Interconnect XLR recommendations?

Well this is perplexing.

So I just received a custom made 99.999% pure oxygen free copper 6 wire XLR cable from FallenAngel (came insanely fast too)
http://www.head-fi.org/t/796974/fs-high-end-rca-rca-and-xlr-xlr-interconnects

I'm also using the Draug2 copper balanced XLR cable. All this is supposed to tame the treble right? Copper = smoother tamed highs. Silver = more emphasized treble.

But it's been the opposite for me. Everything now became much more sibilant & harsh with the HD800. The cheap RCA cables I been using had no sibilance & everything sounded so smooth.

 

burn in can change the tonal character quite a bit. Try running in on a burn in disc for a week, then listen.

 

I back Mogami and Belden. I use Blue Jeans at home for most of my stereo cabling, Mogami for work doing recording. Get Mogami or Belden and everything else becomes about strain relief and connector quality (Neutrik good, Switchcraft very very bad).

Regarding star quad, you can check this (complete with video demo): http://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/app...-the-importance-of-star-quad-microphone-cable
It can really make a difference, but if your signal is already free of (audible) interference then it won't sound different. It's especially valuable in live sound applications where you will almost inevitably be crossing over lighting and power equipment cables. If you lay things out wisely at home (as in, don't run power cables across your XLR cables) then it shouldn't matter. Most of us here probably use 1-3 foot connectors to go from one component to another and they never touch the ground or even cross anything else.

 

You know I searched around & came to two very different sides on this subject.

One forum swears by cable burn in & even recommends sending them out to specific sites that will burn in your cable for a week for cash.

Another random forum discussion I found on this subject basically ridiculed the entire thing & repeated the notion that that was all hogwash.

Has there been any scientific measured proof that cables can burn in & change its characteristics?

 

I recommend Phantom Cables which are sold through the Infinite Cables website. For example, these are the 6 foot XLRs that I use:
http://www.infinitecables.com/audio...bles-xlr-microphone-male-to-female-cable-ft4/

These are excellent quality and the prices are no-nonsense great. Note that it is Canadian dollars.

They also have excellent RCA and USB cables. I buy all of my cables from them. (It helps that I can drive to their warehouse when I visit Toronto. Also I use their premium RCAs, not the standard.)

 

Did you buy the "UPOCC 6N (99.9999% pure) copper with pure silver plating in Teflon tubing XLR $90" from him? Note that that cable is not just a copper XLR interconnect, it's copper wire that is plated with silver, which would potentially increase the treble/detail...

 

Please tell me this isn't actually a thing. Please.














How do I get in on this? I'd love to be a professional cable burn-in-er. It has always been my dream to do nothing for a living.

 

Like lots of perplexing stuff, the answer is NOPE

 

C'mon, do you seriously doubt that anything hokey is possible and available in the world of hifi audio? Googling proves this to be true.

 

Seems like I saw some magic rocks that people put on their gear at one point in time...

 

Don't know what you are trying to say, but if you rely on google for answers, well, there you have it

You did, I admit I did grab a bunch of crystals from my wifes jewelry making supplies. WOW................absolutely nothing

Yet, I have heard the mysterious bybees installed in one preamp and not in the other during a blind AB and actually heard a difference. Not crystals but magic nonetheless.

 

The concept was sound, since quartz and other minerals do have a fairly low dielectric constant. However, the mistake is in thinking that placing a little bag of them nearby would work. Think of it as a capacitor; you need to wrap the cables, or at the very least the inlets and outlets, to achieve any noticeable effect.

That said, minerals and gemstones are not quite suitable due to their non-malleable nature (barring crazy expensive liquid suspension capsules, which we will leave in the realm of the elite 1%). While an airtight seal is not required, a high degree of coverage is desirable. Selecting an appropriate material with both a low dielectric constant and high availability then brings us to paper. Now there are many kinds, but looking for one with good durability and density yet high malleability, fittingly (or perhaps ironically) brings us to money. Yes, literally paper money, some of the older stuff without the magnetic holographic strips in them. Wrap your cables in money (with elastic bands or tape or whatever; the exterior matters not since it's only the paper we're concerned with) and enjoy your subtle sonic improvements.

 

Yes
http://www.takefiveaudio.com/mall/shopcontent.asp?type=burnin

 

@bixby this is what I was referring to - a Google search reveals many companies offering such "services".

 

A lot of the higher end cable that sell for over a grand actually do come with instructions to burn in your cables before real use.
I'm kinda of surprised that despite all the money involved, no company made any real testing to confirm if burning in really does change the sound signature of a cable.

 

f**k me, is that why they are so bright?
I thought the wire being copper vs silver was the deciding factor. Didn't know silver plating also changed the signature.

I might buy some warm tubes to see if that will balance it with the extra detail the cable is giving or I'll just sell them. Anyone interested? I paid $120 for them a few days ago & I'll probably let them go for $100.

They were the 6 strand 99.99999% OFC version. 1 pair of 3.5 ft XLR cables. Apparently $120 was just the raw cost of the materials.

 

i just use lyx pro or rane cables. nothing special. favorite probably lyx pro due to their sturdiness and flexability.

 

I just replaced the pyst XLRs between Gungnir Multibit and Mjolnir2 with my friend's fancy AQ Jaguar XLRs. They have a battery on them to keep any capacitance in the cable charged up to a constant level, in case that's something that matters.

But WTF .... they actually sound better. More transparent and detailed, the pyst are a little bit dull/muddyish by comparison. I've never heard a difference with cables before. I'll have to get someone to help me do a blind test but I think I might actually pass.

 

I like Emotiva's RCA cables.. I would think their XLRs are nice, as well. Big ups to Schitt & Blue Jeans, too.. love both their IC offerings.

 

In terms of brightness, SPC(silver-plated copper) is said to be even brighter than pure silver, which in turn is slightly brighter than pure copper. I myself prefer pure silver for interconnects, pure copper for headphone cable. But then again it's cables so YMMV.