Do Fancy Audio Cables Make a Difference? (video)

[AnalogCircuit]

FWIW, I've been using the cheapest imaginable RCA cables -- starting with whatever was packed with my gear back in the day, more recently picked up for peanuts at charity thrift shops or to pad online orders to nab free shipping -- for almost 60 years without a single such failure. They're not visible, so cosmetics aren't an issue - and they're almost never unplugged, so durability isn't an issue. Honestly, I for one see no reason to get anything "better" -- obviously YMMV, and props for not falling into the "audiophile interconnects" black hole.

As a reminder, Amir tested one of my thrift shop scores and found it to be pretty much electrically perfect for audio:

Recoton RCA Cable Review (Ultra Cheap Cable)

Both of our experiences are anecdotal, but it’s true you can have good or bad experiences with cheap cables… or even expensive ones.

Bluejeans are known good to others and my older ones have been flawless so I’m sticking to them.

 

[MouseOnMars]

Someone talking about cables, to me, is like hearing a girlfriend talk about a new shampoo.

 

[Holmz]

What were you surprised by?

Ans: By your not testing the damned cable with the batteries removed to show whether they did anything or not?
It seems like my earlier post was pretty clear.
(But I’ll go on.)

Allegedly the hypothesis is that there is hysterysis of the dielectric that the biasing of the electrical field prevents happening.
Sort of like crossover distortion in a class-B amp, from what I understand.

Whether that biasing does anything is sort of interesting on its own.

There are sort 2 camps for cables:
1) The camp where the conductive material is important. (Silver, gold and tons of 9s copper)
2) The camp where the dielectric material is important.

Knowing whether they are worse than the hitachi cable with the batteries installed and even worse, or no-change, with them removed seems like an interesting thing to check.

 

[Holmz]

Someone talking about cables, to me, is like hearing a girlfriend talk about a new shampoo.

 

[AnalogCircuit]

Someone talking about cables, to me, is like hearing a girlfriend talk about a new shampoo.

And here you are

 

[MouseOnMars]

And here you are

I never said I didn't like it

 

[amirm]

Ans: By your not testing the damned cable with the batteries removed to show whether they did anything or not?

I have done that test before. See: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...t-victoria-audio-cable-with-dbs-review.14683/

I try to vary the tests with these tweaks so in this review, I reversed the cable. Since the battery is connected at one end, should it make a difference, it would screw up when used in reverse direction. Naturally, it made no difference.

So you have two methods of evaluation for the battery feature, both showing no effect.

 

[gino1961]

Good morning everyone
What I can't understand is why there isn't a unique connection standard for unbalanced signals, as I think there is for balanced ones, namely XLRs.
If I had absolute power , ... I'd take the highest-performing unbalanced standard, like, for example, the BNC used for equipment that handles GHz signals, and I'd impose it on everyone, even for analog signals.
There are pre-terminated BNC cables of considerable length that are exceptional and cost very little money.
Sometimes I think that marketing is a product of the devil.
As fascinating as it is evil... perverse... malicious.
Have a good day everyone.
gino

 

[gino1961]

Both of our experiences are anecdotal, but it’s true you can have good or bad experiences with cheap cables… or even expensive ones.

Expensive ones are supposed to be built with higher standards And usually they are

The built quality could have an impact on long term reliability
Some RCAs are really poorly built

 

[solderdude]

Good morning everyone
What I can't understand is why there isn't a unique connection standard for unbalanced signals, as I think there is for balanced ones, namely XLRs.
If I had absolute power , ... I'd take the highest-performing unbalanced standard, like, for example, the BNC used for equipment that handles GHz signals, and I'd impose it on everyone, even for analog signals.
There are pre-terminated BNC cables of considerable length that are exceptional and cost very little money.
Sometimes I think that marketing is a product of the devil.
As fascinating as it is evil... perverse... malicious.
Have a good day everyone.
gino

RCA was invented in the 1930's so is an older connector that unfortunately connects signal before ground making it not suitable for hot swapping.
Cheap to produce and can be used with a variety of cables. Easy to make home-made cables.
BNC is from 1944, is locking and connects ground before signal.
It is designed for usage with a specified diameter cable, more expensive and not as easy to make cables as with RCA.
in the 1950's the DIN connector was used which was popular in the days as for stereo recording and playback only one small connector and a single cable was all that was needed. Still used with MIDI components.

For audio frequencies GHz support is not needed and 1MHz is more than enough.

There are tons of other connectors that could be used for audio.
Perhaps at this moment the mini-XLR (3 or 4 pin) would make the most sense for audio gear.

