Do Fancy Audio Cables Make a Difference? (video)

[Steve Dallas]

I’ve never bought “Worlds Best Cables” but they appear to sell cable in combinations very similar to what I have. The prices are pretty low on Amazon.

I have several of them. I only buy them, because it would cost me almost that much to make up my own with similar components.

 

[Katji]

I believe also in paying for good no nonsense cable. Since I went for BJC, I don't know if the sound improved, but my quality of life improved. Over the years, bad/faulty cables have been the single most frustrating thing in my audiophile journey. Especially when you get to more complex systems, the bad cable that cause a hum or noise is not necessarly the obvious one, lot's of debugging, trouble shooting, time wasted. To me good shielding is also important and sorry 2$ cables don't have that. The thing is serious cable manufacturers for the pro industry like Canare, Belden, Mogami, actually measure their stuff, the have standards and specifications to comply. This comes at a cost. Some savings can be made with DIY, but I hate soldering, and I'm simply not that good at it so my "construction" is not necessarily better than poorly constructed cables. and it defeats the purpose of saving troubleshooting time.

Absolutely +1 - including the soldering, but we have a guy on the local forums who makes up cables - VDH, Mogami, Amphenol, and Cardas solder.
No need for measuring anything, waste of time.

 

[Labjr]

Absolutely +1 - including the soldering, but we have a guy on the local forums who makes up cables - VDH, Mogami, Amphenol, and Cardas solder.
No need for measuring anything, waste of time.

I agree with using a good quality cable so you know you're not working with junk quality materials. I use Mogami, Canare and Belden. I like Neutrik connectors. I have a roll of Cardas solder I bought years ago but I don't think it's any better than Kester solder which costs a lot less. And I do a fair amount of soldering.

 

[respice finem]

A propos solder - I'm wondering if, with the growing prevalence of unleaded solder (in the EU it's mandatory for new products, which sometimes causes temperature-related problems) there will be a "migration" to direct laser welding instead of soldering, at least things that are not meant to be desoldered any more. Faster, less thermal stress for components, better precision, less energy, no tin between...

 

[PeteL]

A propos solder - I'm wondering if, with the growing prevalence of unleaded solder (in the EU it's mandatory for new products, which sometimes causes temperature-related problems) there will be a "migration" to direct laser welding instead of soldering, at least things that are not meant to be desoldered any more. Faster, less thermal stress for components, better precision, less energy, no tin between...

Crimping also have a place. I know that some Canare connectors, for impedance sensitive applications are designed tobe crimped. The special tool is expensive tough.

 

[Katji]

Yes, I've heard of problems with unleaded solder. Afaik, the Cardas solder is lead solder + some silver content. ...Maybe it won't be around much longer.

imo The laser welding is what is overlooked with cheap USB cables - the process and QA. Although the problems I've had are all with Micro B connectors.

Crimping, yes, better. I have an expensive crimper for bike wiring but it's never been something I did often enough to become good at it. But the industrial tools are air-powered with torque set right.

 

[gvl]

I want to see these liars sued for false advertisement. Any class action experts here?

 

[MattHooper]

Wonderful!

You are doing such a service to the audiophile community with these videos Amir! I think you'll reach a larger, wider audience with them in time, if you already haven't.

BTW: I'd love to see you test a few of the big name AC cables (Shunyata etc). I'm curious how you'd test them?

The thing is some of the companies try to show benefits by indirect claims of measurements - e.g. plugging a power cable product in to a wall, measuring some type of noise - with the implication "look how we've reduce the noise that will impact the sound of your system!"

Given boutique AC cables are often advocated for DACs and CDPs, I'd think that the most direct test of the general claim that the cables can alter the sound of the music...is to test a music file coming out of a DAC or CDP with and without the boutique cable, to see if there is anything measurable or observable about the signal that has changed (and within audible parameters).

Additionally if you have two units of the same DAC, say two Benchmark DACs, have one with a generic AC cable, the other with the boutique cable, going in to a preamp/switcher, and do a blind test to see if there's an audible difference.

But I'm just winging it as I'm not technical enough to know exactly what to measure for the AC cables. What would be a definitive test?

 

[nimar]

Will put this on my Todo list. I thought I did this for one DAC though but don't remember now.

