Kimber KS 1036 Silver RCA Cable Review

[amirm]

You just make sure that the audience is feeling slightly uncomfortable and under pressure to perform, then play unfamiliar music changing samples frequently ensuring the 'subjects' are almost getting a bit of a handle on that sound before another sample.

Not at all. You can set up a blind test yourself. Have a friend or loved one swap the cables without you knowing. Then you play your system as you want, for as long as you want. Then the helper randomly swaps cables. Do this 10 times and see if you get 8 out of 10 right. Very easy to do and costs nothing.

 

[VientoB]

The way this tends to work is people plug in their new cables and go "Wow!" and never even plug the old ones in again.

 

[amirm]

It's very easy to set up a double blind listening test that makes it almost impossible to reliably hear differences.

Sure. But if the difference is obvious to you, as I hear you saying, then you should be able to repeat the same test blind and detect which cable is which. Per above, you can be fully in control of the testing with no one watching. So there is no excuse to not try to do the test. Many of us have and is the reason we look at your experience with disbelief. We have been there. We know that in sighted listening without a protocol, we perceive differences. Here is the key: the same perception happens when nothing has changed! This proves that sighted, uncontrolled testing such as what you and countless other audiophiles perform, generates wrong results. See this video I produced on this topic:

And here is a video on me passing such "impossible" tests:

 

[Ropeburn]

No it doesn't, and the vast majority of us don't understand cables. I suspect most people designing cables don't understand them.

Alright, here comes the good old, and I'm really interested in your answer:

How come the amateur and professional music world, those that actually make all the music we all love to listen to so much, don't seem to care about cables at all?

By 99.9% it's all super basic stuff. Cheap readymade cables from the next best pro audio store. Or custom fit ones using cable for one (1) international tokens of appreciation (€$£) per meter. Less if you buy a roll of 100. Let the unpaid intern solder it, good hands on practice for him lol. (I've been that intern haha) Just needs good sturdy plugs and highflex cable so it lasts 10-20 years even when abused - which happens frequently. Professional mic cable carrying tiny signal over 50 meters or so? No problem.

It's all a big stinking nothingburger. If you look up the dictionary definition of "trivial", you'll find " line level audio cable" with a remark: epitome.

 

[amirm]

These tests are completely unrelated to how people listen to music for pleasure - ie. in a relaxed atmosphere and able to let the music flow over them.

Voice talent TV series use blind listening. Taste tests are done for food research all the time. Your doctor checks you out in his office instead of your home. All of these generate reliable outcomes in non-traditional settings. We have to be able to isolate the sound and only sound. Otherwise, the outcome is random.

Now, if you don't want to go through this, then we use our knowledge of engineering, and measurements to confirm the same, to arrive at reliable data. And that is what you have in this review.

 

[Rotiv]

These companies could, without revealing "manufacturing secrets", explain the technical characteristics of their cables that differentiate them from so-called cheap cables, besides the price.

Have they discovered something that isn't scientifically known?

In a blind test comparing a €5000 cable to a conventional cable, the difference should be audible to anyone without severe hearing damage, if not...well

 

[Ropeburn]

These companies could, without revealing "manufacturing secrets", explain the technical characteristics of their cables that differentiate them from so-called cheap cables, besides the price.

Have they discovered something that isn't scientifically known?

That's exactly the thing: they can't and they haven't. Which in turn is why they are physically required to use bloomy colourful snake oil language as sales pitches.

 

[EERecordist]

View attachment 518591

As we see, there is no difference whatsoever. There is a bit more mains pick up on Kimber but that could just be the analyzer or the environment. I placed an AC transformer next to both cables and both managed to pick up negligible amount of interference (not shown).

Next, I tested wideband frequency response and phase:

For that price, that second harmonic is not OK, even though it is small. I would suspect the connector. Maybe they thought they were adding a feature with that connector, but it appears to be a bug.

 

[Ropeburn]

For that price, that second harmonic is not OK, even though it is small. I would suspect the connector. Maybe they thought they were adding a feature with that connector, but it appears to be a bug.

Isn't the 2nd harmonic the most desirable one for "warmth"?

 

[Ismapics]

You did not listen to it?

There are not different using uber sensitive equipment to measure, why would anyone need to listen to it? If you could hear any difference is only placebo. No other explanation would apply.

 

[Rick63]

Sometimes, I kind of wish the polls here would allow us to see who voted how.

This is one of those times.

 

[testp]

problem for companies talking about sweet_midrange and lucid_treble is -> false advertising.

in ideal world you can't advertise product as such, need to prove it. but in real world, apparently they can.

