Chinese Cables that sound good
Please share your chinese cable purchases that sounded good, and even horror stories of cables that didn't work out.
People get lured into aliexpress and other sites when the see expensive looking cables that appear very similar to well-known audiophile high-priced units, but at a fraction of the cost.
THIS THREAD IS NOT ABOUT IF ITS RIGHT OR WRONG TO COPY OTHERS' DESIGNS. ITS ABOUT WHICH CABLES SOUND GOOD AND/OR PERFORM WELL.
There are lots of chinese cables to choose from:
- Power cables
- USB cables (separating signal and data)
- Speaker cables
- Interconnects
- HDMI / IIS cables
I've tried a pair of Xansane silver plated copper, braided, speaker cables, to replace generic 12AWG copper that I was using. The pair cost around $230 CAD. It appeared to be made well. However, I didn't notice any difference in the sound of my speakers. 2nd however, I also didn't take notes beforehand or do critical listening...I was just expecting to be blown away somehow but I wasn't. I will be DIY'ing my future cables (power, interconnects, USB, and maybe speaker) using the DIY Helix cable information found on this site (link to thread).
But for now, I want to see what worked for other people.
I have patience to wait, and hands on to build my own, so China epacks, Aliexpress are terrific sources for me for items or parts, wire, cables, I might cut the ends off ..... After choosing an item I want, i.e. Cat 8, 6 nines copper I used to make speaker cables ... especially Aliexpress, I learned to pay attention to the shipping cost, that can make more difference than the item's cost. If already paying some shipping, rather than get just what you need, find the same thing but in a package with a few spares, i.e. gold plated parts: adapters, banana plugs, ... Interconnects with locking RCA connectors, waiting now for XLR/locking RCA 6 nines copper. Always as advertised, always sound great. |
@carlsbad , you get the irony of getting involved in a thread saying that your not getting involved, right? |
Foxhole? What a weird word come to think of it. Terriers go to ground and dig out a fox. Fox hounds run foxes down and _______ them. So what part of a "FOXHOLE" is good? As for the target on their chest, I prefer my back, hit me if you can, I'm out of here. They use to call me "The Chameleon". I can be the only person on a basketball court and blend in.. As for the cables, OP have you ever hooked up ANY cables that took your breath away. I have not. But certain cable do certain thing I like and others don't. It's a cable to a speaker. I haven't used bad cables, but I've sure used some that are better than others. More than 1/2 the cables I buy from China are not put together they way I would put it together. I look at the cable wire and see how it was pulled through the die. I also order with Y spade connectors on both ends or double bullets/banana. BUT the ends are the same. I've reversed direction on the cable at least 25-30% of the time.. The other 15% of the time I'm swapping terminal ends out and went to copper, red copper, copper with silver clad or pure silver. It all makes a big difference.. NO Solder either.. RCA is the exception Regards Regards |
It's a good question, because there are so many kinds. Some look really well made, but that's not a guarantee. I got lucky with my fake interconnects. I'm curious about braided cables that look like Kimber (no, they're not labeled Kimber). There are many others that look interesting as well. There are even bi wire sets that look good. I use bi wire speaker cables so that looked interesting to me. |
