When we compare sound quality between a set of Mogami XLR cables and Audioquest WEL silver XLR cables is there a difference to be heard in Music Room One? Have a question you'd like Paul to answer? Go to www.psaudio.com...
Oh wow. I recognize this name, PS Audio. Back in the mid 1980s, I would often visit Bradford's Hi-Fi in Eugene Oregon and the name PS Audio would come up. From them, I got the phone number of Stan Warren and called him. He spent the next half hour or so talking to me about his early days of audio and eating at "Burger Thing" (King). He then gave me instructions of how to build 3 solid stranded braded phono RCA cables with 99.9999 silver wire - which I did. I never met Stan nor Paul, but their name goes back a long way into my audiophile past.
I am surprised at the number of people claiming cables do not make a difference in the audio quality of a stereo system . Just shows how many have actually owned or heard a decent audio set up .
I am very happy to have found this video. I had a set of inexpensive XLR cables, 5 pair. They were a brand name but didn't cost a fortune. I made myself 5 pairs of cables using XLR connectors and there was a big difference.
As a professional sound engineer I have been working in many studios for over 40 years. All the studios I have worked in used standard copper cables, for microphones and all other equipment. Also the consoles were internally wired with pretty standard copper wire. Do you really believe that after the whole production process (CD etc.) the last 2 feet between the CD player and amplifier would make a significant difference? (Well, I don't, only 'audiophools' do...)
Where is your credentials, awards, at least a video or link where we can hear what you've done. Saying you're something on the internet doesn't mean shit brother. You need proof before we give a damn what you believe. So, you don't think a Neve or SSL console sounds better than a Behringer eurorack console? It's not only the discrete opamps, and transformer coupled ins and outs. It's also the more robust cabling. Looking forward to hearing what 40 years of sound engineering sounds like. I'll wait for a link.
I am a professional sound engineer as well, I think you are talking about two separated process here. Whose knows if all the copper cables were changed to better ones during recording, the master copy might improve?
diregremo: Want to see my certificate?? Everybody is entitle to his own opinion and understanding toward cables, if you disagree it's fine with me. Did you ever heard a half decent interconnect worth at least a 2-5 hundred dollars???? Stop "Shitting" everywhere and to everyone. You could also post your link first.
@Frank55 Well exactly what kind of studio are you dealing with? If it's a Mono system that only does Voice recording it probably wouldn't amount to a lot of difference. I don't care if it's 2 feet, 2 inches or 20 feet. It doesn't take much for a bad piece of wire that could be microscopic in width to throw a wrench into the works and screw up your audio signal.
"People who say cables dont matter A/B test and their brains get mixed up, they're wrong - that being said, we A/B tested some of my friend's cables and thought the difference was immediately better, we're right"
Hi Paul, I want to say thank you. I received my Perfect Wave AC-3 (3 each) a few days ago and love the difference that they’ve made to my sound system. There was a buzzing noise that bled into my speakers that are now nonexistent, the sound quality did improve as well. I was blown away by the size of the cables. Thanks to your son Scott for taking my order, he was very helpful. I look forward to maybe getting other PS audio products in the future.
I couldn't tell an ounce of difference in cables until I started getting rid of the sand cast resistors in my crossovers. With mills resistors and higher end poly caps I can instantly hear a difference in the midrange and upper frequencies of every set of speakers I've upgraded. The cheaper cables sound a little bit lifeless now
Tried Mogami years ago and found it to be a kind of dark sounding cable.It boggles my mind that after all this time and the many times its been proven how cables sound different that there is still anyone who says they make no difference.
Absolutely , rely on people bieng cheap and making assumptions about everything. What manufacturer's should do is ramp the signal voltage up so this would be less of an issue. People don't know voltage likes to ride on the outer edge of the wire and high grade material's change the sound.
6 лет назад
dark ! lol nice one. So you're saying it affects frequency response to eliminate high frequencies? That would be totally unmarketable.
There is no question that Balanced Audio is better. The Amplitude is doubled and the noise and spikes get cancelled. A very famous and well respected Mastering Engineer even has an XLR Patch Bay. I even know of Studio installations where the Power is Balanced.
50 feet of Mogami Gold XLR pair cables cost $150. 50 feet of Audioquest WEL Signature XLR pair cables cost $25700. Yeah, maybe the Audioquest is better, but not to the extent where paying over 170x for the cables is worth it.
