Interconnects matter ..Do the interconnects improve with time .. burnin ??

[NH-MAN]

Funny, how there aren't a hundred threads on my cables (or other product) sound worse after they broke in; always better.

Why wait all this time burning them in, just make and adapter and run them inline on a hair dryer or something for 30 seconds and be done with it.

If a cable was available already burnt in from the manufacturer as an option, would you pay a $100 premium on a $1,200 set of cables? Why waste time on an inferior product for100 hrs?

 

[twiiii]

After I retired I visited some of the High Class shops around the country and some featured these gadgets that were supposed to supply signals into cables for hours and hours for break ins. They would even swap cables for you to see if you heard the difference. But the switching was never double blind switching and for me most of the stuff they were demoing the cable with sounded just as bad after as it did before. High impedance tube circuits can be sensitive to cable capacitance so any change there might be audible. But low impedance SS stuff and hybrid tube stuff, wont. I think its all a ploy to spend big money where its not necessary. Now some manufactures of cables tune their cables to give a specific sound, because audio Philes don't believe in tone controls but would rather spend extreme amounts of money on cables that make their systems sound better. What a bunch of Huey!!

If over time the copper wire oxidizes and the dielectric changes properties the sound will change a bit with tube stuff. Just like when capacitors change in speaker crossovers that need repacking, or if the suspension in a speakers changes characteristics. But if you buy good cable, those issues should be way in the future. Look on the Blue Jeans Cable website. They seem to seem good cable with a choice of connectors for reasonable prices. I'm changing my phono cables for my old Thorens TT. They are both approaching the half century mark.

 

[Natasha Bell]

After I retired I visited some of the High Class shops around the country and some featured these gadgets that were supposed to supply signals into cables for hours and hours for break ins. They would even swap cables for you to see if you heard the difference. But the switching was never double blind switching and for me most of the stuff they were demoing the cable with sounded just as bad after as it did before. High impedance tube circuits can be sensitive to cable capacitance so any change there might be audible. But low impedance SS stuff and hybrid tube stuff, wont. I think its all a ploy to spend big money where its not necessary. Now some manufactures of cables tune their cables to give a specific sound, because audio Philes don't believe in tone controls but would rather spend extreme amounts of money on cables that make their systems sound better. What a bunch of Huey!!

If over time the copper wire oxidizes and the dielectric changes properties the sound will change a bit with tube stuff. Just like when capacitors change in speaker crossovers that need repacking, or if the suspension in a speakers changes characteristics. But if you buy good cable, those issues should be way in the future. Look on the Blue Jeans Cable website. They seem to seem good cable with a choice of connectors for reasonable prices. I'm changing my phono cables for my old Thorens TT. They are both approaching the half century mark.

That might be quite possible. The only differences I have ever heard was between an ultra-cheap OEM cable and a good cable. I tend to make my own from co-axle cables with high quality connectors. I have never been disappointed with those and it is a relatively inexpensive solution.

 

[NH-MAN]

because audio Philes don't believe in tone controls but would rather spend extreme amounts of money on cables that make their systems sound better.

I have no quibbles with this as different cables can sound slightly different and could be used to fine tune.

 

[dogscanskate]

I will have to disagree with those that say you have to "burn-in" a cable. WHAT? There is no such thing. A cable isn't a resistor, tube, or other electronic element. Those may (or may not) require burn-in. In fact, your interconnects will be at their peak, ONLY the first time you use them after you took them out of the box new. Over the course of time, the cable, connectors, and internal connections deteriorate. The cables will increase their resistance and thus DECREASING their throughput as well as the accuracy of the throughput. It is very similar than a battery cable on your car. Over the course of years, the cables deteriorate to the point that you have to replace them. You might go to the car parts store or to a mechanic and get a new cable or have it installed, but you will NOT be buying a used cable with high resistance, but a new cable in optimal condition.

If you look at cable specifications, you'll notice that they do have a resistance that can not only be measured but specified by the manufacturer. In high frequency work, a piece of wire can act as a resistor. Cables can also have a measurable capacitance and inductance.Stating that a cable is not a resistor is simply not true.

 

[G.D.T.R.F.B.]