It’s entirely possible, there is a fair bit of content on here and am only a recent joiner, but I couldn’t find anything obvious when searching for it.

 

[Labjr]

Lead-free solder is terrible. Total PITA and hard on soldering iron tips. I try to never use it.

 

[amirm]

But I'm just winging it as I'm not technical enough to know exactly what to measure for the AC cables. What would be a definitive test?

No, you are on the right path. Way back when I wanted to do this test but keeps staying on the back burner.

 

[carlosmante]

I'm in no way saying this cable is any good but the testing methodology is flawed and dose not proof mush.

The cables job is not only to carry the signal but also has to shield it from unwanted (RF)Interference and maybe carry Commen Mode ground currents.

The method of injecting 60Hz noise by a small transformer is crude and flawed.
Not only is the rejection of Audible frequencies important but also the rejection of RF.

Ironically the professional expensive gear is bad to test this because its good at filtering out RF even if the bad cable pics it up.

And the test did not test for commen mode current suppression.

Yes expensive cables are snake oil. but this test dose not proof this.
Since i could make a cable that would measure ok in this test but change the sound in the real world.

Very Informative Videos. Subscribed.

 

[beefkabob]

I know the future is video, but I don't have the patience for it.

 

[m_g_s_g]

Great video! With all this Snake Oil cables flooding the market, it’s getting difficult to find simple, cheap, good quality cables for our needs. I recently had to solder some balanced headphone cables, to avoid paying ridiculous prices for a ready made one.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Crimping also have a place. I know that some Canare connectors, for impedance sensitive applications are designed tobe crimped. The special tool is expensive tough.

Not just the Canare crimp tool, but the crimp dies you have to use with the tool cost a fortune. I believe that all Canare connectors are designed to be crimped, not soldered.

So, it’s very easy to make perfect Canare cables with a guaranteed 75 ohm impedance for video and digital applications, but it’ll cost you many hundreds of dollars to get set up correctly.

 

[PeteL]

Not just the Canare crimp tool, but the crimp dies you have to use with the tool cost a fortune. I believe that all Canare connectors are designed to be crimped, not soldered.

So, it’s very easy to make perfect Canare cables with a guaranteed 75 ohm impedance for video and digital applications, but it’ll cost you many hundreds of dollars to get set up correctly.

http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=3
they have regular audio connectors that are to be soldered but I´d agree that’s not what they are most known for and normally not the goto brand for soldered connections

 

[respice finem]

Crimping also have a place. I know that some Canare connectors, for impedance sensitive applications are designed tobe crimped. The special tool is expensive tough.

Small laser stations have have arrived in the 500-1000 € range already, so maybe we'll even get a combination of both (crimp as preparation and laser to be sure the crimp holds). The downside (there's always one), forget desoldering if you weld, since there's no solder at all. BTW, sticking with 30 years old soldering gear so far, next time I need finer soldering I might contemplating getting a laser station myself, because you can also "normally" solder with these if you want/need to.

 

[respice finem]

I know the future is video, but I don't have the patience for it.

This is why I had postulated a short "tl,dr" at the end, with a jump marker.

 

[respice finem]

Lead-free solder is terrible. Total PITA and hard on soldering iron tips. I try to never use it.

Same here. Still managed to buy 500g leaded last year, will probably suffice till the end of my life. Some here in Germany slowly start making their own, or "harvest" it from old electronics (so much for ecology)... Manufacturers are in the worst situation, for them the unleaded PITA is mandatory, and so I think many might escape into laser welding. On the other hand, if the fridge last 5 years instead of 20...

 

[DuncanTodd]

Thanks for the video amirm. Liked the written review back then too.

A few potential "issues" on educating people:

1) For the person who is on the fence between what audiophiles and dealers tells him this could be a nudge to the right direction, but one cable review may still keep him on the fence till he sees more. Maybe another has that magic audiophiles tells him about?

2) The ones who do believe in cable magic will have several claims: A) Their ears are better than anything and they can absolutely tell the difference. B) You reviewed the "wrong" cable. They have "tested" many and found ones that do deliver. And guess what, they might be dark horses too that cost less but make all the difference in the world.

3) Testing more cable involves buying expensive crap, and the ones who believe in them are likely not forum members and won't send them. Even the ones who are, may not want to be told they spent good money on nothing.

On a side note: It would be great to see a review filmed in action.