nmurthy
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2009
- Posts
- 12
- Likes
- 11
I'm in the process of ordering all the materials to build some cables (both to check if there is a difference and just so I can have some extra cables of different lengths, like a really long one to use in bed and a short one to travel with, etc.) and some interconnects. I really believe that buying aftermarket cables is truly a ripoff. Debate all you want about the sonic benefits of aftermarket cables, but the fact remains that all of the "audiophile quality" commercial cables sold use readily available connectors and wiring, and the markup is just immense. Even the Sennheiser headphone connectors are now available from Moon Audio (as linked to earlier in this thread), and those would absolutely be the hardest component to get.
For example, a Cardas cable is simply a combination of Canare Star Quad wire ($5.10 from markertek) + Cardas Sennheiser headphone connector ($15 from moon audio) + an Switchcraft Plug ($5.20 for the best Gold Switchcraft from markertek) + Techflex ($2.40 from Markertek) = 27.70 + maybe max $20 shipping (huge overestimate) = 47.70 + soldering iron, solder, etc. = $67.70 for a 10ft Cardas cable at the absolute maximum. Retail price: $185 from headroom.
Even if you have ZERO DIY supplies, I still think you should make your own cable. The amount of soldering required is miniscule, and it's not really a hard skill to learn (you're essentially melting a compound over two connections that dries and makes them stick together, it's not THAT difficult).
Summary: Even if you do go about upgrading your audio cable, please don't throw away your money ordering a commercial cable when for about an hour of your time you could save at least 50%, most likely more, and use all that saved cash to buy some real equipment. I'm not a huge believer that DIY is much cheaper than commercial stuff when it comes to more complex equipment, like amplifiers, because the process is complicated, the parts are expensive when you don't order them in bulk, and it often ends up costing the same if not more than buying a nice amp (clearly the Beta22 is a different story), but when it comes to cables it absolutely saves a tremendous amount of money. And it's such a valuable skill -- you can DIY all your interconnects too so if you really believe in the virtues of better cabling you won't have to spend a fortune getting some Canare cabling throughout your setup.
For example, a Cardas cable is simply a combination of Canare Star Quad wire ($5.10 from markertek) + Cardas Sennheiser headphone connector ($15 from moon audio) + an Switchcraft Plug ($5.20 for the best Gold Switchcraft from markertek) + Techflex ($2.40 from Markertek) = 27.70 + maybe max $20 shipping (huge overestimate) = 47.70 + soldering iron, solder, etc. = $67.70 for a 10ft Cardas cable at the absolute maximum. Retail price: $185 from headroom.
Even if you have ZERO DIY supplies, I still think you should make your own cable. The amount of soldering required is miniscule, and it's not really a hard skill to learn (you're essentially melting a compound over two connections that dries and makes them stick together, it's not THAT difficult).
Summary: Even if you do go about upgrading your audio cable, please don't throw away your money ordering a commercial cable when for about an hour of your time you could save at least 50%, most likely more, and use all that saved cash to buy some real equipment. I'm not a huge believer that DIY is much cheaper than commercial stuff when it comes to more complex equipment, like amplifiers, because the process is complicated, the parts are expensive when you don't order them in bulk, and it often ends up costing the same if not more than buying a nice amp (clearly the Beta22 is a different story), but when it comes to cables it absolutely saves a tremendous amount of money. And it's such a valuable skill -- you can DIY all your interconnects too so if you really believe in the virtues of better cabling you won't have to spend a fortune getting some Canare cabling throughout your setup.
Fine fine, I may have overdone it. Although you have to admit that as you get sucked into this world, you're going to inevitably blow hours of your free time researching, so you can't really factor that in. Good catch though, headroom overhead would be additional 
