Marvey's Cable Rolling Adventures

Discussion in 'Modifications and Tweaks' started by purr1n, May 7, 2016.

  1. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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  2. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I hear a difference between cables in general without question. Though sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes subtle and some sound the same.

    Buy I’ve always had trouble with this experience. Because inside amps and headphones are almost always super crappy little tiny wires that are nothing special.

    how does plugging ZMF’s 12k copper cable for example (I haven’t heard it but I’m using it as an example because of the 12k number) sound better when inside the headphone connecting those 12k strands to the driver is what, 1 stand of crap copper cable? Seriously if you opened up your headphones you would be horrified by the cable leading to the driver.

    you would think the sound would be limited by the worst cable in the system. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for some reason.

    Same with power cables, and I did hear a difference switching to Pangea power cables even though I wasn’t expecting to (I did it for noise issues). You’ve got this great power cable coming out of the amp/Dac and then it plugs into a power strip or conditioner and this uses $9 basic power cabling to go to the wall and it caries all the power for all your amp/dacs. Then there’s probably shittier wire behind the wall going to the street. Yet somehow improving the last little bit of power cable has an effect.

    I wonder if an upgrade headphone cable would sound equally as good if you plugged it into a monoprice extension cable because that’s still better than the cable that goes to the driver inside the headphone.
     
  3. Nordpol Anton

    Nordpol Anton New

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    Very good point. And now imagine the engineer of a studio would super rich and crazy enough to change all those thin copper cables into pure OCC silver cables. Imagine that! The cable from the singer into the pre amp alone would probably make a difference. Not to speak of all the thousand connections in the mixing console or from the AUX outs into the effect gear etc. Not to speak of the power cables and so on. What would that sound like? One can only dream ...
     
  4. exocer

    exocer Acquaintance

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    Do you feel the the negative affect persists or did dynamics improve to a comfortable level over time?
     
  5. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    It would be a real bummer if it sounded exactly the same or worse? But let's not worry about that, no one would dare to say it anyway.
    I think I am looking forward to the recordings from the studio using OCC pure silver at the approximately 10 times of the price of just "thin copper recordings".
     
  6. AWL

    AWL New

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    While I admit to feeling a little odd quoting the exact same sentence as someone else above, I tend to agree with this statement based on the Pangea signal cables I've tried in the past.

    I came to this site a long time ago because of the extensive discussion of various Schiit products -- was and still am a fan, and I've owned probably a couple dozen different Schiit components over the years -- but this thread was the first to really persuade me to buy something I hadn't really considered before. I started with some basic Pangea interconnects and then moved onto the Audioquest Columbia and Colorado, all of which were evaluated previously by other members. And all of them were noticeably different to my ears. To me, the Pangeas were the least impressive; they were warm and comfortable but tended to dampen the sound in a way I didn't like. Felt like they were subtracting too much from the original recording.

    Far more interesting to me was the contrast between the Columbia and the Colorado, given that they were from the same line and from the same manufacturer. Apparently, the only difference on paper between the two is the type of insulation over the same copper conductors. Yet the sound was so obviously different between the two: the Columbia was quite balanced throughout, but the Colorado has such a dark presentation that I debated for a while whether the highs were being rolled off because the Colorado loses so much of the top-end sparkle that you get from the Columbia and most other cables. Back then, I kept the Columbia in place and shelved the Colorado, even though the Colorado is the more expensive cable.

    I've since moved onto other cables (mostly Shunyata because I was able to obtain a bunch of their top of the line cables from several years ago at vastly reduced prices from an estate sale) but last year I found a new use for the once-abandoned Colorado cable. Thanks to reports on this site and others, I sought out the RAAL Requisite SR1a headphones and then I knew immediately I had to keep them. So much speed, so much resolution, so much transparency. I often say they were like a religious experience for me in that it forced me to re-evaluate what I prized most from music reproduction. But even if many others considered them to be neutral, they were just a tad too bright and thin for my liking. Well, it turns out the Colorado does an admirable job taming those highs, and I added a Freya S preamp to add a touch more fullness to the resultant sound. With amplification from a pair of Vidars, I was really quite happy with this particular combination.
     
  7. animus

    animus Almost "Made"

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    I don't know if it's burn in or just me adjusting to it, or maybe even my Studio A compensating for it (don't think it's this, because I thought the dynamics were fine even before I swapped my BHA-1 out), but I don't notice the issue anymore. Could be any one of the above, so I won't speculate.
     
  8. exocer

    exocer Acquaintance

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    Thanks. I have experienced the same with cable changes. In fact, after your last reply I decided to locate a used pair to replace my Pyst XLRs. These cables go between my DAC and Preamp. Initial impressions were that there is some added refinement compared to what I am used to. There seems to be some loss of "info" with the Pangea's. I am not sure if the info I "think" i'm losing is noise yet. Will have to swap the PYSTs back in after several weeks to determine if these are keepers.

    Thank you
     
  9. exocer

    exocer Acquaintance

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    FWIW I switched the Pysts back in today and my first observation is that the soundstage feels a bit closer and less dimensional. The sound also has slight less of a toe-tapping feel. I'm not sure if it's my mood today or an actual difference in weight between the two cables. The Pysts have a heavier presentation and the Pangea SE's are a bit lighter in presentation, a slight bit faster.

