Just as a point of reference, as you are viewed globally, the Furman costs $79.99 on Amazon Canada. On almost everything you show the prices outside of America are significantly higher. Love your stuff. Keep up the great work on giving us budget-centric audiophile wannabes lots of options.
The SS6B is not a power conditioner and is labeled wrong on Amazon (and honestly has been since it hit Amazon). The SS6BPro is labeled correctly as a surge protector and an "updated" version of the SS6B.
Thanks a bunch! I think I'll make my own cables (not "make" but cut them and add banana plugs). One important question though, at 5:25 we have RCA "subwoofer" cables... What's a "subwoofer cable" really? What if I have a cable with RCA plugs but it doesn't specifically say "subwoofers (..)" on the markings, *how do I know if such RCA cable is "subwoofer ready",* what kind of specific and _special_ RCA cable does a subwoofer require, coax? Directional? ...?
Digital cables do not have a sonic impact, unless they introduce errors that the protocol cannot recover (or that by recovering, just maybe, there is jitter). There is, perhaps, a possibility that an HDMI cable could be borderline and the clock reconstruction circuitry on the receiver will have to work harder and create jitter, but I doubt its an issue with modern kit, and suspect its in your head. Get an electrical engineer to explain why there might be any issue one way or another - preferably a real one, rather than a guy that sells cables. There is never any cable issue with I2S, or with USB class 2 and an async buffered receiver. For I2S, an explicit clock signal is sent from the source. For USB Class 2, the clock in the DAC is driving the process after a tiny buffering period and its signaling buffered data just like TCP/IP and even an early Raspberry Pi can deliver 44.1/16 with its crappy USB.
Great video Randy! I'm on the cusp of re-wiring my back channels because the speaker cable is 20 years old and has clearly oxidized. So for me this is the right video at the right time!
@@DescartesRenegade I wish it were that easy:) But the speaker wire has clear insulation, and I can see that a lot of the copper inside has turned green. Yuck!
I use Blue Jeans Cable for speaker wires, interconnects, and data cables. So far I've purchased RCAs, S/PDIF optical and coax, BNC to RCA, Y-split RCAs, spade terminated speaker cable, and two data cables. They're all functioning great and tolerate my interminable tinkering.
Their website used to have an excellent letter written in response to a threat of legal action by A Major Manufacturer of Overpriced Cables (I'll let you guess who that might be). The "AMMoOC" lawyers thought they could intimidate the BJC owner, but they didn't realize that he was *also* a lawyer. He was not intimidated, and let them know in no uncertain terms.
The nice thing about Blue Jeans RCA cables is that they come in different colors, so you can run different colored cables from your amp to different sources and you don't have to fool around trying to read the small print on the back of your amp.
In my opinion, decent affordable cables are all that is needed. Science fact: Cables, as long as properly shielded and made make little to no sonic difference depending on application. It is basic physics and no brand has a corner on the world of physics. Trying to defy or claiming to defy the laws of physics is a fool's errand. One should not need to spend more than around $250 on cables for everything, not including power conditioners. A budget of up to around $300 or so should get a very good power conditioner if one needs one. I would only add the following: Speaker cable: For very little more money, I'd go with either building one's own speaker cables out of something like Belden or what have you or at least getting something similar over the zip type cable. The zip type is fine for non-mission critical stuff, such as surround speakers and especially for vintage gear, but for mission critical, I'd spend $6 to $10 more and get the better stuff. RCA interconnects: I have not tried the Amazon Basics, but they might be decent at least. Some of the Amazon branded products are quite good. I used to run Monoprice premium RCAs but while they are shielded (might even survive a nuke blast), they are extremely stiff and the terminators have the potential to disembowel your gear should you need to disconnect them. I would not recommend. I run Wireworld cables (only because I got a killer deal some 3 years ago). Otherwise, the World's Best are decent and somewhat reasonable. I have a pair of their japan canare balanced cables - good enough and more. Power conditioners: They make no sonic difference and do not improve your homes wiring, etc. (they are the last step in "upgrading the home's wiring"), but none the less, they do protect your gear and give some assemblance of last step feeding of said gear. Furman is good, just as the more expensive Panamax and the ones that cost the same as a sports car. I have an older Panamax (far more expensive than the Furman) and it still does it's job. (It saved my gear twice I can count). There are a lot of good optical cables to choose from for little money. One can almost throw a stone and hit one. HDMI cable: By experience, they DO make a difference. However, one need not spend $50 on an HDMI cable, it doesn't buy you anymore than a $15 to $20 HDMI cable does. The trick is to make sure your HDMI cable is not only shielded of course, but not too heavy or stiff and has the correct rating. For ARC purposes, one needs to make sure the cable is compatible for that as not all HDMI cables are. The SVS cables are over-priced. Power cables: I don't know that they make a sonic difference, likely not. However, they are healthy for one's gear if made well and generally better then the power cables that come with the gear. Heavy money need not be spent though. I found a couple from a company called Waudio on Amazon that are just as good as any for a bit less than the Pine Tree one. Are power cables worth upgrading knowing they likely make no sonic difference? In my opinion: Yes. As for Audioquest product: Very questionable in my opinion. Very over-priced = fact. Companies like them are the cause of the "snake oil theory". Trying to give a bad name to science fact will always result in failure on many levels eventually. I view companies like them as "flat-earthers". Fuel for cults. Same goes for all the "boutique cable companies. None of which have been able to prove their product.
If you can hear the sonic difference between working optical cables youre not just drinking the snake oil, youre injecting it straight into your veins.
It requires an astounding level of ignorance and a total misunderstanding of the fundamental principles that underpin digital signal transmission to make such absurd claims.
@@Solus793it doesn’t take knowledge of engineering to know that you can’t hear bugger all difference between a $50 buck digital interconnect and a $1000 buck one.
Wrong. I was using the optical cable included with my wiim mini. The sound was horrible with jitter artifacts. I ordered another cheap one which didn't help it. I ordered one that reviewed well and then everything sounded good with any noticeable jitter artifacts. Cheap optical cables can intotroduce jitter.
As an audiophile purist, I find that dipping all of my cables in audio-grade clarified butter that is specially prepared by my local audio shop provides the absolute smoothest sound possible. The difference is palatable.
You're not wrong. You were lied to. Unlike many so-called audiophiles, you didn't buy into the lies by convincing yourself of some magical improvements! "Good enough" is not difficult to achieve, and your original cables were, apparently, good enough! Once some minimum specs are met, anything "better" won't do anything "more". Some people believe in magic though 😂
I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates this compendium of affordable accessories. Thanks man. You mentioned Snake Oil. When I bought my Schiit Stack I discovered their custom length single ended RCAs. Love eliminating my cable clutter with 8 or 10 inch lengths.
Thanks for doing this video! 30+ yrs ago, I worked at Best Buy. I owned a modest stereo system at the time. Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Polk, etc…. Because of my employee discount, I was able to purchase fairly expensive cables at a significant discount. These cables looked nice, and were better built, but I’m not sure I could honestly say they improved the sound of my system over the basic cables that came for free in the box. Fast forward to today, and I have a significantly more expensive hifi system, with properly chosen components that compliment each other and the room. I can share that cables can make a significant change to the sound signature. Bass depth, bass detail, vocal clarity, sound stage, etc…. Changing a cable doesn’t always improve the sound, but there is no denying differences. So, for those that say cables don’t make a difference, they don’t have a system and associated room with the resolution to reveal the changes, and/or they don’t have the hearing capable of distinguishing the changes, and/or they don’t have enough experiences that presented differences. For my current system and budget, I’m a big fan of AudioArt, but I’ve had great success with Audioquest and Transparent too.
See, this is why I use an air cleaner with a HEPA filter and an ion generator to clean the air in rooms where I use wireless speakers! That intermediate connection matters! I don't see a label, but I think this is a Sith Audio product. 😋
I use SVS RCA cables primarily for their solid build quality. For speaker cables I use Blue Jeans Cables made by either Belden or Canare. Rock solid build quality at a reasonable price.
Hi Randy. I just upgraded to an AQ Cinnamon HDMI in my home theater. Even my wife noticed immediately that she can hear the dialog in movies much more clearly. No more rewinding. Voices are less muddy and better separation from background sound effects. This huge win was all because you shared that you heard a difference at an AQ trade show booth. Thank you!!
That is not at all how digital video signals work. I guarantee it is just a placebo. you literally just got ripped off there is no possible fidelity to be gained especially in terms of frequency response for a digital cable. Even for analog cable it cheap 20$ is more than good enough. Digital signals are different and they will not change regardless of what cable you use.
@@davidhardaker192 Because perception is subjective, and people are not created to perceive objective truth from their filtered senses which are keen to bias and distortions.
@@davidhardaker192Double blinds have been a part of science for a long time. Scientists do double blinds for medicine because subjective perception is unreliable and inaccurate.
Thanks for this video! I ordered the Furman power conditioner before the video was even over. It may be just a glorified surge protector, but hopefully it'll make a difference! Love your channel sir.