 

[AndreaT]

One of the funny things about snake oil is that it might actually help. Well, lots of different sorts of oil or grease, actually.

It seems counter-intuitive, but using a corrosion inhibitor dielectric such as certain oils can actually improve contact resistance in the long term.

A few years ago I was investigating a reliability problem with electronic warfare equipment, and found that the USAF had persistent problems with avionics connector unreliability on the F-16. IIRC they commissioned a university in Dallas and other defence bodies to research the problem and solution. As I recall, fretting causes mechanical abrasion between the mating connectors, causing tiny metallic particles with a high surface area to volume ratio that corrode quickly and increase the resistance between the contacts, even leading to open circuits. There was a huge amount of research, a cause was found, a solution developed, and the problem did go away. The evidence was very comprehensive and very compelling.

I suppose a domestic equipment rack isn't such a harsh environment as a fighter jet, but good connectors aren't good forever, even gold ones.

If you take your car apart, you will often find contact lubricant on many connectors, switches and relays.

Even in my wildest listening sessions of An Alpine Symphony, La La Land Soundtrack, and The Cinema Show, I doubt my Stereo interconnect or my speaker cables reached the 9 G the airframe of the F-16 is designed for, and I never got in the crosshairs of my (distant) neighbor…

 

[Mnyb]

It’s also about actually understanding the measurements and what information they provide .

I can translate, they are basically the same in practice meaning the signal does change at all . Perceived differences can not come from the actual sound waves hitting once ears as they are for all practical purposes the same .

You can probably find some squiggles that differ but it could be by just laying the cable differently on the desk or time of day or random noise .
Run to run measurement of the same thing can look slightly different due to random noise , its just nature .

The instruments used are magnitudes more sensitive than human hearing. And there is no hidden X factor not measured.

look up logarithms , we need to use that to be able to even see the difference some equipment makes dB is a logarithmic scale .

These differences are so small that they probably be impossible to measure acoustically even with a theoretical perfect microphone .
Due to random movement of air molecules in even a perfectly quiet room at normal temperatures.

Also consider that audio is just a part of more general body of knowledge for cables it’s electronics and electrical engineering and physics.
An electrical signal consisting of music does not behave differently than anything else the electron can not know that its music or financial data .
Audio can be considered trivial compared to other stuff done by electronic devices. It’s an engineering backwater with solved problems, the remaining people developing audio are probably enthusiastic and perfectionist that likes the subject.
All other have moved to more challenging tasks.

To design cables or electronics you can use “textbook knowledge” you don’t need to break new ground. The exercise is more in economics and design and features and ergonomics, the sound quality is solved, almost a given if you do it right. Especially cables for audio frequencies you can skip almost all complications as they are not significant enough to matter .

The remaining audio challenges are in transducers ,

 

[Chrispy]

Why ?
People who spend 10 or 20 THOUSAND on a cable DID NOT WORK 12 HOURS PER DAY TO AFFORD THEM.
They were born into filthy rich thieving families that left them that money. And ANYONE who can take those resources from them and put that money into something else deserves respect.

Just the idea that they make a difference other than cost.....just stupidity and those taking those resources don't just get their money from the idiotic nouveau riche.

 

[DMill]

It was Amir’s subjective impression of this product that struck me most. We all knew it would measure the same (at best) as much cheaper alternatives. And I have no problem with someone who spends $10k or more on a wooden chair made by a master craftsman which objectively is no better than the one I can buy at Walmart for sitting my ass down. I suppose if you find art in something as ubiquitous as a cable then spend away. But it’s not even got good connections and comes in a ****** plastic box. I’ll take the nicer chair who’s creator made no promise other than you will have something made by my hand and is worthy of my name.

 

[amirm]

People who spend 10 or 20 THOUSAND on a cable DID NOT WORK 12 HOURS PER DAY TO AFFORD THEM.

I know a lot of people who are into this and they come from all walks of life. A lot are doctors actually. That is probably the most common profession which I find so odd given their training to believe in controlled testing.

 

[Chanur]

Putting aside the stupidity of a 4,000 dollar cable, plastic tabs on something that expensive is absolutely inexcusable.

 

[Chrispy]

The way this tends to work is people plug in their new cables and go "Wow!" and never even plug the old ones in again.

Which is meaningless from the get go but people are gullible like that

 

[Chrispy]

I know a lot of people who are into this and they come from all walks of life. A lot are doctors actually. That is probably the most common profession which I find so odd given their training to believe in controlled testing.

Perhaps the amount of time/effort and exclusion of other science in that pursuit? Besides, we're still somewhat in the dark ages medically in so many ways....