• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

Cables making a difference

Yeah..I found that too

Art K. said:
Be very careful buying cables on Ebay as there are a lot of counterfeits sold there.
Click to expand...

Bought some Monster Cable Y-splitters...Hong Kong made, very cheap..they work and that is about it but I don't use them anymore...
 
ambient said:
That's why I'm surprised their customer rating is 100%....
Something is fishy here.
Click to expand...

I reckon you'll find that in a lot of cases, people are simply happy to score a perceived bargain, and leave positive feedback as soon as the item arrives. They don't have a genuine item to compare the counterfeit cable against, and in any case, some of the counterfeits look almost identical to the genuine item anyway.

Most of them probably sound quite decent, but not necessarily like the genuine version.
 
For perspective, the Odin half-meter IC has non-OEM plugs on it, and retails for north of $3K. $26??? I looked at the Blue Heaven wire, with crappy banana plugs, and it didn't look genuine. $1000 for $19???

All that seller's items are "diy", and have substandard plugs on wire that is hundreds of dollars per foot.

Anybody who's used Nordost cable would know on sight, and would stay away from specimens that are 98% off retail, for current models.
 
luvvinvinyl said:
For perspective, the Odin half-meter IC has non-OEM plugs on it, and retails for north of $3K. $26??? I looked at the Blue Heaven wire, with crappy banana plugs, and it didn't look genuine. $1000 for $19???

All that seller's items are "diy", and have substandard plugs on wire that is hundreds of dollars per foot.

Anybody who's used Nordost cable would know on sight, and would stay away from specimens that are 98% off retail, for current models.
Click to expand...

Indeed. These Nordost clones are certainly not an example of copies which look legitimate. Audioquest spring to mind as a very well copied brand, right down to the external biasing power pack at times!
 
luvvinvinyl said:
For perspective, the Odin half-meter IC has non-OEM plugs on it, and retails for north of $3K. $26??? I looked at the Blue Heaven wire, with crappy banana plugs, and it didn't look genuine. $1000 for $19???

All that seller's items are "diy", and have substandard plugs on wire that is hundreds of dollars per foot.

Anybody who's used Nordost cable would know on sight, and would stay away from specimens that are 98% off retail, for current models.
Click to expand...

I have Nordost Blue-heaven cables. You are correct, those do not look legit, at all.
 
ambient said:
How do you like the blue heavens?
Click to expand...

I have the interconnects. They're ok from a sonic standpoint, somewhat bright but that works in some setups and is nice when needed. But I find them to be finnicky, prone to RF interference and grounding issues. So maybe $20 is about right then :).

Honestly I don't think too highly of them. Now that I'm thinking about them, I'm going to throw them back in the system to see if things have changed now that my system is all different. Maybe on one of my turntables.
 
I think I have the MKII..they aren't old, maybe 2 years? 3? Living 500' up in the middle of a huge city seems to present issues that I didn't have elsewhere, so I wouldn't take my experience to be anything universal.

As for speaker cables, I haven't rolled as many as I have interconnects. The best sounding cables I've used are AudioQuest Pikes Peak but my speakers are pretty far from my amp now, and I use Audioquest in-wall speaker wire off of a spool from Magnolia. I love it...neutral, unobtrusive, good highs and lows. But I haven't tried that many esoteric options. My Quads are hooked up with Vertere D-fi, another unassuming wire that just really seemed to work on them, to my surprise, as its pretty thin and they didn't like other thin cables. Pior to that I had Kimber 4tc, which I liked well enough. I like the Vertere cable better...more open sound.
 
Been using Red Dawns for years now, recently swapped them in for version 2's and fell in love all over again!! They will pinpoint any week spots ( as they did in my system) but when I swapped out a few pieces and made some long overdue upgrades the system now sounds the best it ever has, much of which I credit the Red Dawns, lovely cables!!!!
 
Last edited:
My Go-To speaker cables are Nordost Blue Heavens. That copper/silver combination provides the best of both.
For interconnects, I sold my Nordosts. I use Canares now, using shielded video coax cable. Very neutral and 80pf/meter terminated.
 
