Are ‘audiophile cables’ BS?
That’s the question raised in a thread at diyAudio, a forum dedicated to audiophile nerdology.
They ran a blind listening test, comparing a variety of audio examples that were handled in a variety of ways:
- The original file taken from CD;
- The original file run through 180cm of pro audio copper wire as audio and recorded;
- The original file run through wet mud as audio and recorded; and
- The original file run through a banana as audio and recorded.
Listeners were free to play the audio through their system of choice, but were encouraged to focus on listening for differences, vs trying to measure differences. Users were asked to guess which file was which.
When the results were counted, the guesses were essentially random. The audiophiles could not reliably distinguish the original files from re-recordings through copper wire, mud or a banana.
There’s a deep rabbit hole to go down, if you’re interested in tests that ‘debunk’ audiophile claims.
Others have tested audiophile nightmare scenarios, like sending signals through a bunch of random connectors:
Again, listeners couldn’t tell the difference.
If bananas work, why not carrots? Julian Krause tested out using carrots to connect two cables – for those situations when you don’t the right adapter. Again, most listeners can’t hear the difference:
AP Mastering recently ran a blind test comparing digital to audio converters (DAC) that cost a few hundred dollars against ones that cost thousands of dollars. He notes that almost all DACs are based around a handful of inexpensive chips.
He challenged his viewers – presumably with ‘golden ears’ – to tell the difference between high end and budget DACs:
When he shared the results, he noted:
“As there were significantly more than 1000 participants, the statistical power is compelling here and it really shows that nobody was able to hear any difference. If you want to argue with these results, either you need to argue against mathematics or assert some kind of conspiracy theory or improbable explanation.
Audiophiles, just face it, you can’t hear the difference, as good pro audio quality DACs are transparent.”
So Are ‘Audiophile Cables’ BS?
This question will probably never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction, because these tests focus on how people perceive audio, vs measuring it with audio tools.
These tests don’t really show that there’s no difference between routing audio through a good cable vs running it through a banana. What they show is that people – even professed audiophiles – just aren’t very good at hearing the differences.
There are differences that can be measured. And there are reasons for the best practices that musicians and audio engineers follow.
Here are some suggestions for electronic musicians:
- Modular systems use strong signals, and you’ll be hard-pressed to hear a difference between expensive patch cords and cheap Hosa cables off of Amazon.
- 1/4″ connectors are tried and true, but Eurorack uses 3.5 mm connectors, which unfortunately not as reliable. This means that Euro users are more likely to encounter bad connections. If you run into this, swap out a different cable and see if the issue goes away. Unfortunately, shorts in Eurorack are caused by problems with cheap jacks more often than cheap cables.
- Using a mult module is going to be more reliable and scalable than stackable cables and mult adapters.
- Passive mults are fine for most situations. Upgrade to a buffered mult if you want to drive three or more oscillators with a single signal.
- Use balanced cables for runs over 10 ft, when your gear supports it.
- Avoid adapters, connecting multiple cables together, and other hacks. While tests show that most people can’t hear the difference when audio is run through a bunch of adapters, in the real world, every adapter is an additional failure point, and a potential source of static in your signal.
- In a pinch, you can always use a carrot as an adapter!
What’s your take on audiophile cables? And what’s your advice on cables and connectors? Share your thoughts in the comments!
via Tom’s Hardware
That was a fun read, thank you!
Colored cables are more important to me :))
Totally agree with you! I’v noticed that red cables usually sound the best! And the violet ones always get lost somewhere.
Super interesting! Also agree about the colored cable thing lol. Right now I’m all into those myvolts patch cables that glow when cv gets passed. Super helpful as I learn to patch! I wish all my cables glowed!
This is nothing… does anyone remember Monster HDMI cables? They had a whole scam trying to convince people their cables made the digital signals better lol
While you’re at it, audio and power cables should stay a foot apart, but if they do touch it should be at a right angle.
Couldn’t you use reference mics and compare the spectrographs of each setup? Dont understand why this would be so elusive to measure
People listen with their ears, not reference mics.
This kind of test is not new. Blind testing of 5-figure cables versus a wire coat hanger had the same result. Old dudes with a lot of money don’t want to talk about it.
As the article points out, this test highlights that audiophile listeners are not able to HEAR the differences.
Audiophiles are clowns
This surprises me at exactly zero percent. I know I’m not alone in this.
If you did it with LP vs CD, people would obviously hear the difference, which doesn’t mean vinyl is better (or the other way around).
Old dudes (like, my age) spending fortunes on gear will never want to discuss it properly, they would risk realizing they paid that money for nothing, which they wouldn’t support.
If the hi-fi industry were to definitively abandon RCA connections in favor of balanced ones, improvements would be achieved that no audiophile cable could aspire to match.
IN what way? A 1 metre connection in a relatively electrically un-noisey environment. “Audiophile” Cables dont set out to solve electrical problems balanced circuits rather than connections solve. Plenty of hifi companies use balanced connectors and circuits. Where would I use them in my hifi, turntable to amplifier via single ended BNCs, amplifier to speakers via +&- wires? No RCA connectors.
I have some old amps that use XLRs in single ended configuration. Same with some speakers – actually those are old enough to still call them Cannons. Being pedantic, it will be the balanced circuitry I think you are referring to.
While properly designed balanced connections can suppress external noise, they are not a universal panacea. The internally generated noise in a balanced input can be 14db worse than an equivalent single ended version. On top of this, even a blameless balanced input can have its CMRR hammered by a badly designed output stage on the preceding piece of equipment thus destroying the whole point of balancing. CMRR can only be guaranteed by a balancing transformer or a specialist IC like THAT Corp’s InGenius range.
Mid grade professional cables are about all you need, for example the Sweetwater house brand cables. You get good cables to eliminate noise, not about making the sound better. I have an Ernie Ball cheap cable and a cheap Hosa, they have some noise (the Ernie Ball is worse) where the Sweetwater ones which are only slightly more have no noise. So a $20 cable is worth it over a $10 cable but a $60 cable is usually not a big difference over a $20 cable unless you are running very big distances, but at that point it will be a $100 cable probable vs a $50 one.
One theming also you will notice with these tests is the relatively short distance. If you wired together 30 feet of bananas into one huge banana…well……yeah, probably would be noisy, but maybe bananas actually make for a better cable, who knows.
I always wanted to sound like a banana.
One of the best posts on synthtopia in a long time.
I’m mangoing all my cables because of the sweet juicy sound.
Also I use usb1 for all my digital connections, gets them a vintage vibe.
Cheers
I currently work in pro audio and I have worked in domestic audio. Rest assured there is “confusion” in both. The good practices in the article are common to both because it’s wired and electricity. In pro audio, vintage desks have that “something “. Distortion ? Musical eq? If a guitar has that something. People appear happy to accept that. I’m domestics audio the user isn’t making their money deciding what cable is what but when they say similar it’s snake oil. Yes the shops selling it can make more money, perhaps try going to the shops and see what happens. My amplifiers at home came with their own cables so I didn’t have to spend anything more on them (I understand they were bundled into the price, I was getting trade discount). Balance connections are widespread but there’s a lot less electrical noise ina domestic listening room. There’s a lot of good domestic equipment that’s cheap for beginners when home recording. Just view it as all equipment and take your own blinkers off.
i have a banana in my ear
buy bulk cables and jacks, make whatever you want. it’s easy. who is serious about production audio who is buying pre-made cables? there’s too many damn cables to deal with. f sweetwater, familiarize yourself with markertek. soldering is easy, and audio cable is a quick thing to make. get a lady friend to hold stuff, and you don’t even need fancy clampers. this is a long-resolved debate.