You’ve either proven it to yourself (whatever your personal belief in interconnects is) and are good or you haven’t. Or you dont care, not a bad belief to have IMHO. Glad I’m good. It was not always this way. And I am fully confident that I have done more interconnect testing/comparisons than 99% of the people on here. Used to be fully obsessed with high dollar interconnects back when I recorded and constantly upgraded interconnects/mic cables over my 500+ masters. Lots of cable comparisons recording my stereo as well. All that stuff (Harmonic Tech single crystal, Audiotruth Lapisx3, etc) is long gone. Most of my interconnects these days are homemade with old bulk/spool Audioquest 75 Ohm Mac3-1 coax cable, though I did just get an 8’ basic blue jeans set of RCAs. That is good enough for me. As far as do cables burn in? My 0.02? NO! Thus the term psychoacoustics.

 

[Lavane]

After I retired I visited some of the High Class shops around the country and some featured these gadgets that were supposed to supply signals into cables for hours and hours for break ins. They would even swap cables for you to see if you heard the difference. But the switching was never double blind switching and for me most of the stuff they were demoing the cable with sounded just as bad after as it did before. High impedance tube circuits can be sensitive to cable capacitance so any change there might be audible. But low impedance SS stuff and hybrid tube stuff, wont. I think its all a ploy to spend big money where its not necessary. Now some manufactures of cables tune their cables to give a specific sound, because audio Philes don't believe in tone controls but would rather spend extreme amounts of money on cables that make their systems sound better. What a bunch of Huey!!

If over time the copper wire oxidizes and the dielectric changes properties the sound will change a bit with tube stuff. Just like when capacitors change in speaker crossovers that need repacking, or if the suspension in a speakers changes characteristics. But if you buy good cable, those issues should be way in the future. Look on the Blue Jeans Cable website. They seem to seem good cable with a choice of connectors for reasonable prices. I'm changing my phono cables for my old Thorens TT. They are both approaching the half century mark.

I've bought a few cable sets from Blue Jean's Cable. If you have a Turntable it's great place to get cables. They can fix you right up for the right capacitance for a given cartridge / phono preamp combo. No mumbo jumbo quasi science.

 

[sqlsavior]

Which is precisely why I want to listen to a burned in set of cables, side-by-side with a fresh out of the box set ....
I'm going to set them up between an amp and a preamp with dual outputs and switch the source selector back and forth ..
Plausible ..and easy to do blind if someone else flips the switch ..

Hopefully you won't gradually "ruin" your fresh out of the box set.

 

[Natasha Bell]

If you look at cable specifications, you'll notice that they do have a resistance that can not only be measured but specified by the manufacturer. In high frequency work, a piece of wire can act as a resistor. Cables can also have a measurable capacitance and inductance.Stating that a cable is not a resistor is simply not true.

Of course there is going to be resistance, all I am saying it that it increases with age and use. That there is no such thing as "burn-in" for cables.

 

[twiiii]

I make my own cables to using RG cable and the best connectors I see with split pins with in reason. Money doesn't grow on trees anymore so I'm very care full with what I choose.

I'm trying a pair of Blue jeans 5 ft low capacitance cables for my old Thorens. It will be interesting to see how close my 20 X on the Thorens and 20 X 2 compare mounted on my newer table with much improved tone arm cable and and 400 series Monster Cable to the pre-amp. . They are pretty dam close now. With the depth of staging a just a touch better and improvement in the highs with the 20 X 2. Both being moving coil with low out put impedances they aren't as easily influenced as MM cartridges. My old Cook test records show only about a 1.+db difference in the upper midrange about an octave and bit wide. But there is something else going on which might be tone arm resonances and rumble and wow and flutter issues that are not discernibly apparent. But , could be tilting in the 20 X 2 favor.

 

[Natasha Bell]

I make my own cables to using RG cable and the best connectors I see with split pins with in reason. Money doesn't grow on trees anymore so I'm very care full with what I choose. I'm trying a pair of Blue jeans 5 ft low capacitance cables for my old Thorens. It will be interesting to see how close my 20 X and 20 X 2 compare mounted on my newer table with much improved tone arm cable and and 400 series Monster Cable. . They are pretty dam close now. With the depth of staging a just a touch improvement in the highs with the 20 X 2. Both being moving coil with low out put impedances they aren't as easily influenced as MM cartridges.

