Do Fancy Audio Cables Make a Difference? (video)

[57gold]

Higher capacitance = rolled off highs in any cable. With low level signals like those produced by magnetic guitar pickups, high frequencies are rolled off by high capacitance cables like Jimi used to tame the highs of his Strats, Fuzz Faced into a cranked 100 watt Marshall plexi, which are very bright and percussive (Duane used to roll the Treble to 1 on his plexis for the same reason).

Who knows what audiophile cable manufacturers like Transparent design to for $27,000 balanced interconnects???

https://www.transparentcable.com/products/magnum-opus-balanced-interconnect

 

[Chrispy]

Higher capacitance = rolled off highs in any cable. With low level signals like those produced by magnetic guitar pickups, high frequencies are rolled off by high capacitance cables like Jimi used to tame the highs of his Strats, Fuzz Faced into a cranked 100 watt Marshall plexi, which are very bright and percussive (Duane used to roll the Treble to 1 on his plexis for the same reason).

Who knows what audiophile cable manufacturers like Transparent design to for $27,000 balanced interconnects???

https://www.transparentcable.com/products/magnum-opus-balanced-interconnect

Or why you would need someone to "design" cables especially someone like "Transparent". LOL.

 

[Nango]

Higher capacitance = rolled off highs in any cable. With low level signals like those produced by magnetic guitar pickups, high frequencies are rolled off by high capacitance cables like Jimi used to tame the highs of his Strats, Fuzz Faced into a cranked 100 watt Marshall plexi, which are very bright and percussive (Duane used to roll the Treble to 1 on his plexis for the same reason).

Who knows what audiophile cable manufacturers like Transparent design to for $27,000 balanced interconnects???

https://www.transparentcable.com/products/magnum-opus-balanced-interconnect

It is not €27k but 37k says this web..

 

[Speedskater]

Higher capacitance = rolled off highs in any cable.

Yes higher total end-to-end capacitance can impact frequency response in guitar cables, other musical instrument cables, phono cartridge to pre-amp cables, some mic cables and some vacuum tube interconnects.
BUT with modern interconnect systems high total capacitance will have ZERO impact on frequency response. (in a reasonable system)

 

[roog]

Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan both liked cheap coiled cables for their added resistance and capacitance to take the edge off their Strats,

Yes, I read this, coiled cables have small cross sectional area conductors and the coiling means that the cable has to be very long to get a usable length when 'at-ease' so to speak.

As many have said on this very forum, cables do make a difference, if you don't have any, you get no sound and if you use cables which are not suitable for the purpose, they will impact the sound, but in my experience the later rarely applies for short HiFi interconnects!

 

[roog]

Companies building interconnects target transparency. Companies building guitar cables have other targets, as electric guitars are not full range instruments. Some people like high frequency "sparkle" and "chime." Others do not.

In the guitar cable market, many cables have at least some color. There are actually companies that market transparency, such as George L.

In my experience the number one requirement from guitarists is a robust cable that can tolerate a bit of stick without failing.

 

[roog]

How is this stuff different than other contact "enhancers"? I had some CAIG stuff and then Walker Audio SST (silver paste), neither were very expensive.

But the SST now has quantum and nano in the description and is priced accordingly.

https://walkeraudio.com/product/quantum-silver-treatment-for-contacts/

I amazes me that given the many safety critical systems, involving 100's of millions of pounds, that I have been involved with during my career this essential wonder product has not been mentioned once! How can this be, the world of professional electrical and electronics engineers don't know about this essential product? Its madness I tell you.

 

[fpitas]

I amazes me that given the many safety critical systems, involving 100's of millions of pounds, that I have been involved with during my career this essential wonder product has not been mentioned once! How can this be, the world of professional electrical and electronics engineers don't know about this essential product? Its madness I tell you.

We can't talk about Quantum Purifiers, either. I'm taking a chance just mentioning it

 

[Kip]

Do really expensive cables make as much difference as acoustic dots ??

 

[Speedskater]

The cables cost more than the dots, so of course they make a greater difference.

 

[egellings]

@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 ?

Outside of DCR and maybe capacitance, what else is there to test (measure) in an analog 20Hz-20kHz audio cable meant for living room use?

 

[617]

I don't think I've ever seen a discussion on this topic on an audio forum, hopefully we can hash it out and come to a consensus.

 

[Svet Angelov]

I don't think I've ever seen a discussion on this topic on an audio forum, hopefully we can hash it out and come to a consensus.

The consensus has already been reached, namely: "Aaaaaahuwaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbpststststspspspspewpew"

 

[Speedskater]

Outside of DCR and maybe capacitance, what else is there to test (measure) in an analog 20Hz-20kHz audio cable meant for living room use?

The possible differences in modern line level analog interconnects are susceptibility to noise and interference. Both of these are situation specific.
Go to another building or change associated equipment and the susceptibility will probability change.

