[chych]

Does anyone know of any mini to RCA cables? I know Headroom has that straightwire one but I am wondering if there are other good ones to choose from...

It's only audiophile grade when your portable setup has good cables

 

[hongda]

Monster has 2 versions I think of a RCA-mini or the other way around. About the same price as the headroom straightwire. It's a thick cable. I have it, but don't have anything to compare it with.

 

[chych]

Quote:

Monster

No no, I believe I said... 'good cables'

Anyways I contacted ZuCable and apparantely they have an unmarketed cable just for my purposes. Hm I'll have to check it out...

 

[mariowar]

Chych, take a look to my Thread NEW KIMBER MINI TO RCA CABLE......it really looks audiophile grade...

 

[chych]

Hmmm I just got a quote from Zucable and they said that they could get me one of these cables for $100 using their top of the line cable wire (minus a textile wrap).

Well $100 is certainly a little pricey for a portable setup... considering the 10:1 ratio for system to cable cost, I think it is overkill.

I wonder if they have anything a bit cheaper...

 

[coolvij]

Just get the Straightwire, chych. I mean, blow the big bucks on your HOME rig - portably, cables and all make a smaller difference after you hit a certain quality level.....

 

[Ctn]

u guys heard of ConCord?

i just got some of their very cheap priced cables and they r not bad

 

[DarkAngel]

I have the Straightwire cord sold by Headroom and it is pretty good, but for $25 don't expect geatness. There are even better ways to connect amp to portable for more money natch!

Go to local Rat Shack and get audio adaptor 274-884 for $4. this is one piece plug with mini/dual RCA gold plated. Allows use of any RCA interconnect pair to connect amp. I am using 0.5m HomeGrown Audio Silver Lace ICs to connect Grado RA-1 to portable line out......you can use any spare ICs you have, the improvement will depend on the quality of ICs used.

 

[mariowar]

Darkangel, in my opinion good cables vd bad cables make really make a difference.....but talking about mini to rca cables, it means you are using a portable...... and when you use mid fi equipment there's just a point where you will not get any improvement at all....... it's not cables fault, it's source's fault.....
So IMHO you just can't get better sound in a portable using more expensive cables than the Straightwire, and I've tested the Monster MKII and the Acoustic Research.... too.

 

[Audio Addict]

Twisted Pair Design has a product called a Game Junkie, which is what I think you are looking for. It retails for $69. I use it from my portable CD to my TDS Passive Audiophile.

Steve

 

[DarkAngel]

The straight wire set sounds good, but there is better sound available, even with portable as a source using line out, just a question of diminishing returns for money spent. The HG Silver Lace I mention above are 8 strand silver ICs, and they do improve the sound over $25 Straightwire noticeably IMO. The $25 cable we all have uses the cheapest IC cable Straightwire makes, so I am not surprised that more sound can be extracted even from a portable with better ICs. The Silver Laces are an extra set I have for my main system, The Radio Shack adaptor allows me to make good use of these extra ICs. Of course the portable CDP/amp will never sound as good as high end CDP as source, but I am continuely amazed how good they can sound!

All audiophiles have extra ICs laying around , this gives you one more way to tweak sound. Many people use very expensive
amps with portables, same with ICs. Although I do use my best amp/ICs with my main rig that has expensive CDP.

I recently put Blue Jaspis cable on my Senn HD 580 and was surprised by the amount of improvement just a cable can make!

Portable CDP
HG Silver Lace 0.5m ICs (retail $170) bought used $120
Grado RA-1 headphone amp
Grado RS-2 Headphones

 

[DarkAngel]

Well this morning I got my cable basket out and tried several different ICs between portable CDP and Grado RA-1 amp, easy matter to switch. Using the gold Radio Shack Mini/dual RCA plug I quickly tested the following:

HomeGrown Audio Silver Lace, $190 meter
DiMarzio High Definition, $90 meter
Analysis Plus Copper Oval, $260 meter
Harmonic Tech Truthlink, $250 meter

Most of these can easily be bought used at Audiogon, sometimes at 50% discount. Actually the $25 Straightwire unit from headroom held up very well, partly because as Mario points out
a portable has much reduced resolution over full size CDP. The only combo I thought was noticeably better vs Straightwire was the Silver Lace, but it was not a big improvement. If I didn't already have a set I wouldn't buy a set just for portable, I would settle for $25 Straightwire cable and be happy.

Also many of these ICs are thicker and stiffer, and can cause set-up problems with a portable and small amp, another reason to stick with straightwire.

Do explore isolation devices for portable to set on. Try foam, bubblepack, vibrapods etc very important to eliminate as much vibration as possible here, cost is minimal.

 

[chadbang]

Here's a cheap solution from Goodcans. An AR made connector.

http://listeningstation.safeshopper.com/15/56.htm?72

 

[pigmode]

DarkAngel, isn't that a no-no, using a Y-adaptor to standard ICs? What about degradation caused by the extra connection?

 

[DarkAngel]

Pig
The Y adaptor is one piece gold plated plug, so any extra degradation is minimal, but yes fewer connections the better.
As I summed up in previous reply I feel the hassle is not worth it,
improvements were minor, stick with Straightwire and
keep things simple. Portable output resolution not great enough for cable upgrades to have big impact.