 

[gino1961]

RCA was invented in the 1930's so is an older connector that unfortunately connects signal before ground making it not suitable for hot swapping.
Cheap to produce and can be used with a variety of cables. Easy to make home-made cables.
BNC is from 1944, is locking and connects ground before signal.

Hi ! thank you very much for your very kind and informative reply I did not know

It is designed for usage with a specified diameter cable, more expensive

it is not clear to me what you mean for expensive

and not as easy to make cables as with RCA.

if you mean DIY ones i agree if not they are everywhere ready to be used

in the 1950's the DIN connector was used which was popular in the days as for stereo recording and playback only one small connector and a single cable was all that was needed. Still used with MIDI components.

very convenient But i would try instead single XLRs also stereo connections ... L, R and G on the same cable I guess it could work
a good XLR cable should cost very little

For audio frequencies GHz support is not needed and 1MHz is more than enough.
There are tons of other connectors that could be used for audio.
Perhaps at this moment the mini-XLR (3 or 4 pin) would make the most sense for audio gear.

I agree completely Personally i like the RCA cheap connectors the least I mean the completely plastic ones
one brand used BNCs also for analog signal transmission

https://www.hifinews.com/images/122dart.bac2.jpg

but perhaps the most mindblowing thing is that they also use RCA for the DAC ins and outs... this is pure perversion
i put this attitude on par with using shoes two sizes smaller
why not select what is normally used to connect probes to a digital scope ??? ... it is that easy
copy from the pros
always

 

[amirm]

I'd take the highest-performing unbalanced standard, like, for example, the BNC used for equipment that handles GHz signals, and I'd impose it on everyone, even for analog signals.

It is a great connector. That is what Audio Precision analyzer has for unbalanced as a matter of fact.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Perhaps at this moment the mini-XLR (3 or 4 pin) would make the most sense for audio gear.

Sound Devices used these for a while. Maybe still, idk.

 

[gino1961]

It is a great connector. That is what Audio Precision analyzer has for unbalanced as a matter of fact.

Hi Dr Amir good morning
Thank you very much indeed for your very kind and precious advice I did not notice that

i think there must be some reasons ... i would tend to trust AP engineers

 

[solderdude]

The reason is that this is a professional test device and test labs are filled with BNC cables.
For RCA testing this is often used.

and this one:

 

[Ropeburn]

Expensive ones are supposed to be built with higher standards And usually they are

View attachment 544287

The built quality could have an impact on long term reliability
Some RCAs are really poorly built

That example is absolutely substandard because the ground contact is a flimsy little lug, with two other flimsy little plastic lugs. It's not even up to baseline RCA standard.

I bet it costs 50 a piece or so...

 

[DonH56]

BNC is better than RCA but still not great for positive capture and retention over time. Also have to skeletonize them to reach 75 ohms as used by most A/V components. And costs a lot more, natch. And are not great at GHz frequencies, though they may reach the low GHz range. Might as well go SMA (a screw-on connector) and reach 18 GHz, at least until you find someone who claims you need at least 20 GHz, or go with one of the hermetic types. RF connectors I've used can cost several hundred dollars each but are overkill for audio. Realistically most people plug in once and forget so the connector is not a big deal. One advantage, sort of, with RCA is that if you trip on a cable or yank the wrong one, it may pull out instead of dragging the component to the floor.

 

[DonH56]

If you really need multi-GHz connectors for audio, get some of these. Small, positive capture and retention, and more than enough bandwidth for audio analog or digital. You need a proper torque wrench to seat them, so besides connectors you can make money selling audio-approved torque wrenches, a bonus. These are "cheap" ones; lab standard versions are significantly higher.

 

[kyuu]

For home use, RCA connections do their job just fine while being cheap as chips. Better to switch to just using digital interconnects for most use cases, imo. Which also don't need expensive lab grade connectors for home use.

 

[Chrispy]

Ans: By your not testing the damned cable with the batteries removed to show whether they did anything or not?
It seems like my earlier post was pretty clear.
(But I’ll go on.)

Allegedly the hypothesis is that there is hysterysis of the dielectric that the biasing of the electrical field prevents happening.
Sort of like crossover distortion in a class-B amp, from what I understand.

Whether that biasing does anything is sort of interesting on its own.

There are sort 2 camps for cables:
1) The camp where the conductive material is important. (Silver, gold and tons of 9s copper)
2) The camp where the dielectric material is important.

Knowing whether they are worse than the hitachi cable with the batteries installed and even worse, or no-change, with them removed seems like an interesting thing to check.

Those two camps are meaningful? Neither are particularly interesting or effective particularly.