Do cables make a difference?

May 15, 2006

Cables This should be a fun post as I know the issue of high-quality A/V cables is capable of turning everyday citizens into venomous anti-cable evangelists, bent on proving to the world that a piece of cable is a piece of cable. I assure you these disbelievers couldn’t be more incorrect if they tried.

That’s not say that all cables are worth their asking price. On the contrary, some cable manufacturers know full well that what their selling amounts to modern day snake-oil. They prey on the very confusion surrounding the subject to make their living.

Let’s label the two camps as believers (those who think cables make a difference) and disbelievers (those who think all cable looks and sounds alike). First know that I fall into the believer category, because in my experience I just can’t explain away what my ears and eyes tell me as psycho-acoustic trickery or wishful thinking.

Time and time again under repeatable circumstances I’ve proved to myself and others that, in certain applications, cables can make a significant difference in the sound and image quality of 2-channel stereo systems and home theaters. I suppose a little background might help explain where I’m coming from on the subject.

I started out in the audio/video industry back in 1991; I was fresh out of high school and really didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life. As luck would have it I walked into a local high-end electronics store and asked a question that would ultimately change my life, “Are you looking for any help?”

15 years and 4 or 5 job descriptions later, I’m still in the industry and I learn something new everyday. But those early “prove it to me” experiences are still among my fondest memories in the business. Early on I learned that trying to judge relatively subtle differences in an A/V system is entirely dependant on the overall resolution (sound and image) the system is capable of recreating.

In other words, just as you wouldn’t expect to be able to discern the eye color of an occupant in a car with tinted windows, don’t expect to be able to decide if that new speaker cable you bought sounds better or worse in a low resolution system. I’ll leave it to you to decide what is or isn’t low-resolution, but if you rarely have visceral responses while watching a movie or listening to a CD at home, it’s very possible your system would fall into the ‘low-resolution’ category.

Cables:

Ok, back to cables. In my opinion, instead of asking do cables make a difference it would make more sense to ask does equipment make a difference. Most people wouldn’t argue that equipment makes a difference, however many fail to realize that cables follow some of the same engineering and design fundamentals as the equipment itself.

Let’s take speaker cable for an example, as it generally has fewer variables than interconnects and digital cables. Yes, I’m generalizing here but for our purposes it’s a safe generalization.

First off it’s important to note the difference between proper application and overall quality. For example, the proper wire gauge on a long speaker run will make a bigger impact on the sound quality, than overall cable quality. Alternatively an overall high-quality cable of the wrong wire gauge will often sound worse than the former.

What about digital cables? I’ve heard the, “Its digital. It either works or doesn’t” mantra hundreds of times, and its no more true today than it was the first time I heard it in the nineties. Digital has an error threshold that it will continue to operate under; it’s only above that acceptable rate of error that the signal will fail completely. Guess what? Higher quality cables will allow that signal to travel over longer distances through more radio frequency interference before the signal fails.

Cable Quality Factors:

Listen, I don’t want to get into the myriad of possibilities and examples of how cables can fail. I’d rather get right down to it and explain how cable construction and quality will make a difference in sound and image quality.

The signals that flow down your audio and video cables are in essence electrical voltage; granted it’s a tiny amount of voltage but susceptible to interference just the same. Just as the quality of the components in your receiver or DVD player make a difference in your sound and images, so can your cables.

Many factors go into what makes a “quality cable”. Some of those factors include: the purity of copper strands in cable itself; the type, design, and construction quality of the connector. Even the outer jacket material of the cable, which can reduce interference from other electrical sources, plays into how a cable “sounds”.

Even though you might think a small amount of voltage shouldn’t matter one way or another to how much interference your system receives, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt even a small amount of voltage that intersects a poorly shielded cable at just the right point, can degrade the overall sound/image quality of your system.

The most important function of an audio/video cable is to neither add nor subtract anything of its own to the signal flowing through it. This sounds incredibly simple but it’s obvious (to me at least) that many cables fail to do this. If I take cable (A) and play a few seconds of audio through it and take another cable (B) and do the same but (A) sounds significantly better, what other conclusion am I left with?

Recommendations:

There are tens if not hundreds of quality A/V cable manufacturers and rather than risk omitting one of them, I’ll keep my recommendations on a general level. First off keep things in perspective. A good rule of thumb is to spend roughly 10% of your overall system budget on cables; maybe a little less or maybe a little more but avoid extremes to either side of your budget.

Secondly and most importantly in my book, if you can’t see or hear the difference don’t pay for it. Yes that might come as a surprise from someone in the industry but my purpose here has never been to “sell” you anything. I’m much more interested in you enjoying your investment than pushing some overpriced, poorly designed cables on you.

The idea of “auditioning” cables might sound bizarre but certain audio shops will allow you to do just that. This “try-before-you-buy” method really goes along way in ensuring that you end up with cables that actually make a difference in your home theater system.

Alternatively if auditioning cables just sounds like too much of a hassle (and I’d be hard pressed to disagree with you on that one), I do have some other general guidelines to pass onto you.

Don’t always assume that the bigger names in cable offer the best value. Some of these monstrous (pun intended) companies are better at marketing than delivering quality, affordable cables. Do some research, ask a friend, try before you buy, read forums but please don’t fall into either of the two following cable myths:

(1) Cables are all the same and make no difference.
(2) If cables do make a difference then I should just buy whatever the salesman recommends or is most popular.

Summary:

I’ve seen numerous examples where cable quality absolutely made a discernable difference in a system and equally as many systems that wouldn’t have benefited from the most expensive cables ever offered. It’s all about the right cable for your system, think system not upgrade or band-aid.

