[drummerdimitri]

Hello everyone, after having built my first interconnect cable, I started getting curious about knowing if it performed better than my other cables, one that came with the Fiio E5 and another one that came with the Monster Cable iSpeaker Portable portable speakers. For this test, i decided to connect one end of the cable to my ipod and the other one to my Presonus Firepod with the volume of the ipod set on max and the gain of the FP-10 high enough to avoid clipping, and recorded a song. The test was carried out the same way for the three different interconnects and then I used my Shure se530's and plugged them to my Presonus' headphone out to listen critically to the differences in sound. It was not easy to distinguish the differences between the SQ, but I based my judgement on parts of the song where a shift in dynamics made a clear difference between the three. Something that I've realized is that while recording from the ipod before the song has started, the hissing sound was clearly different with the three cables. My DIY cable had the lowest volume of hissing while the other two were fairly similar in terms of the hissing sound the made just before the song has started. What conclusion could I draw from this test? Also, I used my friend as a test subject and made him listen to all versions of the songs recorded with the different wires, and he found out that the worst sounding cable to me was the best sounding cable to him, which makes me tend to believe that it's all subjective unless there is a way to test the audio signal from the electrical point of view. My question is the following: What is the best way for someone like me who is limited by his resources to test audio cables and note a difference between them? Can I conclude that the cable with the least hissing sound is the best sounding one? I am very curious regarding this subject as I am becoming more and more interested and involved in the "Audiophile World".
Thanks!

 

[FraGGleR]

Not sure what conclusions you can draw, as you are right, this hobby is very, very subjective, even the hard data can be interpreted differently when it comes to hearing the results.

I have made 5 mini to mini's, each with a different type of wire (at least one more metal on the way!), and I am just barely able to distinguish between them. The biggest thing I notice is clarity and punch changing. Which one is better? Hah, I can't tell. I think I know which one I like best, but in the end they all sound good to me.

In the end it is about what sounds good to you. Some more scientific and knowledgeable people might be able to help you with more hard data differences or measurements you can try.

 

[drummerdimitri]

Thanks for agreeing with me FraGGler, I guess it's all about the placebo effect that makes your cables sound better than all the other ones. If your brain says so, then I don't see why your ear wont agree...

 

[drummerdimitri]

Bump!

 

[Patrick82]

The breathing rhythm changes how you hear the sound. Switching back and forth doesn't work if your breathing isn't perfectly consistent, it will sound different every time even with the same cable!

The only accurate way to test cables is with long-term testing and it's very important to be relaxed and let the music come to you...after a while you may hear that there is more high frequency emphasis or more bass etc. Write down into a text file how the music sounds, I write many Megabytes of data per year. For example, write down what problems you hear with the sound with each cable. When the problem is fixed with a cable you will get an eargasm and it will sound like the improvement is HUGE because that fix was important to you.