Tonearm cables on record players make a gigantic difference. The massive gain factor and the resulting sensitivity to interference and induction makes this seem plausible.
The capacity of the cables is very determining for the high frequenzy behaviour of MM carts.
About the spicy stuff:
I’ve always bought entry-level audiophile grade cable as insurance. But I never really listened to them until recently, because I was convinced that it wouldn´t make any difference.
But my new Graham Audio LS6 speaker has changed my mind fundamentally. Surprisingly, they have the ability to reflect the smallest differences in my analog chain very clearly. I don’t remember hearing anything like this with a more expensive Dynaudio Confidence C1 years ago.
My problem started with RCAs. I wanted to compare two similar DACs, but somehow the AB comparison went wrong, because the DAC with the $200 cable was always better than the one with the Amazon Basic cable. I probably spent 3 hours in disbelief changing the cables lol. Amazon Basic sounded better than my $100 Oehlbach NF 14, and my $40 Wireworld Luna 8 is also a waste of money. Audioquest on the other hand does appear to be a popular brand for a reason. My 200$ Goldkabel highline and overture sounded the best in my system. The differences aren’t really significant, but a musician friend and a sound engineer friend both preferred the expensive cable. The musician has been playing trumpet and trombone for many years and doesn´t bother with HiFI even though he always come over to my place to listen to music and smoke so his wife won’t find out. He was convinced the more expensive cable made the system sound closer to a real trumpet. I told the sound engineer we were comparing DACs lol. After having had these experiences, I would advise anyone who wants a better made cable to buy entry level from well known manufacturers e.g. Audioquest Evergreen. In order to get an audible differences, you need at least a 5000$ system and 200$ cabel.
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of speaker cables and so far I haven’t noticed such a big difference as with RCAs. But if you have problems with aggressive high frequencies, you might want to use a different speaker cable.
With digital cables I like to buy the cheapest from Audioquest because of the build. I don’t notice a difference.
In the case of power cables, I have heard differences in demonstrations from dealers and trade shows, but have no reliable private experience.
i dont like amazon basics cables as they never fell good and feel pretty bulky (i need like a super short and flexible run from my preamp to a future magni 3+ which is barely even a foot so i need a lot of flexibility there), and i just dont like the look and no flex of monoprice as they are pretty ugly and aren’t as well designed as they could be… i have thought about getting my RCA’s from blue jeans because they seem to be respected enough and dont have a lot of audiophile bullshit but still have good stuff like grounded RCA, but then again the audioquest shadow still runs through and makes me ask the “is stereophile right” question
As mentioned by a few people earlier, it comes as an added cost/assurance as your gear comes more resolving. For most, I would say as long as you buy a well-built cable, ignorance is bliss.
I’ve dabbled a little and I couldn’t tell when I had my earlier gear. As my stereo and headphone setups get better, I can tell now. Does it make a substantial difference? No. Does it make it sound different if your setup can pick it up? Yes.
I ended up sticking with Kimber and Morrow before I got too deep into it.
The problem with the cable debate is that it tends to be split into two polarized camps - cables make no difference and cables transform performance, with the metric being price.
Cables do matter. Quite aside from the obvious one that a wired system won’t work without cables it is an inarguable fact that the resistance, capacitance and inductance matter and that the cable has to be appropriate for its intended duty. Good quality tight connectors and the joint from cable to connector matter. This isn’t audio, it’s just basic engineering.
So to say cables don’t matter is wrong.
But, a well specified and made cable with good connectors doesn’t need to be expensive and the prices of many audiophile cables are frankly obscene. If people want audiophile jewelry then that’s fine but people should be honest. The performance of a cable can be understood from a few simple measurements and it is normally easy enough to see if the connectors are good. And you don’t need to spend much.
And the idea of audiophile power chords is an outright scam.
If a hardware producer is incapable of shipping a power chord which is fit for purpose then I would say they are incompetent and it is an argument not to buy their wares. The power chord transmits electricity from a wall socket, provided the chord is rated for the voltage and current draw then and power chord with the right connection will work. Think about it, where does your electricity come from? Does anyone think that house wiring, distribution boxes, the circuit from your home to the local switch point, the distribution circuit, switchboard etc are made from magic audiophile wire? Ditto power conditioning, unless you live in an area with an extremely dirty supply (mainly less developed countries or small local grids with a lot of transients then you don’t need a power conditioner. Things like amplifiers already have onboard power conditioning and if they don’t have decent power conditioning able to handle minor transients you might find on a normal feed then it is badly designed.
And a note on the conditioners, I really haven’t found good results with conditioners, as most do nothing different sound wise, and some actually make it sound worse lol. The only positive difference I have experienced was with regenerators which is what I use now
I’ve learned this tip while watching a thread of someone troubleshooting an amp. I haven’t personally grabbed this, but I may try it, as it isn’t “audiophile” but tested to perform with actual standards.I might throw this in my next order if i remember.
Also true, for me they have reliably made the most difference in sound, if that is good or bad it depends on the system. Also personally I haven’t heard any cable over 500 that I can listen to and actually think it’s “better” imo, there is a limit for what you should reasonably spend for a nice cable imo (and ya know, the tier of your current system and things)
My curiosity had gotten the better of me a few months ago and I traded something really nice (ie. fucking expensive and rare) for a USB cable and an RCA.
The USB, mated very specifically with my EXOGAL COMET+ DAC to my Server or laptop, especially with my laptop has a discernible difference in the extreme end of clarity. Much A/B testing vs standard and slightly upgraded USB cables took place using the best kit i own and in the end my brain and ears decided I could hear a little extra sparkle.
The RCA is really nice but makes NO difference in any set-up I was able to use it with no matter what I tried. (Maybe I should have traded for some speaker cables… )
That’s it for me, If I stumble across a dead man’s cable deal at some point in the future, I would snatch them up. Beyond that I’m fine with some nice looking beefier cables, Mogami gold stuff, and the occasional “better” RCA or speaker cable that’s beefed up but never anything again that costs $1K and upwards… YMMV and if i had dumped tens of thousands into my gear like some, I too would upgrade everything from the power cable in the street all the way up to the last cable, wire and plug I owned if funds were not an issue.
i heard blue jeans RCA were good and that was all you needed but the audioquest hype bubble confuses me and i just need like a flexible half foot long RCA for going to go from my preamp to an amp, and then a 6 feet or so (about 2 metres) from my turntable to preamp… its about 70 bucks to buy blue jeans but i need to make sure if its worth it instead of the evergreens or something
I got some Blue Jeans RCA and ended up throwing them in a box after 2 weeks. I thought they were okay, but not certainly anything better than Monoprice or Amazon Basics imo.
I think they have a huge following because they measure super well (low capacitance).
For cables from the turntable to the phono preamplifier, the lowest possible capacity and length are most important.
If you are serious about vinyl you should use special phono cables that are designed to meet these requirements.
Edit: for Phono applications the Blue Jeans LC-1 with 12.2 pF/ft seems to be quite good.
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