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How Big of a Difference?

Hello all,

I have near completed upgrading my system, but have left my speaker wire the same. My system is as follows- Laptop (Tidal) > Schiit Gumby Multibit > Freya S > Vidar monoblocks > speakers. My usb cable is Supra usb, and I am using xlr connections with amazon basics cables. If I am not mistaken, xlr is already super good at being noise resistance so I shouldn't need to spend more $ on fancy cables at my current level of audio equipment. My speaker wire is traditional 12 gauge wire I spliced from the spool. Nothing fancy. The reason I feel I shouldn't spend money on better speaker wire is because I traded the Supra usb for a super cheap usb and could not hear a difference. On top of that, I used to use single-ended connections using Chord C-line cables, and I could not tell the difference between those and cheap ones. What is everyone else's consensus? Can you guys hear a difference in your system? Thanks for the help.

oedstrom11
soix
9,549 posts
 

What speakers are you using?

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bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,204 posts
 

Simple advice.  Buy with a return policy if you're not happy.  Not everyone can hear the difference between $50 cables and $5000 cables.  If YOU don't hear an improvement, then don't waste your money.  

mceljo
1,357 posts
 

My experience is limited with cables, but the only cable that I've heard a significant difference with was a W Audio power cord that I picked up for about $40 on Amazon.  The W Audio power cord made a significant difference for my Pathos amplifier.  As a result of that experience, I have ordered Audioquest Chicago interconnects to go between my DAC and amplifier to see if I can hear a difference compared to the Blue Jeans Cable LC-1 interconnects that I currently have.

 

I'm still working on my theory for why I heard a significant difference with the W Audio power cord on my amplifier and maybe with my power conditioner, but not necessarily with my DAC or SACD player.  I suspect that the W Audio power cable rejects noise better and the amplifier is the most sensitive to noise.

 

Part of why I'm willing to try the Audioquest interconnects is that the power cord brought out some micro details that makes me wonder if my system is now at a level where I might hear a difference that I couldn't hear before.

 

I'd suggest trying a W Audio power cable and seeing if it makes a difference in your system.  If it eliminates some noise I think it'll allow you to hear things that you otherwise couldn't when evaluating other potential upgrades.

 

What speakers do you have?

havocman
350 posts
 

are you kidding you're using crappy wire like that for speaker wire give your head a shake buddy wow better speaker wire will make a big difference man you couldn't use worse wire than that.

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