jblnut
Don't Overthink It
Like many people with newer gear, I have been wondering "hmm...could using a balanced XLR cable on my phono pre or my CD player actually make a noticeable difference?" Finally this past week I decided to see for myself. First step was to get some decent new XLR cables, so I hit my local hi-fi shop (Natural Sound) for 2 sets of 4ft Monster 1000i cables. These are $100/pair cables just for reference (not cheap, not expensive - somewhere in what I hoped would be the meaty middle ground).
My setup is as follows:
CD - Sony XA5400ES (with Audioquest Ruby cables)
Phono - VPI Classic with Denon DL-S1
Phono Pre - Pass Labs Xono (with some $20 low-end Monster cables I had on hand)
Main Pre - McIntosh C220
Amp - McIntosh MC275
Speakers - JBL 250Ti
I added the balanced 1000i cables to both the CD and phono pre and hooked them to to unused balanced inputs on the preamp. I left the RCA's that were already there connected. This would let me quickly change sources from the remote across the room. I then put some music on both and proceeded to make sure the levels were matched between cables. I had read that XLR should be +3db louder but this was not the case with either component. The levels were already matched.
At this point I began to listen to some CD's - some rock, some jazz, some vocal. I listened and I listened before I brought in my wife and teenage son for a second and third opinion. I repeated the same test over again with some LP's - a variety of different kinds of music and I had them come in again to listen with me.
I spent all of Friday afternoon this way and came to the conclusion that I cannot hear a difference, and neither could they.
I post this only to bear witness that in my room with my system on that day, a difference could not be detected. I fully respect the opinions and ears of those that can and do hear differences (especially those that can listen, turn the system off, change cables, turn it back on and hear a difference 5-10 miuntes later).
You may draw whatever conclusions that you like here. Perhaps I did not test high-end enough XLR's to be "that" much better than what I am using. Perhaps I did not listen long enough. Perhaps signal to preamp cables are not as noticeable as preamp-amp or amp-speaker cables.
Whatever the reason, I am actually happy to be able to return $200 worth of cables because I could not detect a meaningful difference. And that's why I am posting here. Not to start wars and not to degrade anyone who is very much into cable swapping and fine tuning their system this way. I'm just sharing actual experience in the hopes that others may find this useful.
jblnut
My setup is as follows:
CD - Sony XA5400ES (with Audioquest Ruby cables)
Phono - VPI Classic with Denon DL-S1
Phono Pre - Pass Labs Xono (with some $20 low-end Monster cables I had on hand)
Main Pre - McIntosh C220
Amp - McIntosh MC275
Speakers - JBL 250Ti
I added the balanced 1000i cables to both the CD and phono pre and hooked them to to unused balanced inputs on the preamp. I left the RCA's that were already there connected. This would let me quickly change sources from the remote across the room. I then put some music on both and proceeded to make sure the levels were matched between cables. I had read that XLR should be +3db louder but this was not the case with either component. The levels were already matched.
At this point I began to listen to some CD's - some rock, some jazz, some vocal. I listened and I listened before I brought in my wife and teenage son for a second and third opinion. I repeated the same test over again with some LP's - a variety of different kinds of music and I had them come in again to listen with me.
I spent all of Friday afternoon this way and came to the conclusion that I cannot hear a difference, and neither could they.
I post this only to bear witness that in my room with my system on that day, a difference could not be detected. I fully respect the opinions and ears of those that can and do hear differences (especially those that can listen, turn the system off, change cables, turn it back on and hear a difference 5-10 miuntes later).
You may draw whatever conclusions that you like here. Perhaps I did not test high-end enough XLR's to be "that" much better than what I am using. Perhaps I did not listen long enough. Perhaps signal to preamp cables are not as noticeable as preamp-amp or amp-speaker cables.
Whatever the reason, I am actually happy to be able to return $200 worth of cables because I could not detect a meaningful difference. And that's why I am posting here. Not to start wars and not to degrade anyone who is very much into cable swapping and fine tuning their system this way. I'm just sharing actual experience in the hopes that others may find this useful.
jblnut
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