A Pleasant Little Cable Story That May Please Neither Objectivists Nor Subjectivists

[Jud]

Alert: None of what follows involves blind testing.

 

A week or so ago I received new cables from Ghent Audio - one USB cable for $35, two RCA-to-XLR cables to connect my pre-amp and amp for $15 each (all one meter lengths).  All were star quad, and the USB cable in addition has a "JSSG360" configuration.

 

Then this week I received two 3 foot long power cords from Amazon.

 

The idea for the USB cable was to change from a fairly heavy, stiff JSSG360 cable another member kindly made me that required an adapter (my DAC has an unusual USB A male input, necessitating a USB A female cable termination or adapter) with something lighter and less stiff that didn't need an adapter.  The reason was to put less torque on the DAC's USB input, which I was concerned might lead to potential problems down the road.  So I changed out the cable, and subjectively I liked it slightly better than the homemade one.  I'd liked the homemade one better than the Mapleshade Clearlink Plus, a USB cable I'd preferred to anything else I'd heard for several years (including the two AQ cables at the top of their line).  Very nice for $35.

 

The idea with the two RCA-to-XLR cables was twofold: (1) See whether the star quad configuration might lead to less noise pickup than my very lightly shielded Omega Mikro interconnects; and (2) though I know just having an RCA-to-XLR cable won't provide any of the noise reduction advantages of a truly balanced setup, see whether there might be any audible difference between the RCA and XLR input circuitry in my amp (unlikely, I felt).  The result was that I liked the sound with the new cables a fair amount better, at about 1/20th the price of the Omega Mikros if I remember what I paid for them correctly.  Of course this could simply be expectation bias, random chance, whatever, but I continue to think the system sounds a bit better now.

 

And finally, the new power cords, absolutely plain heavy duty power cords that came in a package of 3 for $6.  The idea was to use two of these in place of MIT Z-cords (which are sturdily built and have ferrites), then insert the Z-cords in place of two Mapleshade power cords, one to the pre-amp power supply, the other to the amp.  The Mapleshade cords have next to no shielding, so again the thought was better shielding and less noise pickup.  Well, all did not turn out as I thought.  The sound seemed a bit lifeless, "hi-fi" rather than "live," in subjective listening.  So I switched the Z-cord plugged into the amp back out for one of the Mapleshade power cords, and all was bliss.  The bite of violin bows on strings, the snap of percussion, the impression of fingers hitting keys on a piano rather than just notes being played, were back.  (I don't have that much recent experience with live unamplified percussion, but for the past year I've had onstage seats for the local chamber music series, so I feel I'm somewhat familiar with piano and violin sounds.)  I have no idea at all why the much more lightly constructed and unshielded Mapleshade should sound better to me subjectively, or indeed why power cords would make any difference at all other than potential noise pickup.  Other than random chance or subconsciously wanting the Mapleshade to sound better though I consciously expected the Z-cord to be better, I have no explanation for my subjective impression.

 

But anyway, I'm enjoying listening to music very much these days.  And (obligatory non-audiophile spouse story) my wife has asked me who the artists were on a couple of albums she never liked before.

[Jud]

43 minutes ago, Speedskater said:

A ferrite just reduces the tendency of a cord to receive or transmit high frequency interference.   Maybe you enjoy a little  bit of added background noise from interference.

 

I need to have a very complex "enjoyment profile" then, because I subjectively felt the better shielded signal cables between pre-amp and amplifier improved the sound.

[Jud]

38 minutes ago, marce said:

What are you going on about, the reference was to the frequencies that ferrites work at....

 

Peter referred to the fact that my amp is designed to have bandwidth to the (low) mHz, though I have no idea whether that's the least bit relevant to anything.

 

I found it interesting that (1) this was so far the only step intended to reduce noise that I haven't subjectively liked, of several I've done, and (2) that I subjectively noted a difference at all, when not particularly expecting one, and if anything, favorable.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, marce said:

OK...

Further my reply was more in astonishment to the usual Frank's fragile stereo reply, I would hope they are not all that fragile. Again though ferrite tend to work in the high MHz, how far does your amp go into the MHz region?

 

Specs don't give an exact upper frequency limit number, but do say 3dB down at 1.8mHz. So fairly low in the mHz range I would guess, without knowing a number.

[Jud]

27 minutes ago, mansr said:

This is the effect of a random clip-on ferrite I found on my desk:

 

Without the ferrite, the spectrum is perfectly flat.

 

If I'm reading the scale correctly, noise or a sweep signal is pretty flat to 1mHz or so, and diminishes very slightly by 5mHz. So nothing in the audible region (excluding any audible effects(?) from diminution of very high frequency noise).

[Jud]

So I gather from the reactions that it's very unlikely my subjective reaction to the Z-cord resulted from any reduction in upper audio frequencies caused by the ferrites.  I'm also getting the impression it's unlikely the ferrites would have reduced audible noise, though anyone is welcome to tell me how they may have.  This doesn't rule out a reduction in noise due to better cable shielding or sturdier construction.  Though I've subjectively liked measures that might reduce noise previously, it doesn't rule out this time being an exception.

 

It also doesn't rule out no change and my randomly preferring one identically performing power cord to another.

 

Of course it's also very unlikely, but the way the power cords each work within my system might actually have created some difference I heard.  Perhaps the Z-cord might allow a noise current to run along some path for which the Mapleshade cord provides slightly greater resistance.  But this is sheer speculation.

[Jud]

While folks have seemed to concentrate on the power cords (an exchange in a roughly equivalent price range for each of around $100-$150), what I'm quite pleased with and don't want to lose sight of are the subjective improvements experienced from two $15 RCA cables and a $35 USB cable. Whether what I hear is real or not, the cables can serve as inexpensive recommendations the next time someone asks.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, lucretius said:

 

Shouldn't this have been the starting point?  ☺️

 

PA Dutch saying: "Too soon old, too late smart." 😆

[Jud]

1 hour ago, esldude said:

Wouldn't the RCA cables be a good opportunity to try a one on the left channel and another on the right channel comparison?  

 

I thought about that for half a second, but the DMA-150 has a selector switch between RCA and XLR input. You can't do both, or RCA for one channel and XLR for the other.

[Jud]

11 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

Should be German. 

(anyway I never heard of it, but then of course I am not smart enough, yet)

 

Yes, in this case these are people with German ancestry and "Dutch" is a corruption of "Deutsch."

[Jud]

14 hours ago, esldude said:

Oh didn't realize you were changing from RCA-RCA to RCA-XLR. 

 

You could get one of these adapters.  I don't trust Hosa cables, but I've used these with no issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-GXM-133-RCA-XLR3M-Adaptor/dp/B000068O4D

 

 

But then of course I'd be testing cable vs. cable-plus--adapter (not that I'd necessarily expect to hear any difference regardless).   

 

Edit: I've thought about a pair of his RCAs for the DAC outputs, and even speaker cables; those would lend themselves to side-by-side (though not blinded) comparisons.

[Jud]

1 minute ago, Allan F said:

 

I believe that this applies only to the Pennsylvania Dutch, who originally came from what is now Germany, not The Netherlands.

 

Yep.

[Jud]

2 minutes ago, Allan F said:

 

More commonly written as, "Ve get too soon oldt undt too late schmart".

 

I've seen that written on wooden placards sold to tourists, but the PA Dutch friends I lived among for 50+ years used the Anglicized version when they spoke.