This audio cable business is getting out of hand...

[amirm]

I got tired of using my long RCA cables to interconnect small DACs and Amps so decided to get a short one. Saw one on Amazon (by "World's Best Cables') that used Canare Star-Quad cable and Amphenol connectors for just $22 shipped. My time was worth much more than that to make one so I ordered it. It came promptly. When I opened though, I was shocked to see this massive sign in there:

Are you kidding me? Even a low-cost cable using proper material spreads such a myth?

It is one thing to see this on multi-thousand dollar cables but on a $22 one?

Inside there is an instruction sheet and it says that again. To their credit they acknowledge that such burn-in will take out of Amazon's 30 day return window so they provide instructions on how to still get a return.

The danger here is that such practices will spread to the general public, not just high-end audiophiles.

Yes, it is also "directional" although here, it is due to the way they utilize the shield at one end so that bit is fine.

 

[GGroch]

So, I guess we can expect a month's hiatus before ASR measurements are again scientifically valid.

I do not think either Canare or Amphenol recommend burn in, so it must be the "Proprietary Nitrogen-Assisted soldering process" than requires stabilization.

They do seem like an excellent value, comparable in price/quality to the ones I get from Ghentaudio on ebay from China and have to wait a month for. Vendor's reputation is excellent for a product type that usually has some quality control failures. The listing includes a lot of technical performance details. I'll try a pair.

 

[reza]

I wish people had a burn-in time so after, say, 25 years, their head operated rationally.

 

[SEKLEM]

I got tired of using my long RCA cables to interconnect small DACs and Amps so decided to get a short one. Saw one on Amazon (by "World's Best Cables') that used Canare Star-Quad cable and Amphenol connectors for just $22 shipped. My time was worth much more than that to make one so I ordered it. It came promptly. When I opened though, I was shocked to see this massive sign in there:

View attachment 27076

Are you kidding me? Even a low-cost cable using proper material spreads such a myth?

It is one thing to see this on multi-thousand dollar cables but on a $22 one?

Inside there is an instruction sheet and it says that again. To their credit they acknowledge that such burn-in will take out of Amazon's 30 day return window so they provide instructions on how to still get a return.

The danger here is that such practices will spread to the general public, not just high-end audiophiles.

Yes, it is also "directional" although here, it is due to the way they utilize the shield at one end so that bit is fine.

I like directional cables. I bought some AudioQuest off a guy on Craigslist that have directional support arrows. This has been particularly useful to me in decoding the Zodiac killer’s cyphers. I just connected the cables in reverse and what I got was a chilling revelation. It’s not what you think though, the audio doesn’t play in reverse because that would just be plain silly. It was chilling because the cables were cryogenically treated and hermetically sealed.

 

[GGroch]

There was considerable discussion of directional unbalanced audio cables here. The purpose being to create (as the "World's Best Cable" listing states, a Faraday Cage, that is grounded at the source end to reduce RF interference.

I am not technically astute enough to know whether it works or not...but it seems to be a common technique used in the signal/mic cables within amps. That is, using an unbalanced cable with an external shield that is grounded only at one end.

 

[GrimSurfer]

Coming soon: Gender neutral cables. Male connector at one end, female at the other. Available in a rainbow of colours.

 

[mansr]

Coming soon: Gender neutral cables. Male connector at one end, female at the other. Available in a rainbow of colours.

Already exists:

 

[GrimSurfer]

All goes to show that the cable industry is way ahead of society.

Which raises the question whether directional cables move electrons from right to left, or left to right?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Excellent chance for Amir here. Right now before using them, do a full set of measures with your very best DAC you'll have on hand for awhile. Run it a couple hundred hours and retest for differences. Also might be worthwhile to record some music both times and use Deltawave on the files.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Already exists:

And inherently directional so you don't need arrows.

 

[solderdude]

Or ... do a null test before burn in and after burn in.... or better yet
Null the burn-in test for 175 hour and monitor it.

 

[Tks]

I got tired of using my long RCA cables to interconnect small DACs and Amps so decided to get a short one. Saw one on Amazon (by "World's Best Cables') that used Canare Star-Quad cable and Amphenol connectors for just $22 shipped. My time was worth much more than that to make one so I ordered it. It came promptly. When I opened though, I was shocked to see this massive sign in there:

View attachment 27076

Are you kidding me? Even a low-cost cable using proper material spreads such a myth?

It is one thing to see this on multi-thousand dollar cables but on a $22 one?

