Do Fancy Audio Cables Make a Difference? (video)

[MaxxC]

The grifters out there sell very expensive ethernet and USB cables. Of course they will get on the wrong side of the DAC making ludicrous claims.

agreed. It borders on criminal the prices they charge. My Bedroom system. $60 speaker wires, $32 Coaxial and $27 interconnects.

Primary $100 speaker wires, Blue Jean Ethernet Cat 6 and Coaxial, Chinese Bootleg interconnects I bought off Alliexoress.

I use those because they sound the best to me.

 

[MaxxC]

Unless the cable isn't up to spec (older HDMI standard for instance) or isn't the correct length I need, then yes. Why wouldn't I?

You didn’t answer the question directly. Do you still use them? Or what do you use? If nothing else it’s called pride of ownership.

 

[Buckeye Amps]

You didn’t answer the question directly. Do you still use them? Or what do you use? If nothing else it’s called pride of ownership.

I did answer...unless there is a practical reason to replace a cord (not long enough or not up to current standard mainly in regards to HDMI), then I use what comes with the component.

 

[MaxxC]

At least it comes with a power cable - that apparently is so bad and substandard, you need to spend another 1000 to "unlock" the true potential.

My power cables cost a whopping $99. Do you say anything if somebody buys a new car? It’s their choose how they spend their money.

$99. Less then most spend a month on Starbucks with nothing to show for it. Again their choice who has a right to judge?

 

[solderdude]

it’s called pride of ownership

yep.

It has nothing to do with improving sound quality or minimum required build quality.
For RCA interlinks it is important they have a decent shield which is lacking in some cases in generic stuff.
$ 27.- is not a LOT of money for interconnects, when we are talking > $ 50- for interconnects we start to enter the 'you most likely overpaid' territory and definitely would > $ 100.-

The whole thing is 'a fool and their money are easily parted' and warning against this is what ASR is also about (by showing objective evidence).
A $99.- mains cable is not needed at all. They exist, they are available, some people buy them, that's fine, that's their money.
The question is do you NEED them ?
Do they bring an actual improvement ?
Or.... do they give you a sense of 'security' and money is plentiful ?
Everyone is free to buy whatever they want even if they don't need it.

To answer the question: do fancy audio cables make a difference ?

They don't in an electrical sense but they do to people who buy them.

 

[oleg87]

Do you still use the generic cables manufactures throw in the Box? I suspect few on the forum actually do and it’s not because their previous cables failed.

Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever bought an AC power cable in my life. Always find one in some drawer when I need one, somehow.

 

[Beave]

You mean like those generic or plastic coated cables manufacturers sometime throw, in that run under $2?

My streamer came with a coaxial and Ethernet cable. My DAC came with interconnects. It’s the same quality as you get the least expensive equipment.

It’s basically a starter kit so we can play with our new equipment right out of the box. Nothing worse than having a new toy with no batteries. It’s cheap because the manufactures knows. Most are going to
Throw it away ASAP once they find something descent

Im sure you already know all this. . Having a little jab. Nothing wrong with that keeps us on our toes and keeps us thinking

Take Care

What you mean is that the cables they come with have been tested and proven to perform their function perfectly adequately.

Yes, they are cheap - mostly because they are purchased in very large quantities, thus getting good pricing per unit.

They do their job perfectly well.

I know this because I used to work for a company that provided coax, ethernet, and/or interconnects, depending on the product you're buying. We tested cables for performance and then chose the vendors based on the ones that met performance requirements, had good quality control, good pricing, and good manufacturing capabilities to meet demand.

This isn't magic. It's basic engineering.

 

[Beave]

agreed. It borders on criminal the prices they charge. My Bedroom system. $60 speaker wires, $32 Coaxial and $27 interconnects.

Primary $100 speaker wires, Blue Jean Ethernet Cat 6 and Coaxial, Chinese Bootleg interconnects I bought off Alliexoress.

I use those because they sound the best to me.

In improperly controlled, sighted listening comparisons, no doubt.

 

[Beave]

My power cables cost a whopping $99. Do you say anything if somebody buys a new car? It’s their choose how they spend their money.

$99. Less then most spend a month on Starbucks with nothing to show for it. Again their choice who has a right to judge?

You're free to buy whatever you like based on pride of ownership.

You're not free to claim performance improvements or audible differences without providing much stronger evidence than what you have shown so far.

 

[amirm]

It’s basically a starter kit so we can play with our new equipment right out of the box.

