Your speaker cable matters! 32 speaker cables tested - with measurements!

Do cables matter? Yes... they do! We measured ánd auditioned 32 speaker cables. We did hear differences ánd we measured differences. Want to know more? Check out the full review:
test2.alpha-audio.net/review/...
Support our work on Patreon: / alphaaudio

[@dextermorgan1]

Getting my popcorn ready for this comment section. 🍿😂

[@wahidtrafo6009]

I see the accuracy with which you share the detailed measurements, the influence of the quality components and the size of the cable, this is a lesson that we really need to take note of, thank you for all the enlightenment.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Welcome!

[@ronaldmcdonald2456]

Thanks for having the balls to do this!😆 I became convinced 15 years ago that speaker cables make a difference, not when it comes to finesse, but on pure electrical properties and capabilities. I had the typical name brand 150watt receiver. It played nicely with a lamp cord equivalent wire from Monster. BUT, when I braided up a well known cat5 recipe (of high capacitance) the receiver choked and shutdown within a minute or so. Then I built a high power MOSFET amp. With the Monster wire the sound was decent, but a bit thin. When I put the cat5 on the MOSFET amp the sound was simply spectacular in every category. As I've built better and better equipment over the past decade it becomes easier to address finesse, and to be able to sculpt finer details with my wire choices.

[@sjqideez6626]

Thank you guys for your work & efforts, it is much appreciated. I hope you have a great break away from all this testing

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Thanks!

[@adsph]

Interesting finding with the Kimber cable. I own the 8PR and I like it.

[@qualifierswedenab8767]

Great work! Really appriciate your efforts to bring some light to the cable discussions ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Welcome

[@phantomplastics6582]

Brilliant work and insights Jaap. Now go take that holiday! I recently bought LHY SW-10 switches and connected everything with the top Finisar SFP units and wow, what an upgrade. Every single digital and analogue cable I change alters the sound clearly, so needs some experimentation.

[@paulomanique2786]

Congratulations for the outstanding work you have done here. Thank you very much. Cheers

[@Vinyl-Movement]

Amazing work. Thank you so much!!!

[@riccitone]

Outstanding. You are among the rare few that qualitatively and quantitatively measure AND listen, and then even measure again. Thank you for your painstaking, scientific, and comprehensive approach to these tests 🙏

[@tgstudio85]

Scoentific;)

[@robmoores6078]

Great overview of cables and really fascinating to hear how different types of cables measure and sound.

[@matytinman]

In my second audio system, with the computer as a source and my modified KEF Q100 coaxial loudspeakers in near field, I have been using Kimber Kable 8PR since 2012. I could not resist the offer of €7/m from a professional store in Barcelona. I noticed a great improvement in everything compared to normal 2.5mm oxygen-free ones, especially in the bass. I have them finished now with KácSa connectors, which is the Hungarian manufacturer behind Furutech, and much more affordable prices. KáCsa BP-6201BR - BFA. That GEOMETRY is crucial is well known, no surprise. What also seems to have a lot of influence is the coverage. POLYETHILENE in 8PR and 12PFR. The other geometry to consider is star-quad, but I suspect KK's is the best. Danny Richie (GR-Research) cables have the same geometry and polyethylene as KK PR. And its cables for the the speakers inside are also POLYETHILENE. 👉Danny Richie: Finally! DIY Audiophile Speaker Cable Kits! kzbin.info/www/bejne/epfNgn2umrl0hKc

[@dextermorgan1]

If I ever buy new cables, they'll be from Danny.

[@joes7874]

Amazing work. Thank you so much for this! I love you guys! I'm wondering if you would consider reducing the sample size to maybe just 2 of your favorites and 2 of your least favorites (the most different sounding cables)and doing all those extra phase measurements you mentioned.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Not anymore. The cables are back to the companies.

[@davidster1704]

I used to be an electronic tech that worked in a component test lab. I tested transformers and capacitors to the Nth degree. An interesting shootout would be a comparison between say electrostatics and cables, horns and cables, ribbons and the different cables to see if one cable sounds better with a different type of speaker, so your viewers can get an Idea which cable might be best for there system and ears.

[@sjqideez6626]

I find electrostatic headphones to be very transparent of everything in the audio signal chain, I use them to hear differences in analogue cables

[@sportsfanivosevic9885]

And valve components vs transister.

[@ac81017]

Congratulations on a job very well done. 👏 Cables is like food, each to there own taste.

[@dragocelander6671]

Thanks for your summary. I’ll check out your paper.

[@ivanm1800]

Thank you for all your good work. Sincerely, Ivan

[@paolonicolini2058]

Great work!