In the analog domain, i can absolutely hear differences between cables. Especially RCA cables. With RCA cables it can actually be a "WOW" moment when you finally hook up a good one and realize what you've been missing. Ive tried and tried and tried with digital cables, double blinded. Having people hook my stuff up and surprise me while i try to guess. Running phase null tests nto my interface. trying with multiple different interfaces even. Every way i could come up with to try and zero in on a difference with the intent to prove myself wrong, not right... Cheap cables, expensive, whatever. The only difference ive ever been able to perceive, and this is with ears trained for mixing and mastering mind you... Was build quality. And i will definitely say, there is a reason that basically every DAC designed for mixing and mastering professionals, runs thunderbolt USB and doesn't even bother with coaxial or optical. Professionals dont buy stuff that doesn't affect the outcome of a particular task like the average consumer can very easily be convinced to do. I too recommend the exploration of cables, but only if you actually have the ability to remove the placebo affect from the equation, as well as let your ears adjust to the frequency changes they experience every single time sound pressure vanishes and returns, you also need to train your mind to compensate for this on instict as well otherwise youll hear and see lots of things that arent actually there. Its just part of the way the brain works and responds to stimulus. Unless you have the desire or ability to do that, i recommend the best quality cables you can afford in analog paths to benefit the transmission of the signal. I recommend the best digital cables you can reasonably justify because they will last a lot longer then the el cheapos at walmart. P.S. (no pun intended) if your amplifier's USB input sounds worse then the coaxial and optical, its because the manufacturer of your equipment did that on purpose, btw. ive done the phase null tests with dac outputs into the front of my interface with several digital cables in the feeds to the dacs. You cannot argue with a phase null test, if you think you hear a difference, its only because you think you do. That is what the placebo effect IS, perceiving something that isnt actually there simply because you expect it to be, and you can absolutely tell yourself as much as you want there wont be a difference, while still expecting there to be. People play this trick on themselves constantly without realizing it. Audio professionals dont get sold snake oil, because all we have to do is run a phase null test that wont lie to us like our ears will.
I'm a big fan of WBC cables using Mogami cables. Pro Audio people use Mogami cable so you don't need anything better than what they use in recording studios. The prices cost about what they would cost if you made the cables yourself from the same materials.
Totally get how analog cables can change/improve sound. I've heard it myself and I use some pretty beefy RCAs in the interconnects. And beefy speaker wire can also make an improvement. I guess a power cable could make a difference for the same reasons but I've not experienced it. But I still can't resolve how anything digital would sound different or better with a different cable. For 4K, the max bitrate for HDMI is 10.2 Gbps. Anything faster isn't helping. And i really can't reconcile how something like gold connections on a digital cable can matter. If you heard a difference with digital, and I trust that you did, I just can't account for why.
They don't make a difference. The "gold" connector is often not even on the part that makes contact. BUT those ***affiliate*** links pay better. A well made cable >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> bs marketing. And AudioQuest is nothing but bs marketing. Very disappointed to see this crap been pushed.
Hey Randy. Although this model of Furman does offer minimal efi and emi filtering, and therefore some protection, this is not a power conditioner, is not labelled a power conditioner, and is not described by Furman as a power conditioner. It is a power bar with minimal filtering, but not enough to be classified as a power conditioner.
The Emotiva power strip makes a huge improvement in the noise floor, especially in bass extension, in A-B testing, plugged into the wall outlet, compared to into the conditioner (Awesome Product). Get yourself a nice piece of wood to mount high, or just at an appropriate level, behind your rack, with several hearty screws, then use good quality, smaller, screws (could be out of sight, but not an absolute) to put in a screw, wrap a generic small cotton string around the screw, thread to and wrap around the heavy Audioquest cable, back to the screw and tie, to tether and support their weight, keeping them away from the wall. There will be no sag or stress in the IEC or RCA connectors, plus the sound will improve. I have done that for years, even leaving it totally visible (like a spider's web that is keenly placed). It protects both the separation of the cables from each other, in addition to protecting the crimped connections, with Audioquest, so their longevity is extended. That "tilt" or stress will be eliminated.
There are two cable companies that I have used for years.. after believing I needed to buy $5000 interconnects. Roy Kimber once said when asked this question. "Why do you sell expensive cables?" Roy said, "Because people will buy them." I use either Signal Cable or Zavfino out of Canada. I love Zavfino, and they offer somewhat budget offerings that trickle down from their flagships. The flagship speaker cable is $2500.00. It's not bad for this hobby. To be honest, you must have a very resolving system to hear a difference. But if you do, you will hear better bass first.
I prefer the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Braid power cables over the Stealth 1000 cables - the shortest length (3') is $65. I listened to five different AC cables in addition to the 18AWG "generic" cables - and in my system and my opinion, the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Braid was definitely the best sounding, by a good bit. The PTA Stealth 1000 was next best, and the other 3 were only slightly better than generic. The Iso-Braid AC cables *are* the *biggest/best* improvement that I have ever gotten per dollar spent. I was a major skeptic - but I am a convert, now. I also really like the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Power 8-outlet AC filter, which is $250. You do need to buy a cable for it - so add $65-85 to this; depending the length you need. For interconnects, I have made my own - these cost only about $25. They are braided 18AWG solid core copper wire, with locking RCA plugs. If I was going to buy interconnects, I would get the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Quad interconnects. They are *very* reasonably priced and *very* well made.
Personally, I have never heard a cable make any difference., however, YMMV. I do buy nice cables based solely on if they look cool (and are solid in its engineering).
I've worked in the professional video/audio field for many years, on the engineering side. Also been buying/using HiFi gear for four decades. Only once have I ever found a "bad" audio cable - it was a "nice-looking" braided 3.5mm-to-RCA thing that I bought on Amazon. Shockingly-bad hum - must've been very poorly shielded. Looked like "good enough" quality on the outside, but it was junk. Aside from that, out of literally thousands of cables, I've truly never had any problems. A "competent" cable which fully serves its purpose is very easy to make. Once, also, for a party, I wanted to move my hifi gear to my bedroom, to keep it safe, and used some cheap (free!) cable that was lying around at work, to extend the speaker cables into the livingroom. God, it sounded bad!! Long runs, of thin cable...go figure. But at "normal lengths", virtually any "decent" speaker cable is more than sufficient to work properly. Cables have to be pretty bad before they become a problem.
I have heard a lot of audiophiles -- both reviewers and rank-and-file hobbyists -- say that cables make a sonic difference. I'm not saying they don't, but in all the presentations I've seen, there's one specific form of scientific control that never gets mentioned. Some reviewers will leave the first set for the second music segment, to police against placebo effect, but what they don't mention is if they ever disconnect and then reconnect the first set, and then play the second music segment. And that's a huge missing data point in the pro-difference argument, because the physical act of breaking and re-establishing the connections really *does* make a verifiable sonic difference -- so much so that many manufacturers include this procedure in their troubleshooting guides.
The only thing I found for sure with cables is for subwoofers. I have had three subwoofers, a Klipsch, a SVS SB1000, then a SVS SB3000, they all sounded muddy without any details. This was using two different cables that had gold ends for about 15 bucks each. I had one of the guys at SVS send me one of their $35 subwoofer cables and OMG, the details came alive. I switched cables back-and-forth several times and the detail was not slight it was huge.
I agree the sonic differences in RCA interconnects is so small, but HDMI, come on, blind test time. Same with optical. Power cords no, no, no. Only replace power cords if they're too short or damaged!!! Then a standard power cord is just as good.
@@sylvainbiensur7370 As far as a digital cable or a power cord you won't hear, or actually there is zero difference on any level of gear. You may hear a difference but that's due to placebo, which thru many of these discussions I've come to realize people just don't understand and are unwilling to accept it.
I wish I knew this stuff 5 years ago too!!! I’ve got a DH Labs Power Plus cord to my amp, took about two notes of my reference song to realize the improvement!!!
Great options for every budget. I was skeptical about cables matter until I changed between rca cables and could really hear the difference. This was not a placebo either because I had my non audiophile friend verified, and it actually increased the decibel level of my system using a meter. Now I'm a believer.
If you didn't do a blind test with the volume levels matched then its most likely there is no real difference in sound quality. We perceive louder as better and 99% of "cables matter" claims are actually rooted in a volume change.
I also use the Furman ELITE15 PF i Linear Filtering AC Power Conditioner in my HT because it works and looks good doing it. And these D'Addario Tour-Grade Power Base - Base Protector - Stage Power Strip with 6 ft Cable - 5 Standard and 3 Transformer- Guitar Amp Outlet - Music Surge Protector with Indicator Light also the Furman's you have listed here are good also.
Does your unit take much power from your system? I ask because I was thinking of getting one. I've read a forum that suggests using the wall sockets are better because of this.
I have always have noticed a difference in cables. But, diminishing returns set in REALLY QUICK. It gets to the point that the $30 RCA cable is clearly better then the $2 cable a cheap source comes with, but only slightly sounds different one costing 10 times more. Sounding different does not always mean better, at that point it is subjective and really a matter of taste.
Basically, if you are paying $2-10 for a cable its far more likely to have quality issues - not oxygen free, poor solder joints etc that absolutely will cause a drop in quality. Cables around $30-60 are likely to be made with no faults and provide optimal performance electrically speaking. For longer runs you'll need a thicker gauge but this is pure physics of an electrical system. $100 you are paying for aesthetics and $1000 is pure snake oil territory.
