Do Fancy Audio Cables Make a Difference? (video)

[respice finem]

My "methodological" view of it as a (former) academic teacher:

• Let the "believers" (those not willing to learn) believe, all else is wasted effort and time, so let others do it in the comments.
• Show the ones willing to learn, what the pros are using, and why some things are more important than others (incuding, but not limited to, cables).

 

[EXIF68]

Everbody knows that expensive cables like audioquest are only working in combination with highly energized Pyramides for „canalization„ of bad energy
So, standard cables functionallity depends on the plug-contact quality and also soldering quality. The cable material itself is more or less nothing to worry about.

 

[welsh]

It would be great for you to do a video on turntables. What are the things to look for etc. I am thinking about replacing my current turntable but not my cartridge and I am confused by all the hype etc as to what makes the biggest difference. Also, no manufacturers well other than Technics provide any measurements and for them it is Wow and Flutter which for their 1000R table is they claim as low as is measurable.

You are dragging a rock through a plastic groove, the SQ gets worse as you approach the label due to less information per second, you have intermodulation distortion, terrible channel separation, clicks ‘n’ pops, plus no genuine stereo bass. The biggest difference would be to go digital.

 

[muslhead]

My "methodological" view of it as a (former) academic teacher:

• Let the "believers" (those not willing to learn) believe, all else is wasted effort and time, so let others do it in the comments.
• Show the ones willing to learn, what the pros are using, and why some things are more important than others (incuding, but not limited to, cables).

Great suggestion
I wish i had the patience to do the first bullet. Its so hard for me not to comment on someone's nonsensical beliefs.

 

[respice finem]

Training is everything

 

[PeteL]

My "methodological" view of it as a (former) academic teacher:

• Let the "believers" (those not willing to learn) believe, all else is wasted effort and time, so let others do it in the comments.
• Show the ones willing to learn, what the pros are using, and why some things are more important than others (incuding, but not limited to, cables).

This is true in an academic sense. But at the same time, and not only about audio (I promise I won't get political), disinformation on the internet is a real serious plague, opinions are ok and everybody can have one, but stating lies as facts, those who know (and not only pretend to know) have at least some responsibility to make small efforts to not let lies become an accepted alternative truth, cause disinformation can spread fast.

 

[Labjr]

Same here. Still managed to buy 500g leaded last year, will probably suffice till the end of my life. Some here in Germany slowly start making their own, or "harvest" it from old electronics (so much for ecology)... Manufacturers are in the worst situation, for them the unleaded PITA is mandatory, and so I think many might escape into laser welding. On the other hand, if the fridge last 5 years instead of 20...

Leaded solder is still available here in the US. If I hear of a ban coming, I'll buy a stockpile of Kester. It will be a good investment.

 

[PeteL]

I have several of them. I only buy them, because it would cost me almost that much to make up my own with similar components.

I looked them up. World's best cables indeed have a great offer, but it may be country specific, in Amazon Canada they are pricier than Blue Jeans Cables by a significant bit, BJC don't have as much variety of configs tough.

 

[respice finem]

...disinformation on the internet is a real serious plague... ...stating lies as facts... ...those who know (and not only pretend to know) have at least some responsibility...

I agree with the former, but not really with the latter. What responsibility do I have (or you, or Amir, or anybody) for, excusez le mot, human stupidity? What will I do with someone who believes "Elvis lives" (on flat Earth of course)? This would be a "war" that isn't winable, for one simple reason: The believers are believers because this is what they chose. They are free to accept proven things any time, but they won't, and we can't force them. Engaging in endless "wars" (others have been there before) will only give them unnecessary publicity. And, luckily, this is not a matter of life or death. Respice finem, mind the outcome...

