[DLoken]

I recently bought a very nice META42 from JMT, and replaced my Grado SR-80s with SR-225s. My source is my PC (Say whatever you will about that, but high bit rate MP3s, or oggs sound as good as any CD to my ears).

The soundcard in question is the integrated audio on my NForce2 board (NVidia's APU, which is supposed to be basically the best among consumer grade sound cards).


Anyway, when I got the amp I didn't have any Minijack to RCA cables, so I picked up the only thing I could find locally, which happened to be a piece of crap from Monster.


I've been using it for about two weeks, and the audio quality is fine as far as I can tell, but would I have a noticable improvement from a better cable? Honestly, I don't know a great deal about cables and the like, so I don't even know what to look for.

 

[itza2mer]

The more you spend on mini to RCA cables, the better the sound. For less than $50 (sometimes as low as $25), Zu Cable sells a cable called Pivot on ebay. Do a search for "Zu Cable". You will be amazed how much more detail there is in music: you will hear things you have never heard before using higher quality cables.

A friend of mine, who has a old SoundBlaster Live value card, and a cheap Ramsey DIY headphone amp, also used to think that mp3's and CD's sounded the same. He was using a cheap radio shack mini to RCA cable. I brought over a Zu Cable, and even with a cheap soundcard the difference in sound quality and detail was night and day. Now he realizes that CD's do sound better than mp3's, even with a cheap soundcard.

 

[markl]

Quote:

My source is my PC (Say whatever you will about that, but high bit rate MP3s, or oggs sound as good as any CD to my ears).

Well IMO if you can't hear the difference between an mp3 and a CD you won't hear the differences between cables either. Also, playing a CD back on your computer sound card will not result in sound that is clean or clear enough to be able to hear the actual difference between that and an mp3. If you get a good budget CDP (say the Phillips 963A) and some CDs, you may never be able to settle for mp3 again. Until you have a good source, cables are a waste.

Given your set-up, if you invest in any cable more expensive than Rat Shack Golds, I think you will feel you have wasted your money and conclude incorrectly that "fancy cables don't make a difference". No fancy cable can turn a computer sound card into a Sony XA777ES.

Mark

 

[DLoken]

I'm not saying MP3s in general sound better than CDs, but ones significantly higher than 192kbit are pretty damned good.


And I have some apes (Monkey's Audio) which is lossless.

Along with some very high bit rate oggs. Now



I'm thinking of getting an M-Audio Revolution, as my computer for the forseeable future (At least the next several years) will be my source.

 

[PeterG]

He's using integrated audio, of course he cannot tell the differnce between a cd and a mp3.

 

[DLoken]

Quote:

Originally posted by PeterG He's using integrated audio, of course he cannot tell the differnce between a cd and a mp3.

Uh, maybe before you put forth such ignorant statements you'd take the time to actually read.


The NForce2's audio chipset, is among the best consumer audio chipsets out there. Being integrated aside, you can't get a better consumer grade sound card than it, maybe short of something from M-Audio.




Also, a lot of my music isn't MP3, it's OGGs (Which has significantly better quality than MP3), and some APEs (Monkey's Audio, a lossless audio format), so not telling the difference between CDs my ass. The MP3s that make up my collection are all of fairly high bit rate, so quality of them isn't a huge issue.

 

[dd3mon]

I'll second that the NForce2 has been reviewed as being superior to most consumer grade soundcards (including Audigy2) with regards to both speed (yes, Nforce2 integrated audio is significantly FASTER than Audigy2 in all games) and sound quality.

In response to the oringial question, I found that upgrading from old rat-shack RCA's to a new MarkerTek mini-mini cable from my M-Audio Revolution to my MG Head was a noticeable upgrade.

-dd3mon

 

[itza2mer]

Quote:

Originally posted by DLoken I'm not saying MP3s in general sound better than CDs, but ones significantly higher than 192kbit are pretty damned good.

192kbit and higher MP3's do sound great. Just do yourself a favor: buy a Zu Cable Pivot or a MarkerTek cable (or any number of suggested cables), they do make a sonic difference for the better.

 

[dustinyo]

i just bought the Kimber Cable off Headphone.com for $49 for 1 foot, i'm just amazed how much better this sounds than the crap one that came with my video card.

 

[MagusG]

I am building a 6 ft mini-mini with carare mini star quad and a pair of switchcraft black GP RA stereo mini plugs soon. I will post my impressions in this thread.
-Mag

 

[PeterG]

Didn't read throughly enough, my bad. Wasn't a flame and didn't expect one in return though.

 

[springofdark]

Have you heard the nforce2?!?

The chipset is known for having really good dolby digital processing and digital output - not analog output. If you hook that soundcard directly to an amp you'll get the following:

- Tons of free background noise - enough to drown out dynamics
- A total lack of soundstage
- Stupendously harsh highs which make you cringe with every cymbal

And thats not all!

Order now and you can kiss your midrange goodbye!

 

[imported_maverick_12]

I own a nforce2 board, heard audigys, audigy2s, the phillips card, and can honestly say, my m-audio revolution just owns all of them down hands down. I also have one of those kimber cables, and it does sound pretty good with sound cards. And for the record, I own an a7n8x deluxe.

 

[DLoken]

Same board as me.

 

[acs236]

More curiosity -- has anyone here A/B compared various mini-to-mini cables? If so, which did you prefer?