Inside there is an instruction sheet and it says that again. To their credit they acknowledge that such burn-in will take out of Amazon's 30 day return window so they provide instructions on how to still get a return.

The danger here is that such practices will spread to the general public, not just high-end audiophiles.

Yes, it is also "directional" although here, it is due to the way they utilize the shield at one end so that bit is fine.

Lol I have those in my cart since last week, they look great for the short length, that’s basically all I had an interest in them for, and seem pliable enough.

How do they fit btw? Tight, loose or just right?

 

[Tks]

I wish people had a burn-in time so after, say, 25 years, their head operated rationally.

Fun fact, the general age of something being “legal” like drinking for instance being 21 currently is based on outdated (very outdated) understanding of when the brain has finally reached maturation. When in fact the modern consensus is actually that age: 25.

Makes sense considering around that age I felt the wild side ceased, and the frontal cortex took over a good portion of finally and logically deducing things with respect to risk, and with respect to deduction in general. Early twenties, didn’t matter if the world burned and I with it, now late twenties, I can’t bring myself to eat animals let alone burn something..

Much more introspection, much more concern for the world and everyone in it.

 

[LTig]

I got tired of using my long RCA cables to interconnect small DACs and Amps so decided to get a short one. Saw one on Amazon (by "World's Best Cables') that used Canare Star-Quad cable and Amphenol connectors for just $22 shipped. My time was worth much more than that to make one so I ordered it. It came promptly. When I opened though, I was shocked to see this massive sign in there:

View attachment 27076

Are you kidding me? Even a low-cost cable using proper material spreads such a myth?

It is one thing to see this on multi-thousand dollar cables but on a $22 one?

Of course the $22 cable needs a very long burn in time. The high end cables are so expensive because the maker has already done it for you. This costs money and needs to be payed.

Just a side note regarding burn-in: Before I bought the K&H O300D I had a nice phone talk with K&Hs chief developer, Markus Wolff. Besides other things we talked about the optional external DSP crossover (Pro C28). He told me that before delivery each speaker is measured in the anechoic room, and depending of the frequency response the individual parameters for the FIR crossover are calculated and stored in a data base. If a user later wants to upgrade to the DSP crossover he has to tell K&H the serial number of his speakers and K&H programs the crossover with the parameters stored in the data base.

I then asked how this could work since everybody knows that speakers need a burn in time. He told me that this is untrue. Only the bass chassis will change a little bit during the first time because some parts get softer due to mechanical work. This lets the resonance frequency drop down a little bit, but it has no influence on higher frequency regions of this chassis and hence no influence on the crossover parameters. Mid and high frequency drivers don't change at all.

So, if the burn in time of speakers is mostly a myth, why should cables need it? There do not perform mechanical work.

 

[jsrtheta]

So, I guess we can expect a month's hiatus before ASR measurements are again scientifically valid.

I do not think either Canare or Amphenol recommend burn in, so it must be the "Proprietary Nitrogen-Assisted soldering process" than requires stabilization.

They do seem like an excellent value, comparable in price/quality to the ones I get from Ghentaudio on ebay from China and have to wait a month for. Vendor's reputation is excellent for a product type that usually has some quality control failures. The listing includes a lot of technical performance details. I'll try a pair.

Not sure about Amphenol, but I've been using Canare for many, many years and no, they don't recommend "burn-in". ("Burn-in" being Lie No. 6 of Peter Aczel's "The Ten Biggest Lies in Audio".)

 

[Duke]

Whenever someone asks me how long break-in takes, say on a pair of my speakers, I am prepared.

You see, by law (at least in the US) anything that you buy "mail order" can be returned for a refund within 30 days of receipt. So...

My speakers take 31 days to break in, whether you play them or not!

;^)

 

[restorer-john]

Whatever way you look at it, USD$22 for 4 Amphenol RCAs and some Canare cable, already made up is good value.

Are you sure the 175hours burn in sign was serious, or just done to get a rise out of you, and some free publicity on ASR for 'world's best cables'?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Or ... do a null test before burn in and after burn in.... or better yet
Null the burn-in test for 175 hour and monitor it.

Well Deltawave is a null test.

For what it is worth, I get nulls of 100 db or so even with different cables. Have to be careful of hum though.

 

[invaderzim]

I wish people had a burn-in time so after, say, 25 years, their head operated rationally.

I do have burn-in. The problem is sometimes burn-in brings out things you don't want to hear.

 

[amirm]

How do they fit btw? Tight, loose or just right?

They just tight enough. Take some effort but you don't get the feeling that you are going to destroy the device to pull then out or push them in.