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Post by AudioHTIT on Jan 1, 2016 21:58:48 GMT -5
I've used both BlueJeans and Emotiva balanced cables, I think they're both excellent. While my audio preference is normally BJC, two cosmetic features are nice with the Emo balanced cables - 1) the black tech flex cable cover that (to me) looks better and slides better, and 2) the little colored rings they give you to color code each cable making them easy to identify.
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Post by wizardofoz on Jan 1, 2016 21:59:14 GMT -5
If you have your gear in a pretty stable configuration then custom lengths can help keep things tidy and reduce the risk of induced interference. I diy my own cables, but off the shelf lengths can work just as well if you can keep things tidy. Emotiva bjc or monoprice are all ok unless your soupy stem is very resolving and your hearing top notch then you might not hear much difference.
If you system supports balanced and you can use it for all interconects in that segment then it's a better option, especially for long runs but even for short ones.
Cables do exhibit capacitive differences more than resistance and that can change the sound a bit, but I've never heard night and day differences changing out cables and not all more expensive cables will sound better, different maybe but never always better. Use your ears...everyone hears differently and systems are never exactly the same either.
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Post by leonski on Jan 2, 2016 1:20:01 GMT -5
When I had a Cambridge Audio 840c CD player balanced was MUCH better than the single ended schlock it came with. BUT, the amp was a true balanced design as was the CD player. At that point the 840c was around 1300$ list.
There is some thought that converting from / to Balanced and have a detrimental effect on sound if taken to extremes. For example: Unbalanced source feeding balanced TO balanced inputs of a not-balanced preamp. Than balanced OUT to balanced IN of an amp which is also NOT a real balanced piece of gear. I think that's 5 (FIVE) conversions.
Does that have sonic consequences? In this case, it just MIGHT.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2016 10:47:35 GMT -5
Here's something to read for all you who 'think' or 'know' you hear a difference - be it wires or amps. If you don't care to read it I'll sum up the findings for you - while there are differences to be heard (amps) they are so subtle that picking out that differences in a DBX test aren't 'significant' different enough to be singled out repeatedly. Of interest are the comments made by the listeners prior to the DBX where they had actual face time with each amp - could see and hear it - and knew what they were listening to. Their comments are at the bottom of that pdf. Yet when it came to the DBX testing none could repeatedly single out any one amp even when they described exactly what they heard - much less pick out differences between any of the other amps repeatedly. If you want to screw you head a bit look up 'the mcgurk effect' on youtube - very interesting effect. And it affects us all. That 'dress thread' - is it blue or is it white? Similar effect - each of us sees and hears reality differently. Is what I see really blue when I look at the sky? If you were in my eyes what would you see differently? Those shiny new interconnects (or amp) BETTER sound - well - better! After all you paid a handsome sum of money for them! Any perceived differences you or I might hear are totally subjective. Its how we view the world. Each sense we have is made up of vibrations - thats all there is to reality after all is said and done! Vibrations! Thats life! I was/am firmly entrenched in this camp as well Knucklehead however saying that I have to state with regards to amplifiers I must say that I recently went Mono (no, not got mono) and there absolutely a discernable difference in separation and soundstage with independent amps driving a channel vs a stereo amp within the same housing and by housing I mean sharing the same power supplies etc. I used my Carver amps (TFM-35X's) for years and when I swapped them with Emotiva I didn't hear a marked difference UNTIL I went with almost triple the output power (250x2 to 1000 x1) of them in bridged mode (and I do realize there is a difference in a bridged mode vs a "true mono amp" but for my comfort/budget this worked very well for me. I know there are some dual mono amps that are on the same chassis BUT have 2 cords/power supplies etc and that I feel is where the difference is. As for cables I recently swapped out most RCA cables for XLR/balanced cables expecting nothing other than a cleaner rear panel presentation and I got exactly what I expected...Did the same with speaker cables same result looked cleaner but that was it... |
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ksan
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Post by ksan on Jan 2, 2016 22:14:26 GMT -5
Has anyone used Silver Plated interconnects? I recently installed a pair of custom Silver Plated RCA cables on my system, I wouldn't say it improved sound quality but it seems a tiny bit brighter than cables w/o silver plating. I prefer 'DARK' sound for this reason I use tube amp for most of my songs. Your experience / opinion on Silver Plated interconnects (XLR or RCA) is appreciated.