[@AL-ye2fo]

Fantastic job!

[@torbenkristiansen7732]

Thank you for a fine and serious initiative. I have more or less given up on finding the solution, but have gathered a lot of experience about which materials sound good, have lifelike sound and a realistic sound image etc.,eJ I optimise my parasitic components, which are everywhere in our devices and cables. The sound signature issue applies not only to cables but to all passive components. An alternative way to find differences could be to measure all the data we know from capacitors, coils and resistors etc. instead of looking for measurable changes in the signal from the whole cable. However, the mystery remains how these parasitic components cause such large changes in what we hear We can measure precision but not sound signature timbre soundstage rhythm fidelity, but using the right materials for parasitic components and components in general can make the sound more natural along with the construction, whose precision we can easily measure, it's harder to measure everything that really matters timbre soundstage fidelity rhythm , that we can only experience. Added: I recommend that instead of the usual hi-fi parameters evaluate whether a violin, piano, organ etc. sounds more or less natural and has the right size in the soundstage, that's what hi-fi is all about, but it requires a high quality unmanipulated music recording produced with few microphones and that is not easy to find. On the other hand, sound differences will be more apparent than in typical hi-fi recordings.

[@FOH3663]

Shooting that signal down through a freq variant transfer, ... encountering influential reactance of inductance on one side, capacitance on the other, plus voltage drop as a by product, ... Of course cables impact the signal. Simply look at a Heyser Spiral to see what the signal is up against. All that's just the cable! Add connectors and the potential for additional corruptive influence increases. Nice work Much appreciated

[@hindagsxr]

Great research, very inspiring.

[@IrenESorius]

An absolute heroic undertaking,, pfhhhh,, 🤪 Thank you ever so much for your time and work,, 💖🙏💖

[@royhuijsmans6117]

Thanks for this huge effort, guys! love to follow your findings. I bought a few jmyears back the Qed xt 40 , nothing fancy , but a decent copper cable and it made a huge positive difference. That everyone can hear. Not that the old silver plated was a bad cable. Just did not suit that amp speaker combination.

[@totalplonker824]

To all concerned, thank you for your hard work. My small 13 x 11.5 ft room might have nine speakers and two musical subwoofers. However, my priority has always been to have an exceptionally quiet room! Hence, after changing all my analogue, digital, and even some power cables multiple times. For my listening room, the shielding of a cable takes priority. Looking forward to your findings. After a thoroughly deserved holiday, of course

[@TheAlphaAudio]

The findings are already online. Posted on the website.

[@urbangardan1]

Thank you!

[@VladoDzurovski]

Good job!

[@thinkIndependent2024]

Good Work!! My personal experience I clip connectors and and go bare wire. Who knows what connector are made out of .( It's always a negative impact on sound) Interlinks are connector failure point prone as well. And proper shields as which in is terminated and how.

[@Balooba11]

You are awesome! 🙌

[@stephendixon8575]

Jaap, I haven’t read any of the comments (though I can easily guess what some will include) but I first wanted to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU for putting in such an extraordinary amount of time, effort and hard work to do all of this 🙌 🙌 🙌 🙌 Second, you look exhausted man! So please try not to be so hard on yourself and take that well deserved break and regain your energy. Finally, I know you say you don’t care, but I can see it in your face that it must get to you (at least a little bit) when you get moronic comments from blinkered haters, especially when you’ve just put so, so much hard work into doing this, and sharing the fruits of your labour with all of us (for free!). People must remember that they’re not paying you for your time or for the privilege of sharing the knowledge you’re putting out there, which is there to be gained by anyone listening with an open mind - whatever decisions they may come to for themselves. Respect is so, so important - even for the people you maybe don’t agree with. We can all learn something from anyone, even if that isn’t the same as what you’re told. It would be a pretty dull and less productive World to live in if people stopped sharing knowledge for fear of having to deal with a deluge of unreasonable, disrespectful or hateful comments directed at them for their efforts! Anyway, I know you already know this - but it does no harm to remind everyone. Take good care Jaap and thanks again 👍

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Thank you for your kind words. Appreciate it!

[@Fleaurobeat]

Interesting video. I'm glad you mentioned Ricable at 9:27! I use them and love it!

[@RudieVissenberg]

I want to share my experience and a question: I have had the same speakers since 2001 and used very cheap cables. My speakers can be bi-wired and since I had enough speaker cable I decided to bi-wire the speakers, coming from one outlet of the amplifier. To my amazement the sound improved a lot. Jaap stated that a low impedance is very important and by doubling the cables I lowered the impedance. Could this be the reason why the sound improved? It was still the same cheap cable. Now I have proprietary speaker cables which sound again much better than the cheap ones, so I am happy.

