Huge Improvement! You Should Buy These Affordable Audio Cables

Mid Tier $300ish
Top Tier $800ish

[ec]

You forgot about Sith Audio Bass Paste. I dip all my platinum banana plugs into it before I connect. Completely opened up the soundstage.

[ryanmccann]

I use Blue Jeans Cable for speaker wires, interconnects, and data cables. So far I've purchased RCAs, S/PDIF optical and coax, BNC to RCA, Y-split RCAs, spade terminated speaker cable, and two data cables. They're all functioning great and tolerate my interminable tinkering.

[haaspaas]

If you can hear the sonic difference between working optical cables youre not just drinking the snake oil, youre injecting it straight into your veins.

[philbert]

Great video Randy! I'm on the cusp of re-wiring my back channels because the speaker cable is 20 years old and has clearly oxidized. So for me this is the right video at the right time!

[ordinaryjoe]

See, this is why I use an air cleaner with a HEPA filter and an ion generator to clean the air in rooms where I use wireless speakers! That intermediate connection matters! I don't see a label, but I think this is a Sith Audio product. 😋

[TheHammerofDissidence]

I use Blue Jeans cables and they're great. I especially recommend their low cap RCAs for phono leads...

[thefloop]

In the analog domain, i can absolutely hear differences between cables. Especially RCA cables. With RCA cables it can actually be a "WOW" moment when you finally hook up a good one and realize what you've been missing.

Ive tried and tried and tried with digital cables, double blinded. Having people hook my stuff up and surprise me while i try to guess. Running phase null tests nto my interface. trying with multiple different interfaces even. Every way i could come up with to try and zero in on a difference with the intent to prove myself wrong, not right... Cheap cables, expensive, whatever. The only difference ive ever been able to perceive, and this is with ears trained for mixing and mastering mind you... Was build quality. And i will definitely say, there is a reason that basically every DAC designed for mixing and mastering professionals, runs thunderbolt USB and doesn't even bother with coaxial or optical. Professionals dont buy stuff that doesn't affect the outcome of a particular task like the average consumer can very easily be convinced to do.

I too recommend the exploration of cables, but only if you actually have the ability to remove the placebo affect from the equation, as well as let your ears adjust to the frequency changes they experience every single time sound pressure vanishes and returns, you also need to train your mind to compensate for this on instict as well otherwise youll hear and see lots of things that arent actually there. Its just part of the way the brain works and responds to stimulus. Unless you have the desire or ability to do that, i recommend the best quality cables you can afford in analog paths to benefit the transmission of the signal. I recommend the best digital cables you can reasonably justify because they will last a lot longer then the el cheapos at walmart.

P.S. (no pun intended) if your amplifier's USB input sounds worse then the coaxial and optical, its because the manufacturer of your equipment did that on purpose, btw.

ive done the phase null tests with dac outputs into the front of my interface with several digital cables in the feeds to the dacs. You cannot argue with a phase null test, if you think you hear a difference, its only because you think you do. That is what the placebo effect IS, perceiving something that isnt actually there simply because you expect it to be, and you can absolutely tell yourself as much as you want there wont be a difference, while still expecting there to be. People play this trick on themselves constantly without realizing it.

Audio professionals dont get sold snake oil, because all we have to do is run a phase null test that wont lie to us like our ears will.

[scotthanson]

Thanks for doing this video! 30+ yrs ago, I worked at Best Buy. I owned a modest stereo system at the time. Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Polk, etc…. Because of my employee discount, I was able to purchase fairly expensive cables at a significant discount. These cables looked nice, and were better built, but I’m not sure I could honestly say they improved the sound of my system over the basic cables that came for free in the box. Fast forward to today, and I have a significantly more expensive hifi system, with properly chosen components that compliment each other and the room. I can share that cables can make a significant change to the sound signature. Bass depth, bass detail, vocal clarity, sound stage, etc…. Changing a cable doesn’t always improve the sound, but there is no denying differences. So, for those that say cables don’t make a difference, they don’t have a system and associated room with the resolution to reveal the changes, and/or they don’t have the hearing capable of distinguishing the changes, and/or they don’t have enough experiences that presented differences. For my current system and budget, I’m a big fan of AudioArt, but I’ve had great success with Audioquest and Transparent too.

[judmcc]

Do you know that there are miles and miles of who-knows-what cable between the power station and your wall socket?

[fredjoel]

Thanks for providing reasonable options. I agree with your thoughts specifically on physical construction. After decades as an EE audiophile, an explanation exists for audible differences. Price is not necessarily a factor. Without going too deep, all cables have associated resistance, capacitance and inductance parameters. Connectors have contact resistance and potential for signal rectification due to metal contamination i.e., oxidation, etc. Regarding speaker cables potentially an additional factor may be how cables interact with an amplifier's negative feedback loop: I once observed speaker cables picking up noise (RF, induced EMF noise, etc.) then impacting amplifier circuitry. Shielding and construction impact how noise is picked up, and mostly in the case of power cables, potentially radiated to equipment. I hope that this provides insight on why cables may sound different.

[bradt.]

I agree the sonic differences in RCA interconnects is so small, but HDMI, come on, blind test time. Same with optical. Power cords no, no, no. Only replace power cords if they're too short or damaged!!! Then a standard power cord is just as good.

[ericelliott]

In my opinion, decent affordable cables are all that is needed. Science fact: Cables, as long as properly shielded and made make little to no sonic difference depending on application. It is basic physics and no brand has a corner on the world of physics. Trying to defy or claiming to defy the laws of physics is a fool's errand.
One should not need to spend more than around $250 on cables for everything, not including power conditioners. A budget of up to around $300 or so should get a very good power conditioner if one needs one.

I would only add the following:
Speaker cable: For very little more money, I'd go with either building one's own speaker cables out of something like Belden or what have you or at least getting something similar over the zip type cable. The zip type is fine for non-mission critical stuff, such as surround speakers and especially for vintage gear, but for mission critical, I'd spend $6 to $10 more and get the better stuff.

RCA interconnects: I have not tried the Amazon Basics, but they might be decent at least. Some of the Amazon branded products are quite good. I used to run Monoprice premium RCAs but while they are shielded (might even survive a nuke blast), they are extremely stiff and the terminators have the potential to disembowel your gear should you need to disconnect them. I would not recommend. I run Wireworld cables (only because I got a killer deal some 3 years ago). Otherwise, the World's Best are decent and somewhat reasonable. I have a pair of their japan canare balanced cables - good enough and more.

Power conditioners: They make no sonic difference and do not improve your homes wiring, etc. (they are the last step in "upgrading the home's wiring"), but none the less, they do protect your gear and give some assemblance of last step feeding of said gear. Furman is good, just as the more expensive Panamax and the ones that cost the same as a sports car. I have an older Panamax (far more expensive than the Furman) and it still does it's job. (It saved my gear twice I can count).

There are a lot of good optical cables to choose from for little money. One can almost throw a stone and hit one.

HDMI cable: By experience, they DO make a difference. However, one need not spend $50 on an HDMI cable, it doesn't buy you anymore than a $15 to $20 HDMI cable does. The trick is to make sure your HDMI cable is not only shielded of course, but not too heavy or stiff and has the correct rating. For ARC purposes, one needs to make sure the cable is compatible for that as not all HDMI cables are.

The SVS cables are over-priced.

Power cables: I don't know that they make a sonic difference, likely not. However, they are healthy for one's gear if made well and generally better then the power cables that come with the gear. Heavy money need not be spent though. I found a couple from a company called Waudio on Amazon that are just as good as any for a bit less than the Pine Tree one. Are power cables worth upgrading knowing they likely make no sonic difference? In my opinion: Yes.

As for Audioquest product: Very questionable in my opinion. Very over-priced = fact. Companies like them are the cause of the "snake oil theory". Trying to give a bad name to science fact will always result in failure on many levels eventually. I view companies like them as "flat-earthers". Fuel for cults. Same goes for all the "boutique cable companies. None of which have been able to prove their product.

[StringPassion.]

As an audiophile purist, I find that dipping all of my cables in audio-grade clarified butter that is specially prepared by my local audio shop provides the absolute smoothest sound possible. The difference is palatable.

[dagnahbbet]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates this compendium of affordable accessories. Thanks man. You mentioned Snake Oil. When I bought my Schiit Stack I discovered their custom length single ended RCAs. Love eliminating my cable clutter with 8 or 10 inch lengths.

[jamesmansion]

Digital cables do not have a sonic impact, unless they introduce errors that the protocol cannot recover (or that by recovering, just maybe, there is jitter). There is, perhaps, a possibility that an HDMI cable could be borderline and the clock reconstruction circuitry on the receiver will have to work harder and create jitter, but I doubt its an issue with modern kit, and suspect its in your head. Get an electrical engineer to explain why there might be any issue one way or another - preferably a real one, rather than a guy that sells cables. There is never any cable issue with I2S, or with USB class 2 and an async buffered receiver. For I2S, an explicit clock signal is sent from the source. For USB Class 2, the clock in the DAC is driving the process after a tiny buffering period and its signaling buffered data just like TCP/IP and even an early Raspberry Pi can deliver 44.1/16 with its crappy USB.

[monkeymanstones]

I bought the Audioquest Pearl HDMI's you showed 6 or so years ago. They are good and not painful to the wallet.

[fredwaldrop]

So I ordered budget tier power conditioner, and cables. I'm a believer, thanks Cheap Audio Man!

[JohnScheppler]

Great options for every budget. I was skeptical about cables matter until I changed between rca cables and could really hear the difference. This was not a placebo either because I had my non audiophile friend verified, and it actually increased the decibel level of my system using a meter. Now I'm a believer.

[basos-zsto]

I have always have noticed a difference in cables. But, diminishing returns set in REALLY QUICK. It gets to the point that the $30 RCA cable is clearly better then the $2 cable a cheap source comes with, but only slightly sounds different one costing 10 times more. Sounding different does not always mean better, at that point it is subjective and really a matter of taste.

[gdghst]

You are recommending a product you only found out about the same day you made the video? Wow and you literally just showing your amazon searches in your video without testing or demonstrating your recommendations. And you link your recommendation with direct link in the video description. Talk about a cash grab.