    Will give the Pysts a few days and switch back. Overall, happy with the purchase and would do it again.
     
  10. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I had DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 XLR cables between my Bifrost 2 and Khozmo balanced passive preamp in my speaker rig. I just switched them out for Pangea Premier SE XLR cables and the difference is honestly huge. It sounds like I got a better DAC. Transparency is through the roof, soundstage is better, bass is tighter. Soundstage and imaging are better, resolution is better. I’m damn impressed by Pangea and wish I could afford to use only their Premier SE cables in both my speaker rig and headphone rig. But a friend got s whole bunch of JPS labs Ultracinductor cables and made me cables with it for the rest of my rig. And they also sound very good. Though I’ve never compared them to the Pangea. They are certainly at least good enough if not better.
     
  11. roshambo123

    roshambo123 Friend

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    I personally did not believe in cable differences until I heard them without asking.

    After using Audioquest King Cobra XLR's for multiple years I randomly put in some monoprice XLR's between MJ2 and Yggdrasil for the heck of it. I wasn't listening for any sound difference but immediately thought things had gotten worse with the Monoprice cables. To make sure I wasn't insane I bought a pair of custom Canare L-4E6S XLR's with Neutrik connectors. We use these at work and they're broadcast quality. Those sounded different than the other two. The differences are not big, but I'm willing to say non-zero.

    The Audioquest King Cobra's seem a hair more upfront and there's extra sparkle in the high end that I thought was noticeable on busy passages in Jean Rondeau's 'Vertigo' album. The custom Canare's are more laidback, but natural and good. The Monoprices sound uncohesive. My preference leans to the Audioquest.

    I don't have the ability to do a blind test but I'm willing to agree there's something going on with cables.
     
  12. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    I have been lucky to hear and listen to many expensive cables, I use to manage a high end audio store. Yes the prices were crazy and I found for myself that cables do make a difference. For an inexpensive set of interconnects I would suggest Reality Cable. I have known Gregg the owner for many years and used his cables to compare to uber cables, his were as good in almost all cases. The only expensive cable I would buy if I had the money would be Argento or there cheaper line Organic, they are out of my price range and are very good. They Manufacture/machine there own connectors with propriety metals and sell there rcas and connectors to many equipment manufactures. Its hard to describe cables I find it totally system dependent I listen to see if they alter the sound, If I have a sound I like that is balanced for my ears and tastes I only want a cable that enhances what I already have not adds warmth or zippiness or brightness. I am using Reality Cable interconnects. and find them to meet my listening needs
     
  13. AdvanTech

    AdvanTech Friend

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    They’re my favorite interconnects. Knowing how good they are, I wish they made speaker cables too. I’d buy them immediately.

    What are the Pangea Premier SE of speaker cables?
     
  14. exocer

    exocer Acquaintance

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    I wish AudioEnvy got more love here. Zero affiliation but I too owned the Pangea SE XLRs which were noticeably better than the Schiit Pysts in my rig. Since then, I have moved onto AudioEnvy O'Nestian XLR cables. These were substantially better across the board and do not cost an arm and a leg. A friend of mine lent me his $1500 AudioMagic XLR interconnects to compare and these O'Nestians may not extract every detail but they certainly held their own and I've chosen not to invest more since the gains will likely not be worth the investment. Cheers
     
    • Agreed, ditto, +1 Agreed, ditto, +1 x 1
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  15. Josh Schor

    Josh Schor Friend

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    check out Reality Cables, I have compared them with a lot of high end cables and they are very competitive for not a lot of money, the interconnects are the best then the speaker wire
     
  16. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    So I don't need XLR cables anymore, however I do need some quality RCA cables. So I have a few options on my hands (thanks @k4rstar!). I bought some cheap Neutrik Rean RCA connectors and here's what I've got:
    • Pangea Premier SE XLR cables that I could reterminate to RCA. ez pz.
    • Mogami (not sure if coax or quad) wire
    • Canare (ibid.) wire
    • Belden (ibid.) wire
    • Gotham (quadstar) wire
    Top quality I'm strongly guessing here would be to reterminate the Pangeas, which use Cardas copper. But which is second-best, just in case I want to keep these XLR cables around in case I build a 1:1 Cinemag trafo in the future?

    I'm leaning toward the quad Gotham wire after a very informative and helpful convo with Yota, but I just wanted to see what everyone else thought—or if y'all think I should just bite the bullet and reterminate the Pangea since it'll be a while 'til I get that Cinemag going, and I can always re-reterminate back to XLR?
     
  17. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Get some triton submarine wire and use that.
     
  18. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    I am ashamed I actually googled that...
     
  19. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I wish I was kidding. Got some submarine wire from a supplier after the USS Triton was decommissioned. Made some cables that were awesome. Sounded especially good in meet conditions and I eventually gave a pair to Craig.

    I am not a cable believer but they design that stuff with a tiny bit of parasitic capacitance which can help with noise rejection.
     
  20. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Wait—I am honestly confused, Poe's Law is kicking in hard right now for me right now. But some of the details you're adding in makes it sound like what you're saying is genuine... Submarine wire? As in from the United States Ship Triton, and it has... wire? Like, copper wire that they used for communication onboard? I feel like I am on the precipice of the most obscure, coolest thing ever or a very involved joke that is actually p funny lol.
     

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