[@writemeanovel]

This is really excellent work guys! Hey, curious, were there any silver cables in your testing?

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Thanks. Yes... We had silver cables. Check the article for more specs.

[@harleypub]

What instrument are you using to test the cables for noise and variations of signal degradation?

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Check our article. Everything is explained there.

[@garyausten5939]

When I swapped my mismatched braided copper, clear jacket speaker cables with Mediabridge Ultra 12AWG cables from Amazon i noticed a definite tonal change - seemed the whole frequency range lowered (more bass,. less shrilly highs). Even if makes no difference, I decided to do the same with my subwoofer cables - 2 different brands and thicknesses - again with identical Mediabridge Ultra subwoofer cables. Just though symmetry would be helpful. I should get them tomorrow morning. $20k is more than I make in a year. I wouldn't buy those unless (even if) I won the lottery! I have a mixed 7.2.4 system with Polk satellite surrounds and Klipsch everything else. Not high end, but I really enjoy what I have.

[@Ricky-cl5bu]

Brilliant

[@jonaslundberg5388]

Just too many factors to consider when try to sync a speaker cable to your rigg, your room, your rigg of course, no rigg sounds alike, some speakers simple plays worse with brand x no matter the price. Use your ears and strive for syncronicity in your setup, experiment experiment experiment and trust your ears, you will reach endgame sooner than later 👍 Good work tho, kowledge can be a shortcut..

[@larryschwartz9883]

I have owned many, many speaker cables and the Golden Helix from Mapleshade Audio is my favorite. They sound awesome on my system.

[@FukemStudios]

Never heard of Golden Helix 2 Speaker Wires🤔 Are they fast and dynamic? Are they Colored, warm/cold?

[@dicmccoy]

I wonder what the test results would have been when using an amp with a crazy low output impedance (.000065)/ super high damping factor (123076 @ 8 ohms) like the Eigentakt? And if there would have been an even larger difference with yohr listening tests, or if yhe influence still wont be as big as interconnects? Interesting stuff for sure.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Read our article about that. I explain this.

[@luislunacortez1929]

Hi thanks for your interesting video.

[@KajottR]

I have had very good experiences with Vovox and DNM reson cables. I bought used speaker cables for 35 euros and RCA cables, also for 35 Euros. Sounds better than Kimber VS!!! Very spectacular! Solid core "bell wire". Thanks for your wonderful videos! Greetings from Bavaria

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Welcome!

[@joshua43214]

Awesome work! I am really interested in how mass of the terminus affects the cable. I would be interested to add that into your next series of tests

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Not sure what you mean...

[@gioponti6359]

⁠​⁠@@TheAlphaAudiosome people think lower mass of a connector makes an audible difference - think of those hollow bananas out of sheet metal and made only for soldering vs those very solid WBTs or Furutechs with 2 bolts to fix the cable and a mechanism that enables tightening of the plug in the socket, overall probably 10x the mass of the hollow banana. In the world of high frequency electronics (MHz, GHz), an unnecessarily large lump of solder can influence characteristics impedance (I suppose by creating a discontinuity in impedance along the line), thus causing unwanted reflection. Really not sure whether there is any relevance in LF audio; having said that, all our systems play in the presence of HF EMag. fields, and everything becomes an antenna and picks up noise, so that a low impedance ground connection in HF sense is perhaps a good thing to have.

[@newdevilman1167]

It’s not the matter of whether the cable makes difference or not. Because it does (better or worse). What matters is whether that price of the cable makes sense to that difference. Also as more expensive sound systems you have, the more likely you will end up with fancy looking cable which has gold and silver inside. 😅 You don’t expect a ferrari owner to use cheap 17” rims… You don’t have to spend much money on cables at all to enjoy audio. But it does affect.

[@markschotgerrits283]

Bedankt voor jullie moeite en het delen hiervan👍 Wat een hoop werk moet dat geweest zijn👌 Het Audioquest DBS "systeem" voegt nadelige invloed uit op het signaal volgens Audioholics...

[@Chris-nd5se]

I would have thought that shielding was less important for speaker cable than it is for RCA cables (interconnects) owing to the proximity of RCA cables to other electrical equipment and other cables, especially power cables.

[@joes7874]

Thanks!

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Thanks a lot!

[@joppepeelen]

question with the noise what are we looking at ? 2 pictures of a scope without scale , the measurement are only good with a reference of what we are looking at.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Those are your words...

