Honestly, do you think Interconnects and Cables make a difference?

Page 10 - Seeking answers? Join the What HiFi community: the world's leading independent guide to buying and owning hi-fi and home entertainment products.

The_Lhc

Well-known member
Oct 16, 2008
1,176
1
19,195
Visit site
madridpunch:There is no diference in principle between the transport of "music" from a digital source (a CD transport for example) and a DAC and the transport of "data" (from a iTunes library for example) to a DAC over a wireless network.

Yes there is, there's every difference, they use completely different protocols, TCP/IP has massive amounts of error checking in it and will force a packet to be resent if it doesn't arrive correctly. CD transports can't do that.

If you are saying that the transport of digital music is the same as data transport and so the quality of cable is only important once the data becomes analogue "music" then I'm probably with you.

Yes that's pretty much what I'm saying, but that statement appears to contradict the one you made above?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
JoelSim:

If you put the 6mm copper speaker cable that I've mentioned umpteen times now, against the QED Silver Anniversary XT then I would suggest that 100% of people would be able to tell which was playing 100% of the time. The reality of the testing procedure you would have to go through would make this test very hard to perform.

Er the 6mm copper was 6mm thick, the QED very thin, about 2mm I would imagine. And how different they made the same system sound.

If QED Silver Anniversary XT is 2mm then it is 14 AWG which should be ok, or if you mean the whole cable not just the core, lower.

Form my limited reading speaker cable may effect sound in the following ways.

thinner > more skin effect, usually only a problem at frequencies way above audible, but overdone could possibly effect treble
thinner > more maxwell effect, improves bass performance
a thin cable can have superior bandwidth but might have too much resistance (since silver has lower resistance than copper in theory it is slightly superior for speaker cables, because the strands can be thinner)
more resistance > possibly less loud and loudness more effected by the speakers impedance which varies with the frequency of sound it is trying to produce. Also depending on amplifier and speaker combination may effect dampening factor, how tightly the amplifier can control the speaker. So sound maybe more coloured by the speaker and amplifiers characteristics.
higher capacitance > possibly more amplifier oscillation especially in some amplifier designs. So sound more coloured by the amplifiers characteristics.
higher induction > very slightly less loud .
dielectric absorption > time-smear distortion at high frequencies, but very unlikely

Effects to the treble are usually more noticeable as they are less masked by other sounds.

So from my limited reading it appears it is possible it sounds different. The most likely causes are slightly superior bandwidth due to being thinner a real but subtle improvement of performance and why multi-stand is better than solid core and multi-strand with individually insulated multiple strands best, or colouring of the sound due to amplifier and speaker characteristics in theory a loss of audio fidelity but some may prefer the effect.

The manufacturer does not provide any technical details of the electrical properties of the cable, gives no measured results and no double blind test findings. It is impossible for me to know if I would be able to hear a difference. It is also impossible to know if any difference heard is due to improved performance or distortion with out measurement.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
JohnDuncan:johnnyjazz:Bought my wife a reverso for her birthday "You had me at hello" Erm ok john, but havn,t got a clue what you mean pal
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
the_lhc:
madridpunch:There is no diference in principle between the transport of "music" from a digital source (a CD transport for example) and a DAC and the transport of "data" (from a iTunes library for example) to a DAC over a wireless network.

Yes there is, there's every difference, they use completely different protocols, TCP/IP has massive amounts of error checking in it and will force a packet to be resent if it doesn't arrive correctly. CD transports can't do that.

If you are saying that the transport of digital music is the same as data transport and so the quality of cable is only important once the data becomes analogue "music" then I'm probably with you.

Yes that's pretty much what I'm saying, but that statement appears to contradict the one you made above?

I said "in principle" - they are both data streams and they both have error correction. Difference is that if there are too many errors in the CD Transport to DAC flow then it will just drop out rather than resending. Point is it's still just ones and zeros.

My second point is that I believe that the infinite variability of analogue signals means that there probably is a variation in sound quality due to different sorts of cables. If an analogue peak is lower (or higher or different shape), then it will result in a different response from the receiving kit - not so with digital signals.
 

JoelSim

New member
Aug 24, 2007
767
1
0
Visit site
knightout:JoelSim:

If you put the 6mm copper speaker cable that I've mentioned umpteen times now, against the QED Silver Anniversary XT then I would suggest that 100% of people would be able to tell which was playing 100% of the time. The reality of the testing procedure you would have to go through would make this test very hard to perform.

Er the 6mm copper was 6mm thick, the QED very thin, about 2mm I would imagine. And how different they made the same system sound.

If QED Silver Anniversary XT is 2mm then it is 14 AWG which should be ok, or if you mean the whole cable not just the core, lower.

Form my limited reading speaker cable may effect sound in the following ways.

thinner > more skin effect, usually only a problem at frequencies way above audible, but overdone could possibly effect treble
thinner > more maxwell effect, improves bass performance
a thin cable can have superior bandwidth but might have too much resistance (since silver has lower resistance than copper in theory it is slightly superior for speaker cables, because the strands can be thinner)
more resistance > possibly less loud and loudness more effected by the speakers impedance which varies with the frequency of sound it is trying to produce. Also depending on amplifier and speaker combination may effect dampening factor, how tightly the amplifier can control the speaker. So sound maybe more coloured by the speaker and amplifiers characteristics.
higher capacitance > possibly more amplifier oscillation especially in some amplifier designs. So sound more coloured by the amplifiers characteristics.
higher induction > very slightly less loud .
dielectric absorption > time-smear distortion at high frequencies, but very unlikely

Effects to the treble are usually more noticeable as they are less masked by other sounds.

So from my limited reading it appears it is possible it sounds different. The most likely causes are slightly superior bandwidth due to being thinner a real but subtle improvement of performance and why multi-stand is better than solid core and multi-strand with individually insulated multiple strands best, or colouring of the sound due to amplifier and speaker characteristics in theory a loss of audio fidelity but some may prefer the effect.

The manufacturer does not provide any technical details of the electrical properties of the cable, gives no measured results and no double blind test findings. It is impossible for me to know if I would be able to hear a difference. It is also impossible to know if any difference heard is due to improved performance or distortion with out measurement.

So they do make a difference. Finally!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
ok ... will most prob get ridiculed for this .... but answer this one ...

if all cables are the same, why is it that when my neigbour borrowed my battery jumper cables so as to start his Ford Transit van, the van would not start ...

yet, when he borrowed the other neighbours jumpers, which are slightly thicker, the van started immediately ...

dumb comparison to Hi Fi I know ... but just proving a point as regards thicker cable vs thinner

not all hifi cables are the same ... they are different thicknesses, different sheathing, etc ... this has to play a part IMHO?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi Dim_span

No ridicule here...

A starting van will take an enormous current from a battery - 12V DC down a cable loses voltage pretty quickly the further you transmit it, the loss is proportional to the length of the jumper cables and inversly proportional to the cross section of the cable. The thicker the better for jump leads. My old physics teacher used to compare DC electrickery with water down a hose pipe - Voltage was the pressure, and ampage the flow. If you put a lot of pressure through a very narrow pipe it reduces the pressure significantly, especially over a distance.

Doesn't necessarily follow for the very small AC voltages through audio interconnects. AC is used in power distribution simply because it has much much lower transmission losses than DC.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
johnnyjazz:JohnDuncan:Dom Tych:Have you ever bought a watch? Oh don't get Joel started on watches...ÿ Bought my wife a reverso for her birthday, lots of moving parts, faaaantasticÿ
Does a reverso run backwards?ÿ
Sorry for that.

(By the way, my previous comment was a reply to a comment made by 'Visionary' (not his real name I'm guessing, but I am guessing he is a he - women are far too smart to bother with the kind of madness in this thread).)

And by the way #2, I like my cables and think they do make a difference, but I don't spend silly money.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Dom Tych:Does a reverso run backwards?
And by the way #2, I like my cables and think they do make a difference, but I don't spend silly money.If you buy a reverso then you would spend silly money
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
JoelSim:

So they do make a difference. Finally!

I originally posted way back near the beginning of this thread that I thought cables of different metals like silver vs copper and different gauges could sound different. I said I thought only cables of the same gauge and metal would be impossible to tell apart in a controlled double blind test. I also on my original reply to speaker cables said construction one thick solid wire, vs multi thread, vs individually insulated multithread, and round vs flat cables do have a measurable difference.

But Silver only has 5.7% better conductivity than copper. In electrical terms that is marginal and easily offset by using slightly higher gauge of copper. When the speaker capable is of adequate or better gauge for the job it has sufficiently low enough resistance to work properly, using higher gauge or better conductors will not give further improvement.

The differences between cable design, flat vs round, one solid core vs multi-strand etc... Make a measurable difference which could in theory result in a subtle audible difference. But has failed to be proven in double blind tests, it maybe too subtle to be discernable.

What is known to be audible is that cable not up for the job will cause the sound to be coloured depending on the characteristics of the speaker and amplifier. This I would view as less audio fidelity. The expensive cable generally sells its self as being more revealing not more distorting. That is not to say that distortion can not result in better sounding, like valve amps with even order harmonics.

QED give absolutely no evidence that their product improves performance and at QED.co.uk make no claims that it improves performance, they just say it was designed with performance in mind.
 

visionary

Well-known member
Apr 4, 2008
80
0
18,540
Visit site
Dom Tych:johnnyjazz:JohnDuncan:Dom Tych:Have you ever bought a watch? Oh don't get Joel started on watches... Bought my wife a reverso for her birthday, lots of moving parts, faaaantastic
Does a reverso run backwards?
Sorry for that.

(By the way, my previous comment was a reply to a comment made by 'Visionary' (not his real name I'm guessing, but I am guessing he is a he - women are far too smart to bother with the kind of madness in this thread).)

And by the way #2, I like my cables and think they do make a difference, but I don't spend silly money.

Yeah but your reply to me was combining what I'd said and what Ollie had said so it was too complicated to reply .