Paul, seriously thank you for doing this. I did this same test with my wife, who is not an audiophile, her version of audiophilia is a blue tooth speaker and a cellphone. I too switched between the Audioquest CV-8 and the Audioquest Castle Rocks (borrowed from my local dealer) and she heard the difference and was able to point out the differences. My wife said the CV-8 had too much treble and the sound coming out hurt her ears. My wife said the sound of the Castle Rocks were more balanced and provided more bass. I have also done this test with her regarding USB cables as well through headphones between a USB Belkin cable, Pangea USB-silver and a Audioquest Diamond cable and had her face away from me and played the same song and gave her a piece of paper labeled A, B, and C. For the Speaker test she was looking at her cellphone most of the time, especially during the CV8 test and she told me one minute into it that if I didn't turn the music off quickly, she would leave the room. When I played the system again with the Castle Rocks, she looked at her phone and put it away one minute into the song and shook her head and tapped her feet. My wife eventually got up and started to dance by herself and with me and that is when I knew that a non audiophile would get it when they were allowed to experience it and the system synergy was right. The music used was Gregory Porter's Liquid Spirit and the track was Liquid Spirit, played on a VPI Classic Turntable with a Dynavector 10x5 cartridge on all Audio Research equipment (Audio Research DS450, Audio Research LS17SE, Audio Research PH8, Audio Research DAC 8 and Audio Research CD2 with Vandersteen 2CE Signature 2 and a pair of Vandersteen 2WQs and an Aurender NH-100, all Audioquest cabling, Niagara, water and Colorado. I should have recorded this and put it on You Tube because it was priceless. My Wife still hasn't changed her mind on being an audiophile and still enjoys her blue tooth speaker, which Harmon Kardon-Onyx, Bose Quiet style headphones and her cellphone and android tablet. My Wife said being an audiophile takes up too much time and effort, and if I died, she would sell my equipment, but she said there is a difference between cables and she acknowledges that a good sounding system brings emotion out in a person, she just said she doesn't understand all of the setup, especially turntable set up and speaker placement is too much for her. My wife was able to pick out the differences and write them down. All systems as you said Paul, have to have Synergy from top to bottom, which is why you never, buy expensive cables first to fix a problem. You fix the problem first and down the line when you want that last 10 percent, you add cables, like you did with your Infinity RS system. I'm lucky enough to have an excellent local dealer, which I wished he sold some of your BK equipment, to let me try out different things so that I could learn that there are differences. My dealer doesn't try and convince me of anything and I'm normally allowed one to two weeks to try out what ever I want, but this relationship was built up over many years of doing business with him and yes the Audioquest WEL's are outstanding cables, too big for my budget. I later bought an older pair of traded in Killamanjaro (non dbs) silver cables, 12 feet and they sound way, way, way better than the CV8 and replicate what the Castle Rocks did. I too can repeat this test over and over and over again for anyone to hear and yes I have a pretty good resolving system. The biggest thing is to establish a relationship with a local dealer if possible and your learning will began. We have to stop being so close minded and listening to others and learn through are own actual experience instead of what others have said or wrote.
Your carefully worded reply deserved a lot more than one like. You are absolutely right. I have been fortunate to have had two hifi dealer friends who have lent me a lot of equipment to try over the years and I have effectively been able to evaluate in a no pressure environment and effectively serve my hifi apprenticeship. My view on cables is that they can make a big difference but not always and price is no guide. Some equipment seems more susceptable to cable changes than others. My current ATC SCM50 actives are fed by cheap balanced Van Damme microphone cable at the recommendation of the manufacturer and they sound stunning. My previous Proac passives were fed with Transparent Audio reference cables after trying lots of other cables that all sounded different to me.
When i did orchestral recording, we used Mogami mic cables, and i switched from monster to mogami for the short runs as well. No contest. The Mogami was superb and the monster was just unfocused.
When I was a kid, I chopped the ends off two electrical cords for speaker wires and it sounded awesome. It wasn't long enough, so simply twisted another one in and seal it up witha good layer of masking tape. Then I used the wires to connect up two boom boxes for tape dubbing. Sounded freaking great man. What are you talking about with these expensive twenty, thirty, forty dollar cables? Just hit up your local thrift store for a good old cord at a buck each and do the earth a favor.
Cables do make a difference in Hi-End Audio. If you don't believe it ,go to your local Hi-Fi shop and have them demo some for you. If you cant hear a difference then obviously it's not worth your money, but for those of us that appreciate SQ it's worth the money.
The cables are better, based on what measurement? The 'test' you created sounds like you were trying to prove the placebo effect. It was that flawed lol.
