ...I haven't seen any ads, I suppose it's more air and so on.

Just look up “audio speaker cable lifters” literally blows my mind.

 

[chych7]

Definitely need some noise/shielding testing here. Last time I used some cheapo cables, it picked up some noise from a nearby power cable. One needs a shielded cable at a minimum for RCAs.

 

[amirm]

Hi, when you set it 2V, is analog ("digital->analog->analog->digital" to be clear for everybody) internal loopback balanced or unbalanced? (even if

Unbalanced of course.

 

[amirm]

Definitely need some noise/shielding testing here. Last time I used some cheapo cables, it picked up some noise from a nearby power cable. One needs a shielded cable at a minimum for RCAs.

None of you is going to buy this specific cable so I don't see a need to test it to death that way.

 

[deafenears]

Next up, optical/toslink/spdif cables, or was one done already?

 

[Powerbench]

I’m frigging impressed. If recording studios etc don’t use “super duper” cables going in why should you when the signal leaves?

 

[Overseas]

I think the majority of RCA interconnects are 2x 0.22 mm2, right?

 

[Fleuch]

You NEVER want to match impedance in audio devices. You want the other way around: very low source impedance and very high sink impedance for best voltage transfer.

An analogue cable interconnect should be seen as a transmission line between signal source and amplifier, so line parameters are important and determine the characteristic impedance of the cable. Ideally to prevent reflections the terminating impedance, in this instance the input impedance of the amplifier, should match the characteristic impedance of the cable, in the same way that the output impedance of the source should also match the characteristic impedance. The bad news is that this can only be done at one frequency and a compromise design value for charateristic impedance is usually made.

Different conductor materials will have different distributed electrical properties (R, G, L and C) so over (very) long cables phase differences will become important . In air a 20kHz sine wave has a wavelength of 15kM, so there is an argument that phase shift in a cable 1m long will not be significant.

The wavelength is inversely proportional to the sinusoidal frequency, so at lower frequencies the wavelength increases. Testing cables for audio purposes above 20kHz may be seen as somewhat unnecessary. Where the interconnect is considered to be lossless, (R and G both are negible), the characteristic impedance is the square root of (L/C).

Cables for digital connections are a different proposition, as a Fourier analysis of a digital waveform will show very high frequency components. The audio bit rate for a Red Book audio CD is 1,411,200 bits/sec for 2-channel stereo giving a possible signal frequency of around 1.5Mhz, with the Fourier components extending well beyond. This is a completely different ball game where impedance matching to prevent reflections becomes a priority. Ideally impedance matching should be extended to circuit board tracks and components. The wavelength of a 1.5MHz signal (in air) is 200m. Although still longer than most digital interconnects, phase shift becomes important with increasing sampling frequency and bit depth.

Digital cables require a completely different approach to testing and evaluation. Perhaps the cable between a digital source and DAC may warrant a more premium cable than a standard USB cabl,, or altrnatively use fibre optics.

Another approach is to consider how to model the signal source. If it is a voltage source, the source impedance is in series with the signal generator and needs to be low compared to the load impedance for maximum voltage transfer. Some signal sources are considered to be current sources where the source impedance is in parallel with the load and needs to be high compared to the load impedance for maximum current transfer.

The same considerations apply to connections between the amplifier and the speakers. Different conductor materials will have different signature characteristics. For example a copper core has a different resistivity to a silver core, so the perceived effect on the delivered sound may, just may, be different.

In the analogue domain there is no need to burn green backs on expensive cables, but whether this is true or not for digital interconnects remains an open book.

 

[chych7]

None of you is going to buy this specific cable so I don't see a need to test it to death that way.

Then why spend your time on testing this in the first place, what's the point if no one is going to buy this specific cable? To me, this type of testing is useful as a general representation of a freebie cable. One cannot test all types/brands of free cables of course, but it could give insight into why one should/shouldn't be fine with such a type of cable (somewhat similar to your tests on speaker wire). Assessing the impact of shielding is an important part of this; it's very common for signal cables to be physically near power cables, thus is a very relevant use-case scenario for testing. Without this, your test basically implies that there's no reason to go beyond a freebie-type cable, and would be interpreted this way (even if that's not your intent).

Looks like a member did do something like this:

RCA cable Magnetic interference measurement and comparison

Cables are cables and there is no difference?! I designed a test to see if they perform significantly different in therms of "magnetic shielding" or Leakage inductance. This test dose not test for ground loop currents but interference from close by magnetic in homogeneous magnetic files. The...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Given that there's an obsession of >100 dB SINAD on amps/DACs here, this should be very relevant.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

This makes for so much fun when arguing with "audiophiles" .... thanks. Yet more ammo!

Why argue? Write a review and poke fun. It's so much more fun. (Here are a few choice reviews at the link below.)

Amazon.com: AudioQuest K2 Terminated Speaker Cable - UST 2.44 m Plugs 8' Pair (Discontinued by Manufacturer) : Electronics

Buy AudioQuest K2 Terminated Speaker Cable - UST 2.44 m Plugs 8' Pair (Discontinued by Manufacturer): Speaker - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[RayDunzl]

Here's what's going to happen: Some cable manufacturer is going to buy all the remaining samples of this cable.. from eBay Dress it with nice sheathing and ... things. Put their logo and brand name on it

Like this?

Entreq USB Cable Exposed.

Entreq is no different from a standard retail cable. A guy here in Denmark opened a very expensive Entreq USB cable and what do you know; It was a standard retail USB 2.0 cable inside the fancy sock. I don´t have to tell you how angry he became. Entreq`s answer was that they never had any...

www.whatsbestforum.com

Cable Presentation | Entreq

Unleash the True Potential of Your Audio System with Entreq's Unique Cables and Grounding System Our cables are not only designed with precision and care, bu...

www.entreq.com