That is what I do as well (use co-axle cable). I've never been disappointed in the cables I have made.

 

[Stepwise]

Since neither my colleagues in electronics nor I have bothered to take the New Wave Physics
as anything but a joke I made a quick check of "actual reality".

Equipment: RCL-meter Escort ELC-133A, reactance chart or calculator
Test object: 1,8 m speaker cable
Additional information: Damping factor from data sheet Tandberg TR2075 MkII = 60 (8 Ω)

Measurement data:
Frequency 10 kHz
Cable capacitance 138,4 pF, Z=115 kΩ
Cable inductance 1,1 μH, Z=69 mΩ
Cable resistance 33 mΩ
Amplifier output impedance 60/8 = 133 mΩ

Conclusion: My cable adds just as much impedance as the amp already got.
The high frequency losses from shunt capacitance are negligable, 235 mΩ shunted
by 115 kΩ. Just touch the treble control with a feather and you are done. All is linear
with respect to frequency, no narrowband resonances at all. Inductance/capacitance
alone land in the 10 MHz zone but all the other low impedances kill that effectively.
Any small changes in capacitance will not have any influence at all (and the value
does not change when applying an AC voltage). Turning/moving your head will
change more.

Yes - you can do the same with the real/imaginary parts of the impedances and
end up with the same result. Purely imaginary mental experiences and excercises I
leave to those who can't produce a single well documented and reproducible test
report. Modern test equipment do 24 bit/96 kHz resolution easily so the lack of
reproducible tests can only mean there are none (that "they" dare to publish).

So no "Area 51 Time-Machine Silver Isotope Single Crystal Cables" in my system!

https://www.electronics2000.co.uk/calc/reactance-calculator.php

 

[Akustic]

Funny, how there aren't a hundred threads on my cables (or other product) sound worse after they broke in; always better.

Why wait all this time burning them in, just make and adapter and run them inline on a hair dryer or something for 30 seconds and be done with it.

If a cable was available already burnt in from the manufacturer as an option, would you pay a $100 premium on a $1,200 set of cables? Why waste time on an inferior product for100 hrs?

What wasted time .. set an old CD player on auto play and connect them ..
Takes some patience tho .. ya gotta wait a week ..
And granted a bunch of you folks don't believe in anything that isn't measurable .. YMMV
To my ears, there are hear-able and therefore measure-able differences between cables ..

 

[E-Stat]

I tend to make my own from co-axle cables with high quality connectors.

BTW, the term is "coaxial" as in both conductors share the same axis.

I used bulk Belden 1505F with Switchcraft connectors in the office as I needed a 10M run.

 

[El Rubio]

BTW, the term is "coaxial"

But can you “ hear” a difference- LOL

 

[ic-racer]

The sonics of most active components improve after some burnin time when new ..

Your opinion here seems to be worded as a fact.

...improved cable sonics after a certain amount of time playing music ??

My interconnects always get worse as they are used. Maybe I live in a different part of the solar system, but my old interconnects don't make a good connection from oxidation, there is cracked insulation and intermittent contact from stress fracture of the central wire, etc

 

[goodolpg]

Funny, how there aren't a hundred threads on my cables (or other product) sound worse after they broke in; always better.

Why wait all this time burning them in, just make and adapter and run them inline on a hair dryer or something for 30 seconds and be done with it.

If a cable was available already burnt in from the manufacturer as an option, would you pay a $100 premium on a $1,200 set of cables? Why waste time on an inferior product for100 hrs?

I've seen at least one company that charges a "burn in" fee on their cables if the buyer wants them "already burnt in".
Can't remember who though.

 

[DaaDaa]

 

[Tim64]

Also, what did Roger Russell think?

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

Thanks for that link looks like some good reading material their.

 

[Tim64]

I will say that different IC's have different sound signatures, although higher cost does not automatically mean a more "pleasing" sound to the listener/purchaser.

Bingo,you got it I have heard some cables that sound totally lifeless. On the other side I have listened to cables that are quite pleasing to the ears. This was on a all John Curl system on Martin Logan electrostatic speakers. Not my system unfortunately. I think the more complex you make a cable the likelihood of screwing it up are higher, capacitance and inductance issues can creep in. Just my opinion.