will changing RCA cables make a difference?

Not in my experience, no. I've played with varying grades of cables and never really noticed any differences. I wil say that I won't buy cheaply made cables, though. I buy the "pro-grade" cables from monoprice.com and the connection quality is excellent.

I have found very little to no difference between high quality stereo and audiophile grade RCA cables. At least I could not hear the difference. I have different experience with very low end cheap RCA cables. One time I was desperate to hook up a headphone amp and ended up using cheap dollar store RCA cables. The RCA cables picked up a fair bit of interference noises which traveled through the amp and can be heard in the headphones. After swapping RCA cables, the noise was gone.

Agreed. I once received a pair of $400 Cardas Cables as a throw-in with an amp I purchased. They even came with instructions for hooking up and break-in. If anything, I found they made the sound dull and lifeless.....even though they are as thick as fire hoses. Like 4-Hgeek, I buy my cables from Monoprice.....extremely affordable, well-built, durable, and sound fine to my ears. 

The OP asked about gold vs. silver connectors. As I understand it, the gold is more resistant to oxidation which can increase the resistance of the cable, thus altering the sound. Monoprice Premium cables are all gold plated.

You got $400 cables as a freebie?

Yes, I know they cost sod all to manufacture, but how expensive was the amp?

It was quite awhile ago, probably back in 2003 or so, but if I recall correctly, I purchased an Earmax Pro headphone amp from a gent in Australia for $400 including the cables. The cables were absolutely absurd looking on that tiny amp. I've since sold the amp..........the only headphone related item I've ever sold. It was a wonderful amp, and I'm sorry I sold it. 

 

 

If you can explain how the signal would be changed then yes, but take it from someone who does research in this area that cables typically all sound the same.  Sales people are told to try to up sell cables all of the time because they are high mark up items that people simply do not understand.  Next time you go to your favorite audio store have them setup two types of cables with their high end gear and see for yourself.

 

I am not saying that there cannot be audible or even measurable differences, but typically cable upgrading is a bunch of voodoo.

My two cents

I believe the thicker cables offer better shielding/ protection against electrical noise that affect the analog signal being carried in the cable.

If there is nothing around causing electrical noise, then getting thicker cables will not change anything.

 

I doubt using gold or nickel tiped cables will change anything.

 

You could try using third party drivers (United Xonar drivers, at BitBrain) for the Asus Xonar DX.

 

The Xonar DX is going to come with decent DACs, you could buy an external USB/DAC.

I've never heard a difference an any interconnects.  I've tried the cheapies, midgrades, and even listened to some friends' fancy cables they wanted to show off.  I've A/B'd them and never heard a difference.  Do I still buy "decent" cables.  Yes.  I buy from Monoprice and Cables to Go and spend no more than $10 for an interconnect.

 

Here's an interesting read about some of the science behind how interconnects work:

http://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/46225/41567257.pdf

 

the difference is subtle to none. Only reason to buy better/audio grade rca cables is for quality, longevity and functionality (short between dac and amp, longer ones for the speakers)

I do find a bit of a difference changing out a cable, but a RCA cable... you'd be better off changing speaker wire than an RCA cable.

For superior shielding in RF tainted environments (I can attest to this), for superior positive hold connectors (e.g. locking), for increased/decreased cable flexibilty (to address routing concerns), for lower signal loss over great distances. 

I was advised by a poster here (Gwarmi) when buying my RCAs. He advised me to get Nordost Silver Blue Heavens because they were on sale $90 off for $145 shipped. He told me that, for him, Silver hurt the HD800 because of how bright they were, but that they would be good for the Audeze because of the detail they bring. They sound amazing with the LCD2. I could have got the Chord Company Crimson for $85.00 shipped as well. Gwarmi uses them and they are great too, but, because of the sale I went with these and haven't looked back. They are gold at the ends and look great.

 

But, like said above, they apparently do make a difference. It depends on your setup.

Edited by Deverica Wolf - 1/14/12 at 3:32pm

Yes, quality RCA cables will provide a noticeable improvement over cheap cables.

Back in the mid-nineties, when I had tons of money in my home stereo system, I wanted to know if it was worth the expense to replace all of my interconnect cables with Monster (one of the only companies making quality interconnects at the time) cables. I started with a single cable to see if it was worth the money (about $15 each, IIRC). I connected one side with the Monster cable and left the cheap cable connected to the other side. I was then able to do an A-B comparison via the balance knob. The difference was night and day, so I spent the money to replace the rest of the interconnects. It may have been the best bang for the buck investment in the whole system.

Like everything else audiophile related, the law of diminishing returns probably applies, i.e., the difference between the freebie cables that come with components and a $15 cable is likely to be much greater than the difference between a $15 cable and $150 cable.