Interesting video on cables


At the risk of opening up this can of worms again, my brother sent me this video.  It’s incredibly interesting and goes some way to showing why cables matter and that all cables are not equal.  These are USB cables but I’m sure the principle applies to speaker and IC cabling.

 

 

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These are USB cables but I’m sure the principle applies to speaker and IC cabling.

No, not really.  This is geared more toward computer audio/video than USB as it’s used in more serious audio applications like sending a signal between a streamer and a DAC, and really nobody serious about audio is connecting to a computer at all.  And this really doesn’t have much to do with analog speaker and IC cables — it’s really just a different world and application altogether.  It’s an interesting video comparing Thunderbolt cables, but it doesn’t translate much to anything discussed on this site. 

Imagine building the machine to build the Apple cables. Such tiny pieces require mind blowing precision to achieve the high quality level shown. 

Ok, Apple is NOT a cable company.  Period.  They’re a computer company that lightly dabbles a bit in making some cheap cables purely for computer purposes.  That’s it.  I used their Camera Adapter for a little bit to get music outta my iPhone/iPad to my DAC and it was a total joke — a toy — and I was able to trounce it for a few bucks more with a cable made by a real cable company that actually knows how to make a good cable for audio.  Apple’s cables are functional, but for pure audio purposes they’re awful, and since this is primarily an audio site some perspective seemed to be in order here.  Apple is a lot of things but a cable company they are not.  Not even close. 

@soix I agree and understand that this particular application of USB cable is geared towards computer applications, the point I’m trying to make is that not all cables are equal.  This video is a great example of that even if it’s not audio specific.  Audio specific cables have different levels of quality and engineering as well.  By the way, I’m currently using my MacBook Pro as a source for streaming and I think I’m pretty serious about audio.  I think my system sounds good.  It’s just where I’m at in the process right now.  I’m not sure which streamer I want to go with and since I’m happy at the moment with the sound I have I’m taking my time sorting it out and the Tidal and Qobuz interfaces on the Mac are outstanding which may or may not be the case with streaming interfaces.  I had the HiFi Rose 250a for a bit but the interface was a bit crap and my Denafrips/Mac combo sounds better to me.  I know folks around here frown on computers as steamers but it works for me at the moment.

Ok.  I get it.  It’s a process and a progression.  But don’t say things like this…

These are USB cables but I’m sure the principle applies to speaker and IC cabling.

because that’s not accurate and why I said something.  No good audio-purposed USB or any other audio cable is designed like this or anything like it — see below as one example, and note how even the power and data legs of the USB cable are physically separated and definitely no electronics built into the cable.  That aside, I wish you the best of luck in finding a streamer that really makes a difference for you because it’s definitely out there and worth the effort in finding it.

https://www.lavricables.com/cables/ultimate-silver-dual-usb-a-b-interconnect-cable/