 

[PeteL]

I agree with the former, but not really with the latter. What responsibility do I have (or you, or Amir, or anybody) for, excusez le mot, human stupidity? What will I do with someone who believes "Elvis lives" (on flat Earth of course)? This would be a "war" that isn't winable, for one simple reason: The believers are believers because this is what they chose. They are free to accept proven things any time, but they won't, and we can't force them. Engaging in endless "wars" (others have been there before) will only give them unnecessary publicity. And, luckily, this is not a matter of life or death. Respice finem, mind the outcome...

For some of them, yes, there is nothing to gain and nothing to do, but unfortunately I don't think that all the believers "choosed". Some are being influenced because that's all they've been exposed to, if there is no one to contradict what's common beliefs in their circle, and unfortunately, social networks are designed to reinforce that.

 

[respice finem]

The influenced ones will find the truth, if they want to, like I did (not being an engineer nor born with any knowledge) and in times the Internet was hardly existent where I lived.
On the contrary, a neverending "forum war" might have the effect of those giving up, because they don't like the tone or "can't see the forest for the trees" any more. That's why I'm not on any (a)social media, and I don't intend to. Sometimes it must be "take it or leave it", and Amir's method so far (largely unemotional presentation of provable results, while not allowing trolls to take over) is the best I can think off. There are a myriad of "chaos" forums, but very few like this one.

"Men go crazy in congregations, but they only get better one by one" (Sting) - or:

"take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes" (Matrix)

 

[PeteL]

The influenced ones will find the truth, if they want to, like I did (not being an engineer nor born with any knowledge) and in times the Internet was hardly existent where I lived.
On the contrary, a neverending "forum war" might have the effect of those giving up, because they don't like the tone or "can't see the forest for the trees" any more. That's why I'm not on any (a)social media, and I don't intend to. Sometimes it must be "take it or leave it", and Amir's method so far (largely unemotional presentation of provable results, while not allowing trolls to take over) is the best I can think off. There are a myriad of "chaos" forums, but very few like this one.

"Men go crazy in congregations, but they only get better one by one" (Sting) - or:

"take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes" (Matrix)

I agree with this, forum wars, getting emotional serves no purpose, but It can be done in a polite, respectful way. When you challenge a strong statement that is false, by that I mean false, not different views on things, you are not and should not try to convince the one who posted it, there are ways to word it as well, like "did you think of that when making these statement". By doing this, it's not to argue with someone who won't change his mind anyway, it's for everybody else that read this statement, telling them, maybe this is not Gospel, maybe there is more to it, that they could if they want dig information elsewhere.

 

[respice finem]

...can be done in a polite, respectful way.

It can, theoretically, but practically, without the "fatherly hand" of the Admin sometimes, it won't, at least not for long, alas. This is human nature since the beginning, probably, and human nature is not really modifiable, many tried, all failed. And all can be well, with the right Admin(s). After some time, a "higher culture" can be established, trolls will call it a bubble, so be it, the world is full of bubbles. Main advantage: they go trolling elsewhere, and the remaining people willing to learn can learn. Think of it, like of an elite uni - would they argue with... ?

 

[Carbon]

I am new in this forum. I like your review of the fancy cable @amirm. I also have tried cheap and expensive cables. For now the best solution which I have found for me is assembling my own cables which are based on cables which are used for wiring radio/television broadcasting studios. If a cable can transmit digital high definition content over a distance of several hundred meters it will do well for 1.2 meteres in my stereo. Far better than any fancy cable I have tried so far. And the good thing is that the technical parameters of the cable are well documented.

In my opinion there might be a difference in cables. Not on terms of freqency response but it might be about resolution and correctness. I would like to see if something like a single impulse or the analogue outcome of a square wave would make a difference? Maybe those results might differ.

 

[beefkabob]

I agree with the former, but not really with the latter. What responsibility do I have (or you, or Amir, or anybody) for, excusez le mot, human stupidity? What will I do with someone who believes "Elvis lives" (on flat Earth of course)? This would be a "war" that isn't winable, for one simple reason: The believers are believers because this is what they chose. They are free to accept proven things any time, but they won't, and we can't force them. Engaging in endless "wars" (others have been there before) will only give them unnecessary publicity. And, luckily, this is not a matter of life or death. Respice finem, mind the outcome...