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Post by vcautokid on Jan 3, 2016 1:06:26 GMT -5
"I'm about to buy some XLR interconnects and was thinking Bluejean, but wondered if anyone had had a chance to compare BJ to the Emo interconnects, which look to have quite nice specs, but no idea what they sound like of course."
You know, I had to take a closer read on the original post here, and I have to say that a great Balanced XLR Cable has all the great stuff inside, such as shielding, pure copper conductors usually 5 nines of purity, and Gold Plated connections for a dependable long life of connectivity. I am sure I will conjure up some thoughts here, but I never use my cables as a tone control, hence I have no reason to listen to the cable, but the music that is sent through it. There are a fine selection to chose from. Personally I like ones that do the above mentioned must haves, and play my favorite music. Just saying.
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ksan
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Post by ksan on Jan 12, 2016 15:19:02 GMT -5
"I'm about to buy some XLR interconnects and was thinking Bluejean, but wondered if anyone had had a chance to compare BJ to the Emo interconnects, which look to have quite nice specs, but no idea what they sound like of course." You know, I had to take a closer read on the original post here, and I have to say that a great Balanced XLR Cable has all the great stuff inside, such as shielding, pure copper conductors usually 5 nines of purity, and Gold Plated connections for a dependable long life of connectivity. I am sure I will conjure up some thoughts here, but I never use my cables as a tone control, hence I have no reason to listen to the cable, but the music that is sent through it. There are a fine selection to chose from. Personally I like ones that do the above mentioned must haves, and play my favorite music. Just saying. I thought of buying Emotiva XLR cables but ended up bought a pair of custom cable from CLARK CUSTOM CABLES at very reasonable price (much cheaper than Emo cables). Received it yesterday and the built quality is excellent. The XLR interconnects are made of Mogami 2549 Neglex cable and with Neutrik connectors. The cables work really great with Emo airmotiv5s + DC-1, louder than use of RCA cables. I can't tell if sound quality got improved but seemed to have heavier bass. |
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Post by DavidR on Jan 12, 2016 19:59:08 GMT -5
Has anyone used Silver Plated interconnects? I recently installed a pair of custom Silver Plated RCA cables on my system, I wouldn't say it improved sound quality but it seems a tiny bit brighter than cables w/o silver plating. I prefer 'DARK' sound for this reason I use tube amp for most of my songs. Your experience / opinion on Silver Plated interconnects (XLR or RCA) is appreciated. Yes, I have a number of silver plated OFC SonicWave RCA cables. I don't like the thick rubbery outer layer but they do sound good. I also use Monoprice XLRs and find no issues with them - they are fine. BetterCables makes both RCA and XLR silver plated OFC but are pricey. Silver is the best conductor of electricity. The audio engineers on The Classic Speaker Pages say "bunk" to all of this. They use lamp zipcord for speaker wire and steel ring connectors. Same goes for interconnects. Cheap works as well as expensive. I find the silver plated wires give a better high frequency sound. I also think its totally ridiculous to buy uber expensive wires. I think the Emotiva wires look very well made and should do fine without breaking the bank. If you're the type that thinks expensive is better then this might be the site for you: Douglas Connection |
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Post by leonski on Jan 13, 2016 1:54:42 GMT -5
"I'm about to buy some XLR interconnects and was thinking Bluejean, but wondered if anyone had had a chance to compare BJ to the Emo interconnects, which look to have quite nice specs, but no idea what they sound like of course." You know, I had to take a closer read on the original post here, and I have to say that a great Balanced XLR Cable has all the great stuff inside, such as shielding, pure copper conductors usually 5 nines of purity, and Gold Plated connections for a dependable long life of connectivity. I am sure I will conjure up some thoughts here, but I never use my cables as a tone control, hence I have no reason to listen to the cable, but the music that is sent through it. There are a fine selection to chose from. Personally I like ones that do the above mentioned must haves, and play my favorite music. Just saying. Check out MOGAMI at Guitar Center. I use balanced from DAC to PREAMP. You will NOT be disappointed. The REST of my interconnects are all from BlueJeans. IMO, while BJ makes some great stuff, no question, the ONLY balanced to get is Mogami. The Neglex cable is the difference. Everybody on the Planet uses Neutrik hardware. www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/mogami-gold-neglex-quad-microphone-cable-for-studio-neutrik-xlrJust a random link to a Mogami cable. For the 6 footer? 40$ is reasonable. |