[@5starmaniac]

Wish you had included Furutech's DSS 4.1 cable also, but I know they are hard to get a testsample from.. I've tried a lot of speakercables, but the DSS 4.1 is superior to all others I've ever heard 😊

[@Temmple]

What was your favorite cable under 1000 that is good for taming sibilance. Been testing speaker cables all month over here. I felt the same way thinking that the speaker cable would make a bigger difference than an interconnect and I was wrong :))

[@jmtennapel]

Sorry, can't recall. I did not note that down in my listening notes.

[@barchetype6430]

Duelund DCA might work well here

[@gibguy5705]

Great work..I have had Cheap and expensive..Very little difference in sound.If you want silence..Interconnects do make a difference..But ..If there is one area to focus on it's the preamp..use a quality passive preamp!..You will be amazed .In the end ..I'd rather spend the extra money for cables on good quality Vinyl...>Enjoy the music!

[@jari121]

Yes, but can you hear it in a controlled ABX test?

[@outolempinimi5165]

Exactly, and if you can then bring the measurements to back your findings - if you want to have any credible objectivity

[@khoi83]

Where are the comments beginning with "I am an electrical engineer..." ?!

[@AT-wl9yq]

They'll find their way here soon enough. I wish I had made videos years ago when I had my store. All the time, I used to get, "I'm and EE, or I'm a recording engineer.". I used to trick them and it was the funniest thing you've ever seen. I had a cable demo set up on a CD player that had 2 identical outputs. Each output got a pair of cables that went to different inputs on a preamp. To AB them, all you had to do was select the inputs using the remote. When I told them they were listening to the same cable, except one was silver and the other was copper, they could hear no difference. (Even though the look on their face said otherwise.). They said they could hear differences between amps and preamps, so I went behind the equipment and told them I was switching amps. I didn't change a thing. I just played the exact same cable demo, but now they could hear the differences. And to make it worse, I wrote down the audible differences between the 2 cables on an index card. I handed them the card and told them they just described the audible differences between copper and silver cables, and they did a really good job because their comments always matched the description on the index card. "That doesn't count, you tricked me!". I lost count how many times I got that response. I always gave them the same answer. That's exactly what a placebo in an abx test is used for. They ran out of the store like Forrest Gump..

[@khoi83]

@@AT-wl9yq 👍

[@sidesup8286]

Like DB? Some of the other ones claiming to be electronic technicians, claim to be astronauts on space channels.

[@rangerrecon]

I am an electrical engineer. I've worked with digital and analog electronics for some time. With that said, I'm not sure how that's relevant to someone's ability to perceive the difference between different wiring used to interconnect a given amplifier to a given set of speakers. Yes, speakers are a reactive load with a variable impedance and phase shift depending on the frequency and, most importantly, the amplifier is somewhat ignorant of the load. Specifically, the amp is usually made by one company, with the speakers made by another, so each manufacturer has no knowledge of the specifics of the other that will be used in a given HiFi setup. In other words, the amp will have no knowledge of and therefore limited ability to compensate for the dynamics of the speakers it is driving. The question therefore is how does cables help with the situation. All cables will have some level of inductance which could add or counteract the impendence effect of the speaker, but it seems like the impedance would have to be significant and would likely just make the situation worse. There are extremely expensive cables with passive electronic components built in that seem to be designed to somewhat load the cable with reactive components, but that seems diffulct for it to be truly effective when it wasn't designed for a specific speaker load. At the end of the day it comes down to what difference a cable makes that the listener can actually hear and, to me, the only way to effectively test that is double-blind testing.

[@jmtennapel]

Doing a double blind blind test with commercial consumer oriented speaker cable is impossible (I leave it up to the reader to figure out why), plus double blind testing might be a validated way of testing in the pharmaceutical world, but it cannot be translated into audio research 1:1. I always have to laugh really loud when people put out statements like these. Do all dear commenters realise that listening to music using HiFi equipment is a hobby? And do you also realise that whether you believe that any part in that HiFi set you own makes a difference or not has zero impact on the enjoyment of another person? Lastly, it is not our purpose on this planet to convince you of anything. You either can read the article, watch the listening video’s we put out and make up your own mind, or you don’t. But whatever mental processes are going on in the minds of people to vehemently tell us we are a bunch of idiots and feel the need to tell us that we cannot hear what we hear beats me. It is not like you or us are saving the planet, it is listening to music and see how we can optimise that listening experience. And if you do it another way, good for you, enjoy. That’s all there is to it. Honestly.

[@redkh2017]

The only rime I heard a difference in speaker cables were after I changed my 20 years old cales to new ones.Probably because of the old speakers being oxidised over the years

[@georgekalcheim3651]

Thank you for the test and it clarifies for me how some of the differences I hear correlate with measurements. What about power cables? In my experience over the years they can make more of a difference to the final sound than any other cable. I'd be interested in your results if you did such a test.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

It's not planned at the moment. I am a bit done with testing cables now ;-). Maybe later.