@@georgemoonman2830 Agreed. I use Blue Jeans speaker cables, 8 ft runs, 10awg(bit of overkill), cost 80 bucks for the pair, and they are good quality. No doubt in my mind that an 800 buck pair couldn't possibly be 10 times better. I doubt it's even audibly better, it MIGHT test slightly better. But audibly? Nope.
I have seen more than one audio reviewer misinterpret the law of diminishing returns(not that randy did). First time I bought an HDTV and used the included HDMI, the screen was all sparkly. I consulted a AV forum and it was said a better cable would solve, bought the least expensive audioquest cables and problem solved. So, cables can make a difference but it's 99% with the first few dollars spent.
Cables are BS. It's been proven by the guy who used coathangers for cables. The only thing to consider is gauge for speaker wire. Otherwise I buy the cheapest cables possible.
I had three subwoofers that sounded like crap, was using a generic cheap subwoofer cable. Switched to a SVS sub cable for about 36 bucks. Wow what a difference in punch and definition.
I am a cheapskate, but don't regret buying A Fosii switched power supply for my Wiim Pro Plus- it made a chalk and cheese difference, which I wasn't expecting. £65 well spent. On the back of that I bought a filtered power strip. Not sure if that made much difference (but I can't hear the faint click when my industrial compressor motor starts in the barn now)but it meant I finally seperated my audio cables from all the other mess in my study.
I like Blue Jeans Cables. Custom lengths and, in some cases, custom colors. Also, a friend swears by "medical grade" power cables which aren't very expensive. Amazon has 'em.
Always an interesting topic. Having pushed the boat out and bought a PSM136 I can’t rave enough about clean power! Speaker cables - I’ve never tried $1000+ ones but still have to be convinced laws of diminishing returns are not in play! I love worlds best interconnects but I have the $100+ ones. Have yet to be convinced there is much difference in optical cables - interesting comment on HDMI May try a more expensive one!
My experience with optical cables is that the really cheap ones can have garbage connectors that can actually fall out of the jack. When I went to just slightly more expensive ones, they stopped falling out and the bass was massively improved to the point that even I could hear the difference. The difference was so noticeable I thought at first that there was something wrong with my system.
I just switched out my subwoofer cables from Monoprice to SVS and what I did notice right away was I had to turn the volume down with the SVS by like 40%. So far after a week or so, I love the SVS. The Monoprice were fine, but the SVS is better in my opinion and to my ears
Been really happy with Blue Jean Cables for speaker, optical, and subwoofer, also interconnects. Recently needed someother lengths and tried World’s Best Van Damme and been really happy with the flexibility.
Something I never hear mentioned when talking about cables is cleaning the connectors. Just like cleaning old volume pots oxidation and other contaminants can interfere with the interface between connectors. The inside of binding posts where the banana plugs go can be cleaned with cotton swabs and electronic cleaning fluid. The same with many others like RCA connectors, lugs, etc. I suspect that many sonic differences are heard by changing cables because of the mechanical improvement of the connection when the old cable is removed and the new cable is inserted. A natural mechanical cleaning occurs. I do think there is a difference between garbage cables and good build quality cables but I am much more skeptical that improvements come just because materials and construction quality are taken to the extreme. In regards to power conditioning, I am sure that mini benefit greatly from power conditioning but that happens in the same way as the benefits from water filters happen. If you start with some thing that is already extremely clean the filters and conditioners will have a little to improve. That said, the $25 Furman seems like a very reasonable “just to be sure“ purchase. In regards to expensive power cables I will remain completely skeptical and look to the measurements over at Audio Science Review.
Good point on cleaning connectors. I have a pair of Zu Dirty Weekend 6s and I recently bought a set of their Mission level cables. These came with instructions on how not to handle the bare connectors and also included a little piece of polishing cloth with instructions for cleaning the bare connectors once a year.
I've had really bad luck with amazon basics banana plugs, I bought a set and half of them broke at the tip. I bought some Viborg banana plugs from amazon after and they've been a great budget solution, had them for like 4 years and have never broken.
Ever since I started using an external dac on my pc setup I get a ringing noise on occasion. I'm pretty sure it's coming from the pc itself somehow. Maybe driver issue or wire or psu. I havent tried a power conditioner before I wonder if this would help.
I can't see how an Audioquest HDMI cable would have any difference in performance over an Amazon Basics if they're rated at the same bit rate. It's a digital signal so that 1 or 0 will either come through or not. It's not going to come through "better" or "worse". It can't until it's analog. Same for an optical cable. I can see where build quality could make a difference if you're changing connections all the time as perhaps cheaper digital cables will break at the junction between cable and connector. But for those of us who set up a system and it stays put for the foreseeable future digital interconnects step into the realm of snake oil pretty damn fast. As for analog connections, I'd say those World's Best click all the boxes one would need unless you want to go DIY. I've seen some videos on making some pretty cool DIY speaker and power cables but I'm not sure you'd save any money over WBC. I saw a pair of used RCA's on an audiophile eBay store for over $8K the other day. "A fool and his money...."
HDMI cables are one of the most obvious ones to see if they’re quality or not over sound cables. Because when they’re butt, you notice weird video artifacts that shouldn’t be there. Like flickering, random static, etc. This has resurfaced with 2.1 cables and actually pushing 40-48gbps through them and a lot of of the cheaper cables not being able to. Hell I’ve had 2x HDMI 2.1 cables just stop working outright in my 2.1 devices but work fine on the 2.0 devices. That said, it’s more about the certification and actually passing them. I’ve got nothing but Zeskit 2.1 cables that run like $15-$25 each depending on length and they’ve been fine for a couple of years now.
@@martinarrieta4536 I've had a bad cheap cable before too. Pixelization and cutting out. But I've also had ones that lasted for years. I said it elsewhere but I believe if there is a difference between a $50 cable and a $7 cable that are both rated for 48GB then I'd wager the cheaper one is fudging the specs. It's not like we can really check. If my internet or router claims a certain speed we can check it. I'm not aware of any way to test the claimed speeds of any cable.
Phillips and GE HDMI cables are ok! Monster cables got an incredible bass but lacks details Pearl48 AQ sounds crispy, detailed, clean but lacks some bass
I have been buying some mid to upper price Audioquest RCA and XLR cables used which saves half the price. There is a very noticeable difference over even lesser Audioquest cables. Speaker and power cables are all DIY with high quality wire and connectors.
That's a really good way to do it. AQ is the biggest name so its easy to find used cables. More importantly, when they started with the DBS feature, the cables have not gone through any major updates. Every year or two, they get small refinements, so if you find a good deal on a 5 or even 10 year old cable, you're not going to be too far off the current version. Just be careful with silver. Just because its more expensive doesn't mean its a better choice. Sometimes it is, but not always.
@@fluphybunny930 We've all made it this far in life without your guidance. There's no need to get excited over a piece of wire that some stranger on the internet bought for their stereo system. Loosen the straps on your bathing helmet, sit in your safe chair and take some deep breaths. We'll somehow manage to get through this.
Bummer the Emotiva power conditioner shows as Temporarily Unavailable. But I did get an idea from one of your open tabs at 3:29… How about a Sith Audio brand natural vegetable laxative?
Just build my first hifi system, and I went with CHORD CLEARWAYX speaker cables, but nice viedo to " add more stuff as time goes " diffently very amazing information and wanna add the Audioquest Power Conditioner diffently! I did also just order there HDMI 2.1 cabel.
I love you bro!! I really respect your views and research. Thanks for all that you do. You really make me laugh as well, you are so random. Clear liquid for colonoscopy? 😂
I love detail. Replaced the emotiva rca for my marantz cd6006 to excellent but cheap amplifier. What was excellent natural sound became brittle, edgy. Different surge protector s make a BIG DIFFERENCE. POWER CONDITIONER BY EMOTIVA SUCKED ALL THE LIFE SUCH THAT I THOUGHT I BROKE SOMETHING. To my relief when I got rid of the conditioner the sound life came back I did read the power conditioners should not be used unless you have a problem with your electricity and in general the more direct connection to the wall the better can make a huge difference
Here's my experience. When I was listening to music through an AV Receiver, I did not hear much of a difference between cables. When I switched to more high end 2 channel separates, the difference was as noticeable as the difference between red and green. As your equipment becomes more transparent and revealing, so do the cables that connect them all together.
100% agree. My journey go from van der hull to neotech 3200 series and now mogami 4mm2X4 strings. I use this cables for speaker wires and power cables. Power filter i have in the past 4 Isotek aquarius and now i have a 3 phase AC sistem and on the 2 phase i have the music room. 1 phase is just the comutational power and second i have just the traditional transformer power system. Intercontect xlr mogami with canare is just make sense right now … probably i will change in the future to neotech for digital cables and interconnect xlr
100% from the wall ,,,clean electric,,,to the final sound cables absolutely make a difference,in quality picture and sound ,,,but your right sir,,,,do your homework,,, expensive doesn't always mean better ,,,,
Try this network switch... NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch (GS108Ev3) Same switch found in $500+ "audiophile" switches. Even my 80 yo mother commented on the sound coming out of the TV, and the PQ. I stream everything, and this switch made a major impact across the board in regards to both SQ and PQ that I am blown away. Give it a shot, if it does not work, send it back. For $42 it is worth a shot.