The outcome is almost always bad or no change. Being nice and being mean rarely changes anything. Sciscere finem.

 

[57gold]

First post - Have observed over decades the snake oil products of the audio world as a life long musician interested in having great music, well replicated in my living room. Inspirational to me on a daily basis as a performer and as a human being, making life richer.

Chuckled to see the claims of AQ's mega shielding efforts get debunked. Not convinced that such a comparison is the whole story.

Back when specialty audio cables began to spring up, collected some loaners (believe they were Wireworld and Magnan) to compare with a well made cable that came with an early high end Sony CD player (it was a tank of a build that was considered one of the best available at the time). Guessing that it was comparable with the Hitachi cable used in the video review, nice termination, OFC copper...all 1 meter RCA interconnects.

My teenage son, a talented vocalist with perfect pitch and in training at the time as a classical vocalist, and I spent an afternoon "listening" to see if we heard a difference connecting the CD player to the preamp with these three cables. I knew what was changed, my son did not. Asked him what he heard. He described differences in EQ, details like shimmer of cymbals and depth of bass and instrument placement...exactly how I heard them with no suggestion or observations from me. Guessing that they all would test out the same if analyzed in the tests used in the video review; none had the AQ active shield nonsense. Not surprisingly to me, the most expensive cable did not "win", in fact none "won", they all had a slightly different impact on how the music was presented from the speakers as the signal made its way from the CD player to the preamp.

Have no EE credentials or testing capabilities. But have also experienced significant differences in the performance of instrument cables (which function as interconnects) in my guitar rigs, which folks say may be based upon varied capacitance, shielding, litz versus cold core conductors...not sure, but know that they make my instrument sound different delivering the signal to the amps input circuit. Not huge but easily audible.

Enjoy reading the reviews and comments of members here learning about new products an technologies.

 

[respice finem]

The outcome is almost always bad or no change. Being nice and being mean rarely changes anything. Sciscere finem.

Of course, if you would let the "mill" run on its own, but that's why admins are there, an implementation of the good old "speak softly and carry a large stick" There's no escape from needing a little... order, and every order is someone's order.

 

[Max Townshend]

@amirm Did our English friend (Max T.) ever sent you his über expensive (Isolda) speaker cables for you to test, as he promised he would do after he done his video ?

They were delivered to Amir on Dec 24.

 

[solderdude]

. But have also experienced significant differences in the performance of instrument cables (which function as interconnects) in my guitar rigs, which folks say may be based upon varied capacitance, shielding, litz versus cold core conductors...not sure, but know that they make my instrument sound different delivering the signal to the amps input circuit. Not huge but easily audible.

Guitar pickups are in the range of 10kohm in source resistance and have a high inductance. You can be certain that different cables (capacitances, lengths, geometries) have an audible influence.

Source resistances for audio are much, much, much lower and not inductive so with the voltages, capacitances, inductances, lengths and resistances involved none of the latter can (nor do as can easily be demonstrated with nulling music) have an audible (but small measurable) influence on the sound. Similar to cables connected to MM cartridges (which also is a magnetic sensor).

So I can fully understand people with studio/instrument/speaker/screens or have a snesor measurement background (especially in industrial or HF background) have experiences with cables performing different and then assume this is also applicable to interlink cables of short length in audio. That doesn't mean cables do 'the same' under vastly different circumstances.

 

[BDWoody]

Of course, if you would let the "mill" run on its own, but that's why admins are there, an implementation of the good old "speak softly and carry a large stick" There's no escape from needing a little... order, and every order is someone's order.

Fortunately, needing to whip out my large stick around here is seldom needed. Most of the regulars do an excellent job of keeping things on track, so in that sense it is very much a self-moderated forum. Considering ASR is coming up on 20k members, it runs pretty smoothly for the most part.