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Post by lionear on Jan 13, 2016 10:15:38 GMT -5
Here's something to read for all you who 'think' or 'know' you hear a difference - be it wires or amps. If you don't care to read it I'll sum up the findings for you - while there are differences to be heard (amps) they are so subtle that picking out that differences in a DBX test aren't 'significant' different enough to be singled out repeatedly. Of interest are the comments made by the listeners prior to the DBX where they had actual face time with each amp - could see and hear it - and knew what they were listening to. Their comments are at the bottom of that pdf. Yet when it came to the DBX testing none could repeatedly single out any one amp even when they described exactly what they heard - much less pick out differences between any of the other amps repeatedly. If you want to screw you head a bit look up 'the mcgurk effect' on youtube - very interesting effect. And it affects us all. That 'dress thread' - is it blue or is it white? Similar effect - each of us sees and hears reality differently. Is what I see really blue when I look at the sky? If you were in my eyes what would you see differently? Those shiny new interconnects (or amp) BETTER sound - well - better! After all you paid a handsome sum of money for them! Any perceived differences you or I might hear are totally subjective. Its how we view the world. Each sense we have is made up of vibrations - thats all there is to reality after all is said and done! Vibrations! Thats life! Let's assume that the test was done correctly... Does anyone listen to their music via ABX? I hope not. That would be weird. Instead, we have one set of components, and we listen to that one configuration for a long, long time. And over time, some of us maintain that we hear different things. (Some of us can detect differences in components, and even cables, pretty quickly. There's no magic here - it's just a learned skill.) Anyway, the original question is a trick question, right? If cables don't make a difference, then it doesn't matter whether you buy BlueJean or Emotiva or anything else. Why not go to the local GuitarCenter and just get whatever they have? In fact, it won't matter if you use balanced or unbalanced cable, either. (Unless you can actually hear a difference between balanced and unbalanced cable.) So you could also get some lamp cord from Home Depot (or Habitat for Humanity), and fit them to some RCA plugs from Radio Shack. You'd have to use a soldering iron but they're cheap, too. Since the question is a bit of a trick question, I don't think there's a correct answer. |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jan 13, 2016 11:03:25 GMT -5
Two things..... Silver is a better conductor than copper - but only about 5% better - which isn't all that significant. Silver also oxidizes like copper, but the amounts of oxidation you typically find on silver and silver plated wire typically doesn't affect the signal much, where copper oxide can cause distortion if a lot of it builds up, and copper oxidizes easily. Silver oxide is also softer, so it tends to scrape off when you insert a connector, which gives you a better connection than you would get with slightly oxidized copper. Incidentally, gold is actually NOT a great conductor of electricity; gold plating is used because gold doesn't oxidize - which is a lot more important than the electrical resistance of 1/1,000 of an inch of the stuff.  Also note that the cheap nickel or chrome plating used on most cheap wires isn't electrically bad enough to make much difference either - and also resists tarnish pretty well. However, the idea that there is a technical justification for claiming that a silver or silver-plated wire will deliver AUDIO high frequencies better is a sort of myth. That myth is based on the actual fact that silver and silver plated wire is (or was) often used in radio frequency and microwave applications .... However, the reasons for doing so are not at all true for audio applications.... You will also not find ANY measurable difference in the audio performance of an interconnect if it's silver or silver plated BECAUSE of the silver.. (A speaker cable made out of solid silver will be electrically identical to one made out of copper one gauge number thicker.) If a silver cable sounds different, it's not because it's silver; however, silver cables tend to use thinner conductors, because silver is expensive, which may make them sound different. Also, because cable