Ok listen, for e.g. the quality of your ethernet cable or wifi card does NOT affect your downloaded streamed audio quality, why? because it is just data, bytes of 1s & 0s, your files are encoded and decoded at the receiving end. Hdmi from what I'm seeing is that it can send both compressed and uncompressed audio data but still that would be a matter of the electonic components at both ends not the medium (cable).
I'm running Morrow Audio Dig-4, MA-7's and SP-7'S and I'm quite satisfied with them for what I paid used. For power I'm only using 14awg hospital grade for now. Enjoy the music folks! ✌️
Randy, Thanks for making this tier list of cables! Makes good sense. IMHO - HDMI and RCA cable quality is on my important list. Power cables not so much other than current carrying capacity. If my finances ever improve, I'll be buying Worlds Best RCA cables with the Gotham dual-shield cable for interconnect use. They seem tough yet flexible and have great EMI shielding. Oh, Randy, there my not be a better audio cable than the ones I sent you last year. Hahaha! How about vid with all of your gag props? That would be great.
@@terraneidem5765 yeah I found that part of the vid kinda sus to. Its all or nothing with digital dataline stuff or maybe some intermittent dropouts if u have a dodgy optic cable like I witnessed the other day it sounded garbled most likely the cable was pinched though it was pretty old. sure the very cheap stuff will be more likely to fall apart and have internal breaks in the wire etc but for digital its really no issue with EMI n stuff like that.
I was interested that you mentioned plugs and their differences... I am taking my life in my hands here... and really you can't just swap plugs without swapping cables, but where does that leave you? Well, World's Best Cables offer Keith Eichmann plugs as an option. And I have to say, I can hear a difference. Not a huge difference, but I've had Keith's plugs before,... I met him 15-20 years ago when he had just developed the "billet plug" and I ws loaned a pair of interconnects and I was very impressed. Not so much by the price, but the sound. Now you can get them fitted to WBC cables (listed as KLEI) and since as far as I can see, the cables are the same price regardless of plugs, and in so far as ANYTHING I suggest is worth trying, I'd suggest trying them.
I'm a prior doubter/heckler, then I tried better cables. Uh oh. Now I'm a Blue Jeans Cable user myself. They simply make the music sound demonstrably better. Nothing more, nothing less. For a very sane price, too. And they're some of the nicest people in the business. I auditioned three of their speaker cables before settling on my final decision. And WHOA, NELLIE. Speaker cables make a ridiculously huge impact on the sound, to the point that different cables sound like different EQ settings. Almost like different speakers.
This channel falls apart from me when its based on getting inexpensive stuff and then go check it here in Canada and its crazy expensive comparatively. Yeah, great for Americans.
The best sound improvement I made was by take our the connection at the speakers I have connected my speaker wire right to the crossover. Less connections better sound.
"...every little thing matters...!" WHAT ? Now i am waiting for the episode: "the beverage matters honestly, which is in your brain, when listening." PBR vs Johnny vs Coffee vs Water vs Almdudler... go for it Randy!
An amplifier designer/ engineer repeated old info to me on speaker cable size. And it still makes sense. Look at the guage wire run to your amplifier outputs. Any bigger than that does not make a difference. Just my opinion on the speaker cables. Makes sense to me with how electricity works. Now interconnects I do believe it makes sense to have the best quality ones you can afford or want in your budget. Good video and great content once again!
Actually, yes in transmission theory, the thinnest cable will set the resistance for the whole circuit... But theres a load of other stuff going on and regardless of what's in the amp, changing the speaker cable outside will make a difference.
I'm all about getting my room as quiet as possible! Maybe I'm just a little sensitive to the background signal noise (noise floor) but for me, even though I'm running an arcam avr20 with a couple of matching high-performance 4 channel power amps (front stage/Atmos) which are driving my Sonus Faber speakers in a 5.2.4 configuration, which also includes a stereo pair of Rel subwoofers for my 4 × 3.5m (13 × 11.5ft) livingroom. I have to say it was only when I purchased quality shielded speaker & RCA cables did my room finally become exceptionally quiet! My room is now so quiet there are occasions (without me opening my eyes) I'm actually unable to differentiate whether the system is switched off or if it's switched on. The room is really that quiet. If one is looking to get rid of that so-called ambient sound of the room. IMO shielded cables are the only way to go. And bear in mind this is coming from someone who's changed his setup and cables multiple times. Silence is Golden 🥳
@totalplonker824 I agree with good interconnects being shielded yet have found just using good solid copper and making my speaker cables myself works great for me. Glad you found what makes you happy that is what it is all about.
Ivanky has a optical cable that specifies Japanese termination. $10 Impeto 8k OCC HDMI was a distinct audio improvement. $13 Zeskit X- tech is coax HDMI with a different sound signature and videophile reviews. $26 There is no reason a digital signal should sound different over hdmi cables, but it does.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Budget Tier $25 Power Conditioner amzn.to/3JPZeCX
RCA's amzn.to/3LwtjJ0
Optical amzn.to/3JSWowY
Speaker Wire amzn.to/42o0EvF
Mid Tier
emotiva.com/collections/accessories/products/cmx-6?aff=9 $99
Audioquest Optical howl.me/cjmCwSBdfHh $40
Pine Tree Audio Power Cable $60 sites.google.com/view/pine-tree-audio/power-cables/stealth-1000?authuser=0
World’s Best Cables RCA amzn.to/40nkB3I $25
Audioquest HDMI $50 amzn.to/3JQ1CcW
SVS Subwoofer Cable and Speaker Cables bit.ly/40p3qPz $25
$300
Top Tier
Audioquest Power Conditioner howl.me/cjmCRV3CKm4 $400
Audioquest Power Cable AudioQuest NRG-Y3 High-performance AC power cable with 3-pole IEC C13 connector - 1 meter/3.25 feet - howl.me/ciwwTsQZ8yH $150
Audioquest HDMI $50 amzn.to/3JQ1CcW
Audioquest Optical howl.me/cjmCwSBdfHh $40
Audioquest RCA howl.me/cjmCVoXtCDc 80
Speaker Cable howl.me/cjmCYYiOnfp 90
SVS Speaker Cable bit.ly/42hPit0 $100
Just as a point of reference, as you are viewed globally, the Furman costs $79.99 on Amazon Canada. On almost everything you show the prices outside of America are significantly higher. Love your stuff. Keep up the great work on giving us budget-centric audiophile wannabes lots of options.
The SS6B is not a power conditioner and is labeled wrong on Amazon (and honestly has been since it hit Amazon). The SS6BPro is labeled correctly as a surge protector and an "updated" version of the SS6B.
Thanks a bunch! I think I'll make my own cables (not "make" but cut them and add banana plugs). One important question though, at 5:25 we have RCA "subwoofer" cables... What's a "subwoofer cable" really? What if I have a cable with RCA plugs but it doesn't specifically say "subwoofers (..)" on the markings, *how do I know if such RCA cable is "subwoofer ready",* what kind of specific and _special_ RCA cable does a subwoofer require, coax? Directional? ...?
Do you know that there are miles and miles of who-knows-what cable between the power station and your wall socket?
Yes, and that's why we use power conditioners after the wall socket.
Having old ears & damaged hearing allows me to use your basic tier products very nicely.
I use Blue Jeans cables and they're great. I especially recommend their low cap RCAs for phono leads...
When I upgraded my system. I went with Blue Jeans RCA cables between all my analog components. Don't regret it a single bit.
Digital cables do not have a sonic impact, unless they introduce errors that the protocol cannot recover (or that by recovering, just maybe, there is jitter). There is, perhaps, a possibility that an HDMI cable could be borderline and the clock reconstruction circuitry on the receiver will have to work harder and create jitter, but I doubt its an issue with modern kit, and suspect its in your head. Get an electrical engineer to explain why there might be any issue one way or another - preferably a real one, rather than a guy that sells cables. There is never any cable issue with I2S, or with USB class 2 and an async buffered receiver. For I2S, an explicit clock signal is sent from the source. For USB Class 2, the clock in the DAC is driving the process after a tiny buffering period and its signaling buffered data just like TCP/IP and even an early Raspberry Pi can deliver 44.1/16 with its crappy USB.
Great video Randy! I'm on the cusp of re-wiring my back channels because the speaker cable is 20 years old and has clearly oxidized. So for me this is the right video at the right time!
Probably just have to restrip them. Oxidation only happens when bare copper is exposed to oxygen. The stuff inside the jacket is probably still fine
@@DescartesRenegade I wish it were that easy:) But the speaker wire has clear insulation, and I can see that a lot of the copper inside has turned green. Yuck!
I use Blue Jeans Cable for speaker wires, interconnects, and data cables. So far I've purchased RCAs, S/PDIF optical and coax, BNC to RCA, Y-split RCAs, spade terminated speaker cable, and two data cables. They're all functioning great and tolerate my interminable tinkering.