Not sure I like the implication that I'm not smart coz I'm participating in this thread
emotion-4.gif
. Just like to remind you I said it was like a Mobius strip
emotion-1.gif
 

idc

Well-known member
knightout:JoelSim:

So they do make a difference. Finally!

I originally posted way back near the beginning of this thread that I thought cables of different metals like silver vs copper and different gauges could sound different. I said I thought only cables of the same gauge and metal would be impossible to tell apart in a controlled double blind test. I also on my original reply to speaker cables said construction one thick solid wire, vs multi thread, vs individually insulated multithread, and round vs flat cables do have a measurable difference.

But Silver only has 5.7% better conductivity than copper. In electrical terms that is marginal and easily offset by using slightly higher gauge of copper. When the speaker capable is of adequate or better gauge for the job it has sufficiently low enough resistance to work properly, using higher gauge or better conductors will not give further improvement.

The differences between cable design, flat vs round, one solid core vs multi-strand etc... Make a measurable difference which could in theory result in a subtle audible difference. But has failed to be proven in double blind tests, it maybe too subtle to be discernable.

What is known to be audible is that cable not up for the job will cause the sound to be coloured depending on the characteristics of the speaker and amplifier. This I would view as less audio fidelity. The expensive cable generally sells its self as being more revealing not more distorting. That is not to say that distortion can not result in better sounding, like valve amps with even order harmonics.

QED give absolutely no evidence that their product improves performance and at QED.co.uk make no claims that it improves performance, they just say it was designed with performance in mind.

I am with Joel on this one. You are putting forward a similar argument to the case that all amps sound the same....if you equalise them to sound the same. So you have two brands of cable that are made in the same way but are different colours and cost different amounts, you would expect them to sound the same. Otherwise you have put forward a very detailed argument as to why cables do not sound the same, because of construction.

With regards to construction, there has been no real mention of the termination. My mate who does stuff with cables that need to be hardened because they work in extreme environments, brades the cable and is more concerned with the quality of the termination. So that is another factor explaining why cables can sound different.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Andrew Everard:Don't take this thread down the usual religions route. For the love of god, please no...

Which god are we talking about.....or what make?
emotion-2.gif


Oh.... and I notice you have a few more posts than I do.... so is this really how all discussions like this end up.......religion?
emotion-8.gif
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
dim_span:maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings

Is that what you use? are the results good?, any particular make you suggest?, any particular plugs I should use? any particular length?.....

I have already posted on here that I could easily hear the difference between my old cables and my new ones and they were worth the £600 investment so are you saying I've wasted my money and my ears have lied(and my wife's).

If I'm happy why would you want to detract from that? or try and prove there is no god?.......I'm affraid your post comes across as really sad.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
maxheadroom:dim_span:maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings

If I'm happy why would you want to detract from that? or try and prove there is no god?.......I'm affraid your post comes across as really sad.

have not tried it, but you first mate .... then tell us your findings ... God may be kind to you
emotion-2.gif
 

hammill

New member
Mar 20, 2008
212
0
0
Visit site
maxheadroom:dim_span:maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings

Is that what you use? are the results good?, any particular make you suggest?, any particular plugs I should use? any particular length?.....

I have already posted on here that I could easily hear the difference between my old cables and my new ones and they were worth the £600 investment so are you saying I've wasted my money and my ears have lied(and my wife's).

If I'm happy why would you want to detract from that? or try and prove there is no god?.......I'm affraid your post comes across as really sad.
If your belief in cables or in God make you happy, why do you care what anyone else thinks?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
dim_span:maxheadroom:dim_span:maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings

On page 7 I have already told you my findings so why would

If I'm happy why would you want to detract from that? or try and prove there is no god?.......I'm affraid your post comes across as really sad.

have not tried it, but you first mate .... then tell us your findings ... God may be kind to you
emotion-2.gif


I've already told you my findings on page 7 so why do you suggest I try car jumper cables when you hav'nt yourself....for a minute there I thought you had a great revelation to make which would start a rush at halfords or did you get hold of the wrong end of the cable?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hammill:maxheadroom:dim_span:maxheadroom:

Question......Is there more evidence for cables improving sound quality without technical proof than there is for the existance of any god?..

If so can I be left alone to practice my cable religion without all this cable persicution........thankyou

use your car battery jumper cables (or borrow a pair) ... use them as an interconnect between your amp and your cdp ... test them, and see if you hear a difference ... then post on here and tell us your findings

Is that what you use? are the results good?, any particular make you suggest?, any particular plugs I should use? any particular length?.....

I have already posted on here that I could easily hear the difference between my old cables and my new ones and they were worth the £600 investment so are you saying I've wasted my money and my ears have lied(and my wife's).

If I'm happy why would you want to detract from that? or try and prove there is no god?.......I'm affraid your post comes across as really sad.

If your belief in cables or in God make you happy, why do you care what anyone else thinks?

I don't.... and I think my post on page 7 says that...my point is whatever you believe in ....either with with cables or god ..knocking them when people have spent money or have faith achieves little in a positive way. Say what you believe in and your findings but be careful what and how you try to prove others wrong....
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts