Inter Connects - What I know and don't know

Rules of Thumb are great... And there’s no no substitute for demoing gear. But if there are some objective shortcuts based on science (psychoacoustics) that we might all benefit from, well that’s what I’m leaning into here.

The criteria in the initial post, I had hoped would help highlight some areas where differences are beyond subjective. Perhaps they’re a little too broad. While absolutes are hard to come by, certain other criteria should be fairly easy to measure/experience.

For example (2) cables with the exact connectors, the same, length, with the same shielding, braiding, etc. but different gauges. Shouldn’t the thicker gauge produce a better sound in the majority of systems? Many manufacturer’s have this exact set up, and we’re simply selecting one gauge/price over another based on our budget. I would think at some point the differences become negligible, say between 12 gauge and 10 gauge (again on the majority of systems). At what point can most humans differentiate between the two (say 18 to 16, 18 to 12...)? Knowing this we might all be able to save a little money and spend it elsewhere in our rig.

OP I would reach out to Ralph for his opinion on an IC to use with his amplifier. What say you @atmasphere ?

Rather than hear opinions from people who are not using the same components in their audio chain. 

@jerryg123

I already reached out to the dealer. He recommended Mogami Gold. He assured me the manufacturer would agree.

That said there are thousands upon thousands of people who swear their more exotic/expensive cables are significantly more resolute than something as affordable and pedestrian as Mogami.

Thus began the deep dive into cable construction.

@jerryg123 @69zoso69 

Our amps support the balanced standard (AES48). To that end, if your preamp does too, then inexpensive studio balanced line cables will work quite well with very little to be said for exotic cables costing quite a lot more! I use Mogami Neglex at home. If your preamp does not support the standard then you may find that you have some auditioning ahead of you trying to sort out what works with your source.

Heavier gauge is useful for speaker cables- the lower the impedance of the load, the more important this becomes (this being an advantage of higher impedance speakers BTW). But for interconnect cables its not needed and might be a hindrance since it might cause capacitive issues which some preamps or sources might not like.

@atmasphere Thank you Mr. Karsten. 

As a stop gap measure I'll be running direct from my DAC (Denafrips Ponuts II), until I save up for a well mated preamp.