Interconnects - better before preamp or after preamp?

I’m using the same on everything, (Audioquest Colorado RCA and XLR) but my source.  It’s using an Audioquest digital something but I want to change to a USB and haven’t picked one yet.

@emergingsoul

I just replied to another thread, more or less on the interconnect topic.

I relayed the advice I received from a highly regarded seller of vintage NOS tubes, and since typing is such a laborious task for me, I am going to copy & paste that post I just typed.

around 25 years ago I bought a bunch of vintage NOS tubes from someone who most on this & other sites hold in high esteem. At that time he did not sell interconnects, and I don’t know for positive, but I don’t think that he does today, either. I asked him about mixing & matching brands of tubes:

he told me that was not his favorite thing, but not as bad as mixing & matching interconnects.

To oversimplify his explanation on that, if interconnect pair-A from source to preamp do sonic-thing#1 quite well but lack on sonic-thing#2 and is matched with interconnect-pair-B from preamp to amp and those interconnects lack on sonic-thing#1 but do sonic-thing#2 well, those two pairs of interconnect cables are cancelling each other’s best attributes out. Meaning that his advice was to stick with one brand of interconnect from source to amp. At the time, at least during that conversation, he did not have any skin in the interconnect game.

Done what you're asking on two different systems with different cables (Cardas and Analysis Plus) two times.  In both cases best results were with better cables from source to pre.

djones51

4,855 posts

09-14-2022 at 08:28pm 

I wouldn't worry about it.

This surprises no one. I'm sure of it.......

Here's an exception..  I had Nordost Frey 2 in both locations.  Swapping Tyr 2 between pre and power was much better.  Logic says once the signal deteriorates there's no getting it back and I agree.  It must be something else.  The Frey and Try have identical architecture differing only in the number of conductors.  My take is the larger signal after the pre was better handled by the added conductors of the Tyr.  With the Tyr between the source and pre there was little increase in SQ.  I swapped back and forth a few times to make sure.