Artisan Fan
Suitsupply-sider
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2006
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The problem with audio is that much of it is awfully designed with respect to electrical compatibility and good practices (cf. AF's tinfoil solution). When cables make a real difference, it's almost always because they're mitigating some problem in the design.
Cables cannot improve audio quality --- it can only degrade it, because the cable's job is to transmit a signal unchanged. When a cable makes a difference, something's messed up.
+1 on the recommendation for Blue Jeans Cables. I've had nothing but positive experienes with them, including their return policy.
--Andre
A few comments...
1. Placing aluminum foil on the mic stand works. When we placed it over the cables from the AKG C24 it eliminated the radio signals we were picking up at the church location in Chelsea (NYC). We reoeated this process over several sessions in this church. NYC has lots of radio noise and the C24 is remarkably sensitive.
2. Cables improve sound quality by letting more of the signal through as you say but Blue Jeans cable, while a relative bargain, do not come close to the performance of a good Kimber or Cardas or Nordost cable. I know as I have done shootouts with them.
3. In many ways, cables are part of the signal path and act like another component. I know this since we are always experimenting with different mic cables. Even good pro cables like Canare cannot even come close to the transparency of a long audiophile cable run terminated with XLRs.
The audiophile cables are expensive but the parts quality on many brands is high often employing ultra-pure OCC (long crystal) copper and fine silver. Creating a teflon dielectric is complex as well. Kimber has several patents as does Cardas and Nordost.
I wish there was a way to save money here as it would allow me to buy other toys but buying Blue Jeans cable is a bit like buying Geox and pretending you own a pair of Edward Green.