[@EddyTeetree]

The connectors matter far more than the cable as long as the cable is copper which is the standard now anyways. If you have concerns upgrade the RCA connectors then stop thinking about it.

[@mrpmj00]

You forgot one of the most important manufacturer: Cardas

[@TheAlphaAudio]

I send them and e-mail. Didn't get an answer.

[@bikemike1118]

That’s also my experience that the impact of speaker cables mostly isn’t as high as it oftentimes is with interconnects. Nevertheless speaker cables DO matter as well. It shouldn’t be the weakest link in the chain.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Precicely.

[@sidesup8286]

The cables that made the most jaw dropping improvement in my system were the older Spectral Ultralinear II MH 770 speaker cables made for Spectral by MIT. The company MIT has recently come out with a $100,000 speaker cable, which has bass, midrange and treble controls on a box connected to the cables themselves.The guy on here that often reviews 6 figure $$ equipment, will be reviewing it. With the measurements now presented for all to see, this is what cable doubters were asking for forever, and the fact that there wasn't anyone trying to prove with measurements that cables can sound different, gave them their basis for.their argument. Most of them have their "theories", and don't even need to listen to cables...What will they think now, or does it really matter? Will they hide in the woodwork or come out with their dissenting opinions?

[@TheAlphaAudio]

@@sidesup8286 MIT has mostly the same theory as Transparent. I reviewed a couple of them... Interesting stuff. But not really my sound to be honest. I guess it has to fit your system.

[@sidesup8286]

Eventually I returned the cable, as the Spectral by MIT cable was just too overloaded with warmth for my system. The overriding warmth went way into the treble. Bright sounding Columbia recordings sounded great, but too much of my collection sounded too warm. warm.The cable was amazing in every other way though. Including very black quietness and instruments sounding near 50% bigger & bass extending well down below what the speakers low frequency spec was. Tellurium is a very good cable.They claim advancements in phase response and everything does sound like it has more focus. There are battery pack items that run on 2 AA batteries which you can let the wires contact the outer sheathing of the cable. The sound gets a little sweeter and warmer. Supra Sword interconnect is the interconnect that made the biggest difference as far as interconnect cables.go.

[@bikemike1118]

Sometimes it’s better to not have all interconnects from the same line. I for instance am REALLY happy with an (old) Transparent Reference XL between my CD-Player and my preamp and a Stealth Indra between pre and power amp (both balanced/ XLR).

[@sportsfanivosevic9885]

The actual material of the conductors and connectors will have a sound affect too.

[@Keithmonnelly]

I found this helpful when trying to understand cables if you research Quantum electrodynamics it explains a lot of what happens in a conductor write down to cable burning being a real thing. Best of all this is real science that proves cables to make a difference. It's a very very good read but heavy with it being quantum dynamics

[@Keithmonnelly]

It also explains why the dielectric can make a big difference to the sound as well as the geometry

[@hiresaudiocosta873]

It would be helpful to include the descriptions of the differences you heard instead of just stating they sounded dramatically different. Please make another video letting people know what sound characteristics change with cable swapping . So that way they can now understand what to listen for. 😊

[@jmtennapel]

Did you read the article on the website with the listening notes and measurements?

[@hiresaudiocosta873]

@@jmtennapel No I did not even realize there was an article with written data. Where’s the link 🔗 for that?

[@jmtennapel]

@@hiresaudiocosta873the link is in the description box below the video.

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

Impedance is inconsequential in cables with most speakers.

[@Alextraz]

I will appreciate a video or artical based on 1-2 options per price range...

[@danb.9891]

Appreciate the time & effort put into your testing. Would really like to see the same effort put into blind A+B testing of cables against each other. Not trying to invalidate anything you did, just not convinced in a blind test there will be a statistically significant percentage of people whom can identify difference between cheap & expensive speaker cable. However, it's an individuals right to spend their money on whatever makes them happy... 😴

[@jmtennapel]

When will the simple realisation take post that it is (a) a hobby and (b) only applicable to people who have an interest in the matter. That part of the population is the part that is of interest, the rest is kind of moot if they can hear a difference or not. It proves nothing. Furthermore: we don't do "scientific tests" nor do we pretend we do. Also: what stops you or anyone else suggesting tests we should do to perform themselves? Get two cables, gather a group of people, execute according to the protocol that you think is a proper test. You do not need anything special: a streamer, an internet connection, an amplifier and a pair of speakers. That's all. I'm intrigued by that, why should we have to do this?

