Battle of RCA Cables: Mogami, Amazon, Monoprice

[killdozzer]

In RCA unbalanced analog interconnects, the only thing that matters is the shield.
Cables with poor or no shielding, will be subject to Common Impedance Coupling noise and interference problems.

No, not really. If it's needed, it's needed. If not, then not. Here's a plain copper. No problems whatsoever:

I have several sets of PBJ cables. I'm glad I didn't waste more on their silver cables. Remember all that mumbo jumbo about Teflon insulation? Synergistic Research was even worse, like a cult.

When I get components with balanced ins & outs I'll probably use Mogami. May not be necessary but I would for the mechanical integrity.

Mechanical integrity is the new cable BS snake-oil here clearly seen in a role of defending the overpriced Mogami brand.

 

[DSJR]

When you buy expensive audio electronics, something in the mind (eye-fi reasoning) rejects perfectly excellent but cheap interconnects and speaker cables (in the UK, I'm thinking Van Damme and Amazon Basics RCA interconnects and 'KabelDirekt' speaker cables (from Amazon). I had this situation ten years ago when I had a Krell KSA 50S power amp for a while, worrying that my preamp and cables weren't 'good enough' for it and getting in a bit of a stew about it all. The current owner of said amp is stronger than I and uses what he has to hand I believe, seemingly immune to the 'exclusive club' that such products try to steer you into.

Got to say I like and trust Mogami and Belden wires too, which seem an affordable bridge from 'cheaper excellence' into 'cable madness' territory My 'cable box' is large I have to admit, full of home made 'stuff' I use here and there, pulling out what my eyes tell me 'fits' best...

 

[gfinlays]

When you buy expensive audio electronics, something in the mind (eye-fi reasoning) rejects perfectly excellent but cheap interconnects and speaker cables (in the UK, I'm thinking Van Damme and Amazon Basics RCA interconnects and 'KabelDirekt' speaker cables (from Amazon). I had this situation ten years ago when I had a Krell KSA 50S power amp for a while, worrying that my preamp and cables weren't 'good enough' for it and getting in a bit of a stew about it all. The current owner of said amp is stronger than I and uses what he has to hand I believe, seemingly immune to the 'exclusive club' that such products try to steer you into.

Got to say I like and trust Mogami and Belden wires too, which seem an affordable bridge from 'cheaper excellence' into 'cable madness' territory My 'cable box' is large I have to admit, full of home made 'stuff' I use here and there, pulling out what my eyes tell me 'fits' best...

I built all of the balanced cables for my active setup with Van Damme miniature starquad, albeit with a nice looking black and yellow braid. Neutrik XLR and TRS connectors throughout. Couple of hundred pounds for all twelve cables. I figure if it's good enough for pro use, it's good enough for home use.

 

[Extreme_Boky]

 

[gfinlays]

View attachment 420279View attachment 420280

PSC Audio AG Monolith. Don't know about current price, but a pair of these in 2010 was US$42,000!

 

[Count Arthur]

PSC Audio AG Monolith. Don't know about current price, but a pair of these in 2010 was US$42,000!

I had to google them. This guy sounds familiar:

I wonder if he ever started his own forum?

 

[antcollinet]

Cables with poor or no shielding, will be subject to Common Impedance Coupling noise and interference problems.

I'd update that to "more subject to".....

No matter how good the shielding, it can pick up noise if the ground currents are large enough, or the cable long enough. The shield will never be zero impedance.

 

[Speedskater]

Well nothing in analog audio is perfect.
But Common Impedance Coupling Noise currents, that's power line related hum & buzz (ground loops) are reduced by low end-to-end resistance RCA cables.

 

[Philipp]

Mechanical integrity is the new cable BS snake-oil

No, it‘s not, when you want to regulary pull them off an stick 'em back on again, than some cheap cables are just to cheap in regard of exact that, mechanical integrity. But shure, Amazon Basic is allready in the sturdy category in my opinion. Depends on how often you pull them of I guess and how tight they fit.