Non-power-handling audio cable electrical properties only make a perceptible difference when they're long enough to act as transmission lines, generally 50 -100 feet or more. In those cases impedance matching becomes significant. For short runs, conductor metal type only makes a difference in power applications, e.g. loudspeaker or AC power cables. To minimize power loss, you just want as thick a conductor as practical. By far the most significant issue with low-level audio cables is how much microphonics they have. Microphonics are caused by friction between cable conductors and shields, and sound like short bursts of static. You can test your cables for microphonics by connecting them to a low-level input in a stereo system or instrument amp. Turn the volume all the way up, and crack the cable like it was a whip. If you hear any static at all, trash that cable and get a new one.
It's academic fact that every specific variety of cable has three identifable and measurable characteristics that affect system frequency response. They are resistance, inductance, and capacitance, which makes the cable an RLC filter. As such, it MUST affect the frequency response of the system. If we understand clearly the output transfer function of the driving device (source) and also clearly understand the input transfer characteristic of the driven device (sink) then it is possible to accurately predict how any given, characterized RLC filter (the cable) will affect the system frequency response. So, YES, cables can and do make a difference. No person who is adequately educated should have any difficulty understanding this. My reservations are not about whether or not cables make a difference, but my reservations relate to the often exorbitant prices charged for some cables. And at the same time I can understand that many high end cable products are made in short production batches and they are not standard off the shelf designs, thus their cost to manufacture is higher as the economies of scale don't apply to a small scale production run. However, I emphatically do NOT believe that there are any factors about a cable that can alter the way it changes the sound of a system other than those three defined parameters of resistance, capacitance, and inductance. Though exotic construction techniques and materials may be used, and they MAY be responsible for RLC value modifications, there are undoubtedly some aspects of some high end cables that are nothing but window dressing...with a high price tag attached.
You know, engineering theory predicts only a starting point. From there science (observation and experimentation etc) begins the process of optimizing the system and this is the field of an engineer. The field of a technician is to use the engineering theory to maintain the system the engineer has built and optimized. That is the difference between the 2 disciplines and their training. Thinking of connections as a homogeneous conductor is not accurate. Changes along the conductor, particularly that the connection hardware cause sudden and significant changes in those properties that alter the signal, cause reflection due to those very 3 properties you mention above. Thinking in the idealized theoretical sense serves to conceptualize the initial system. It does not serve to optimize it, though considering finer detail, it may certainly assist.
The top XLR on Audioquest price list is Fire @19ft 13,500. WEL is not listed, is much much higher than other cables. An estimate of a 50 ft run of WEL XLR (guessing) close to $100,000?
I used to think the cable talk was just hype as well. Then I got a decent amp and a buddy dropped by a few weeks later with a bunch of cables to try out. I quickly became a believer. So to realize the potential of a good set up it can’t hurt to try. The cables I’m talking about weren’t crazy money either. $100 -200. 😎
I sometimes find gems that other RU-vid people listen to that I didn't know existed. It also helps to listen to the music reviewers use so that you can understand their opinions better.
I've only ever heard differences in cables when moving up from those really crappy stock interconnects, or in car audio; because electromagnetic interference is so much more prevalent in a car and noise often makes its way in to lower end cables, especially when run in the same side as the amp's power wire.
I have a pair of Neutrik NC3MXX-B and NC3FXX-B XLR connectors with Van Damme Starquad XKE cable. The pair of these can be purchased for around £40. I could not detect any difference compared to RCA cables that cost me £160
It’s one of those audio myths that you have to spend big bucks for good cables. If you cannot afford WEL cables, Mogami is still a very worthwhile investment. Audioquest also sells good, but less expensive cables. Like everything in life, if you want the best you must pay, but you can get pretty darn good for a lot less.
Great video once again, and I admire your courage and the ability to withstand all the comments saying how what you, and many others, are hearing,can't be true. The very nice thing is that you are building a nice library of videos to which one can refer to.
I find these different stories fascinating. This one about how he was persuaded to install Audioquest WEL XLR interconnects instead of the Mogami cables in PS Audio's music room, the story about how he was persuaded by Arnie Nudell about the sonic impact a great preamp can have on a system (9/30/17 Do preamps enhance sound quality?), the impact of a bigger than required power supply on the sound of a component (9/4/17 Explain the advantages of an external power supply) and many others. It's great that Paul is willing to share how his preexisting points of views can be changed for the better because so many of us, me included, can get stuck in a rut, feeling obligated to stick with what we know instead of exploring what else is out there for us to experience. Thank you Paul!
Not convinced. Me and my other audiophool friend (both of us had been sucked in for over 30 years but in different ways) did similar and tested 3 different cables from cheap to expensive (Nordost) to diy pure silver rca cables, with a few good (non audiophiles) friends to the party. Amongst 5 of us, only our audiophool friend claimed he heard significant differences while the other friends looked puzzled and laughed (but politely). But important thing is we accept our differences in opinion and we all enjoyed the party.
