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Lowering the noise floor

I am coming to the conclusion that success in home audio reproduction is largely about lowering the noise floor. There are so many different types of “noise”, from so many different sources, that we only really “hear” by their absence.

Those components, cables, accessories and tweaks that SUCCEED at lowering the noise floor, can, and do, dramatically increase sound quality. Sometimes the type of “noise” dealt with is controversial, or not (yet) widely recognized as being a problem. Sometimes the explanation of how a product works is dubious. Sometimes the way it is marketed reeks of “snake oil”. Sometimes the reviews singing its praises go over the top. While these things will certainly put off some prospective purchasers, they do not negate the audible results that are there for anyone open to hearing them.
tommylion
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
I don't care if balanced cables with XLR connections are actually superior or not.  I'm going to keep using them because they sound good in my system, provide very secure connections and, truth be told, are infinitely cooler than RCA cables and connectors.

Just my take,
    Tim
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
Electing to chime in on this thread in particular because of those who have already chimed in **AND** because OP has created essentially the same post elsewhere on this forum.

In light of the aforementioned, see response here:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/rca-shorting-plugs


boxer12
8,656 posts
 
In my experience it has been power cords that dropped the noise floor the most. Most notably the Oyaide Tunami cable with furutech connectors.  
jc4659
564 posts
 
Sometimes you don't know how much noise you are hearing until it's gone.  Have you ever been in a room that you thought was quiet and then suddenly the room becomes dead quiet and you realize that the humming noise from the compressor in the refrigerator just stopped?  It's like your brain just said "ahh, thank you."  I believe we can sometimes detect the lower noise floor in our audio systems with changes in cables, digital gear, etc. and the music just sounds more clear and right to our ears but really to our brains because it has to work less hard to be believable.

inna
7,369 posts
 
jc4659, exactly.
I think that in many or most cases power cords should be upgraded before interconnects, eventually both, of course. I did it myself, the cost was high, but it was worth it. Besides other things, noise level dropped big, distortion too, and both weren't too bad before the changes.
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