[@davidshepherd728]

I want to see you test fuses.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Will not do that... Because I wouldn't know how to do that...

[@sidesup8286]

I recently cleaned the twin fuses in my vintage 1980s amplifier with alcohol. alcohol.Made a huge improvement. No reason to think premium fuses wouldn't do the same thing. Anything in the signal path leaves. it's mark.

[@koblongata]

Yeah, true, cable matters, I found out too and that sucks. Started using Wisa wireless system (Buchardt in my case) few years back, and I think I will stick with wireless in the future... XD Funny thing is providing clean power to the Wisa hub can still improve audio quality too, man, PCM really is some hard to deal with ancient tech.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Yeah... Wireless would be a solution. Active speakers as well. Power always has a great impact. Especially on digital. I guess it has to do with clocking/jitter.

[@paulb4661]

@@TheAlphaAudio Do you purchase multiple copies of a single digital release to find the best sounding one? If protocols do not seem to work with digital interconnects, why would they with pretty much anything else.

[@weetjeweetje4054]

Great work. Unfortunately, the lower part of the the impedance/phase vs frequency graphs are quite dark, making it sometimes very difficult to read the legend.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

You can check them in the article.

[@net_news]

change the cable of your monitor and you will read it

[@weetjeweetje4054]

@@TheAlphaAudio I was referring to the article. Take, e.g., Audioquest. The legend has 11 entries with different shades of dark greens and blues. Due to dark gray background, I found it hard to see which is which.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

@@weetjeweetje4054 ok

[@blacksinaga]

im just here for the comments..

[@philipketchum1407]

Every piece of the system including cables and the room only adds distortion. Just choose the distortion that pleases you

[@TheAlphaAudio]

That is also a way of looking at it! :-).

[@stephenbailey9969]

I've discovered that I am not an audiophile. It seems the prevalent orthodoxy is for big, transparent, and detailed performance, which to my ears is very thin sounding. I prefer a more fleshy and cohesive sound. To each his own.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

You can still be an audiophile and not love analytic sound. Audiophile means 'the love for sound / music'...

[@stephenbailey9969]

@@TheAlphaAudio Thank you. I guess I'll just be an outlier. Cheers!

[@Simplyveej]

You’re not an outlier. Just a potential Audio Note / Tannoy fan :)

[@000000010001]

Great! Finally we got proof that cables can affect on FR.... at least when freq. is higher than 4 MHz.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

I guess you didn't read the article.

[@KennethCandelas]

In regards to phase: Do you think heat retention has anything to do with the differences between cables?

[@TheAlphaAudio]

I think it is a mixture of geometry and dielectrums used.

[@dal2258]

If a cable sounds too black can't you just buy a grey one?

[@jmtennapel]

That's why we had gold coloured and black and red woven texture cables as well. Purple is a bad choice though.

[@martymcfly3837]

No Inakustik?

[@jmtennapel]

No

[@labalo5]

Thanks for going out there and providing and publishing experience and data. This is one of few unbiased channels out there for audio.

[@janisliekne2688]

Главное верить !

[@Gonzinatra]

Audiomica was the 1000 EUR winner in your system?

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Yes

[@skip1835]

Like you I'm a little surprised about your findings of interconnect vs speaker cables, that is, which seems to have a greater impact - - subjectively I've not had that same experience in my own system.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

We did the tests pretty close after each other... I was very surprised to hear the interlinks show greater differences...

[@AT-wl9yq]

@@TheAlphaAudio A lot of factors are at play, and things will vary from system to system, but signal strength is most likely the reason for the bigger difference with IC's. The weaker the signal, the more fragile it is. That's why components like preamps can get so expensive. The power amp outputs the strongest signal, by far. To design a line level preamp to match the quality of a power amp, the preamp has to be built to a higher standard. To make a MM phono stage that equals the quality of the line stage, it has to be built to a higher standard. Same with MC. The weaker the signal, the more outside factors can have an effect on it.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

@@AT-wl9yq I guess that is indeed the case.

[@dmitriy2853]

Think of conductors as a prism that separates an electromagnetic wave into a spectrum of frequencies. The structure and composition of the prism affects the speed and dynamic range of each frequency.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Nice analogy.

[@dmitriy2853]

Thank you! Pay attention to cables Acoustic Revive. The light bulb converts the electromagnetic wave only into the visible and heating part of the spectrum, the entire complexity of perception by our brain

[@dmitriy2853]

First of all, I recommend the ACOUSTIC REVIVE AC-TRIPLE C 4800 power supply without screen. Length 2 meters 500 hours of warm-up, you won’t regret getting into another dimension!

