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In Reply to: 23 ICs Comparative Evaluations including DIY Belden 89259 posted by Kim on June 26, 2001 at 16:28:37:
It's a shame this review is not written in any form of deciferable english.They state: "cable quality cannot be objectively evaluated", which indicates a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of cable design.
Some of the conclusions, such as "symmetrical cable is usually terminated with XLR connectors " are simply not true.
As for the testing, I can't say that I agree with the proposition that you can take a range of untrained listeners with a large variety of mostly non-reference-standard systems and derive any solid conclusions from this. Many of these components and speaker cables are highly suspect and will likely change the results dramatically, particularly some of the amplifiers and CD players. The Denon DCD 1800 and it's problems with certain cables reinforces this assertion. It may be that the winning cables actually modified the sound of sub-standard components to make them sound better somehow. I have been lead down the garden path by cables that created a lot of resonant ringing myself. The effect is similar to that of the pleasant distortion harmonics that are created by some tube amplifiers. This is why is is critical to have the right program material with trained listeners.
A more accurate test would be to use a known reference system and play music with subtle vocals and percussion etc. The better cable will be the one that would allow every listener to hear and recognize these subtleties. Also, non-music noises such as running water and percussion should be used, so the recording venue and mixing etc.. is less of a factor. The cable that makes these sounds more natural and lifelike will be the winner. Another measure could be the subjective depth and width of the soundstage on certain recordings. Particular tracks on known-good recordings should be specified, not just the disk. There is simply too much program material used in this test.
My own experience is that as cables are improved, more and more detail can be heard and more lyrics easily understood. The soundstage also gets deeper and wider on good live recordings.
Follow Ups:
I've never heard people say that lyric intelligibility was increased with cabling changes before, but it is just that which drives much of my tweakaholic tendencies! Glad to hear I'm not alone, or nuts. On that point anyway.
That's what sold me on cables. I could understand what James was yelling on Kill 'Em All. That and I heard Lars using more than one cymbal!
The type of RCA connectors, solder and quality of construction of the overall 89259-based interconnect are notably absent.I can't help but think of the guy who confused instructions between two different cable designs and left one end of the outer shield unconnected with the basic 89259 design, i.e., there was no return path through the coax. Who knows what those amateur testers did wrong?
I've built a practice set of basic 89259 interconnects using RCA connectors from RS and they're quite good nonetheless...at just $19 a pair. I'm building interconnects with Cardas plugs shortly, and I'm sure they'll be even better.
I looked over the results and looked at the picture of the connectors and it appears to me that two highest rated cables used Cardas (it looks like the SRCA model) and "real" WBT RCA plugs...conversely, the Belden cable looks like it uses some cheeseball RCA's that I can buy locally for 88 cents each...they sound like they cost all of that 88 cents, too!I have made identical copies of cables but used different RCA plugs and there has been distinct differences in the sound....
Too bad the picture showing the connectors was so tiny and it doesn't seem to me that they included the PAD cable's plug....I would have liked to see if the "E" connector was a real WBT or one of the clones...
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