thebigcheese
"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
You know the Livewire cables have that, too, right? Except for the real cheap cables that we hang around mic stands and sit on the floor, GC doesn't sell cables that aren't guaranteed for life.
You know the Livewire cables have that, too, right? Except for the real cheap cables that we hang around mic stands and sit on the floor, GC doesn't sell cables that aren't guaranteed for life.
thebigcheese
"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
With digital cables (HDMI, USB, FireWire, etc), there really is no difference. It's like digital TV - either the signal gets there or it doesn't. There aren't shades of grey like with analog signals. The cheaper ones are more likely to break, I suppose, but as far as I'm concerned, you spent too much if you pay more than $5 for any of those cables.
D
darkagent71
New member
Do remember that our brains play tricks on us. Even if something does not sound as good but its a "new" sound to us because we are used to the old sound, we may like it and think it sounds better the first few times. I've switched my cabling and been like "wow this sounds better" came back later and said "this sounds the same as before" or even "this sounds worse than the prior setup" But only did that once with a cable that was about to go.
A
atticproject
New member
I would say the longer the cable the more likely it is to be of poorer quality. As the longer the piece of conductor is the higher the resistance so longer cables means you need larger diameter in proportion to length to sustain quality. Different meterials matter too, silver is the best conductor with the lowest resisitivity, copper, then gold. After that insulation and shielding will improve performace non of these are expensive as such so I agree with Bobbsy above and get out ya soldering iron and start buying your own cable and connectors. If your on a budget it pays to know how to make a cable or two.
T
theD1CKENS
*insert clever title here
in 2008, I went on a self-funded two week tour. $12 is a TON of money when you can barely put fuel in the van, feed the band, get a room/shower, whatever. 3 times on tour, we needed cables and we just found a random music store in whatever random town we were in. BAM! new cables.
if you don't plan on spending more than $60 on cables for the rest of your life, buy cheap cables. they sound good enough. me personally, I'll spring the extra $$ for longevity alone
Bristol Posse
Okey Dokey
Outside of a quantum state, both of these statements about a single physical piece of cable cannot be true at the same time! LOL
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I can hear differences in some cables but I don't really care that much. It's always fairly subtle and doesn't make enouigh difference for me to worry about.
arcadeko
Illuminatius Overlordious
The fact that over 20' cables lose signal quality is well established - which makes me wonder why monster makes a 21 ft cable as opposed to the industry standard 18' - are they trying to say that their cables are so good the signal doesn't degrade? or are they trying to be like - well we give you three more feet! IDK but it makes me suspicious...
As far as our brains playing tricks on us - the recent book, I think it was "Blink" they were talking about how the 7-UP makers could influence the results of taste test. By just changing the color of the can and carton, they could change how much lemon people tasted in 7-UP. So the simple fact that the cables are designed differently and branded Monster will have a psychological effect on the perceived sound. Could anyone hear the difference, or pick out the Monster cable in a blind audio test with 4 different cables? Personally I doubt it - and if anyone could they would probably be some mega engineer so it wouldn't make any difference to the 99.9% of people hearing the recording (that were not engineers with super-hearing).
Anyway. That is probably why Monster is so litigation happy over the brand - the brand IS the product - cables don't mean shit, they are selling the brand...
T
theD1CKENS
*insert clever title here
very true. this particular brand is pretty hassle-free in their exchange policy, tho. and I never really thought about the "extra 3 feet" and does seem strange.
but an extra 3' of cable on stage can seem like miles sometimes. I tend to move(drunkenly stagger
) around a lot tho
thebigcheese
"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
I was set to believe the Mogami I tested was better, but the Livewire just seemed nicer... so whatever. It's not enough of a difference that you would notice outside a recording setup, anyway. The 21ft thing always bothered me--everyone else makes an 18ft cable. The reasoning is exactly what you say it is - in training videos, Mogami asserts that their cables are good enough that there is no signal degradation above 18ft up to, say, 25ft, and then after that you can get a Mogami Platinum cable that will let you go to 50ft or something crazy. Not true at all. I tried a 12ft Monster vs a 25ft Mogami and there was definitely a difference. On stage, no one would care, but in the studio, I would never go above 18ft no matter how much I spent on the cable.
