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What should I upgrade first?

post #1 of 7
11/19/12 at 5:13pm
Thread Starter 

I know there's a lot of debate about how much of a difference high-quality cables etc make and while I'm skeptical, I've decided to take a listen for myself. 

 

My question is, if I were just going to upgrade one thing, what should it be?  I'm pretty comfortable with the big pieces in my chain -- Macbook, Cowon iAudio7, or Sansa Clip; feeding some combo Asgard, NuForce HDP, cable DAC.  But I have stock cables on all my headphones (HD650, HE-400, Shure SE 315) and basic Radio Shack'ish cheapies for interconnects. 

 

What will make the biggest difference:  headphone cable, interconnect, power cord?  Again, I'm skeptical about all this but curious so if I were to invest, say, $50-$75 or so, what's my best chance of hearing a difference?

 

Thanks!

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post #2 of 7
11/19/12 at 8:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Climber View Post

I know there's a lot of debate about how much of a difference high-quality cables etc make and while I'm skeptical, I've decided to take a listen for myself. 

 

My question is, if I were just going to upgrade one thing, what should it be?  I'm pretty comfortable with the big pieces in my chain -- Macbook, Cowon iAudio7, or Sansa Clip; feeding some combo Asgard, NuForce HDP, cable DAC.  But I have stock cables on all my headphones (HD650, HE-400, Shure SE 315) and basic Radio Shack'ish cheapies for interconnects. 

 

What will make the biggest difference:  headphone cable, interconnect, power cord?  Again, I'm skeptical about all this but curious so if I were to invest, say, $50-$75 or so, what's my best chance of hearing a difference?

I guess you could order some "Premium" cables from Monoprice. They have good prices on cables.

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post #3 of 7
11/19/12 at 8:21pm

Brian at BTG audio has some good prices on nice cables. I got an interconnect from him.

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post #4 of 7
11/20/12 at 8:58am
Thread Starter 

Thanks, very helpful.

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post #5 of 7
11/20/12 at 3:16pm

If you can use a 2m interconnect, Crutchfield has the AudioQuest G-Snakes for 60% off. Audioquest is typically over priced, but that makes them a decent deal. 

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post #6 of 7
11/20/12 at 3:25pm

I'd upgrade the radioshack cheapies to something a bit nicer.. Like Monoprice premium cables. Just don't expect to hear any difference. It's more for piece of mind.

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post #7 of 7
11/20/12 at 5:07pm

you could try one of those AudioQuest's ICs. musicdirect has a few on sale at over 50% off. I think they've a 30-day money back policy. if they make no difference to you, return them.

 

unless the cables you're using are faulty, swapping them for another pair of similar quality is a waste of money, imo. makes zero sense to me.

 

either try something better, or stick with the radioshack's ones.

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