Say what? I ask again: why would a high-end piece of gear require cables that don't come with it? It is not like they didn't charge you enough for the box itself. Why would they skimp on the cabling?

 

[amirm]

Again their choice who has a right to judge?

We do. Not why they bought said cable. But why they have come here, repeatedly posted about it, claiming some improvement. We would all love to improve the sound of our system if a $99 power cable does it. That we don't is because we know how audio systems work. And measurements prove the same. You made some vague claims and jumped to saying you need a $99 cable. So don't backtrack now. Show some evidence of sound improving.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

We do. Not why they bought said cable. But why they have come here, repeatedly posted about it, claiming some improvement. We would all love to improve the sound of our system if a $99 power cable does it. That we don't is because we know how audio systems work. And measurements prove the same. You made some vague claims and jumped to saying you need a $99 cable. So don't backtrack now. Show some evidence of sound improving.

A more common question for most people is whether it's worthwhile to spend more for cables from Mogami, Canare, Sommer, Van Damme? Connectors from Neutrik and Amphenol? Or should we just get the generic stuff from Aliexpress?

 

[wadude]

I was just wondering something similar. I like well made pro cables but don’t actually need them.
A wire marketing company gets everyone hot and bothered advertising crazy expensive cables but their bread and butter could well be selling boatloads of “upgrade” bubble packed wires at higher than middling prices.

 

[beefkabob]

This will not be popular here. I really don’t care much about measurements.

If you don't care for science in audio then why are you here?

They are a small part of the overall picture but don’t take in to consideration how the human ear, brain and emotions interprets sound. We don’t hear in Digital. There has plenty of research how the human ear interprets a flat frequency response. Boring, lifeless and uninvolving are common descriptors

Blah blah blah. We get it. Sound is magic. All that science stuff you didn't bother to read? For nerds. Your opinions? Formed from reading other baseless opinion on reddit.

Truth be told, I don't know how much I spent on the cables I use, but you sure know how much you spent. Pride of ownership? Lol.

 

[Ropeburn]

Come to think of it, I’m not sure I’ve ever bought an AC power cable in my life. Always find one in some drawer when I need one, somehow.

And they're all safety certified, something missing on "audiophile" ones often enough. Which makes them illegal to sell in some jurisdictions, the whole EU for example.

My power cables cost a whopping $99. Do you say anything if somebody buys a new car? It’s their choose how they spend their money.

$99. Less then most spend a month on Starbucks with nothing to show for it. Again their choice who has a right to judge?

Funny you mention cars, because when people buy 2000$ aftermarket exhausts for example, that's rationally a waste surely but the sound change is measurable. For example by the road approval authority and traffic police, who might give a two weeks notice to remove it, or else.

Unlike power cables where that's just imagination. But! I approve of that more because at least it doesn't pester the whole neighbourhood with fart sounds.

Then again I do that sometimes with synthesizers played on the big stereo. Now that's a worthwhile investment. For just a few fancy power cables of yours I'd rather get nice instruments that generate actual sound rather than illusions. Lol!

The judgement here is about your unsubstantiated claims. Nothing else.

 

[VientoB]

The equipment is what gets measured, not the listener's ear-brain system.

The signal from the equipment is what is measured. The music is electrical signal. That's all the music is before it is converted into sound waves by the loudspeakers.

 

[CD2]

I never got the "right to judge" thing. If you make choices people can see, or if you go on internet forums and post at length about choices you made, people will form judgments! How could they not?

And "their choice" ... yes, people make judgments *because* it was your choice, not a thing forced on you.

 

[Ropeburn]

I never got the "right to judge" thing. If you make choices people can see, or if you go on internet forums and post at length about choices you made, people will form judgments! How could they not?

And "their choice" ... yes, people make judgments *because* it was your choice, not a thing forced on you.

Again, the judgement is about the "it sounds better to me" part, which is a wild, delusional claim that's been disproven a thousand times.

 

[Mart68]

$99. Less then most spend a month on Starbucks with nothing to show for it.

Well they do have something to show for it, about 30 coffees.

Wheras spending that to replace a perfectly serviceable power cable with another one you might as well go out in the street and stuff the hundred dollars down the drain.

 

[MatrixS2000]

The higher the quality of a system the more you hear the differences, good or bad .

I can’t take a statement like this seriously. It implies that manufacturers of higher quality equipment would purposefully hamstring their products by shipping cables that don’t allow peak performance, then rely on mostly untrained users to guess which expensive cables will eke out a little extra. Usually the pricier the cable, the more they expect to extract. Nonsense.