I think cables are just like any other audio component, some sound better than others.

Some people have over $50,000 of Shunyata cables (AC power chords, power bars, etc.) in their hi-fi stereo sound system and it made a huge difference in the overall pleasurable quality sound on their hearing. ...They need some break-up period time though. ...You can check Shunyata's own website to find out more.
I won't argue with them, I respect them, and I believe them.

My own personal experience is yes, cables do make a difference.
 
I got into playing with aftermarket cables around 25 years ago and from my experiences, I'm an avid believer that cables (including interconnects, speaker cables, USB cables, power cables) do make a difference.

Having said that, I also believe that price is not necessarily an indicator of what's better and there are many high priced cables out there that have made my system sound worse than certain lower priced cables. Of course, there are also high priced cables that sound great but is out of my league in terms of budget.
 
I'll chirp in here on my limited experience. When I got my mac system I was using my very old monster cables. They were extremely long (25 -35 feet) I used them thinking they were once considered (by me) to be superior, plus I had no money for anything new. After 6 months I decided my speaker placement was permanent and I would need all that extra speaker wire, so I clipped it off, which shortened my speaker run to about 12 feet. The removal of the extra wire made an immediate improvement in the sound. While I was in the process of shortening the speaker wire I also noticed the Monster wire was all green and tarnished. I decided to replace the old Monster wire with the Maple Shade silver solid-core wire. Once again the improvement in sound quality was un-deniable.

Then I read an article claiming you could make you own I.C.'s out of magnet wire, so I decided to give that a try too. I placed a set between the CD player and pre-amp and again I thought the sound was more clearer. So I made sets of I.C.'s for the receiver and for the pre-amp to the amp. A drastic change in sound was very noticeable. More clarity I thought. These magnet wire I.C.'s cost me all of $6 and I thought the sound was much improved!

A few months later I bought one of those "Time Life" collections of 70's music. The collection sounded fine but I noticed that there were 3 tracks by The Momma's and Poppa's that sounded very "thin/brittle/un-natural/electronic". I figured it just the tracks came from a bad studio recording. A few months later, one of my home-made I.C.'s lost it's solder connection, so I put back on a set of Cardais that came with my system, thinking I would make another set on I.C.'s with the magnet wire someday. A few days later I was playing the same CD and lo-and-behold that very same track sounded very much improved (warmer and more natural). Well before you could say Jack Robinson, I had all those home made I.C.'s off and the Cardais back on, where they reside to this day.

And so the lesson I learned from personal experience is; if you are at all looking at improving your system, mess with it. Don't just set it up and walk away from it for 15 years. Keep trying different things. This approach has led me to install a dedicated circuit to the amp. Polish in AC connectors to the CD player. Clean the tarnish off the pins to the tubes etc.
It all makes a difference, and is very worth while if you have the desire to improve your system.
 
Just for fun; try to figure how much money you spent over the years on wires, all type of wires (for your speakers, electronics, AC cords, interconnects, digital cables, analog cables, audio, video, power bars/purifiers, surge protectors, ...), all the wires/wires related since you first started.

Me, it's about $69,000 all together, for the last forty years.

I know some people for who it is about $765,000 all together.

Go ahead, take your time, go back in time, and try to estimate all the money you spent on wires/cables over all the years since you first started your hobby. ...Sound, and visual.
 
LordOfTRings said:
Me, it's about $69,000 all together, for the last forty years.

I know some people for who it is about $765,000 all together.

Go ahead, take your time, go back in time, and try to estimate all the money you spent on wires/cables over all the years since you first started your hobby. ...Sound, and visual.
Click to expand...

I gave it a fair amount of thought and I believe that in the last 40 years, I've spent something like $400-$500 altogether and although it may be a bit less, it certainly isn't more. I've tried various types of wire, layouts and termination and never really heard a great deal of difference, if any. So anyway, if you conclude that I have a tin-ear, you won't get much of an arguement from me.

I have a few stories, however as many of the people involved are still living, I believe I shall remain silent. :nono:

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom