Nad links upgrade/rca cable upgrade

[alienmango]

I saw the forum member "Nads" mentioned that it is worth replacing the supplied links that come between the pre out and main in. (Although I'm confused why they would bottleneck their own product?!?)

I was wondering what it should be replaced with, obviously all amps/every piece of electronic equipment has some distortion so even having an amazing cable with a noise floor of -100db at normal listening levels may be irrelevant if the noise floor of the amp is at -10db etc.

My equipment is rdac and nad c370. Speakers will be replaced soon. I do not plan on replacing these parts so I want to buy something "system matched" not future proof if that makes sense.

Anyway I want a set of cables to go from the rdac to the nad c370 and possibly something to replace the supplied nad links.

(I currently have some cheap belkin rca cables - but the nad links sound much better than they do (I did an a-b comparison switching left to right on a mono track).

Thanks for any input. (Sorry if I ramble)

 

[matthewpiano]

When I had the C326BEE I used these:

http://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-preamp-jumpers-p-5913.html#.UieBetKsjPo

Worked well and I thought they sounded better than the NAD jumpers. Worth a try anyway.

 

[nads]

as i am using Tara Labs interconnects i used the Tara Labs Missing links.

after getting my new speakers home they just did not quite sound as open as the demo.

so i went back to the dealer to see what was different. the Missing links were the difference and when fitted they produced what i was missing.

 

[Covenanter]

I was wondering what it should be replaced with, obviously all amps/every piece of electronic equipment has some distortion so even having an amazing cable with a noise floor of -100db at normal listening levels may be irrelevant if the noise floor of the amp is at -10db etc.

What are you talking about?!

Chris

 

[andyjm]

I saw the forum member "Nads" mentioned that it is worth replacing the supplied links that come between the pre out and main in. (Although I'm confused why they would bottleneck their own product?!?)

I was wondering what it should be replaced with, obviously all amps/every piece of electronic equipment has some distortion so even having an amazing cable with a noise floor of -100db at normal listening levels may be irrelevant if the noise floor of the amp is at -10db etc.

My equipment is rdac and nad c370. Speakers will be replaced soon. I do not plan on replacing these parts so I want to buy something "system matched" not future proof if that makes sense.

Anyway I want a set of cables to go from the rdac to the nad c370 and possibly something to replace the supplied nad links.

(I currently have some cheap belkin rca cables - but the nad links sound much better than they do (I did an a-b comparison switching left to right on a mono track).

Thanks for any input. (Sorry if I ramble)

You are talking about the 1 inch solid metal jumpers that stick in the back of the amp to jump between pre out and main in?

Unless you need to remove them, then leave well alone. Nothing you replace them with will make the the sound quality any better, though possibly it could make it worse.

 

[alienmango]

What are you talking about?!

Chris

The decible scale is logarithmic, so can extend to negativve numbers, I had my hearing tested and can hear to -10db on some frequencies.

If there is noise in an amplifier which is produced at -10 db through the speakers at listening position then if the cable's inherent noise floo was -60 db then it would sound no better than a cable which introduced noise at -40db since the noise is still 1000 times less than that produced by the amp.

Obviously there are other factors like signal degredation/the elastic electrical nature of cables but all I'm trying to get at is that I want a cable which is of a relatively similar level to my other equimpent.

 

[andyjm]

What are you talking about?!

Chris

The decible scale is logarithmic, so can extend to negativve numbers, I had my hearing tested and can hear to -10db on some frequencies.

If there is noise in an amplifier which is produced at -10 db through the speakers at listening position then if the cable's inherent noise floo was -60 db then it would sound no better than a cable which introduced noise at -40db since the noise is still 1000 times less than that produced by the amp.

Obviously there are other factors like signal degredation/the elastic electrical nature of cables but all I'm trying to get at is that I want a cable which is of a relatively similar level to my other equimpent.

The unit is the Bel, more usefully used as a 1/10 of a Bel or deci Bel. Shortened to dB not db. It is a unitless ratio, and as such 'hearing to -10dB' is meaningless. If being used as a measure of loudness, then it can be used as a ratio against a known reference. A common choice is 20 micro pascals, in which case it is dB(spl).

This is unrelated to the signal to noise ratio of your amp (also measured in dB).

I would suggest reading many of the excellent on line resources on the subject, Wikipedia is a good start.

As for the jumpers, I really would recommend you don't fiddle with them.