intended to be used for RF and microwave connections will usually have very low capacitance, a cable intended to be used in those applications, and which might end up being used for a "silver interconnect", might sound different due to that. Many RF and microwave cables also use better/different dielectrics, like Teflon, which may affect other electrical characteristics as well. As as aside, I would have to say that what bugs me the most about silver and silver plated cables is the price people usually charge for them. As of today, silver costs about $14 an ounce. This means that silver plating the wires in an interconnect would take about two cents worth of silver; and making the conductor - but not the shield - out of SOLID silver would cost $5 or $10 at most. (And, of course, you're paying extra for a custom or non-standard wire.) However, as you can see from those numbers, there's no reason why, if you actually want one, an actual silver interconnect cable should cost more than $5 or $10 extra.... Because speaker wires are rather heavy, making them out of solid silver would be expensive, which is why it makes a lot more sense to simply use copper and make it the next size fatter  ) And, if you like really expensive cable, I'll be happy to set you up with some solid silver cables.... for only.... err...... how much ya got?  Has anyone used Silver Plated interconnects? I recently installed a pair of custom Silver Plated RCA cables on my system, I wouldn't say it improved sound quality but it seems a tiny bit brighter than cables w/o silver plating. I prefer 'DARK' sound for this reason I use tube amp for most of my songs. Your experience / opinion on Silver Plated interconnects (XLR or RCA) is appreciated. Yes, I have a number of silver plated OFC SonicWave RCA cables. I don't like the thick rubbery outer layer but they do sound good. I also use Monoprice XLRs and find no issues with them - they are fine. BetterCables makes both RCA and XLR silver plated OFC but are pricey. Silver is the best conductor of electricity. The audio engineers on The Classic Speaker Pages say "bunk" to all of this. They use lamp zipcord for speaker wire and steel ring connectors. Same goes for interconnects. Cheap works as well as expensive. I find the silver plated wires give a better high frequency sound. I also think its totally ridiculous to buy uber expensive wires. I think the Emotiva wires look very well made and should do fine without breaking the bank. If you're the type that thinks expensive is better then this might be the site for you: Douglas Connection |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jan 13, 2016 11:52:46 GMT -5
The one thing I would slightly disagree with in your statement is the benefit of balanced cables. It's quite true that you shouldn't expect them to somehow "sound different" than unbalanced cables. However, because of the way the signal is carried in a balanced cable, balanced cables are much more resistant to picking up various sorts of noise from outside the cable. Therefore, if you are experiencing problems with hum and other types of noise, depending on the actual cause, going from an unbalanced cable to a balanced one may eliminate them. Likewise, if you have both options available, using a balanced connection rather than an unbalanced one will reduce the likelihood of noise problems - and this is especially true for long cable runs, and for interconnect cables that must run near power cables or other obvious sources of noise. Here's something to read for all you who 'think' or 'know' you hear a difference - be it wires or amps. If you don't care to read it I'll sum up the findings for you - while there are differences to be heard (amps) they are so subtle that picking out that differences in a DBX test aren't 'significant' different enough to be singled out repeatedly. Of interest are the comments made by the listeners prior to the DBX where they had actual face time with each amp - could see and hear it - and knew what they were listening to. Their comments are at the bottom of that pdf. Yet when it came to the DBX testing none could repeatedly single out any one amp even when they described exactly what they heard - much less pick out differences between any of the other amps repeatedly. If you want to screw you head a bit look up 'the mcgurk effect' on youtube - very interesting effect. And it affects us all. That 'dress thread' - is it blue or is it white? Similar effect - each of us sees and hears reality differently. Is what I see really blue when I look at the sky? If you were in my eyes what would you see differently? Those shiny new interconnects (or amp) BETTER sound - well - better! After all you paid a handsome sum of money for them! Any perceived differences you or I might hear are totally subjective. Its how we view the world. Each sense we have is made up of vibrations - thats all there is to reality after all is said and done! Vibrations! Thats life! Let's assume that the test was done correctly... Does anyone listen to their music via ABX? I hope not. That would be weird. Instead, we have one set of components, and we listen to that one configuration for a long, long time. And over time, some of us maintain that we hear different things. (Some of us can detect differences in components, and even cables, pretty quickly. There's no magic here - it's just a learned skill.) Anyway, the original question is a trick question, right? If cables don't make a difference, then it doesn't matter whether you buy BlueJean or Emotiva or anything else. Why not go to the local GuitarCenter and just get whatever they have? In fact, it won't matter if you use balanced or unbalanced cable, either. (Unless you can actually hear a difference between balanced and unbalanced cable.) So you could also get some lamp cord from Home Depot (or Habitat for Humanity), and fit them to some RCA plugs from Radio Shack. You'd have to use a soldering iron but they're cheap, too. Since the question is a bit of a trick question, I don't think there's a correct answer. |
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KeithL
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Post by KeithL on Jan 13, 2016 12:40:59 GMT -5
Since you brought that sorry story up... and it's always bugged me... I can't resist commenting on it. (It's also quite relevant in the context of a lot of the "information" circulating about various audio topics.) The "dress story" was repeated endlessly, around and around, and the pictures accompanying the different news stories varied considerably (different versions, at different resolutions, no doubt converted by different programs). The basic story was that "the dress wasn't really blue" - or whatever - and that it was a sort of optical illusion caused by the way our brains process colors.... Well, being someone with an engineering background, and also access to lots of serious software that can actually MEASURE things like what color pixels are.... The first thing I did was to actually analyze a few of the pictures presented as "proof" that the dress was or was not blue..... Guess what.....? In some of the copies of the picture, the dress actually WAS blue, and in some, it actually WAS white. I'm not talking about the original dress, or the original picture.... I'm talking about the actual pictures included with the text in the various stories. And I'm talking about looking at the actual color values of the pixels... which eliminates any "human bias" or "optical illusion". My point is that, while I'm perfectly willing to go along with the original conclusions, about the original REAL dress, and the original picture of it posted somewhere.... The pictures widely passed around to "show" the illusion were in fact incorrect (or horribly flawed). In at least one version of the story I read on one "major magazine" website, the text described a dress that "looks blue but it's really white", but the dress in the picture really WAS blue. (When you looked at the values of the R, G, and B pixels, the blue value was a lot higher - which was just as you would expect from the picture - which visibly appeared blue.) So, in other words, the text caption stated "it looks blue but it's really white" when, in point of fact, in the actual picture that accompanied the article, it WAS blue. In yet other words, their explanation, and the evidence that supposedly went with it, was WRONG. Feel free to believe that the picture was doctored in an attempt to show you the result of the illusion, or that it was simply damaged in processing....... The point remains that the "evidence" they presented to support their claim for how human vision misinterprets color was in fact wrong. The picture they provided looked blue, not because of some flaw in human vision, but simply because it really was in fact blue. And, anyone believing that the dress in that picture really was white, but looked blue because of a flaw in their vision, had been seriously misled.... My point here is that you have to be really careful, both about claims people make, and about the evidence people provide to substantiate those claims. (It's sort of like when you see a commercial which purports to show you, ON THE SCREEN OF YOUR CRUMMY OLD TV, how much better the picture on someone else's new TV looks. You have to assume there's some sort of "poetic license" involved; after all, if your TV can actually show how good theirs looks, then your TV MUST already be at least that good, right?) In fact, I'll make two points from that..... 1) From that story, and most of the others, we would never be able to decide whether a dress that was white might in fact look blue because of a weakness in how our eyes process color - because they simply failed