[@user-xl4nt8ep8d]

Interesting research! I didn't believe in cable making a difference until i tried few cables and some made a really big influence! System was very entry level also. So from my experience with my system (had maybe 10-15 cables in last 20y), most cables don't make a big or any difference, but few do.

[@dr.emilschaffhausen4683]

Yes, they matter but the point of diminishing returns is quickly reached well before the $100 mark.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

That's your perspective...

[@dr.emilschaffhausen4683]

@@TheAlphaAudio I agree.

[@carlosgarcia8508]

Nice video! My guess is that not only specifications of cables make a difference, but also how they interact with specifications of electronics and drivers. Here VDH Revelation connected to Wilson Duettes were replaced by Cloud 3T and noticed both aspects you have commented, gain reduced and also treble. But sound of instruments and voices got a new dimension of reality not found with Revelation cables. Also calmness with music, Revelation are more "nervous". Sorry but it is really hard to put in words.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

I know what you mean. We heard the same.

[@gogo-fk1lu]

I can only praise your willingness to do all this testing. Mainly because the differences are small, even insignificant for most users, most of them do not even hear the differences. One is the tests, and the other is the use of the same cables in a home hi-fi system... where everyone has different hi-fi devices, room acoustics and also hearing abilities.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

I think everyone will hear differences on a decent system. The question is: how important are the differences to them.

[@carlosoliveira-rc2xt]

Everyone I know hears differences. I've had people who didnt even have audio gear, hear differences in cables demonstrated in my home. I can't even listen to my system without my preferred cables in place.

[@sidesup8286]

Is 40% to 50% improvement small or insignificant? Name an amp, or preamp that gives you that much improvement? 5% improvement is subtle but clearly audible. That's 5% times around 10. Even way less than that is a whole new listening experience.

[@D1N02]

How much does cable length matter. Some say the shorter the better. So monoblocks with short cables might be best.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Absolutely!

[@trauma50disaster1]

so by 2024 we are just now getting new info about music equipment? Hasn't people lived, died, han entire generations of life, of using music equipment and we somehow didn't figure this speaker wire subject out?

[@Thevikingcam]

Yet another "i do hear" video. Why you just wont do live blind AB test, You got camera and clearly couple guys to do it. Oh well we are still waiting someone to do it. Really do it.

[@jmtennapel]

We have in the past, so, well, there you go.

[@Thevikingcam]

@@jmtennapel Link? To the video??

[@jmtennapel]

@@Thevikingcam How about browsing the livestreams?

[@Thevikingcam]

@@jmtennapel So you say i must go trough hours and hours of live footage? No thanx, you say its real so put here timestaps and the video.

[@Thevikingcam]

@@jmtennapel Yeah thats not blind AB test.

[@zvonimirtosic6171]

Man, you scared me to death. 1000 euros for a good cable!? It's more than my amp!

[@MrBazsi888]

Measurements mean nothing. Which sounded the best ? That the only question.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

People want proof... we tried to prove it with measurements. There are differences measurable... so for me, that's proof.

[@MrBazsi888]

@@TheAlphaAudio everybody knows that different alloys and diameters / shieldings have different outcome. That not magic. System synergy matters and silver is the best conductor.

[@AudioThings]

@@MrBazsi888 Sadly not everyone knows, or want to accept this. The many that most of the time can't afford good quality hifi are also very "loud".

[@sportsfanivosevic9885]

@@MrBazsi888 One of the problems with silver is you need the very purest grade to get the best from it, and that's expensive. I've listened to many levels of silver cables, including power cords and in almost every case you could identify the characteristic traits of that material. Probably explains why companies like Siltec and Gryphon infuse gold with their silver interconnect cables for a more full and rounded sound.

[@MrBazsi888]

@@sportsfanivosevic9885 Audio Note silver is totally fine. Gold not needed.

[@igaldins]

Cables are as important as any other component in your system.

[@ndragos87]

no they dont )))

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Ok

[@patrickmeylemans9627]

0.6 Ohm???? 0,0175Ohm/m/mm2 very small section and large lengths. Otherwise bad design !!!

[@gioponti6359]

I suspect VdH has applied a technology he has used in the past for interconnects which is some sort of carbon fibre based conductor … but that is guessing ;)

[@Sboichenko]

radically improves the sound if the cable is placed in a pipe with helium. the inert and lightest gas in contact with electrons in a copper conductor produces the lowest noise level compared to air. The ideal solution would be to place the cable in a vacuum, but this is very expensive.

[@medonk12rs]

If you have a concrete floor, maybe heated, try cable risers... :-) srsly

[@mrboat580]

lol

[@cory3685]

Sorry... but blind sound test is needed ... almost a guarantee that at a micro level all cables will measure different .... but how they sound to the human ear is the real test.

