Wow Interconnects Matter & Does It Get Better

but I dont know, maybe I am bias as I really dont want to spend money on all my cables in my system: SPDIF, USB, speaker cable and IC's.

Anybody have blind test testimony to share? when it comes to cables, its very important to do blind test

How many time engineer will report having tweaked a EQ for 10-20 minutes and finally feeling they nailed it only to realize that the EQ was bypassed. LOL

 

One, if you know anything about testing procedures neither of those "blind tests" mean anything.

Two, as Steve pointed out earlier, this thread is not about whether or not cables make a difference.

John K.

 

AMEN!

 

Thanks, and I'll continue to point out the converse view.

That includes these days also supporting products made in the PRC and putting active speakers high on the audiophile's least of priorities.

Good eh?!

 

And that would of course be list of priorities!

 

We audiophiles, we understood this.

 

I personally find that cables help to a certain point. Cheap dollar cables, zip wire, and really old cable all can be improved upon by going to something like Blue Jean or Wire World or Mogami or any of the good quality inexpensive cables. Once your there though I would only buy cables from companies with good return policies because you will find very little difference if any when you spend more money to upgrade.

If you do upgrade, have a wife or girlfriend come in and listen with you while you switch back and forth. I find it helps to have someone listen that doesn't have a vested interest in my system and women tend to have a better range of hearing then men.

 

Sorry russk but based on my experiences I could not disagree more!!!

Used quite a few different I/C's over last few years for connecting a DAC to ATC actives (@XLR level) and the difference going from
Canare L-4E6S, Belden 1800F and the like to Cardas Clear was a HUGELY audible improvement easily noticed by all.

I was happy regardless but (really unnecessary to me) blind tested a few fellow audiophile friends including their teenage daughters anyway.

Only the user can really judge whether the resultant increase in SQ is worth the (very) significant $ investment though anyway!!

At the end of the day for ME however............MAJOR improvement!!...........and worth every cent..........

Of course getting a used set for less than half price did help.

 

What constitutes a HUGELY audible improvement?

 

Hi,

I guess it's different for everyone but in my specific case............

All aspects of the sound were affected in a positive way.

I and my friends were already impressed with my speakers performance but going with the Cardas Clears raised them to a new level.

Deeper and tighter bass with a more detailed but smooth top end..........the overall midrange clarity was staggering.

They really did "come to life" and it was like I was actually hearing what they could do properly for the first time.

I remember thinking about how much active ATC floor standers cost new and feeling that the price was maybe a little unjustified.

Not any more.

Like everything else.........you need to hear Cardas Clear I/C's in your own system before drawing conclusions.

I was lucky as I have an affluent friend who simply (deaf) bought a brand new pair based solely on reviews.

He brought them over for a listen and I started saving up for my pair the next day!!

FWIW.......the Cardas Clears were not the only high end cables I listened to.........

I heard
Cardas Clear Lights..............Great but still not up to the Clears!!!
Cardas Clear Reflection........A little too warm for me but obviously system dependent.
Goertz TQ2 Silver.................Top end was a little edgy
Kimber Hero's......................Great "bang for buck" but outclassed by the MUCH more expensive Clears.

IMHO anyone that is serious about improving their systems performance should obviously look at the basics first but there is no harm in
listening to as many I/C's as they can on the way.

Anyway..........hope this helped!!!

 

I made my own interconnects and loudspeaker cables.
I got the info from TNA audio .
Most interconnects use stranded wire and PVC insulation.
According to those in the know , these qualities are not good.
For less than£20 you can make a pair of interconnects thst will outperform cables costing £100-£200 in my opinion.
At those prices i too was sceptical.
But ... At those prices one cannot at least try them.
How good ? Well they have transformed my system. Cd is now as good as vinyl.I,m still discovering new data on cd,s and LP,S that I have had for years. The bass in particular is awesome!

 

What I don't understand is why cable manufacturers don't put things like what you wrote in their ads - deeper bass is certainly quantifiable/measurable and this would put a lot of doubt to rest.

 

Tired topic with lots of calcified thinking. What test would you perform to prove that a blind test, or double blind, is a valid methodology for testing audio? Seems like a very simple test that does not do what it purports to do.

 

Agreed............just too many variables out there I suppose.

In Cardas' case, in amongst the usual technical construction spiel, they do at least actually make SOME reference
to the sonic characteristics of their CLEAR and CROSS lines!!

Cardas Cables »

 

I think expectations are sometimes misplaced. The article in TNT Audio on interconnects opens with the statement: "The best cable is no cable . The explanation being that all cables ADD something to the sound.
The better cable adding less than others.
In other words,if you find the sound lacking , say , in bass depth, the cable that sounds correct may not have the best bass because perhsps in this particular system the bass output is less than ideal!
In other words the worst sounding cable might be the most honest!
It comes down to the fact thst may be in your system there is room for improvement. Elsewhere.

 

In principle every component adds something, if it isn´t totally inert. The problem comes if we try to show, that cables acually will add something that is showable. We can show it with cables for phono amps and MM cartridges if we vary capacitance. Otherwise it will be very tricky if we talk about frequencies under 100Khz.

 

Most double blind test of cables showed that cables made little to no reliable difference. hence me thinking this cable business may be a rip off.

 

I know. I've seen the results and get the point. Point I am making is that this testing methodology may not be conclusive. I think we need to establish that the methodology gives valid results, and I don't think that's happened.

 

But that is what we got, we don´t have anything else. Not if the objective testing isn´t conclusive.

 

are you saying all blind testings of analog cable that has been done were flawed?

 

Cables are passive. They cannot 'add' or 'increase' anything. They can only take away or roll off. If you are hearing a big difference in one particular part of the audio spectrum (clearer highs), it is most likely that the cable has introduced some capacitance that is filtering the upper mids and making the high end more apparent. Technically the cable is adding distortion.

A properly designed cable capable of carrying a line level audio signal six feet or less is not hard or expensive to build.

 

Isn't Blue Jeans cable just rebranded Belden?

 

By adding I mean that components are adding frequencies that are not there in the first place, components are not totally inert. We can measure much more of this distortion than we actually can hear, much lower levels at higher and lower frequencies than are audible.

 

Blue Jeans sources cables from a lot of different manufacturers, the LC-1 is custom made for them by Belden, but they also sell other Belden cables, Canare cables, Chinese-made Tartan HDMI cables, etc.

 

Except for noise and shielding -- we can show when more or less noise is being induced.