 

[rocknroll]

I had to google them. This guy sounds familiar:

View attachment 420294

I wonder if he ever started his own forum?

'Banned'...lol!

 

[Sanctuary]

Just wanted to chime in after getting some $35 three foot Mogami RCA cables: they absolutely are not the same.

I had previously been using the same Monoprice cables in the review for many years. Never had any real issues using Monoprice for audio, or Amazon Basics with HDMI, until a few years ago (unknowingly).

My Monolith amp would always produce a hum after the volume was raised to a specific point, and it would go away if I put my hand on top of it. I always assumed it was just a grounding issue with the amp, because it didn't seem to matter what cables I used of the numerous ones I owned of varying thicknesses and plugs. Although either of the digital inputs were dead silent. The hum was only with analog.

Recently got a Flux M-Field amp, and it was doing the same thing. Initially I thought "great, the power in my home is just screwed up", but decided to go ahead and order some Mogami 2694 RCA cables as a last option.

Hum went away with both amps.

 

[Holmz]

Just wanted to chime in after getting some $35 three foot Mogami RCA cables: they absolutely are not the same.

I had previously been using the same Monoprice cables in the review for many years. Never had any real issues using Monoprice for audio, or Amazon Basics with HDMI, until a few years ago (unknowingly).

My Monolith amp would always produce a hum after the volume was raised to a specific point, and it would go away if I put my hand on top of it. I always assumed it was just a grounding issue with the amp, because it didn't seem to matter what cables I used of the numerous ones I owned of varying thicknesses and plugs. Although either of the digital inputs were dead silent. The hum was only with analog.

Recently got a Flux M-Field amp, and it was doing the same thing. Initially I thought "great, the power in my home is just screwed up", but decided to go ahead and order some Mogami 2694 RCA cables as a last option.

Hum went away with both amps.

Well you could have got a high $ power conditioner, and then you would be raving about how great they are

 

[gfinlays]

Just wanted to chime in after getting some $35 three foot Mogami RCA cables: they absolutely are not the same.

I had previously been using the same Monoprice cables in the review for many years. Never had any real issues using Monoprice for audio, or Amazon Basics with HDMI, until a few years ago (unknowingly).

My Monolith amp would always produce a hum after the volume was raised to a specific point, and it would go away if I put my hand on top of it. I always assumed it was just a grounding issue with the amp, because it didn't seem to matter what cables I used of the numerous ones I owned of varying thicknesses and plugs. Although either of the digital inputs were dead silent. The hum was only with analog.

Recently got a Flux M-Field amp, and it was doing the same thing. Initially I thought "great, the power in my home is just screwed up", but decided to go ahead and order some Mogami 2694 RCA cables as a last option.

Hum went away with both amps.

Your headphone amp has balanced inputs - why aren't you using those?

 

[Krusty09]

Well you could have got a high $ power conditioner, and then you would be raving about how great they are

Not sure 35 dollar cables and high dollar power conditioner are the same thing. In any event he didn't talk about the sound of the cable he talked about the hum going away.

I guess I'm not sure we read the same post or maybe I don't understand your sarcasm

 

[Holmz]

Not sure 35 dollar cables and high dollar power conditioner are the same thing. In any event he didn't talk about the sound of the cable he talked about the hum going away.

I guess I'm not sure we read the same post or maybe I don't understand your sarcasm

Sorry… The hand over the face, or a smiley face would be the indication that it is sarcastic.

Basically… I am saying…
“Imagine you had got a power conditioner and it solved the problem.
One might expect that you would be in the crowd shouting from the rooftops as to how great power conditioners are.”

However… now.. you have saved whatever $ -$35.

And you also know that sometimes a well measuring monoprice (etc.) cable may not actually be any good for the intended use.
But also some 4 or 5 figure cables may also have performed just like the amazon cable.