You tested something of marginal differences. Spend a little more. $20 is just a little better than $2 lamp cord. Try $200, than $2000, and than $20,000. there are things out there cost 6-figures.
I solder my own RCA s to a reasonable cable with good shielding and it sounds a little brighter so that is what i know myself i can be confident the connection is strong on the solders . I have bought RCA cables that where poorly connected also and thats why i do my own now and have not had to replace one in the last 5 years so far .
I use to be a disbelieve I always said well for that much money for cables I'll just buy a better amp or better speakers for what I'd have in cables then I bought my first pair of audioquest cables dang it !! Lol But yeah I still can't get over what I was missing out on even their Golden Gate RCA And NY3 power cable which are budget friendly sound amazing and last my life time for sure ! Great job Audioquest!!
I am a firm believer in the fact that exotic, expensive cable have little to NO effect on sound quality. Another earlier commentator made a very WISE observation. He said that people who buy expensive cables and claim to hear a difference in the sound quality because of the cables are just HEARING THE MONEY THAT THEY SPENT ON THEM. What was not addressed in this video is the other STUNNING claim by IGNORANT PEOPLE, that digital cables must be of VERY HIGH QUALITY to ensure maximum fidelity. The truth is that you can use paper clips linked together for DIGITAL SIGNALS, the signal either gets through or it does not. If it gets through then you have a very HIGH QUALITY CONNECTION.
For you science-=is -not truth. Big differences in how things are connected. You brain on a slow day is different than a cocaine or caffeine diets. That's science.
Here is the thing. A true simple cable can only change the resistance being seen by the signal. At a certain point, less ohms is not going to be noticeable and that point is at the very cheap end of the spectrum, especially with signal wires. If a cable is COMPLETELY changing the sound, it is filtering the signal, plain and simple and that means it is not true to original signal being generated. Either the signal is being filtered through inductance, resistance, capacitance or a combination of the three. If a cable that is physically modifying your signal makes your sound system sound better, you have a problem else where. Anyone can throw a tiny inductor and cap into a line and make something sound smoother or tube like.
Cables make a difference. I understand your thinking but they change the sound. Why would you buy nice gear and run cheap cables?(not directed @ you) People do because they assume it doesn't matter. It's material's and construction get the signal to the next component intact or they don't. A signal cable is an antannae after all if not properly shielded. The grade of metals can and will change the frequency response. I tried it , you could plainly hear the difference.
It's academic fact that every specific variety of cable has three identifable and measurable characteristics that affect system frequency response. They are resistance, inductance, and capacitance, which makes the cable an RLC filter. As such, it MUST affect the frequency response of the system. If we understand clearly the output transfer function of the driving device (source) and also clearly understand the input transfer characteristic of the driven device (sink) then it is possible to accurately predict how any given, characterized RLC filter (the cable) will affect the system frequency response. So, YES, cables can and do make a difference. No person who is adequately educated should have any difficulty understanding this. My reservations are not about whether or not cables make a difference, but my reservations relate to the often exorbitant prices charged for some cables. And at the same time I can understand that many high end cable products are made in short production batches and they are not standard off the shelf designs, thus their cost to manufacture is higher as the economies of scale don't apply to a small scale production run. However, I emphatically do NOT believe that there are any factors about a cable that can alter the way it changes the sound of a system other than those three defined parameters of resistance, capacitance, and inductance. Though exotic construction techniques and materials may be used, and they MAY be responsible for RLC value modifications, there are undoubtedly some aspects of some high end cables that are nothing but window dressing...with a high price tag attached.
In my company we use double shielded coaxial cables (called triax) to connect broadcast cameras over long distances, do you think these could have a valid use in HiFi as well?
@user name I never pretended to be an audio engineer but I have a good grasp on how electronics work, at least the basics to know that any good cable will have very low impact if any, what impacts the most is distance and that is almost independent of the cable you use. Still on a normal house room, you should have no trouble using any cable to your speakers at any distance apart from the loss of a few DBs that you can easily compensate with the volume knob. Frequency loss is insignificant and does not happen in the musical frequencies.
@user name There are many free sources available for you to instruct yourself. How would the lenght of the cable influence sound? Inductance and noise, capacitance and frequency loss and length and db atenuation. Regarding inductance, if you don't have bended cables you should be fine, you can use also balanced cables, but honestly in room applications is neglectable. Regarding capacitance, there is hardly any in cables, and even if they exist, they would work has an high apss filter in frequencies that either you cannot ear or are not musical. Finnally length and db atenuance, just turn the nob..
@user name But if you have those small grey cells, just put them to work.. One of the most important parts of sound quality is speaker position, not only regarding the room but regarding the listener. If you have long cables that means that the speakers are too far apart, and you sound will not be good, no matter how good your hi-fi system is. Capisce... now go crawl under your rock.
@user name We are all posters here, some make sense and others resort to insult and can't make a point or understand what they read. Go back read what I have posted and if you want to refute any of the points I've made I'm open to a discussion. To make it clear for you 1- there is a db loss with distance, but than can be fixed by increasing gain. 2- inductance and noise is not a major problem if you have good insulation and straight cables 3-capacitance effect of cables is very low and if they have any effect they are in non musical frequencies 4 - And most important you should never use long cables because of speaker position, it has nothing to do with cables. If you have to position your speakers far away from each other, the least of your worries is cable quality. Now put you litle gray cells to work and fire away with any question or rebutal you have on this points.
It's not trying it Paul, I think when it comes to anything you purchase or invest in, you want to see measurements. However, there are no measurements that prove cables are better. We know that XLR is better than unbalanced cables, but that's about as far as it goes. Proof is in the pudding? lol I would hope you are aware that audioquest has actually been caught rigging tests of their own products and throwing the blame on someone else.... and pulling the victim card. Things like that make this worse...... much worse
PS Audio: So, do you know who that is? Employee: Um, no.. who is it? PS Audio: Alright. We'll call you about availability. Thank for coming by! {PS Audio} Well now,. bummers. He could have been great employee. I'll guess we'll just have to wait for the next one. Pretty sad day in human music library.
I found this; is this correct? XLR cables are used in audio applications ranging from live shows to professional recording sessions. XLR cables have three pins and a circular connector. They are used to deliver balanced microphone and line-level signals over long distances, so an XLR cable can be simply thought of as a microphone cable.
Completely false even low end systems are able to reflect sound in the full human hearing range . Also if you need a 6 figure setup to hear minute differences between cables?! You already have proof of how ridiculous the whole setup is
I believe it is more matter of glamour,if you buy budget setup,u dont need expensive cables.If you spend spend lots of money,you want it to look/sound best so u buy expensive ones.Same like when you own expensive car,you also buy expensive gadgets for it,or seat/ground mats whatever.I personally think it would not be wise to spend more than 1/20 or even more of the total system cost on the cables
The major factors between the different types of speaker cables are the gauge, (bigger is better), and the resistance from point to point. (Lower the better). One way to lower the resistance of cheap cable, is to run 2 or more lengths in parallel. Try this first before spending thousands in overpriced cables.
Thanks again for your revealing explanation Paul. Could you please anwers a simple yes/ no question concerning cables? Is it usefull to burn -in high quality cables in a high quality audio set?
Yes it does but in my own opinion I think it has more to do with the solder than the wire. Not going to argue with the experts here that have obviously worked their whole lives in this field. There is more to it than that but even the type of solder can make a difference. Of course if it didn't do anything we would not bother to because it would be a waste of our time and money.
What a pity. All of your source material is probably mixed on equipment that was wired up or interconnected using Mogami cables so not much you can do about it now. Maybe changing the fuses might help the sound :D LOL
Audio signal is a chain. It all has to be good. Try just going to a decent cable. You can hear the loss of treble and change in bass. In fact all cables cheap or expensive sound different. Try it , it's real.
Cables only matter if you have a hi-end system. Most people "hope" cables don't makes a different, because if they ever have a chance to do/witness a cable switch on a hi-end system and do a A/B listening test, they might have to come up with thousands and thousands of dollars to upgrade their system.
@turbo power: You do know that even recording studios themselves are NOT using such snake oil cables, right? When it comes to the cables, they either work or they do not.
To say cabling or connections don't make a difference is to say you don't really understand electrical theory. Sure, there are levels of difference, but there are differences whether audible or only seen on test equipment. As an electrician for 30 years I have learned that everything boils down to voltage drop. The better the connections, the better the conductors, the larger the conductors, than the better all-around performance under load. In an audio system it is similar, even the same on many levels, just on a smaller scale, but the electrical theory holds true. Of course, there are other things to consider for good audio, but the base of any electrical circuit is to size all the components to do the job properly, with the least resistance (unless it's calculated in) with plenty of room to spare. Better wires=better signal=better sound, to a certain degree anyway.
Hi Paul, I've been singing and entertaining my whole life, I wanted to ask you a question. I'm about to embark on a live game show. I hadn't realized how many additional nuances would show up along the way. In the middle of building a podiums-lectern, I'm putting an electric wire with an outlet, also a gooseneck mic. I was going to run both cords through the same tube going through the gray PVC tube. I don't know if that could cause hum, what are your thoughts. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Frank
Hello PS Audio, I have a question if you can answer me please. A cable which is 2x XLR(male) a 2x XLR (female) it better than a cable 2x TRS a 2x XLR (female) ?
Audioquest WEL cables are like most of their products, 95% marketing and 5% better shielding and materials. It would be cheaper to build a standalone structure for your music room, integrate a Faraday cage, and individually shield all internal EMI sources. They are fine products but far too costly and the same impact could be achieved with a cleaner, albeit probably impractical design.
Batt Man My mother ate a hippopotamus while paddling down the Nile with two Jewish writers from Seinfeld that she met in her pottery class… in short, you are a tool.
You can certainly do it yourself. You can build a house from scratch if you want, saves a lot of money. For many, it's probably not feasible due to time or skill constraints. Some things looks a lot easier until you make them.
Yup, reading the product description for the WEL cable is really amusing. There's a great deal of technobabble therein regarding audio cable design that sounds good but is nonetheless bs and not applicable at audio frequency levels. Sure, if we are dealing with RF signals,(in the Mhz to Ghz ranges) some of these issues in cable design will then apply ..but heck, if you are paying £75,000 for a cable it has to be true..right...nope.
Was that aimed at me ? Taking it a bit personally aren't you ? For the record, I'm not a kid, being only a few years younger than Paul himself, so your ageist point there missed the mark. Secondly, what has the fact that someone might play games have to do with what else that person may or may not know ? Are you seriously implying that games players are 'illiterate' ? I suppose by your logic I'm supposed to imply that because Richard Feynman played the bongos, he didn't know much about physics ? This response, along with the attempt to divert the commentary to the cost of video games, is all a bit of a Red Herring though on your part, so all I would say is rather than throwing insults, just address the factual issues..of which there is a lot lacking in Audioquests' pseudo scientific blurb for many of their 'high end' cable products. The faith based approach by some audiophiles towards these high end cables, of which the sales pitch often borrows from signal transmission issues at the RF and microwave level and unscientifically and inappropriately applies them to signals at the audio level, along with a lot of other 'misdirection' concerning insulators, dielectrics and so on, (this, of which, Audioquest is guilty in spades) reminds me of how quantum mechanics principles are misapplied and misused by other kinds of snake oil salesmen when selling their particular products. Banking on the faith of the customer and their ignorance of physical laws. As I said, if they are paying 75 grand for a cable, belief, not facts takes them the rest of the way..
And what aptitude would that be ? But personally I don't feel any game justifies that price tag....and you would be wrong in your guess too, with me being English
I used to think paul was stupid over him saying cables made a diff.. i will have to retract my previous comment about powercords not doing anything.. First, you DO need a system that able to reveal certain things. In my case over 20k so far. I tried the big stupid garden hose power cables on my dac... nothing no diff.. my sub.. nothing .. my streamer.. nothing. My monoblocks, umm.. yes it worked on the blocks. Very obvious. Did two things, backgrounds 10% blacker and the main diff was the soundstage entering my ears with more finesse. Loved that feeling.. listen for a week then remove back to old cables.. yuck Xlr i have cheap 100$ and 1000$ zero difference.. zero In fact the 10 dollar pair are the same. My speaker cable ( audioquest rocket 44 ) again only changed the sub, low freq enough to hear. Thats my 2c
A healthy brain does not get confused in a simple ABX test. However, some audiophile brains do get confused because of the all the unscientific crap we're being fed by manufacturers and salesmen.
I was taught that in a dual differential system, XLR cables don't really need shielding, as any nice picked up over the length of the cable is cancelled out.
so you say at the beginning of the video that an AB comparison is flawed and not a way to properly compare things yet you say your proof was an AB comparison. your cable is only as good as its weakest metal unless youre using silver wire cold bonded (pressure forged) to a solid silver connector you are not going to benefit. Unless the cables measure at a different impedance there will be no difference. tell me what quantifiable measurable difference these cables made.
Very nice to see Paul represent how important all the elements are to good sound. that said, people need to spend way more on their room first, and their power amp less IMO. I do wish Paul and other experts though would RANK these elements so poeple know where to put their resources . IMO room treatment>source/DAC>preamp>amp…. Is WEL 2x ? 5x? 10x $$$ than Mogami ? I also feel strongly elements in system need to be balanced - WEL cables with a denon receiver without XLR ? But then also some perspective on where you are heading- if you ultimately aspire to upgrade other elements, you can stretch say on the cables, esp as they are the element elast liekly to benefit from techno,logical advances down the road.
A question for you...do you think Paul himself would have been hindered in anyway by the quality of the XLR? I would hazard a guess that no matter how poor the shielding, how cheap the cable, the overbearing audio quality of the result would be of little to know importance. But I’d love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for the video 💕
The discussion here is far far too simplistic concerning balanced cables. I design and sell premium recording studio equipment. Among my clients, the recording director for the National Symphony Orchestra. The microphone lines at the Kennedy Center run 200, 250, 300 feet. Some operate at line level nominal +4 dB with a peak level at +30 dBm. (Note the “m”)All cable is premium as you would imagine. After all, why would you plug a $5,000 microphone into a poor cable? Sometime during the early 1980’s, the recording director and a colleague of his (an audio aficionado) [he was a senior scientist at the then called The National Bureau Of Standards, now NIST] decided to do a series of very sophisticated tests on cables. From my memory, the cables were: Belden 8412, Mogami, Canare, Gotham Switzerland, Connectronics from the UK . They tested long lengths to simulate the JFK complex, so about 150 to 200 ft (again from my memory). The military tests large drums of cables at the factory prior to shipping. The test also would reveal if a cable was damaged or had been spliced . . . most unlikely. The test applies one period (pulsed) at a frequency at or near 20 kHz. The destination end of the cable is usually terminated with a resistive load. The reflections of the single period return are analyzed. Depending on any unusual reflections other than the known reflection, there would be something to investigate. The audio test on the six (6) cable samples were conducted in the same way. The difference was however, two tests were performed. Test A: destination end terminated in 300 ohms Test B: destination end not terminated, just as one would find in modern-day input circuitry such as a typical 1000 ohm to 1200 ohm microphone input, or in a line input to a recording console that might be anything between 10,000 ohms to 20,000 ohms or greater. Most revealing was that in Test A, most of the cables all showed very similar minimal reflection characteristics. So minimal to not be an issue. Test B, unterminated, all cables portrayed different characteristics. None considered serious, but still “different”. So, from my perspective in the unfortunate world of consumer hi-fi, with a mix of pseudo balanced output or input circuitry to include un-balanced RCA inputs (or unbalanced XLR connectors) the interface between two pieces of equipment are venerable. It is not a fault of the cable, it is simply the result of how modern-day equipment is designed. Back to microphones and mic levels. The very long lines at the Kennedy Center all operate at line level. Shorter mic lines of 30 to 50 ft or so are deliberately terminated at the input to a high quality mic preamplifier. The termination resistor value is critically selected for each microphone. Yes, the termination resistor lowers slightly the voltage at the input to the pre amp. But, todays premium mic preamps are super quiet, so the small gain make up is no big deal on the noise performance. This issue of the sound of cables was never an issue in the glory days of the best 1950’s 1960’s and into the 70’s recording studios. Why, because, all systems used a matching impedance between devices. The telephone company has known of the long line characteristics of cables for over 100 years. To reduce the effects of any cable, ideally the destination end should be terminated, and to accomplish this in the world of consumer electronics is difficult. Econo grade pro-sumer mixers also suffer from not being fully balanced and have their own share of idiosyncrasies. All of my projects when long line level signals are employed are terminated at the destination end. I also include ferrite beads to eliminate the possibility of any RF interference. If you also want to get really fussy, do not Phantom Power microphones. Modify the mics and replace the 3 pin XLR male connector with a 5 or 6 pin XLR. Run the 48 volts on its own pair. Michael K. Leader Leader Cinema Systems America www.leadercinema.com
Yes, it is an AC signal and a regular good shield cable, in particular one of 100F long will have too much capacitance and will absorb some of the high frequencies. It is better to run 2 separate conductors, both shielded and ground the shield "only" on one end. The shield should not to be used as a signal conductor under no circumstances. One day, at your leisure measure the capacitance of a 100F long of regular audio wire, it is between .05 and .10 Mf and that is sufficient to attenuate the AC high frequency's. However, SPEAKER wires or POWER cables as long they are adequate to carry the current under their load without voltage drop should be ok, anything else is SNAKE OIL.
@user name do you have any electronic training???? can you sketch an class a amplifier, AB, Digital? what is your expertise??? I can do all of these things. Do you like to be embarrassed?
All of this back and forth about cables. You have to look at the big picture. In the recording studio, miles of cable are used to record a record. That's just the mic cables. Then if out board gear is uses then more cable to and from the patch bay. So you are only trying to improve your audio on your system. I used to be one of those that would go crazy over cable and the went mad thinking that is they used this type of cable in the studio or this piece of equipment it would sound so much better. Then one day I stopped all of that and just started enjoying the music.
Your comparison was not blind, effects are irrelevant therefore.... the same old argument... The engineer heard it, my mom heard it, my wife heard it, Mozart heard it.... Bien sure! They did not know what was playing :D Our memory for accurate sound lasts about 2 to 6 seconds.
It's academic fact that every specific variety of cable has three identifable and measurable characteristics that affect system frequency response. They are resistance, inductance, and capacitance, which makes the cable an RLC filter. As such, it MUST affect the frequency response of the system. If we understand clearly the output transfer function of the driving device (source) and also clearly understand the input transfer characteristic of the driven device (sink) then it is possible to accurately predict how any given, characterized RLC filter (the cable) will affect the system frequency response. So, YES, cables can and do make a difference. No person who is adequately educated should have any difficulty understanding this. My reservations are not about whether or not cables make a difference, but my reservations relate to the often exorbitant prices charged for some cables. And at the same time I can understand that many high end cable products are made in short production batches and they are not standard off the shelf designs, thus their cost to manufacture is higher as the economies of scale don't apply to a small scale production run. However, I emphatically do NOT believe that there are any factors about a cable that can alter the way it changes the sound of a system other than those three defined parameters of resistance, capacitance, and inductance. Though exotic construction techniques and materials may be used, and they MAY be responsible for RLC value modifications, there are undoubtedly some aspects of some high end cables that are nothing but window dressing...with a high price tag attached.
I have PS Audio XLR cables. I think they are called Direct Stream or something like that. They weren't all that expensive. I don't really remember, but maybe $200 to $300. How good are they compared to the ones you were talking about? And are you ever going to offer them again?
Same principle with Transmitting and Receiving Radio signals, Different gauge size, length, shielding and even Brands can have drastic effects on power output and receive sensitivity of the signal.
I'm a real old guy, and honesty, I didn't know who it was. The photo doesn't look much like him as an adult, since it was likely taken when he was very young.
Get a grip. Boomers are your personal Boogeyman. Yes, many are nutters due to the constant red scare they were brain washed by. But Paul is quite progressive so take your boomer quackery elsewhere.
@ you've made a couple of negative posts on this video. Perhaps you should watch videos from people you like and try to be more positive. You'll be happier then.
Children come out of the womb knowing Beatles lyrics here in Liverpool, England and I've never met anyone from 18 to 80 who doesn't know who they are and will list a dozen or more of their songs but what they look like is a different thing. I bet those new employees would recognise Paul McCartney today though.
Yes they do! The problem is 95% of the systems are not good enough for it to make a bit of difference. Yes there is a lot of snake oil cables and there are some really excellent ones. If you have a true reference system and have the ears to appreciate them, then cables become very important. Before knowing a thing about cables I was given a test using 4 different levels of the same album and two different xlr interconnects. The cheaper cables were $800 and considered good. The 7 meter pair I had spent all day making blew them away. To the point when the needle touched the grove before the music started I could hear a big difference. But if the cables are not the weakest link in your signal chain you will probably only need decent cables to get the best out of your system. And yes I have a pair of Arny's speakers in my front room. No I don't have high end interconnects because while my system sounds really good, my amp and inputs are not to the point it is worth the money for what little gain I could detect.
If they are made of screened wire and the connection is satisfactorily made it most certainly is right. It's electronics, not magic. Pimping a cable can't make it sound better. You can only tell them apart if you can see them.
Trev C what ever, I can hear a difference between the good ones even. The type of solder, wire, shielding, connectors, wires, insulation on the wires all influence the magnetic field that is created by the flow of electrons and in turn influences the flow of electrons. I really don't care if you can hear a difference but claiming there is none because you can't hear or measure it does not make it so.
I'm saying that you are mistaken, that you won't be able to distinguish between two cables unless you see them. An interconnect used at line level is a completely non-critical application for a piece of screened wire.
I cannot believe that you have to explain basic electronics to a guy that runs an audio product company. You don't even know the difference between shielding and differential signals. Not to mention that line cables usually terminate in a HIGH IMPEDANCE environment, where the actual resistance of the cable matters very little. XLR cables are used in microphones where the signal is very small in amplitude, and if you had any noise, that would be amplified by the preamp along with the signal. For line level, any decent RCA cable does the job just fine. But then again, who am I talking to, this guy believes in AC power conditioners.
No, Wings was just a imaginary low percentage of Beatles. Can't even compare the music, and cultural significances. Beatles used black music as back beats. Wings is just Wings.
Paul McGowan but no noise is getting into the digital domain only if you're next to a digital source maybe but radio waves will not affect digital will it?