[@rangerrecon]

Yup - I was thinking back to the Stereo Review Magazine article of the mid 80's that did double-blind testing between really crappy lamp cord (with splices as I recall) and premium speaker cables. There was no statically significant difference in the ability for the listeners to discern between the cables. I definitely believe that you could electronically measure the difference (especially with long runs) between various cables, but hearing the difference (at least for most people) wouldn't enter the equation.

[@Simplyveej]

Funny how objectivists ask for subjective tests with cables, and objective measurements with speakers. Make up your mind.

[@rangerrecon]

@@Simplyveej And the thing is, at the end of the day, people hear what they want to hear and then seek a technical explanation of why it so (a.k.a. the confirmation bias fallacy). I wouldn't even trust myself to hear a difference between cables w/o a blind test.

[@adrianolaru9541]

@@Simplyveej I you can measure it, that doesn't mean you can hear it, it's that simple.

[@SrDelbioLima]

Pseudoscience.

[@analogueman5364]

What do you mean?

[@SrDelbioLima]

@@analogueman5364 You know what I mean.

[@sportsfanivosevic9885]

If your post is to get a reaction, then you are successful. If you truly believe it's 'Pseudoscience" then you probably have not been exposed to many variables or highly revealing systems. If you claim you have, then I suggest you get your hearing checked.

[@garyharper2943]

Yeah, except in double blind testing no one can ever tell the difference…so there is no difference.Don’t waste your money or your time. I’m surprised you’re not biamping😊.

[@jmtennapel]

Link, or it didn’t happen

[@78sound]

Ridiculous

[@gioponti6359]

What exactly?

[@outolempinimi5165]

Instead of repeating over and over again that cables sound different and then provide tons of measurements data, how about doing some actual analysis with the results and showing how they correlate to the listening experiences? Any undergraduate student could do this if wanted to be taken seriously.

[@TheAlphaAudio]

Read the article.

[@outolempinimi5165]

Show an example.

[@jmtennapel]

​@@outolempinimi5165 Read the article.

[@sidesup8286]

At least a few of the guys with awful perception and who can't hear are coming out of the woodwork. But your graphs have scared most of them back into hiding. Predictable that they would try to find fault with empirical evidence that conflicts with their "theory" that Theythere is no sonic difference between cables.They not only pretend they are real scientists, but also pretend that they are intercontinental psychologists and that we are all just "hearing things". Predictable.

[@NosEL34]

Typical of the youth today. No respect for the time & effort someone else has performed..instant gratification with no appreciation. I'm just halfway joking. I haven't read the article but I imagine that what you are asking for is probably the long term goal. There is a lot involved with an equation like that. Maybe this is a job for AI. I imagine there is an abundance of data to compare. And then the subjective listening. Do the cables have different effects on different loads? Do characteristics of a cable change with different voltages or input. Seems like a lot of variables & data. I wouldn't know where to begin. But I'm not some young undergrad that could quickly figure it out. It sure would be helpful information for cable seekers though.

[@duboracle]

I dare to state that some of the measurements are more about the connectors and the way they are connected in switching between them then its about the cable itself. You must solder them in fact !!!! Interlinks will have less impact in the sound reproduction then speakercables, i dont know why the penny does not drop with you. I ask myself if i really have to do with professionals if you say that kind of ..... The reason for that is just the amount of electrons or pressure running through a inductor, more pressure more turbulence and more errors. I will not start talking about cristal structure in metals but i really ask myself how you can talk in this way about cables. Inductance, impedance and that kind of stuff have noting to do with quality as well, this has to do with colour and its not relevant because of loudspeaker filters, loudspeakers drivers and so on. Its really about THD that a LS cable causes, and thats way less then a interlink ever will. I am not sure but i think your never kicked out the weakest link in your hi-fi set-up chain (again and again) till you ended up with a setup where you could hear clearly these kind of differences. To start with hearing more difference between LS cables then Interlinks. I dont get it, really !

[@ibzman1393]

Nonsense. This has been debunked by prople with more experience and knowledge than you. Give it a rest

[@jmtennapel]

Link?

[@ibzman1393]

@jmtennapel come on be serious. Just type it in here. You will see scientific studies and double blind tests which prove this us all nonsense.

[@ibzman1393]

@@jmtennapel kzbin.infoxEZkz4Li-0M?si=RvB-wU-TDoWgetBS

[@jmtennapel]

@@ibzman1393not a scientific source.

[@ibzman1393]

@jmtennapel yes it is. Even if teats prove a small difference that will be imperceptible to human hearing.