I have some cables that I have soldered up with different flavours of shield floating/grounding, and then can know whether one style, or the other style, are needed.
I usually consider a Neutrik/Mogami as the minimum acceptable cable.
And also it is generally where I stop.

Most of the reasoning for the soldering iron is that I usually want a 2’ or 4’ cable, and not a 1’, 3’ or 6’ cable wound up like a snake.

 

[antcollinet]

Just wanted to chime in after getting some $35 three foot Mogami RCA cables: they absolutely are not the same.

I had previously been using the same Monoprice cables in the review for many years. Never had any real issues using Monoprice for audio, or Amazon Basics with HDMI, until a few years ago (unknowingly).

My Monolith amp would always produce a hum after the volume was raised to a specific point, and it would go away if I put my hand on top of it. I always assumed it was just a grounding issue with the amp, because it didn't seem to matter what cables I used of the numerous ones I owned of varying thicknesses and plugs. Although either of the digital inputs were dead silent. The hum was only with analog.

Recently got a Flux M-Field amp, and it was doing the same thing. Initially I thought "great, the power in my home is just screwed up", but decided to go ahead and order some Mogami 2694 RCA cables as a last option.

Hum went away with both amps.

Reduction of ground loop noise is one area where cables can make a difference. But the problem is the ground current, not the cable.

In this case (almost certainly) what has happened is the new cable has a lower ground connection impedance at the frequency where the noise is (or the cable is just shorter). This has reduced the common mode noise between your amp and source device (dac?). As you have found, you absolutely DONT need a high £$ cable to achieve this - just a well constructed cable.

But - as pointed out above - a far better solution would be to use a balanced connection to your amp.

 

[egellings]

RG-58U for me and some decent but not overpriced RCA male connectors do it for me, made longer than needed to reach what they connect together.

 

[Sanctuary]

Reduction of ground loop noise is one area where cables can make a difference. But the problem is the ground current, not the cable.

In this case (almost certainly) what has happened is the new cable has a lower ground connection impedance at the frequency where the noise is (or the cable is just shorter). This has reduced the common mode noise between your amp and source device (dac?). As you have found, you absolutely DONT need a high £$ cable to achieve this - just a well constructed cable.

But - as pointed out above - a far better solution would be to use a balanced connection to your amp.

Possibly, but I don't currently have any balanced headphone cables and the components I'm connecting to either amp don't have balanced outputs. Similarly, when using the Monolith amp just for the DAC, it doesn't have a balanced output to connect to the M-Field either.

 

[mhardy6647]

I usually consider a Neutrik/Mogami as the minimum acceptable cable.
And also it is generally where I stop.

That's where I've stopped (at least for the foreseeable future). It's good stuff.

 

[MoreWatts]

Just wanted to chime in after getting some $35 three foot Mogami RCA cables: they absolutely are not the same.

I had previously been using the same Monoprice cables in the review for many years. Never had any real issues using Monoprice for audio, or Amazon Basics with HDMI, until a few years ago (unknowingly).

My Monolith amp would always produce a hum after the volume was raised to a specific point, and it would go away if I put my hand on top of it. I always assumed it was just a grounding issue with the amp, because it didn't seem to matter what cables I used of the numerous ones I owned of varying thicknesses and plugs. Although either of the digital inputs were dead silent. The hum was only with analog.

Recently got a Flux M-Field amp, and it was doing the same thing. Initially I thought "great, the power in my home is just screwed up", but decided to go ahead and order some Mogami 2694 RCA cables as a last option.

Hum went away with both amps.

Good call on the Mogami.

Mogami RCA to RCA cables with their 2964 wire can be bought factory-terminated. Not pricey by audiophile standards, but you do have to buy 2 to make a stereo pair. For $45 why not use what the pros use?

Mogami Pure Patch RCA to RCA Mono Hi-Definition Patch Cable​

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Mogami...Definition-Patch-Cable-15-ft-1327552777974.gc