[Allanmarcus]

Guys please explain me something cuz im newbie.
What's real difference between SPDIF and USB? Can you hear difference? And can you hear difference between 16/44 vs 24/96? I was using 16/44 all the time cuz I didnt think that i have to choose it in settings on my PC... sound is way better. I was just wasting full potential of my soundcard. But can you hear difference?

Wrong thread for this. Let's not discuss it hear. Please look in the sound science forum or google search.

 

[Paladin79]

Wrong thread for this. Let's not discuss it hear. Please look in the sound science forum or google search.

Darn I was curious to see some of the answers on that one. lol
 
Here is a thought pertaining to DIY cables. I got a cable that appeared to be a diy cable when I bought a pair of Alpha Primes. The four wires are wrapped with nylon paracord and it is softer and less microphonic than newer product. I am sure with wear the elasticity would improve and I was just curious if anyone exhibited similar results with older cables after use? I had to do some repairs so I know there was no special construction technique, wire or paracord used. Basically can cable fabric improve with age?

 

[Hakase]

EDIT: Figured it out, I'm good now.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Sometimes it just boils down to whether you like the sound. There are companies that sell OCC silver plated copper who give you documentation. A lot is coming out of China and the price is low but quality varies. Personally I would trust Toxic Cables because they offer such a wide variety of products and I doubt they would stay in business long if they sold inferior products or made false claims.You can test for silver plating and Litz wire is pretty obvious if you have ever worked with it so it may well be decent. The beauty of DIY is you are only out a small price and labor if it turns out to be so-so. Spend $150 up on such a cable and you would be expecting decent results.

Thanks for the advice. I placed the order.

Around half the price I spent on the same sort of wire from Plussound last year. Hope it's good.

 

[Paladin79]

Thanks for the advice. I placed the order.

Around half the price I spent on the same sort of wire from Plussound last year. Hope it's good.

     As best I can tell, OCC is a licensed process and I would think that any company advertising such cable would be able to provide documentation about who made the wire as well as the specs on said wire. HDMI cables are that way, you can go to a site and see which companies meet the proper standards to manufacture cable for hdmi usage. Fail to meet the manufacturing requirements and your name is taken off the list of qualified vendors.
    OCC has been around since 1986 or so and is a patented process so any company that advertises it heavily already most likely has their ducks in a row and are selling you proper product. It is fun to build cables and it is great to hear an audible difference after you go through the process. There is always a caveat emptor factor but you are not risking a lot of money and so much of this is subjective anyway. If you build the same cable at the same length using the same connectors that you used for the cable you paid double the amount for and you listen to the same music at the same volume level with the same equipment and both cables sound the same, great! Now if you believe there is a huge difference, get someone to blindfold you, swap the cables randomly and keep track of which cable was plugged in at any given time, ceteris paribus (all other things being equal) and see if you can truly select repeatedly the one you liked better. Heck you might even like the lesser priced wire better and select it each time. In which case you might want to stock up on it, unless of course it was a closeout and you will never see it again. Personally, I have in front of me a dozen different cables with wire by Belden, Canare, Mogami, and various occ copper, ofc, hc copper and silver plated copper that I can swap in and out as I please and I would be hard pressed to consistently pick the most expensive one if blind folded, ceteris paribus. There may well be people who can and I certainly respect such abilities but I would never claim to be one of them. 

 

[chrismini]

I think I'll leave custom cables to the pros.

 

[Paladin79]

lol there are a lot of things involved but each to their own.

 

[buke9]

Thanks for the advice. I placed the order.

Around half the price I spent on the same sort of wire from Plussound last year. Hope it's good.

Please report in when you get it I was looking for some Litz wire that wasn't crazy exspensive.

 

[Hakase]

Behold the fruits of my labor thanks to the help of head fi
 

 

[uncola]

thanks Paladin and other guys, I just made my first AES cable from some mogami w3080 I forgot I had.  I also used my yihua 936 solder station for the first time.  Not sure if it's the tip I switched to, but I can't recommend it.  Solder joints were a real struggle and came out ugly.   I'll try the original skinny tip when I make my rcas later this week.

 
here's some halfway through pics showing my horrible process

 

 

[uncola]

Might be a good time to ask, how do you cut nylon multifilament without it fraying like crazy.  Also:  tip!  Even if you don't have teflon plumbers tape to tape up the end of your cable to help slide it through sleeving, scotch tape helps do it too.  Made it go wayyy faster then my usual inchworm method of sliding it one inch at a time.

 

[PinkyPowers]

Might be a good time to ask, how do you cut nylon multifilament without it fraying like crazy.  Also:  tip!  Even if you don't have teflon plumbers tape to tape up the end of your cable to help slide it through sleeving, scotch tape helps do it too.  Made it go wayyy faster then my usual inchworm method of sliding it one inch at a time.

Use scissors to trim as neatly as you can, then take a lighter to the end. The heat will melt it into a nice hard finish.

 

[Paladin79]

  Might be a good time to ask, how do you cut nylon multifilament without it fraying like crazy.  Also:  tip!  Even if you don't have teflon plumbers tape to tape up the end of your cable to help slide it through sleeving, scotch tape helps do it too.  Made it go wayyy faster then my usual inchworm method of sliding it one inch at a time.

I am working on a couple faster methods of getting the wire through sleeving and will try to post some results if things go well. I have some type 1 sleeve that is a lot harder to work with than 275 size paracord. It is much softer and more flexible but a pain to get the wire through.

 

[Paladin79]

  Behold the fruits of my labor thanks to the help of head fi
 

That looks very good, nice job braiding.

 

[Luke Chadwick]

Here's my DIY cable after the RHA750's I had an accident getting caught up in my bike, rather than throwing them away or buying new ones, I decided to make them modular, now if the cable gets damaged again or I want a different length I can just switch it out.
 
http://i.imgur.com/woJpOj7.jpg
 
Could've been done cleaner but I'm happy with the result and they still sound great.