 

[solderdude]

Outside of DCR and maybe capacitance, what else is there to test (measure) in an analog 20Hz-20kHz audio cable meant for living room use?

In this particular case the capacitance was so high it came with an inductor (for the input, which adds DC resistance) and required a Boucherot filter at the load side.
Without those parts a lot of amps may have gotten unstable.
Amir, sadly, never reviewed it and the maker is no longer with us as he died dec 31 2021.

 

[egellings]

In this particular case the capacitance was so high it came with an inductor (for the input, which adds DC resistance) and required a Boucherot filter at the load side.
Without those parts a lot of amps may have gotten unstable.
Amir, sadly, never reviewed it and the maker is no longer with us as he died dec 31 2021.

I've been aware of that filter for a long time, but this is the first time I saw it named after someone.

 

[Infinite100]

First I'd like to share my experience.
I'm not an expert by any means and I don't own a 2000 Euro pair of headphones which require special Ohms or whatever.
I own a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 for when I go out and Audeze Maxwell for when I stay home.

I am a sucker for spatial virtualization. But for some mysterious reason neither Windows Sonic nor Dolby Atmos nor DTS Headphone:X work on my laptop (= no difference in sound if I enable them or not, so much so that I thought that they just suck, until very recently I tried the Spatial Audio component in Foobar, which at least within Foobar enables such spatial engines, and for the first time I experienced how they are supposed to work).
So I was left with the mediocre DTS:X Ultra, which requires a cabled connection.
But the Maxwell only work in active mode, and if I used them while the laptop is charging I had a hum/bzzz noise.
My first (wrong) thought was to look into better cables with the hope that better balanced and isolated cables would at least reduce the hum.
I ordered anything from UGREEN to Kabel-Direkt to Mogami 2893 Quad to AudioQuest (Tower, Evergreen, and Golden Gate).

It's not the topic of this post but I'll quickly touch it for reference for anybody who might be experiencing humming:
I am not electrician so I can't talk for all possible causes of humming, but in my case neither good cables nor a Ground Loop Isolator nor an Isolation Transformer nor a Power Socket with Noise Filter helped.
Some cables (not necessarily the most expensive) and the socket with filter reduced the noise a tiny wimsy little bit.
The Isolation transformer and the Ground Loop Isolator helped more but not much. The latter at the cost of a noticeable reduction in loudness.
What immediately and completely solved the problem was a 3 poles charger for the laptop.
I guess I could have tought about it sooner, but I just supposed that LG would not sell a laptop with a 2 poles charger if it would cause such issues.
Naive me

Back on the topic:
during this process of trying different cables I noticed that there IS a difference in sound from (some) cables to (some) cables.
It's not mindblowing and as clear as the sun in a midsummer day. It requires a trained ear, good headphones and DAC, good source (like hi-res FLAC, maybe also premium Spotify, who knows), and patience.
I did lot of A/B comparisons, and I now can say with not one ounce of doubt that there IS a difference, sometimes.
The Golden Gate had a certain warmth to it, some fullness somehow.
The Mogami was by no means cold, but somehow (at least in combo with the Maxwell) more neutral and maybe open.
The AudioQuest Evergreen was just like the Mogami.
The AudioQuest Tower and all other cables were all pretty much the same, similar to the Mogami but a tad less open.
In other words, only the Mogami/Evergreen and the Golden Gate stood out, and not like anybody would notice. But they did. Specially the Golden Gate.

Now, I've read a bit about OFC and stuff.
I don't know what to believe, but I KNOW what I have experienced.
So I wonder, why does this happen, scientifically?

I understand (very superficially, let's say nominally, = I have read that it's a thing but I know nothing about it) that with good quality earphones and other headphones with special OHM needs, different cables can more noticeably make a difference. If this requires a very expensive OFC cable, I don't know.
And I also don't know what difference I would hear with even more expensive cables (I didn't find any but I've been told they exist).

Anyway.
Hopefully someone here knows and wants to share.

Thanks

 

[Petrushka]

See the snake oil thread.

 

[SIY]

Hopefully someone here knows and wants to share.

We all know. Welcome to the world of "trying to do listening comparisons without basic controls." That's almost a guarantee that you'll hear differences that don't exist in the sound. And it's a flaw of ALL human brains, which is why serious comparisons have double blind controls so that it's just the sound you're evaluating.

 

[Doodski]

I did lot of A/B comparisons, and I now can say with not one ounce of doubt that for instance there IS a difference.
The Golden Gate had a certain warmth to it, some fullness somehow.
The Mogami was by no means cold, but somehow (at least in combo with the Maxwell) more neutral and maybe open.
The AudioQuest Evergreen was very similar to the Mogami.
The AudioQuest Tower and all other cables were all pretty much the same.
In other words, only the Mogami and the AudioQuest Golden Gate stood out, and not like anybody would notice. But they did.

You are deceiving yourself in your tests. You are imagining to hear a difference in cables. See the snake oil thread as was advised by @Petrushka.

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