IK Obi
New member
So any XLr cable I buy at GC I can return when its not working and walk out with another one? I knew Livewire did, but as an old MF/GC employee have tons of free Monster cables and bought a lot at discount.
thebigcheese
"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
Pretty much. Like I said, the cheapies on the floor aren't covered, but all the others - Livewire, Monster, and Mogami are the only others we sell - are covered.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Barring situations where there something actually wrong with a cable (wrong impedance, faulty connection) there is no, repeat NO difference in sound quality between cables. The only way to demonstrate this though is a proper blind test. As long as you know which cable you're listening to, the mind will play tricks.
That said, to repeat my post above, there CAN be reasons to buy more expensive cables. However these reasons can be summed up with two points. First, the reliability and longevity of the connectors. Cheap connectors will not last as long as good ones. Second, the "handling quality" of the cable. Good cables will coil and uncoil beautifully because of the way the inner cores are twisted and because of the material used for the outer layer. Cheap cables will be far more prone to kinks and tangles--which can shorten the life.
So, don't trust companies that claim their cables "sound better". However, claims of reliability and handling are genuine.
....But I still say that, if you're going to be doing sound stuff for years, buy a 100 metre reel of good mic cable, some connectors and a soldering iron. Much better value in the long run.
Bob
That said, to repeat my post above, there CAN be reasons to buy more expensive cables. However these reasons can be summed up with two points. First, the reliability and longevity of the connectors. Cheap connectors will not last as long as good ones. Second, the "handling quality" of the cable. Good cables will coil and uncoil beautifully because of the way the inner cores are twisted and because of the material used for the outer layer. Cheap cables will be far more prone to kinks and tangles--which can shorten the life.
So, don't trust companies that claim their cables "sound better". However, claims of reliability and handling are genuine.
....But I still say that, if you're going to be doing sound stuff for years, buy a 100 metre reel of good mic cable, some connectors and a soldering iron. Much better value in the long run.
Bob
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
so you don't believe that people can hear much difference between types of cables but you do believe that an extra 3' is very audible.
Stuff like this is why the cable conundrum is so entertaining!
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
With the right electronics driving it, you can feed analogue signals literally for miles with no audible degradation. The last studios I built/worked in had a cable run of in excess of 80 metres from the most distant studio to the machine room. No problem.
As for digital, I made a sound effect last week for somebody in England....so that one travelled about 10,000 miles (unless the internet link was via satellite, in which case it travelled at least 50,000 miles. I'm sure the file received was identical in every way to the one I sent.
As for digital, I made a sound effect last week for somebody in England....so that one travelled about 10,000 miles (unless the internet link was via satellite, in which case it travelled at least 50,000 miles. I'm sure the file received was identical in every way to the one I sent.
IK Obi
New member
Awesome and good to know thanks!
thebigcheese
"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
so you don't believe that people can hear much difference between types of cables but you do believe that an extra 3' is very audible.
Stuff like this is why the cable conundrum is so entertaining!
With unbalanced cables, there is signal degradation after 18.5'. For that specific comparison, the difference was about 13'. I haven't actually compared an 18' Mogami to a 25' Mogami.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Even with unbalanced, unless you're in a space with a lot of electrical interference, the difference between 18 feet and 30 feet should be undetectable at audio frequencies.
P
Profbill
New member
First post here. Listen to 30 tracks of poor quality cables and you will soon see why good cables are important. They don't have to be Monster or Mogami and yes soldering its a great skill to have. How ever you get there try to use the best cable you can. Also +1 on digital cables from thebigcheese.
Bobbsy
Boring Old Git
Hmmm...that only works if the "poor quality cables" are really very poor quality--bell wire instead of a screened (shielded for you yanks) twisted pair for example. As long as you're using a properly specced piece of cable, there will be no difference...absolutely no difference between the generic cable bought in bulk and the expensive name-brand rip offs. Maybe the idea of a lifetime replacement guarantee is attractive...but I'd be hard-pressed to destroy enough cables to make $60 worthwhile for a cable I can make myself for $6, including expensive Neutrik connectors.