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Yes, cables do make a difference -- regardless of price...

I thought you may find this interesting…or not.  I know, another "cable post".  Disclaimer up front — I am a believer that cables can make a difference in the sound that you hear from your system.  With my speakers, like most high(er) efficiency speakers, I can hear large and small changes made to the system components — and cables are part of that system.

What I want to share is an exercise that I went through with my better half in setting up her recording equipment that she will be using to record audio books.  The hardware part of the system is simple:  Audio Technica Cardioid Condenser Microphone AT2035 connected with a XLR cable to the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 preamp.

We started with the XLR cable that came with the microphone and recorded the short introduction of the book she has been contracted to record.  Then she recorded the same section using each of the our XLR cables I have on hand:  Vovox Excelsus, Mogami 2549, Gotham GAC-3, and Grimm TPR. Each of the cables have the same Neutrik connector and are very good studio cables that I have used in my system at one time.

Listening through headphones via the Scarlett 2i2, it was super easy to hear distinct differences in these cables.  The differences were not small and very apparent.  In the end, the Mogami cable was the winner — it seemed more open and warmer than the other cables and suited the tone of her voice the best. I have heard similar differences from these cables in my stereo system but not to the significant degree borne out by this exercise. 

To keep going, today I replaced the $10 USB C to C cable that I bought as an “upgrade” from the Scarlett 2i2 to a MacBook Air with a $70 Audioquest Forest cable. We were more than surprised that with the AQ cable in the system the drop of the noise floor was very significant and the blackness of background made the sound even more crystal clear.

The purpose of this post is not to promote or compares cables, just a public service posting for those of you who do not believe cables make a difference.  They really do affect how your system sounds (positive or negative) and if you cannot hear a difference then maybe looking at the transparency of your system is a place you should examine.

Imagine peace everyone.

crozbo
Post removed 
soix
9,552 posts
 

“flat earther” denotes someone who disregards all scientific evidence for the earth in fact being spherical, while demanding no scientific evidence to support the belief earth is flat.

@benanders In the audio world “flat earther,” and as it’s used here, refers to people who can only believe what they see and can’t get their heads around that there’s a bigger picture and that not everything can be described by measurements.  People here who can actually “hear” that bigger picture realize that the human ear is a pretty darn good measuring device if you have enough experience and know how to use them.  For those who can’t (or won’t) get it, good for them and just buy lamp cord and live happily ever after.  To each his own. 

crozbo OP
33 posts
 

First, thanks to everyone for keeping this discussion civil and keeping the flame throwers at bay.  The purpose of this post was to communicate my experience with a direct mic to track example.  

I commonly hear people say that they want their system to sound like the "real thing".  But of course that is never going to happen since you do not know what the "real thing" originally sounded like.  What you mean, I suspect, is that you want it to sound like your interpretation of what you think the "real thing" should sound like.

The purpose of our little experiment was just to get her modest voice recording set-up to sound as good as it could with some advice from the good people at ProAudioLA and Sweetwater.  Since I had all these different XLR cables it made sense to try to optimize the sound with resources on hand.

No elaborate A/B/A/A/B/B/B/A testing just her voice, reading the same passage with each cable and running all these segments back to back.  So, in playback there was a four segment level matched continuous track where you could determine the differences in recorded voice quality.  We liked segment 3 the best, which happened to be the Mogami cable. 

In this situation, we were there, knew what live sounded like, and liked how segment 3 best represented her voice.  That is all.  Nothing more and nothing less.

 

 

decooney
2,037 posts
 

@audphile1 "You’re probably one of the very few that kept an open mind. Majority will not.".

 

On that note, those who already know the difference have no need to debate it further, and usually don’t respond. Some NaySayers enjoy debate, and often times have no record of actually testing some of the better cables themselves. Just talk.Talk is Cheap.  

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,094 posts
 

Another cable thread...

I cannot fathom why so much people can deny that some cable may make a change for best or worst...

I cannot fathom why so much people are obsessed by the importance of cable which is secondary and minor most of the times compared to anything that matter: mechanical, electrical and acoustical working controls...

It is like the gear focus on branded name , the costlier the better, instead of acoustics basic and on synergy instead of price tags...

 

Anyway.... Enjoy the thread... 😊

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