to prove their claim with valid evidence. (I did eventually find a copy where the dress really was white, with the gold trim, and the "illusion of blueness" wasn't especially compelling - at least to me.) 2) They could have provided proper evidence if they'd provided a picture, directly sourced from the original, with color calibration data included. (It would have been quite appropriate to suggest that people make the proper measurements with their own equipment, then view the picture on a properly calibrated monitor, so they could see how it tricked their vision for themselves. However, the entertainment value of the story apparently superseded any value there might have been in actually proving the claim in legitimate scientific terms, and of providing evidence that would do so. The demonstration of the McGurk effect is the exact opposite of this - because you CAN listen to the video with your eyes open, and then with them closed, and experience for yourself the fact that what you hear seems to change based on what you see. ................. That 'dress thread' - is it blue or is it white? ............... |
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Post by lionear on Jan 13, 2016 15:43:09 GMT -5
Two things..... Silver is a better conductor than copper - but only about 5% better - which isn't all that significant. Silver also oxidizes like copper, but the amounts of oxidation you typically find on silver and silver plated wire typically doesn't affect the signal much, where copper oxide can cause distortion if a lot of it builds up, and copper oxidizes easily. Silver oxide is also softer, so it tends to scrape off when you insert a connector, which gives you a better connection than you would get with slightly oxidized copper. Incidentally, gold is actually NOT a great conductor of electricity; gold plating is used because gold doesn't oxidize - which is a lot more important than the electrical resistance of 1/1,000 of an inch of the stuff. Also note that the cheap nickel or chrome plating used on most cheap wires isn't electrically bad enough to make much difference either - and also resists tarnish pretty well. However, the idea that there is a technical justification for claiming that a silver or silver-plated wire will deliver AUDIO high frequencies better is a sort of myth. That myth is based on the actual fact that silver and silver plated wire is (or was) often used in radio frequency and microwave applications .... However, the reasons for doing so are not at all true for audio applications.... You will also not find ANY measurable difference in the audio performance of an interconnect if it's silver or silver plated BECAUSE of the silver.. (A speaker cable made out of solid silver will be electrically identical to one made out of copper one gauge number thicker.) If a silver cable sounds different, it's not because it's silver; however, silver cables tend to use thinner conductors, because silver is expensive, which may make them sound different. Also, because cable intended to be used for RF and microwave connections will usually have very low capacitance, a cable intended to be used in those applications, and which might end up being used for a "silver interconnect", might sound different due to that. Many RF and microwave cables also use better/different dielectrics, like Teflon, which may affect other electrical characteristics as well. As as aside, I would have to say that what bugs me the most about silver and silver plated cables is the price people usually charge for them. As of today, silver costs about $14 an ounce. This means that silver plating the wires in an interconnect would take about two cents worth of silver; and making the conductor - but not the shield - out of SOLID silver would cost $5 or $10 at most. (And, of course, you're paying extra for a custom or non-standard wire.) However, as you can see from those numbers, there's no reason why, if you actually want one, an actual silver interconnect cable should cost more than $5 or $10 extra.... Because speaker wires are rather heavy, making them out of solid silver would be expensive, which is why it makes a lot more sense to simply use copper and make it the next size fatter ) And, if you like really expensive cable, I'll be happy to set you up with some solid silver cables.... for only.... err...... how much ya got? Yes, I have a number of silver plated OFC SonicWave RCA cables. I don't like the thick rubbery outer layer but they do sound good. I also use Monoprice XLRs and find no issues with them - they are fine. BetterCables makes both RCA and XLR silver plated OFC but are pricey. Silver is the best conductor of electricity. The audio engineers on The Classic Speaker Pages say "bunk" to all of this. They use lamp zipcord for speaker wire and steel ring connectors. Same goes for interconnects. Cheap works as well