Are expensive cables really worth it? Test of RCA analogue interconnects.

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Snake oil or not? I've tested four different RCA cables, from one that was dirt cheap to one that was quite pricey.

[kreatorcuriosity]

Thank u, this is very informative. Your results matched my listening test with different cables= no audible difference.

[martyn_g]

I say buy Mogami and Canare. They use it to wire up recording studios. So if it’s good enough to record music, it’s good enough to listen to music. And it costs bugger all next to audiophile cable.

[gregroppo]

Thanks so much for this comprehensive testing and analysis. I was about to go buy a pile of overpriced cables - which has always bothered me - when I found your channel.

I’d buy you a beer if you were in California, but the best I can do instead is subscribe. Done!.

[rebeccaschade]

Decent quality copper (which most cables have) and decent shielding is all it takes for an interconnect to be of sufficient quality. There can be slightly more quality difference between speakers cables, as there's much higher currents moving through those, but again, there are extreme diminishing returns. Decent quality copper of sufficient gauge, and you're good. And I'm not going to claim that there's absolutely nothing to be gained from going with specific types of cables etc, but the differences are so small that your ears are likely to be a much more limiting factor.
It's worth keeping in mind, that having multiple cables running behind a hi-fi rack or something, including power cables, is a source of noise, and it's why the skinny (unshielded) black "freebies" that come with cheap cd-players or similar can often sound somewhat less good, and it's helped hi-fi stores sell expensive cables for decades.

[MandrewP]

I can't believe that they have a pair of cables like you tested for $24, 000 !

[David-xlcp]

So true, there is a lot of crap talked in hifi, and burning in cables is as you say, a bit of metal.
It’s sad that some people play music to listen to the hifi system and not the music.

[buskman]

Absolutely correct. I've been in the Audiophile "business" for more years than I care to admit. High end cables are a marketing invention. We routinely did double-blind tests of cables varying in "quality" from whatever came with the component to $2500 cables. No one ever consistently identified any cable as sounding better. As far as sound quality, It's a myth. I will admit that high end cables are prettier. ;)

[CM-dwgh]

Nice to see test equipment used. Cheers mate

[fabithierry]

I made my own interconnect cables with Coax conductors. I am really happy with the results

[juststuff]

Great video!
Many years ago I help install a Focal Grand Utopia/McIntosh system, and we asked we did much the same test with speaker and RCA, and the customer admitted they couldn't tell the difference … but went with the higher priced cables anyway. What can you do? Some people love throwing their money down the drain!

[Drinkyoghurt]

I use "cheap" cables from Thomann called the sssnake SRR. They have a spring strain relief, thick but flexible outer and good metal connectors and shielding at 6 euros for a single cable. I honestly can't hear the difference when it's line level signal.

[carlosortega]

Excellent contribution - Thanks a lot ! Especially with digital signals, if all the zeroes and ones are read, who wants more.

[roerdompe]

When you just spent 10.000 Euro / Pounds or Dollars on a cable you WANT to en WILL hear a difference. Even if there would be slight measurable differences, the question is whether our old ears can actually hear detect it them in these frequency ranges.

[bw]

I love this dude, he tells it like it is, with humour !

[konstantine_c]

Real proper overview and comparison mate! Much appreciated.

[chatrs]

IMO if you record the signal and play in-phase and phase-inverted signal together, there are interaction between these two inputs. They react to each other and got some summing error. That's why they don't completely canceled out.

[jefflee]

Just A/B tested an Audio Quest Big Sur with a Amazon Basic interconnect cable. When playing DSD files the differnce is obvious. For CD files I couldn't hear real differences.

[TTVEaGMXde]

In Akustik doesn't want to sell cables either. In any case, the cable capacity is a secret. This is not a secret with the Belden 1800F. 85 pF/m

[frog]

Excellent test I appreciate your great work!

[donk]

"It evidently doesn't work very well". Classic mate, classic :).