Cables Recommendation

[Enkay78]

Even the Chinese sellers on aliexpress has caught on the cable bandwagon. If not thousands, many are selling for hundreds of dollars.


Like I had commented in the past - audiophoolery also borders much of audio-elitism and snobbery.

I use very cheap pro xlr cables. The pro market is such a respite…….(yeah yeah some of them also do phoolery)


Anyway the era of speaker cables are going to die out shortly in future - wireless purifi active speakers (class D) will come on big way. The way it is seen in the crystal balls - these will became more mainstream even in the audiophile world in the next 5-10 years. Watch out for the next itinerary apTx Lossless. Maybe WIFI 7 will also address something on this.

 

[mbhangui]

Even the Chinese sellers on aliexpress has caught on the cable bandwagon. If not thousands, many are selling for hundreds of dollars.


Like I had commented in the past - audiophoolery also borders much of audio-elitism and snobbery.

I use very cheap pro xlr cables. The pro market is such a respite…….(yeah yeah some of them also do phoolery)


Anyway the era of speaker cables are going to die out shortly in future - wireless purifi active speakers (class D) will come on big way. The way it is seen in the crystal balls - these will became more mainstream even in the audiophile world in the next 5-10 years. Watch out for the next itinerary apTx Lossless. Maybe WIFI 7 will also address something on this.

audiophoolery has in fact become a religion.

1. You are supposed to respect it. Criticizing it is blasphemy
2. Cables work in mysterious ways
3. Science cannot explain everything
4. You need to experience it to believe in it.
5. Those who hear it are the enlightened souls. You and me are the infidels , cable atheists and what not and our leader is the guy who heads a forum like the ASR
6. And there will be the neutral ones who will claim they are cable agnostics.

 

[Vivek Batra]

audiophoolery has in fact become a religion.

1. You are supposed to respect it. Criticizing it is blasphemy
2. Cables work in mysterious ways
3. Science cannot explain everything
4. You need to experience it to believe in it.
5. Those who hear it are the enlightened souls. You and me are the infidels , cable atheists and what not and our leader is the guy who heads a forum like the ASR View attachment 67593
6. And there will be the neutral ones who will claim they are cable agnostics.

Just curious how come this thread got revived

 

[RRR]

Even the Chinese sellers on aliexpress has caught on the cable bandwagon. If not thousands, many are selling for hundreds of dollars.


Like I had commented in the past - audiophoolery also borders much of audio-elitism and snobbery.

I use very cheap pro xlr cables. The pro market is such a respite…….(yeah yeah some of them also do phoolery)


Anyway the era of speaker cables are going to die out shortly in future - wireless purifi active speakers (class D) will come on big way. The way it is seen in the crystal balls - these will became more mainstream even in the audiophile world in the next 5-10 years. Watch out for the next itinerary apTx Lossless. Maybe WIFI 7 will also address something on this.

Anyway the era of speaker cables are going to die out shortly in future - wireless purifi active speakers (class D) will come on big way. The way it is seen in the crystal balls - these will became more mainstream even in the audiophile world in the next 5-10 years. Watch out for the next itinerary apTx Lossless. Maybe WIFI 7 will also address something on this.

Unlikely to die out in future IMO.
As much as WIFi has also progressed over the years, the most stable connection is still gained by the use of the humble wired cable.

 

[mbhangui]

Just curious how come this thread got revived

Ha Ha. Someone replied to this old post yesterday and it showed up in the feed

 

[mbhangui]

Unlikely to die out in future IMO.
As much as WIFi has also progressed over the years, the most stable connection is still gained by the use of the humble wired cable.

True. Each and every audio equipment of mine, I use the ethernet cable. I use wifi only for browsing using my laptop and few devices that don't have ethernet port (google mini, chromecast and chromecast audio).

 

[shuv]

Since this thread is up and running, I'll post a query here.
Is it necessary to use XLR cables (say Mogami) between a DAC and an integrated? Or, would regular RCAs (again, say Mogami) suffice? Mogami because I already have a pair of Mogami RCAs.

 

[raghupb]

Since this thread is up and running, I'll post a query here.
Is it necessary to use XLR cables (say Mogami) between a DAC and an integrated? Or, would regular RCAs (again, say Mogami) suffice? Mogami because I already have a pair of Mogami RCAs.

XLR is useful in long runs, say 10/15 feet and longer.
If your entire chain is balanced, then XLR is the preferred way.
If not, regular RCA will do.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[shuv]

Thanks for the reply @raghupb

CDP and streamer go to DAC. The Ares2 has XLR and so does my amplifier. Phonos have RCA outs. What do you suggest in this scenario?

 

[Bloom@83]

I guess the Denafrips have arrived.
Pics and listening impressions awaited eagerly.

 

[shuv]

I guess the Denafrips have arrived.
Pics and listening impressions awaited eagerly.

Singular, not plural. Yes, got the Ares2 yesterday. No sign of the integrated though

 

[bornfi]

Since this thread is up and running, I'll post a query here.
Is it necessary to use XLR cables (say Mogami) between a DAC and an integrated? Or, would regular RCAs (again, say Mogami) suffice? Mogami because I already have a pair of Mogami RCAs.

If both source and target have xlr, use xlr without any thought. It is quieter than rca.

 

[raghupb]

Denafrips Ares II is not a balanced design or dual mono. Don't know about your amp.
So differential signalling between components may not do much.

BTW, XLR is popular in studio or pro world because of long run and locking connectors.
In home setting, I'd just go with RCA (or single ended).
If you are using, Mogami that has dual core with shield, then it comes down to cost of RCA vs XLR connector.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Bloom@83]

Denafrips Ares II is not a balanced design or dual mono. Don't know about your amp.
So differential signalling between components may not do much.

BTW, XLR is popular in studio or pro world because of long run and locking connectors.
In home setting, I'd just go with RCA (or single ended).
If you are using, Mogami that has dual core with shield, then it comes down to cost of RCA vs XLR connector.

Cheers,
Raghu

+1

 

[Enkay78]

I will reply to this after 5-10 years.

Have some faith in the gen Z consumer demands/convenience

 

[keith_correa]

I needed a very short pair of RCA interconnects from my DAC to the amp so, I went through the trouble of creating a pair. Again! Also, for the past week there's been a CAT5 wire dangling from some upstairs window to my window irritating me no end. I messaged all the folks upstairs to own it and pull it up. They ignored me or forgot to pull it up. Whatever! I snipped it off so that it's not visible to me anymore. The snipped part was around 4 feet long and I couldn't waste it so it is used here.

Ingredients for a single channel:
* 4 CAT5 strands - costed nothing
* Cotton cord - used as pyjama "naada" - costed nothing since it was just lying around at home. NOT organic cotton!
* 4 ultra cheap RCA plugs - bought years ago - let's say Rs.10 per plug. Now that I've used (struggled with) them they are actually worth about Rs.5 or even less.
* Solder and Flux - NOT Silver fancy pants solder. It melted when heated and solidified when cooled which was what I needed.
* PTFE tape - Rs. 15. Horrible low density Chinese stuff. Life is tough these days!

Assembly:
* Threaded a CAT5 strand through the cotton cord. Did this for 4 lengths of cord.
* Spiral rolled the PTFE tape over the cotton cords. Did this twice per cord. Why? Because the tape was low density and it also looks better.
* Braided the 4 cords.
* Terminated with RCA plugs.

Time to create an IC for 1 channel: ~30 min.

Connected them between DAC and amplifier and the electrons flowed/vibrated.

How does it sound? It conducts and music plays.
Changes from previous interconnect? No ultra wide soundstage, no brilliant highs, no thunderous lows, no vocals coming from behind the wall, no pinpoint imaging allowing me to locate the location of each player in the band. It was all that before this interconnect and is the same with this interconnect. I call that a win so, mission accomplished!
Will attach pics later.

 

[mbhangui]

Connected them between DAC and amplifier and the electrons flowed/vibrated.

How does it sound? It conducts and music plays.
Changes from previous interconnect? No ultra wide soundstage, no brilliant highs, no thunderous lows, no vocals coming from behind the wall, no pinpoint imaging allowing me to locate the location of each player in the band. It was all that before this interconnect and is the same with this interconnect. I call that a win so, mission accomplished!
Will attach pics later.

Have replaced all my interconnects with these. The capacitance of these wires are very low. The one problem with these cables is they are very weak at the place where they are soldered to the RCA jacks. So it is important to secure them at the jacks. I use the hot glue gun to pour molten wax over them inside the RCA jacks.

The cheap RCA jacks give around 5 pF per connector. The good ones give around 8-10 pF. But the lowest capacitance (2-3 pF) I found was with the bullet connectors.

 

[jls001]

* Cotton cord - used as pyjama "naada" - costed

I had a weird problem with bleached cotton nada (I'm assuming we purchased from the same shop). After several months of usage, I suspect the bleach reacted with the solder. For some reason it caused an open circuit (RCA centre pin to centre pin was open, and RCA barrel to barrel was also open). The wire/conductor used was ~24 AWG solid core silver, probably about 92.x% purity. The solder on the RCAs became very hard and I could no longer desolder it with a regular 25W soldering iron. It took a 60W iron, and that too with extended heating.

 

[jls001]

Have replaced all my interconnects with these. The capacitance of these wires are very low. The one problem with these cables is they are very weak at the place where they are soldered to the RCA jacks. So it is important to secure them at the jacks. I use the hot glue gun to pour molten wax over them inside the RCA jacks.

The cheap RCA jacks give around 5 pF per connector. The good ones give around 8-10 pF. But the lowest capacitance (2-3 pF) I found was with the bullet connectors.
View attachment 67903

Those look like Eichmann Bullets.

 

[keith_correa]

I needed a very short pair of RCA interconnects from my DAC to the amp so, I went through the trouble of creating a pair. Again! Also, for the past week there's been a CAT5 wire dangling from some upstairs window to my window irritating me no end. I messaged all the folks upstairs to own it and pull it up. They ignored me or forgot to pull it up. Whatever! I snipped it off so that it's not visible to me anymore. The snipped part was around 4 feet long and I couldn't waste it so it is used here.

Ingredients for a single channel:
* 4 CAT5 strands - costed nothing
* Cotton cord - used as pyjama "naada" - costed nothing since it was just lying around at home. NOT organic cotton!
* 4 ultra cheap RCA plugs - bought years ago - let's say Rs.10 per plug. Now that I've used (struggled with) them they are actually worth about Rs.5 or even less.
* Solder and Flux - NOT Silver fancy pants solder. It melted when heated and solidified when cooled which was what I needed.
* PTFE tape - Rs. 15. Horrible low density Chinese stuff. Life is tough these days!

Assembly:
* Threaded a CAT5 strand through the cotton cord. Did this for 4 lengths of cord.
* Spiral rolled the PTFE tape over the cotton cords. Did this twice per cord. Why? Because the tape was low density and it also looks better.
* Braided the 4 cords.
* Terminated with RCA plugs.

Time to create an IC for 1 channel: ~30 min.

Connected them between DAC and amplifier and the electrons flowed/vibrated.

How does it sound? It conducts and music plays.
Changes from previous interconnect? No ultra wide soundstage, no brilliant highs, no thunderous lows, no vocals coming from behind the wall, no pinpoint imaging allowing me to locate the location of each player in the band. It was all that before this interconnect and is the same with this interconnect. I call that a win so, mission accomplished!
Will attach pics later.