Blue Jeans has been a quality go to for years.
Blue Jeans are great cables AND ALL 99% OF US WILL EVER NEED.
Their website used to have an excellent letter written in response to a threat of legal action by A Major Manufacturer of Overpriced Cables (I'll let you guess who that might be). The "AMMoOC" lawyers thought they could intimidate the BJC owner, but they didn't realize that he was *also* a lawyer. He was not intimidated, and let them know in no uncertain terms.
+1. Very pleased with BlueJeans quad wire speaker cables.
The nice thing about Blue Jeans RCA cables is that they come in different colors, so you can run different colored cables from your amp to different sources and you don't have to fool around trying to read the small print on the back of your amp.
In my opinion, decent affordable cables are all that is needed. Science fact: Cables, as long as properly shielded and made make little to no sonic difference depending on application. It is basic physics and no brand has a corner on the world of physics. Trying to defy or claiming to defy the laws of physics is a fool's errand.
One should not need to spend more than around $250 on cables for everything, not including power conditioners. A budget of up to around $300 or so should get a very good power conditioner if one needs one.
I would only add the following:
Speaker cable: For very little more money, I'd go with either building one's own speaker cables out of something like Belden or what have you or at least getting something similar over the zip type cable. The zip type is fine for non-mission critical stuff, such as surround speakers and especially for vintage gear, but for mission critical, I'd spend $6 to $10 more and get the better stuff.
RCA interconnects: I have not tried the Amazon Basics, but they might be decent at least. Some of the Amazon branded products are quite good. I used to run Monoprice premium RCAs but while they are shielded (might even survive a nuke blast), they are extremely stiff and the terminators have the potential to disembowel your gear should you need to disconnect them. I would not recommend. I run Wireworld cables (only because I got a killer deal some 3 years ago). Otherwise, the World's Best are decent and somewhat reasonable. I have a pair of their japan canare balanced cables - good enough and more.
Power conditioners: They make no sonic difference and do not improve your homes wiring, etc. (they are the last step in "upgrading the home's wiring"), but none the less, they do protect your gear and give some assemblance of last step feeding of said gear. Furman is good, just as the more expensive Panamax and the ones that cost the same as a sports car. I have an older Panamax (far more expensive than the Furman) and it still does it's job. (It saved my gear twice I can count).
There are a lot of good optical cables to choose from for little money. One can almost throw a stone and hit one.
HDMI cable: By experience, they DO make a difference. However, one need not spend $50 on an HDMI cable, it doesn't buy you anymore than a $15 to $20 HDMI cable does. The trick is to make sure your HDMI cable is not only shielded of course, but not too heavy or stiff and has the correct rating. For ARC purposes, one needs to make sure the cable is compatible for that as not all HDMI cables are.
The SVS cables are over-priced.
Power cables: I don't know that they make a sonic difference, likely not. However, they are healthy for one's gear if made well and generally better then the power cables that come with the gear. Heavy money need not be spent though. I found a couple from a company called Waudio on Amazon that are just as good as any for a bit less than the Pine Tree one. Are power cables worth upgrading knowing they likely make no sonic difference? In my opinion: Yes.
As for Audioquest product: Very questionable in my opinion. Very over-priced = fact. Companies like them are the cause of the "snake oil theory". Trying to give a bad name to science fact will always result in failure on many levels eventually. I view companies like them as "flat-earthers". Fuel for cults. Same goes for all the "boutique cable companies. None of which have been able to prove their product.
If you can hear the sonic difference between working optical cables youre not just drinking the snake oil, youre injecting it straight into your veins.
😂😂😂
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
It requires an astounding level of ignorance and a total misunderstanding of the fundamental principles that underpin digital signal transmission to make such absurd claims.
@@Solus793it doesn’t take knowledge of engineering to know that you can’t hear bugger all difference between a $50 buck digital interconnect and a $1000 buck one.
Wrong. I was using the optical cable included with my wiim mini. The sound was horrible with jitter artifacts. I ordered another cheap one which didn't help it. I ordered one that reviewed well and then everything sounded good with any noticeable jitter artifacts. Cheap optical cables can intotroduce jitter.
As an audiophile purist, I find that dipping all of my cables in audio-grade clarified butter that is specially prepared by my local audio shop provides the absolute smoothest sound possible. The difference is palatable.
I think Sith Audio sells that.
No trans fats thought, those cause horrible crosstalk.
butter... peanut butter
Make sure they’re made of low background metals too.
@@BatteryAz1z Correct. My dealer told me that's the reason it has to be labeled "audio-grade".
You forgot about Sith Audio Bass Paste. I dip all my platinum banana plugs into it before I connect. Completely opened up the soundstage.
And it’s a wonderful sandwich spread!
This completely goes over my head. I have tried many different cables in my different systems over the years and I can’t hear any difference at all 😂
You're not wrong. You were lied to. Unlike many so-called audiophiles, you didn't buy into the lies by convincing yourself of some magical improvements! "Good enough" is not difficult to achieve, and your original cables were, apparently, good enough! Once some minimum specs are met, anything "better" won't do anything "more". Some people believe in magic though 😂
I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates this compendium of affordable accessories. Thanks man. You mentioned Snake Oil. When I bought my Schiit Stack I discovered their custom length single ended RCAs. Love eliminating my cable clutter with 8 or 10 inch lengths.
Thanks for doing this video! 30+ yrs ago, I worked at Best Buy. I owned a modest stereo system at the time. Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood, Polk, etc…. Because of my employee discount, I was able to purchase fairly expensive cables at a significant discount. These cables looked nice, and were better built, but I’m not sure I could honestly say they improved the sound of my system over the basic cables that came for free in the box. Fast forward to today, and I have a significantly more expensive hifi system, with properly chosen components that compliment each other and the room. I can share that cables can make a significant change to the sound signature. Bass depth, bass detail, vocal clarity, sound stage, etc…. Changing a cable doesn’t always improve the sound, but there is no denying differences. So, for those that say cables don’t make a difference, they don’t have a system and associated room with the resolution to reveal the changes, and/or they don’t have the hearing capable of distinguishing the changes, and/or they don’t have enough experiences that presented differences. For my current system and budget, I’m a big fan of AudioArt, but I’ve had great success with Audioquest and Transparent too.
Been very happy with Blue Jeans Cables! Reasonable and well made!
See, this is why I use an air cleaner with a HEPA filter and an ion generator to clean the air in rooms where I use wireless speakers! That intermediate connection matters! I don't see a label, but I think this is a Sith Audio product. 😋
I have never considered Air as a conductor in this situation. Genius - simply genius! 😉
I use SVS RCA cables primarily for their solid build quality. For speaker cables I use Blue Jeans Cables made by either Belden or Canare. Rock solid build quality at a reasonable price.
Hi Randy. I just upgraded to an AQ Cinnamon HDMI in my home theater. Even my wife noticed immediately that she can hear the dialog in movies much more clearly. No more rewinding. Voices are less muddy and better separation from background sound effects. This huge win was all because you shared that you heard a difference at an AQ trade show booth. Thank you!!
That is not at all how digital video signals work. I guarantee it is just a placebo. you literally just got ripped off there is no possible fidelity to be gained especially in terms of frequency response for a digital cable. Even for analog cable it cheap 20$ is more than good enough. Digital signals are different and they will not change regardless of what cable you use.
You should do more research into electrical engineering before over spending on a useless HDMI cable
@@mistafizz5195 why should he trust what you say over and above his ears
@@davidhardaker192 Because perception is subjective, and people are not created to perceive objective truth from their filtered senses which are keen to bias and distortions.
@@davidhardaker192Double blinds have been a part of science for a long time. Scientists do double blinds for medicine because subjective perception is unreliable and inaccurate.
I replaced all my generic cables with Amazon basics, definitely made an improvement.
Thanks for this video! I ordered the Furman power conditioner before the video was even over. It may be just a glorified surge protector, but hopefully it'll make a difference! Love your channel sir.
In the analog domain, i can absolutely hear differences between cables. Especially RCA cables. With RCA cables it can actually be a "WOW" moment when you finally hook up a good one and realize what you've been missing.
Ive tried and tried and tried with digital cables, double blinded. Having people hook my stuff up and surprise me while i try to guess. Running phase null tests nto my interface. trying with multiple different interfaces even. Every way i could come up with to try and zero in on a difference with the intent to prove myself wrong, not right... Cheap cables, expensive, whatever. The only difference ive ever been able to perceive, and this is with ears trained for mixing and mastering mind you... Was build quality. And i will definitely say, there is a reason that basically every DAC designed for mixing and mastering professionals, runs thunderbolt USB and doesn't even bother with coaxial or optical. Professionals dont buy stuff that doesn't affect the outcome of a particular task like the average consumer can very easily be convinced to do.
