Cable Costs Relative to System

At a recent audio party, we tried a half dozen digital cables between transport, and DAC. It was a blind test. We had: On one end of the scale was a cheapy, with the three RCAs, red white, and yellow. At the other end of the spectrum was a thousand dollar Virtual Dynamics digital. In between were some silver connectors, one I remember being "Homegrown."

All the connectors sounded the same, except, darn, the thousand dollar VD. It sounded better.

We've done some blind testing using digital cables and the winner was always the same cable in several different systems. This specific cable makes use of resistive terminations as described in this article at Borbely Audio.

While Borbely talks about a low grade cable with these terminations working better than a high grade cable without these terminations, the cable i'm talking about was designed to work well in every aspect and then the terminations added. That is, it uses a specially shaped solid core silver center conductor to minimize skin effect, high grade Teflon dielectric and then a braided silver shield. I have this cable in both BNC and RCA form and they both work very well.

The manufacturer also made this in a copper version at a later date, which was still some 10+ years ago. When i called them up to get some info on the silver cables, they couldn't even recall ever making such a cable or any of the specifics about it. I know that this was a standard item though as i've got at least three of them here and my Brother is running one too. From what i've seen, none of their digital cables after this series makes use of materials or designs that are anywhere near as good as what i've described here. The profit margin was probably only 500% rather than their goal of 1000%, hence the decision to revert back to less expensive materials and production techniques.

Please take note that Borbely makes mention of impedance matching being an "old trick" to RF people. As most of the regulars here know, i've discussed impedance matching of cabling and components for many years now. I've specifically mentioned the fact that one obtains the best performance possible when the output impedance of the source component matches the nominal impedance of the cabling used and the input impedance of the load. I've also stated that i only know of one specific manufacturer that has designed their entire product line to do this, so it is not very common within the field of audio design. As such, the benefits of such a design could only be fully achieved if using that one brand of components in every position of one's system.

Outside of interconnects, selecting a loudspeaker cable that displays the proper nominal impedance is also very important. Test results demonstrated the superior bandwidth and linearity of such a design was presented by Audioholics a short while ago. It was no coincidence that this cable, which i've recommended for several years now, beat every other cable tested by a wide margin. The fact that the folks conducting these tests at Audioholics are basically "cable naysayers", and their test results DID show a measurable difference in electrical performance between different makes, models and geometries, demonstrates that there is a method to the madness when designing and purchasing cabling for a specific application.

As i've said before, spec's can tell one quite a bit about the sonics and measurable levels of performance. That is, if the spec's were properly obtained and they are properly interpreted. If such weren't the case, we wouldn't be able to move forward in terms of electronic technology and would still be in the dark ages. Cabling is no different. You don't have to spend a lot of money on cabling in order to obtain excellent performance. You just have to buy competently designed active components, and therein lies the major problem. Sean
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My system retails for $30,600 without the cables. I'm getting ready to spend $8,700 on two interconnects and a set of speaker cables. When I tried the new cables I found they elevated the whole sound of the system more than changing any one component. They offered me sound that I didn't even know my system was capable of. Down the road I'd like to change the power cords as well.

I recently sold my Hydra 4 in favor of running dedicated lines. A friend helped me and it wasn't a big job at all. I have a dedicated line and outlet for each component. The dedicated lines offered me a more natural open sound with much better range then either the PS Audio Ultimate Outlet I had or the Shunyata Hydra with a Taipan power cord (you need a 20AMP connector). The retail on the Shunyata products is $1,350. I installed the dedicated outlets using Porter Ports for a total of $200. That was by far the greatest upgrade I've ever made for the least amount of money.

My primary system retails for about $15,000; I actually have $8,700 into the components, and could have done better had I purchased used speakers.

Okay, nine grand should be able to buy you great sound, and this stuff is as good or better than ones I've heard costing the same or considerabally more.

I used a dedicated line, upgraded outlet, $300 worth of interconnects, stock power cords and a $50 surge protector.

If I were going to make one dramatic investment, it would be in upgrading the speakers. Sorry to be on of the naysayers, and please don't flame me, but plain, old-fashioned science does not back up most of the hoo-hah around audiophile cables and power cords (and quite a few reputatable component manufacturers will tell you as much).

Rules of thumb never work in high end. Like the saying goes, all rules are made to be broken.