as expensive. I find the silver plated wires give a better high frequency sound. I also think its totally ridiculous to buy uber expensive wires. I think the Emotiva wires look very well made and should do fine without breaking the bank. If you're the type that thinks expensive is better then this might be the site for you: Douglas ConnectionThe point about copper oxidizing is a very good one. I remember buying the original Monster Cable wire when it first came out. It was a rich copper wire, in clear plastic insulation. A few years later, the copper had turned a strange color - I think it was green. If you want to get copper cable, it's good to ask how it addresses oxidation. Some companies, like Cardas, will have each conductor covered in a varnish. This stops air from contacting the copper, but it's also an insulator. So each conductor is insulated from the other. This may add to capacitance (in some way or another), and explain a slight rolloff in the high frequencies (I'm talking about the early Cardas cables). The coating also makes soldering a bit more difficult - it has to be removed by dipping the wire in a solder bath. Another option is to do what Nordost does - plate each copper conductor with silver. This protects the copper, and maintains the electrical connection between the conductors. This would probably reduce the capacitance (in some way or another) if compared to Cardas - and may explain the general characterization it sounding "bright". This may not be a bad thing - in the past, I had a speaker that was a bit rolled off in the high frequencies, and using Nordost improved the sound. It was a bit like adjusting the sound via a Treble control (but better). Hi-fi prices notwithstanding, silver coated copper cable with high-grade insulation is used in many engineering situations and is NOT expensive. The sound of this type of cable is a bit like Nordost - so it might not be a good match for speakers which have a very aggressive tweeter. |
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Post by lionear on Jan 13, 2016 15:48:58 GMT -5
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Post by bebopbro on Jan 13, 2016 16:09:28 GMT -5
+1 on Mogami Gold cable. I use it in my home studio and it's widely used in other studios where I've worked. IMHO, anything more expensive than this cable is a waste of $$.
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Post by leonski on Jan 15, 2016 2:56:55 GMT -5
Keep in mind that COPPER OXIDE is a DIODE.
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Post by leonski on Jan 15, 2016 3:13:49 GMT -5
I suggested Mogami not necessarily because of better sound, though it did sound superior to the Junk single ended to which it was compared, but because of the superiour noise rejection and the fact that I was using it in a REAL ALL BALANCED application.
Mogami has First Tier build quality.
I would further suggest that in short runs, while balanced has a real 'cool factor', it may not be necesary and might even HURT when going thru multiple conversions from / to Balanced and Single Ended.
Real balanced MAY have advantages in certain conditions AND when the system is fully balanced.
VERY Old School Diodes were made using Copper Oxide. I think the next material was Selenium. Diodes were 'stacked' creations. The company I worked for made them back when they started out.
I suspect that copper oxide diode effect CAN harm very low voltage usage, like phono, both MM and MC.
The OTHER problem with various metals is a thermoelectric effect. When 2 metals are pressed together, a SMALL current is generated. Like in the MV range. The voltage goes UP as a function of higher Temperature. Some of the alloys used in these devices are
VERY exotic, some using platinum while the common Type-K, which is good to OVER 1200c is Nickel/Chromium against Nickel/Aluminum. The metal composition is CRITICAL and impurities are death. The degree of this effect is very dependent on WHAT metals are used and what exact alloys. As a general rule, I AVOID Stuff like Copper which has been plated with Chrome, than Nickel, than Silver. (all of which stick to each other pretty good.)
The Type-K thermocouple is only about 4mv at 100c. Unlikely to occur in a home stereo. But OTHER alloy combinations may be present.
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Post by badronald on Jan 18, 2016 19:37:17 GMT -5
One thing I have found out about emo XLR's is the "outer braiding" comes out of the XLR connector and then you have this lose braiding dancing behind the xlr connector. I really like the Mogami's
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Post by badronald on Jan 18, 2016 19:38:38 GMT -5
I personally would stay away from Monoprice, they are made very poorly. See for your self, many video's on youtube doing comparsions.
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