I too recommend the exploration of cables, but only if you actually have the ability to remove the placebo affect from the equation, as well as let your ears adjust to the frequency changes they experience every single time sound pressure vanishes and returns, you also need to train your mind to compensate for this on instict as well otherwise youll hear and see lots of things that arent actually there. Its just part of the way the brain works and responds to stimulus. Unless you have the desire or ability to do that, i recommend the best quality cables you can afford in analog paths to benefit the transmission of the signal. I recommend the best digital cables you can reasonably justify because they will last a lot longer then the el cheapos at walmart.
P.S. (no pun intended) if your amplifier's USB input sounds worse then the coaxial and optical, its because the manufacturer of your equipment did that on purpose, btw.
ive done the phase null tests with dac outputs into the front of my interface with several digital cables in the feeds to the dacs. You cannot argue with a phase null test, if you think you hear a difference, its only because you think you do. That is what the placebo effect IS, perceiving something that isnt actually there simply because you expect it to be, and you can absolutely tell yourself as much as you want there wont be a difference, while still expecting there to be. People play this trick on themselves constantly without realizing it.
Audio professionals dont get sold snake oil, because all we have to do is run a phase null test that wont lie to us like our ears will.
Did you really do some null tests with various cables ? That's interesting, did they null and if not to what levels ? You should post a video ?
😅😅😅😅😅😅
No reason to even use RCA interconnects in the first place when balanced XLR exists.
I don't know why you don't have 1 mil or more subscribers bucko. Bring it on!
I'm a big fan of WBC cables using Mogami cables. Pro Audio people use Mogami cable so you don't need anything better than what they use in recording studios. The prices cost about what they would cost if you made the cables yourself from the same materials.
@@ChicagoRob2 bro there's 339 comments. How do you expect me to find your comment?
Totally get how analog cables can change/improve sound. I've heard it myself and I use some pretty beefy RCAs in the interconnects. And beefy speaker wire can also make an improvement. I guess a power cable could make a difference for the same reasons but I've not experienced it. But I still can't resolve how anything digital would sound different or better with a different cable. For 4K, the max bitrate for HDMI is 10.2 Gbps. Anything faster isn't helping. And i really can't reconcile how something like gold connections on a digital cable can matter. If you heard a difference with digital, and I trust that you did, I just can't account for why.
They don't make a difference.
The "gold" connector is often not even on the part that makes contact.
BUT those ***affiliate*** links pay better.
A well made cable >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> bs marketing.
And AudioQuest is nothing but bs marketing.
Very disappointed to see this crap been pushed.
What youé hearing is not real. its nothing more than Confirmation bias
As long as the digital cable is not introducing data loss or corruption, there is ZERO difference between a digital cable at any price point.
I was in the "cables don't matter" camp but I have recently seen (heard) the light.
I plan on getting that Furman power conditioner and the Snake Oil cables.
Awesome Info Randle Man... And you can always Tin the ends of you cables and then do Red and Black Shrink Tubing...
True power conditioners cost over $1k. The Furman is a surge protector. All amplifiers have conditioning filters built in...
Hey Randy. Although this model of Furman does offer minimal efi and emi filtering, and therefore some protection, this is not a power conditioner, is not labelled a power conditioner, and is not described by Furman as a power conditioner. It is a power bar with minimal filtering, but not enough to be classified as a power conditioner.
Love the channel. Keep it up. Blue jeans cables are my cheap go to.
At 6.15, just in case anybody doesn't know the difference, that is not an HDMI cable, it's a Toslink cable and it doesn't transmit video.
Of all people that know stuff about audio, this guy got past the 100k sub count....
This hobby is a meme
why that? Is he not trustworthy?
@@Silas-CubeNo one who discusses cables without actual technical overview and claims they'll somehow improve your system is
@@camelpuncher95 The entertainment value is greater than the technical.
The Emotiva power strip makes a huge improvement in the noise floor, especially in bass extension, in A-B testing, plugged into the wall outlet, compared to into the conditioner (Awesome Product). Get yourself a nice piece of wood to mount high, or just at an appropriate level, behind your rack, with several hearty screws, then use good quality, smaller, screws (could be out of sight, but not an absolute) to put in a screw, wrap a generic small cotton string around the screw, thread to and wrap around the heavy Audioquest cable, back to the screw and tie, to tether and support their weight, keeping them away from the wall. There will be no sag or stress in the IEC or RCA connectors, plus the sound will improve. I have done that for years, even leaving it totally visible (like a spider's web that is keenly placed). It protects both the separation of the cables from each other, in addition to protecting the crimped connections, with Audioquest, so their longevity is extended. That "tilt" or stress will be eliminated.
Did you see Emotiva just updated there power strips? I wonder if they are even better now
I second the Blue Jean Cables are great. Built well.
There are two cable companies that I have used for years.. after believing I needed to buy $5000 interconnects. Roy Kimber once said when asked this question. "Why do you sell expensive cables?" Roy said, "Because people will buy them." I use either Signal Cable or Zavfino out of Canada. I love Zavfino, and they offer somewhat budget offerings that trickle down from their flagships. The flagship speaker cable is $2500.00. It's not bad for this hobby. To be honest, you must have a very resolving system to hear a difference. But if you do, you will hear better bass first.
I prefer the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Braid power cables over the Stealth 1000 cables - the shortest length (3') is $65. I listened to five different AC cables in addition to the 18AWG "generic" cables - and in my system and my opinion, the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Braid was definitely the best sounding, by a good bit. The PTA Stealth 1000 was next best, and the other 3 were only slightly better than generic. The Iso-Braid AC cables *are* the *biggest/best* improvement that I have ever gotten per dollar spent. I was a major skeptic - but I am a convert, now.
I also really like the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Power 8-outlet AC filter, which is $250. You do need to buy a cable for it - so add $65-85 to this; depending the length you need.
For interconnects, I have made my own - these cost only about $25. They are braided 18AWG solid core copper wire, with locking RCA plugs. If I was going to buy interconnects, I would get the Pine Tree Audio Iso-Quad interconnects. They are *very* reasonably priced and *very* well made.
Neil - I also have the Pine Tree Iso Braid power cable. Im really happy with it.
Personally, I have never heard a cable make any difference., however, YMMV. I do buy nice cables based solely on if they look cool (and are solid in its engineering).
THIS
I'm a sucker for braided covers 😮💨
I've worked in the professional video/audio field for many years, on the engineering side. Also been buying/using HiFi gear for four decades. Only once have I ever found a "bad" audio cable - it was a "nice-looking" braided 3.5mm-to-RCA thing that I bought on Amazon. Shockingly-bad hum - must've been very poorly shielded. Looked like "good enough" quality on the outside, but it was junk. Aside from that, out of literally thousands of cables, I've truly never had any problems. A "competent" cable which fully serves its purpose is very easy to make. Once, also, for a party, I wanted to move my hifi gear to my bedroom, to keep it safe, and used some cheap (free!) cable that was lying around at work, to extend the speaker cables into the livingroom. God, it sounded bad!! Long runs, of thin cable...go figure. But at "normal lengths", virtually any "decent" speaker cable is more than sufficient to work properly. Cables have to be pretty bad before they become a problem.
YES! buy a cable that will last a decade or two moving your stuff around, and will stay plugged in nicely (and look cool) no other reason
Hoping everything comes out good with your colonoscopy!
I hope so too!
It all comes out before your colonoscopy
I have heard a lot of audiophiles -- both reviewers and rank-and-file hobbyists -- say that cables make a sonic difference. I'm not saying they don't, but in all the presentations I've seen, there's one specific form of scientific control that never gets mentioned. Some reviewers will leave the first set for the second music segment, to police against placebo effect, but what they don't mention is if they ever disconnect and then reconnect the first set, and then play the second music segment. And that's a huge missing data point in the pro-difference argument, because the physical act of breaking and re-establishing the connections really *does* make a verifiable sonic difference -- so much so that many manufacturers include this procedure in their troubleshooting guides.
The only thing I found for sure with cables is for subwoofers. I have had three subwoofers, a Klipsch, a SVS SB1000, then a SVS SB3000, they all sounded muddy without any details. This was using two different cables that had gold ends for about 15 bucks each.
I had one of the guys at SVS send me one of their $35 subwoofer cables and OMG, the details came alive.
I switched cables back-and-forth several times and the detail was not slight it was huge.
I agree the sonic differences in RCA interconnects is so small, but HDMI, come on, blind test time. Same with optical. Power cords no, no, no. Only replace power cords if they're too short or damaged!!! Then a standard power cord is just as good.
You will not hear a difference with lo Fi equipment I agree 💯
@@sylvainbiensur7370 As far as a digital cable or a power cord you won't hear, or actually there is zero difference on any level of gear. You may hear a difference but that's due to placebo, which thru many of these discussions I've come to realize people just don't understand and are unwilling to accept it.
I wish I knew this stuff 5 years ago too!!! I’ve got a DH Labs Power Plus cord to my amp, took about two notes of my reference song to realize the improvement!!!
Great options for every budget. I was skeptical about cables matter until I changed between rca cables and could really hear the difference. This was not a placebo either because I had my non audiophile friend verified, and it actually increased the decibel level of my system using a meter. Now I'm a believer.
If you didn't do a blind test with the volume levels matched then its most likely there is no real difference in sound quality. We perceive louder as better and 99% of "cables matter" claims are actually rooted in a volume change.
