- Joined
- Dec 25, 2023
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I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
A few days ago, I got some Kali LP-6v2s because they were the cheapest studio monitors that were just about perfectly flat without being junk, AKA the best value. They're sitting at my fancy desk setup right now which has an exorbitant amount of EMF, which causes absolutely unacceptable levels of noise using cheap generic TS 1/4" or RCA cables plugged into my Motu M2. Fortunately, a few months ago I got a super special RCA to XLR "balanced" shielded cable from a surplus store at a screamingly low price. I tried that and now the noise is to an acceptable level! But it was just acceptable. Since these speakers are about .8m away from me, I could still hear a little noise when my room was quiet.
To fix this, I ordered some balanced TRS Monoprice Premier cables that reeked of quality despite being the cheapest option I could find. Hoping to live noise-free, I swapped the super special RCA-XLRs for the Monoprices. Womp womp. The noise was still there. I did a little more testing and it seems like my TRS balanced cables do actually make a difference, but it's marginal. By using TRS instead of RCA, I can reduce the gain of the speakers to the absolute minimum to take full advantage of the M2's dynamic range. Further, I do actually get 1-2dB less noise as measured by my sound meter from that decrease in speaker gain. This provides evidence (but does not prove) that the remaining noise is simply the self-noise generated by the Kalis and I can't just get rid of that without buying a different speaker.
Considering my Monoprice cables were $28 in total, would you say it's worth it to keep them or is it better to return them?
A few days ago, I got some Kali LP-6v2s because they were the cheapest studio monitors that were just about perfectly flat without being junk, AKA the best value. They're sitting at my fancy desk setup right now which has an exorbitant amount of EMF, which causes absolutely unacceptable levels of noise using cheap generic TS 1/4" or RCA cables plugged into my Motu M2. Fortunately, a few months ago I got a super special RCA to XLR "balanced" shielded cable from a surplus store at a screamingly low price. I tried that and now the noise is to an acceptable level! But it was just acceptable. Since these speakers are about .8m away from me, I could still hear a little noise when my room was quiet.
To fix this, I ordered some balanced TRS Monoprice Premier cables that reeked of quality despite being the cheapest option I could find. Hoping to live noise-free, I swapped the super special RCA-XLRs for the Monoprices. Womp womp. The noise was still there. I did a little more testing and it seems like my TRS balanced cables do actually make a difference, but it's marginal. By using TRS instead of RCA, I can reduce the gain of the speakers to the absolute minimum to take full advantage of the M2's dynamic range. Further, I do actually get 1-2dB less noise as measured by my sound meter from that decrease in speaker gain. This provides evidence (but does not prove) that the remaining noise is simply the self-noise generated by the Kalis and I can't just get rid of that without buying a different speaker.
Considering my Monoprice cables were $28 in total, would you say it's worth it to keep them or is it better to return them?