I was born an obsessive reader and a compulsive tinkerer. During the '60s, I subscribed to Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Hot Rod, Car Craft, Motor Trend, Road & Track, and (of course) Stereo Review and High Fidelity. Every one of those magazines presented articles discussing the importance...
www.stereophile.com
Here’s some fun reading… (sigh).
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I have personally identified four instances where cables objectively made a difference and the effects can be video’d using an iPhone.
The first was when I tried “flat silver coated” ribbon cable as an interconnect that I got off eBay. Since these were unshielded, they picked up an RF hum that would be absent once I switched to shielded RCA cables (of any brand).
The second is my McIntosh MX113 tuner/preamp which still uses lamp cord for the AC power. Throwing a ferrite choke over the AC cord removed the RF noise. That was just a few bucks on Amazon. Using a ferrite choke also helped with one of the early Sony noise cancelling headphones I got from Costco.
I have visual line of sight to Sutro Tower which broadcasts Ten television stations, three FM radio stations, and 20 wireless and mobile communications users (i.e. law enforcement agencies, taxi cabs, school buses, wireless internet, etc.)
Third, my digital piano has balanced outputs. It doesn’t get moved around much. One day I did move the piano to another room and one of the Monoprice cables developed a discontinuity. It was the same problem as…
…Fourth, the cable on my iPhone charging cable frayed.
1)
@amirm, what sort of testing can you do with ferrite chokes around cables? Is that only relevant in areas with very high RF exposure?
2) the absolute worst cables might not have the durability of better cables. It depends if you are going to be frequently unplugging and replugging (iPhone charging cable) or not
3) Nelson Pass, who is a mix of objectivist and subjectivist uses Radio Shack cable himself.