I also use the Furman ELITE15 PF i Linear Filtering AC Power Conditioner in my HT because it works and looks good doing it. And these D'Addario Tour-Grade Power Base - Base Protector - Stage Power Strip with 6 ft Cable - 5 Standard and 3 Transformer- Guitar Amp Outlet - Music Surge Protector with Indicator Light also the Furman's you have listed here are good also.
Does your unit take much power from your system? I ask because I was thinking of getting one. I've read a forum that suggests using the wall sockets are better because of this.
I have always have noticed a difference in cables. But, diminishing returns set in REALLY QUICK. It gets to the point that the $30 RCA cable is clearly better then the $2 cable a cheap source comes with, but only slightly sounds different one costing 10 times more. Sounding different does not always mean better, at that point it is subjective and really a matter of taste.
Basically, if you are paying $2-10 for a cable its far more likely to have quality issues - not oxygen free, poor solder joints etc that absolutely will cause a drop in quality. Cables around $30-60 are likely to be made with no faults and provide optimal performance electrically speaking. For longer runs you'll need a thicker gauge but this is pure physics of an electrical system. $100 you are paying for aesthetics and $1000 is pure snake oil territory.
@@georgemoonman2830 Agreed. I use Blue Jeans speaker cables, 8 ft runs, 10awg(bit of overkill), cost 80 bucks for the pair, and they are good quality. No doubt in my mind that an 800 buck pair couldn't possibly be 10 times better. I doubt it's even audibly better, it MIGHT test slightly better. But audibly? Nope.
I have seen more than one audio reviewer misinterpret the law of diminishing returns(not that randy did). First time I bought an HDTV and used the included HDMI, the screen was all sparkly. I consulted a AV forum and it was said a better cable would solve, bought the least expensive audioquest cables and problem solved. So, cables can make a difference but it's 99% with the first few dollars spent.
Cables are BS. It's been proven by the guy who used coathangers for cables. The only thing to consider is gauge for speaker wire. Otherwise I buy the cheapest cables possible.
@@erico888 Agreed. I hear you loud and clear. (Pun intended)
Ordered a few Audioquest cables due to this video. Cheers!
I'm happy with Monoprice stuff, both speaker and RCA. Cheap and sounds great.
So I ordered budget tier power conditioner, and cables. I'm a believer, thanks Cheap Audio Man!
I had three subwoofers that sounded like crap, was using a generic cheap subwoofer cable. Switched to a SVS sub cable for about 36 bucks. Wow what a difference in punch and definition.
I am a cheapskate, but don't regret buying A Fosii switched power supply for my Wiim Pro Plus- it made a chalk and cheese difference, which I wasn't expecting. £65 well spent. On the back of that I bought a filtered power strip. Not sure if that made much difference (but I can't hear the faint click when my industrial compressor motor starts in the barn now)but it meant I finally seperated my audio cables from all the other mess in my study.
As cables don't wear out its better to buy used. Often you can get a high end cable that's a few years old for just 20% of the original retail price.
I like you Randy, you do great stuff here on youtube. That’s it.
I appreciate that!
@@katebloggs8243 I´m convinced that cables do make a huge difference, my system wont even make a sound without 'em.
@katebloggs8243 c´mon I was just joking
I like Blue Jeans Cables. Custom lengths and, in some cases, custom colors. Also, a friend swears by "medical grade" power cables which aren't very expensive. Amazon has 'em.
I use the rca amazon cables. They are great value for the money. Best cables for the money
Akord cables are very cheap but good quality!! 👍
Always an interesting topic. Having pushed the boat out and bought a PSM136 I can’t rave enough about clean power! Speaker cables - I’ve never tried $1000+ ones but still have to be convinced laws of diminishing returns are not in play! I love worlds best interconnects but I have the $100+ ones. Have yet to be convinced there is much difference in optical cables - interesting comment on HDMI May try a more expensive one!
My experience with optical cables is that the really cheap ones can have garbage connectors that can actually fall out of the jack. When I went to just slightly more expensive ones, they stopped falling out and the bass was massively improved to the point that even I could hear the difference. The difference was so noticeable I thought at first that there was something wrong with my system.
I just switched out my subwoofer cables from Monoprice to SVS and what I did notice right away was I had to turn the volume down with the SVS by like 40%. So far after a week or so, I love the SVS. The Monoprice were fine, but the SVS is better in my opinion and to my ears
Been really happy with Blue Jean Cables for speaker, optical, and subwoofer, also interconnects. Recently needed someother lengths and tried World’s Best Van Damme and been really happy with the flexibility.
Something I never hear mentioned when talking about cables is cleaning the connectors. Just like cleaning old volume pots oxidation and other contaminants can interfere with the interface between connectors. The inside of binding posts where the banana plugs go can be cleaned with cotton swabs and electronic cleaning fluid. The same with many others like RCA connectors, lugs, etc.
I suspect that many sonic differences are heard by changing cables because of the mechanical improvement of the connection when the old cable is removed and the new cable is inserted. A natural mechanical cleaning occurs.
I do think there is a difference between garbage cables and good build quality cables but I am much more skeptical that improvements come just because materials and construction quality are taken to the extreme.
In regards to power conditioning, I am sure that mini benefit greatly from power conditioning but that happens in the same way as the benefits from water filters happen. If you start with some thing that is already extremely clean the filters and conditioners will have a little to improve. That said, the $25 Furman seems like a very reasonable “just to be sure“ purchase. In regards to expensive power cables I will remain completely skeptical and look to the measurements over at Audio Science Review.
Good point on cleaning connectors. I have a pair of Zu Dirty Weekend 6s and I recently bought a set of their Mission level cables. These came with instructions on how not to handle the bare connectors and also included a little piece of polishing cloth with instructions for cleaning the bare connectors once a year.
I've had really bad luck with amazon basics banana plugs, I bought a set and half of them broke at the tip. I bought some Viborg banana plugs from amazon after and they've been a great budget solution, had them for like 4 years and have never broken.
I find uGreen cables from Amazon good for the price. Not strident or thin sounding. I’m using 5 meters of this from PC to DAC with a VPI brick on it.
Ever since I started using an external dac on my pc setup I get a ringing noise on occasion. I'm pretty sure it's coming from the pc itself somehow. Maybe driver issue or wire or psu. I havent tried a power conditioner before I wonder if this would help.
I can't see how an Audioquest HDMI cable would have any difference in performance over an Amazon Basics if they're rated at the same bit rate. It's a digital signal so that 1 or 0 will either come through or not. It's not going to come through "better" or "worse". It can't until it's analog. Same for an optical cable. I can see where build quality could make a difference if you're changing connections all the time as perhaps cheaper digital cables will break at the junction between cable and connector. But for those of us who set up a system and it stays put for the foreseeable future digital interconnects step into the realm of snake oil pretty damn fast. As for analog connections, I'd say those World's Best click all the boxes one would need unless you want to go DIY. I've seen some videos on making some pretty cool DIY speaker and power cables but I'm not sure you'd save any money over WBC. I saw a pair of used RCA's on an audiophile eBay store for over $8K the other day. "A fool and his money...."
HDMI cables are one of the most obvious ones to see if they’re quality or not over sound cables. Because when they’re butt, you notice weird video artifacts that shouldn’t be there. Like flickering, random static, etc. This has resurfaced with 2.1 cables and actually pushing 40-48gbps through them and a lot of of the cheaper cables not being able to. Hell I’ve had 2x HDMI 2.1 cables just stop working outright in my 2.1 devices but work fine on the 2.0 devices.
That said, it’s more about the certification and actually passing them. I’ve got nothing but Zeskit 2.1 cables that run like $15-$25 each depending on length and they’ve been fine for a couple of years now.
@@martinarrieta4536 I've had a bad cheap cable before too. Pixelization and cutting out. But I've also had ones that lasted for years. I said it elsewhere but I believe if there is a difference between a $50 cable and a $7 cable that are both rated for 48GB then I'd wager the cheaper one is fudging the specs. It's not like we can really check. If my internet or router claims a certain speed we can check it. I'm not aware of any way to test the claimed speeds of any cable.
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Phillips and GE HDMI cables are ok!
Monster cables got an incredible bass but lacks details
Pearl48 AQ sounds crispy, detailed, clean but lacks some bass
I would love to see you do blind tests, (especially of HDMI). I am not trying to tell you what to do, or challenging your experience. I am curious.
AQ Pearl line is a very solid choice.
I have been buying some mid to upper price Audioquest RCA and XLR cables used which saves half the price. There is a very noticeable difference over even lesser Audioquest cables. Speaker and power cables are all DIY with high quality wire and connectors.
That's a really good way to do it. AQ is the biggest name so its easy to find used cables. More importantly, when they started with the DBS feature, the cables have not gone through any major updates. Every year or two, they get small refinements, so if you find a good deal on a 5 or even 10 year old cable, you're not going to be too far off the current version. Just be careful with silver. Just because its more expensive doesn't mean its a better choice. Sometimes it is, but not always.
Please tell me you didn't buy expensive AQ XLR cables !
They ripped you off.
The most you should be paying is something like Mogami.
