Listening test....need listeners please!

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magenta

There is a difference for sure, but I think the different vocal takes effect this to a certain degree. A constant sound source similiar to Ed's test might narrow the gap. 2 and 3 (especially 3) have a 'ringing' in the background noise - is this your monitor or is it the cable? My monitor sometimes generates this hi pitched ring until I shut it off and on again. Is it possible to do the test further away from your computer, run the cable to another room? 10', hmmm guess you would have to drill some holes.
 
Emeric said:
There is a difference for sure, but I think the different vocal takes effect this to a certain degree. A constant sound source similiar to Ed's test might narrow the gap. 2 and 3 (especially 3) have a 'ringing' in the background noise - is this your monitor or is it the cable? My monitor sometimes generates this hi pitched ring until I shut it off and on again. Is it possible to do the test further away from your computer, run the cable to another room? 10', hmmm guess you would have to drill some holes.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the fan to me, do you think that you could just temporarily unplug the fan? (be a whole lot easier than punchin' holes in your wall) :D Throwing a blanket over the computer would also help.

-tkr
 
I am going to start making my own cables.

Oh and slackmaster my above post was a joke by the way. This is a very interesting topic.
 
Telefunken, I'm sorry dude, I really thought you were serious. I even asked somebody else before replying. Sorry! :)

Emeric, the background noise is computer fans. This was a quick test just to hear the immediate differences in the cable. However, I still think it's somewhat valid. There is a reason why the high frequency fan noise sounds louder on cables 2 and 3. You do make a valid point though, and I am going to be eliminating some noise soon......I have to rearrange the room though so that I can run a cable out the door and either into the bedroom or bathroom without dragging the computer around. The next time I will also keep my voice more constant....or I'll play a pre-existing track...though I don't like the idea of that. P.S. I coat everything that has to do with audio in green felt tip marker to give it a more natural sound.

Markertek seems like a good place to buy from...ametth recommended them to me. Also, if you just do a search on google or wherever for 'mogami' or 'canare' then you'll turn up several vendors. You can probably get switchcraft connectors at a local electronics supplier for the same price as online (if you wheel & deal).

P.S. - I've noticed a few folks recommending silver solder (which is like 7% silver, 93% tin). The melting point of the silver stuff is like 100 degrees higher than the regular stuff (60/40, 63/47, etc). I've had nothing but trouble getting this shit to melt with a 30W iron...it *sort of* worked with a 40W iron, but I was ruining tips left and right.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks for doing this test, slackmaster2k.

I thought that I was imagining the difference that I heard between my mic cables, but now that everybody can hear it, I can now come out of the closet :)

Guess what. I am using some cheap cable here. Since everybody piked out canare as being the best, I am going to order me some ASAP. The differences are not small

WHat good is it buying a 900 dollar mic and then using $12 pawnshop cable
 
Crap Test!

OK, for reasons that should be more than obvious, you cannot test the slightly audible differences in cables with three separate takes. It just doesn't work. The differences from each take and the tester's foreknowledge of which cable is which and the expected results make the results pretty suspect. I know you mean well, Slack, and I'm sure you'd do it the right way if you had three matched mics and three identical channels of mic pre. Mic positioning would then be a factor for each mic (maybe use omnis?), though, so maybe sonusman's methodology in testing that Monster stuff last year would work better. AFAIK, he just set up a speaker and played a clip of a song through it and recorded it, just changing the cable each time. If you have a good set of monitors (or even a crap set of stereo speakers) why don't you give that a try and we'll see if the results are the same?
 
The tid bits of good, useful info are few and far between. These kinds of tests are invaluble to yo yo's like me that, not knowing better, would either buy the cheapest component they could find (how important are cables?) or the highest priced cause, "by default, it's gotta be the best".

Anything tricky here on the soldering beyond neat, consistent flow? What composition of solder?

Thanks in advance.
Rick, the new cable maker.
 
Solder technique and DITTO on Dolemite

Anyone can solder, but doing it right requires attention to some fairly simple but not too obvious details- clean, unoxidized, tinned iron tip; wet sponge, etc.

Some beginning electronics books explain this pretty well. Amazingly, many don't, so look before buying.
 
Slackmaster2K said:
P.S. - I've noticed a few folks recommending silver solder (which is like 7% silver, 93% tin). The melting point of the silver stuff is like 100 degrees higher than the regular stuff (60/40, 63/47, etc). I've had nothing but trouble getting this shit to melt with a 30W iron...it *sort of* worked with a 40W iron, but I was ruining tips left and right.

Slackmaster 2000
Click to expand...

Slack,

Had the same problems with soldering silver until the wife
bought me a new toy...

http://www.iso-tip.com/butane.html
" " /sp120.html.

Very handy when you can't wait for a regular iron to heat up.
Or, on my bench...

http://www.hexaconelectric.com/udside14.html

Model HTC 5520. Simple, basic, and hot enough for silver, big
lugs, large connections or just a helava lotta solderin'.

Thanks for everything. Hope you do something like this again.
I learned something outta this!

Faithmonster
 
faithmonster,

That looks like some good stuff. I'm just using a $6 radio shack deal. Works well enough...but...when I start doing this more I'll probably get some better equipment.

Slackmaster 2000
 
apples to oranges

Slackmaster,

Thanks for the very cool effort :), but I have to agree with Dolemite. If anything, this is more a lesson in 'always get a few takes so you can choose the best one' rather than an illustration of cable differences.

In order to compare, you absolutely need the source material, mic/source placement, and ambient conditions to be exactly the same.

barefoot
 
Ok....

1) The ambient conditions were exactly the same. The mic never moved, the room never moved or changed shape, the things making noise in the room did not change.
2) The mic source was exactly the same, and the placement was exactly the same. I touched my nose to a dot on a pop filter to ensure exact placement for each take. The amount of gain on the preamp was exactly the same. The preamp was warm prior to testing.
3) I sort of agree about the multiple takes issue, but then again I don't. While the pitch and volume of my recorded voice will vary somewhat, the basic sonic characteristics of it will not under the above-mentioned conditions. To me these three clips do not sound like 3 takes from the same source, but three takes from 3 different sources.

Slackmaster 2000
 
the differences we all heard were very clear.

They were also very clear when sonusman did the test in almost lab conditions.

Try the test at home and you will hear a difference.

nuff said
 
I just think that if you want to do a conclusive test, you cannot depend on three different takes of a live source since each one will inevitably sound different and be picked up by the mic differently and the tester cannot know what cable he's testing until the tests are complete, lest he consciously or unconsciously affect the results to favor his own preconceived conclusions. I have no doubt that the Canare is better cable but the differences I hear in the three clips could easily be chalked up to the mutitude of different variables that affect the sound of three different takes.

Again, I'm admittedly being kind of overzealous here, but I just don't think you should draw any definitive conclusions from this particular test. I do really appreciate the effort, Slack, and I don't mean to be an ass about it ;) . I would really like to hear a test with fewer variables at work if you've got the time or the interest, like Sonusman's cable test (which I never did hear since the files are long since down, I just read the posts). To me, it would be as interesting to see if the comparative results were the same (which cables sound better and by how much between the two tests) as the individual results for each cable.
 
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