@@fluphybunny930 We've all made it this far in life without your guidance. There's no need to get excited over a piece of wire that some stranger on the internet bought for their stereo system.
Loosen the straps on your bathing helmet, sit in your safe chair and take some deep breaths. We'll somehow manage to get through this.
Bummer the Emotiva power conditioner shows as Temporarily Unavailable. But I did get an idea from one of your open tabs at 3:29… How about a Sith Audio brand natural vegetable laxative?
I love wbc great value and there Sonic descriptions have so far been spot on.
Just build my first hifi system, and I went with CHORD CLEARWAYX speaker cables, but nice viedo to " add more stuff as time goes " diffently very amazing information and wanna add the Audioquest Power Conditioner diffently! I did also just order there HDMI 2.1 cabel.
I love you bro!! I really respect your views and research. Thanks for all that you do. You really make me laugh as well, you are so random. Clear liquid for colonoscopy? 😂
Your clear liquid comment LOL! I just got home from the hospital after the Alien Probe!
I love detail. Replaced the emotiva rca for my marantz cd6006 to excellent but cheap amplifier. What was excellent natural sound became brittle, edgy. Different surge protector s make a BIG DIFFERENCE. POWER CONDITIONER BY EMOTIVA SUCKED ALL THE LIFE SUCH THAT I THOUGHT I BROKE SOMETHING. To my relief when I got rid of the conditioner the sound life came back I did read the power conditioners should not be used unless you have a problem with your electricity and in general the more direct connection to the wall the better can make a huge difference
Here's my experience.
When I was listening to music through an AV Receiver, I did not hear much of a difference between cables. When I switched to more high end 2 channel separates, the difference was as noticeable as the difference between red and green. As your equipment becomes more transparent and revealing, so do the cables that connect them all together.
100% agree.
My journey go from van der hull to neotech 3200 series and now mogami 4mm2X4 strings. I use this cables for speaker wires and power cables. Power filter i have in the past 4 Isotek aquarius and now i have a 3 phase AC sistem and on the 2 phase i have the music room. 1 phase is just the comutational power and second i have just the traditional transformer power system. Intercontect xlr mogami with canare is just make sense right now … probably i will change in the future to neotech for digital cables and interconnect xlr
Furman M8. Best Furman unit for 'budget' money.
Too busy rolling tubes and doobies to change my focus to cables now.😂 But thank you for your time and effort made to share this with us all.
100% from the wall ,,,clean electric,,,to the final sound cables absolutely make a difference,in quality picture and sound ,,,but your right sir,,,,do your homework,,, expensive doesn't always mean better ,,,,
Try this network switch... NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Plus Switch (GS108Ev3) Same switch found in $500+ "audiophile" switches. Even my 80 yo mother commented on the sound coming out of the TV, and the PQ. I stream everything, and this switch made a major impact across the board in regards to both SQ and PQ that I am blown away. Give it a shot, if it does not work, send it back. For $42 it is worth a shot.
Well done Randy options galore. Appreciate that.
Ok listen, for e.g. the quality of your ethernet cable or wifi card does NOT affect your downloaded streamed audio quality, why? because it is just data, bytes of 1s & 0s, your files are encoded and decoded at the receiving end. Hdmi from what I'm seeing is that it can send both compressed and uncompressed audio data but still that would be a matter of the electonic components at both ends not the medium (cable).
I'd love your recommendation for USB cables for audio from my computer to my DAC.
Great video, Randy! Heard about Supra Cables? Really good quality
and great value for money.
I use them in my system.
I'm running Morrow Audio Dig-4, MA-7's and SP-7'S and I'm quite satisfied with them for what I paid used. For power I'm only using 14awg hospital grade for now. Enjoy the music folks! ✌️
Are you kidding with the colonoscopy reference?! Mine’s Friday. So random😂
Randy, Thanks for making this tier list of cables! Makes good sense.
IMHO - HDMI and RCA cable quality is on my important list. Power cables not so much other than current carrying capacity. If my finances ever improve, I'll be buying Worlds Best RCA cables with the Gotham dual-shield cable for interconnect use. They seem tough yet flexible and have great EMI shielding.
Oh, Randy, there my not be a better audio cable than the ones I sent you last year. Hahaha! How about vid with all of your gag props? That would be great.
hdmi cable either work or they don't. You can't get better one's or zero's.
@@terraneidem5765 yeah I found that part of the vid kinda sus to.
Its all or nothing with digital dataline stuff or maybe some intermittent dropouts if u have a dodgy optic cable like I witnessed the other day it sounded garbled most likely the cable was pinched though it was pretty old.
sure the very cheap stuff will be more likely to fall apart and have internal breaks in the wire etc but for digital its really no issue with EMI n stuff like that.
D'Addario Accessories IEC to NEMA Plug Power Cable, 10FT (North America) - chep, or Pangea Audio AC 14SE MKII - high end. That is all I use
I was interested that you mentioned plugs and their differences... I am taking my life in my hands here... and really you can't just swap plugs without swapping cables, but where does that leave you?
Well, World's Best Cables offer Keith Eichmann plugs as an option.
And I have to say, I can hear a difference. Not a huge difference, but I've had Keith's plugs before,... I met him 15-20 years ago when he had just developed the "billet plug" and I ws loaned a pair of interconnects and I was very impressed. Not so much by the price, but the sound.
Now you can get them fitted to WBC cables (listed as KLEI) and since as far as I can see, the cables are the same price regardless of plugs, and in so far as ANYTHING I suggest is worth trying, I'd suggest trying them.
The world best cables are very fine.give it a try cheers
Have you tried the hospital outlet in the wall yet?
I'm a prior doubter/heckler, then I tried better cables. Uh oh. Now I'm a Blue Jeans Cable user myself. They simply make the music sound demonstrably better. Nothing more, nothing less. For a very sane price, too. And they're some of the nicest people in the business. I auditioned three of their speaker cables before settling on my final decision. And WHOA, NELLIE. Speaker cables make a ridiculously huge impact on the sound, to the point that different cables sound like different EQ settings. Almost like different speakers.
This channel falls apart from me when its based on getting inexpensive stuff and then go check it here in Canada and its crazy expensive comparatively. Yeah, great for Americans.
Not Randy's fault but Amazon's for letting resellers ask ridiculous prices for grey imports
The best sound improvement I made was by take our the connection at the speakers I have connected my speaker wire right to the crossover. Less connections better sound.
"...every little thing matters...!"
WHAT ?
Now i am waiting for the episode: "the beverage matters honestly, which is in your brain, when listening."
PBR vs Johnny vs Coffee vs Water vs Almdudler... go for it Randy!
World’s Best has these “Using Van Damme Silver Series Session Grade - 55 Low Cap Wire and Eminence Gold Locking RCA Connectors” for $68
+1 for Emotiva cables.
An amplifier designer/ engineer repeated old info to me on speaker cable size. And it still makes sense. Look at the guage wire run to your amplifier outputs. Any bigger than that does not make a difference. Just my opinion on the speaker cables. Makes sense to me with how electricity works. Now interconnects I do believe it makes sense to have the best quality ones you can afford or want in your budget.
Good video and great content once again!
"Makes sense to me with how electricity works. " - so, how does electricity work?
Actually, yes in transmission theory, the thinnest cable will set the resistance for the whole circuit... But theres a load of other stuff going on and regardless of what's in the amp, changing the speaker cable outside will make a difference.
@@TheDanEdwards umm. Ohm's Law
I'm all about getting my room as quiet as possible! Maybe I'm just a little sensitive to the background signal noise (noise floor) but for me, even though I'm running an arcam avr20 with a couple of matching high-performance 4 channel power amps (front stage/Atmos) which are driving my Sonus Faber speakers in a 5.2.4 configuration, which also includes a stereo pair of Rel subwoofers for my 4 × 3.5m (13 × 11.5ft) livingroom. I have to say it was only when I purchased quality shielded speaker & RCA cables did my room finally become exceptionally quiet!
My room is now so quiet there are occasions (without me opening my eyes) I'm actually unable to differentiate whether the system is switched off or if it's switched on. The room is really that quiet.
If one is looking to get rid of that so-called ambient sound of the room. IMO shielded cables are the only way to go. And bear in mind this is coming from someone who's changed his setup and cables multiple times.
Silence is Golden 🥳
@totalplonker824 I agree with good interconnects being shielded yet have found just using good solid copper and making my speaker cables myself works great for me. Glad you found what makes you happy that is what it is all about.
Whenever I think of home audio cables I have images of Doc Octopus battling Spiderman. Power conditioner 25 dollar awesome thanks
I use audio quest cinnamon hdmi and coax. Blue jean cable speaker wires in a 5.1 setup. Will look in to power conditioner
Audioquest Cinnamon is excellent.
For a audio rca , xlr are mogami gold made in Japan lifetime warranty at a reasonable price at pro audio stores guitar center ect.
Ivanky has a optical cable that specifies Japanese termination. $10 Impeto 8k OCC HDMI was a distinct audio improvement. $13 Zeskit X- tech is coax HDMI with a different sound signature and videophile reviews. $26
There is no reason a digital signal should sound different over hdmi cables, but it does.