Keep the 10%’ish rule in mind and you’ll do just fine. Also keep in mind that for very short runs overall cable quality generally isn’t such a critical concern; that isn’t to say you won’t find exceptions to this.

Please also keep in mind that marketing and manufacturing are often two very different things. As I stated here earlier, I’m not really here to “sell” you on a specific cable brand. There are too many good ones out there and in all honesty even several of the good ones overlap each other’s product lines. That said however, I will join in on the comments here with some specific warnings or recommendations if you like.

My best piece of advice is to neither skimp nor spend a disproportional amount to the overall value of your system. Keep things in perspective and maybe even do a little bit of research about electrical interference, you may just find another 10-15% of performance you never knew your system had.

Posted by B.Greenway | | Filed Under Home Theater Equipment

Comments

Kirby

This may fall on deaf ears since the last post was over a year ago, but I have a test to help prove thhat high end cables make a difference.
My current car audio system retails just over $4,000 and the sound is immaculate with one small issue. When you rev the engine, a terrible high pitched eeeEEEEEEeeeeeEEEEEEEeee! comes from the speakers. you can drown it out if you turn the volume up high enough, but many of my car audio associates have explained the issue is with my cheap cables.
I have purchased now a $140.00 pair instead of the $30.00 Scrope specials, and when they arrive, I will post if they make a difference.
William

I see many different brands of HDMI cables for sale at different prices.

Is there really a different b/w spending 80 dollars for a monster cable and 40 for a Belkin cable.

Thanks
S. Musial

This past Sunday though, I needed a 12 foot HDMI cable, to hide my wires behind the wall for the new 32” Samsung LCD in my office. I ran down to my local Best Bye and the least expensive HDMI cable was $99.00 plus tax, the young (well groomed) audio expert sort of snickered at my poor understanding of audio and video and at my only slight displeasure of the price. Trust me, no ranting here, just a leisurely Sunday afternoon.

“Have you found a lower price for a 12 foot HDMI cable in this St. Louis?” “Are you aware of the differences in quality (this was Best Buys’s only 12 ft. HDMI wire, and we surely know that they are sharing price points with Kimber, Cardas, etc. Well actually I had to take his challenge, I had time to burn, my StL RAMS were stinking up the field. I remember I recently purchased a nice OPPO DVD player for another room with a six foot cord thrown in the box for about $150? I took the HDMI challenge!
I did find another12 foot HDMI at the Radio Shack for $79.00 three doors down within the strip mall, a savings of $30.00 with the 7% tax at both being a wash?

There again though, the thoughtful associate at the Shack suggested I go for the Monster brand though. Was it worth the walk at my middle age of 50 for about 6 minutes? Then the ultimate test, I come home to the holy grail of pricing, the internet and I find Firefold cables online (first time I have ever heard of the company, I promise I do not financial interest in anything one of these companies here, but some college tuition bills for two children, my retirement, etc., some of those real life things most of us do have), but here I have to settle now for (please sit down), a15 foot HDMI cable (25% longer mind you) for a total of $8.06 and no tax, but the first class shipping charge is a about a wash with the tax. I had to even settle for those gold plated tips too.

I think some of us audio veterans have a have a heart for the young kids entering the hobby today. And it is a hobby or passion for most of us. I can just image my son working for $10 an hour this past summer, and having to put in a full extra eight hours for that wire at the “Best” Buy? Which I still will be a patron.

My approximate 40 years of enjoying music has taught me, to one, buy used (be more selective and decerning on speakers here though). Put all you can in your speakers, there is where you will hear the largest difference. Then your amps, then work your way down. Cables, Interconnects and the snake oil capitol of audio, the power cord should be way, way down your list. Never use percents, for I have never worked for percents, never paid my bills in percents, use U.S. dollars.

If you can afford $8.25 for per foot for the new and ever changing HDMI cable, and the clarity is one that the BB sales advisor stated “even my girlfriend sees a tremendous improvement, with that brand cable”, then maybe you have to "go for it". We all have to splurge once in awhile, right? But why not try the .53 cent a foot line first though, you may just be able to retire 10-15 years earlier adopting this approach once in awhile and have much more free time to hear much more music in your lifetime.

I can say with absolute confidence though, the equipment, wire, lines and patch cords that created the majority of these recordings we all listen to, cost only a fraction of the cost of what is any of our systems. Is this sometimes getting to the point of Audio Alchemy? How can something that goes in come out so perfect? My opinion, and its worth about this sheet of paper this is printed on here, cables, interconnects and powercords are just audio costume jewelry.

Just another viewpoint, I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
(Sir Charles Barkley)
Mark

Interesting discussion. I have about $10,000 in my home theater equipment, (self installed,but at least a $7000 installation) but have spent less than $150 on Cables and it sounds fantastic. I am doing some tweaks and may report back here, but I have one very interesting observation....
Inside my components (Receiver, DVD, Dish box, and speakers) there is a lot of cable/wire and they are all very small diameter/high guage. I'm sure they are of high quality, but they are 28awg or smaller.
The purities of the cable material (I believe) are insignificant (esp. at or greater than 99% purity). Shielding can help, but only if your cable is run intercepts a magnetic field.
Standard EE laws tell me I need larger wire over distance, but when will a 14 awg show improvement over 24awg? This should be standardized, and read from a table. You should be able to pick the cheapest cable at the length & gauge you need and there will be no difference with other cables.
Brian Louis

I have a set of AQ Gibraltar (about $1000/10ft pair biwired) for my main speakers. I loaned them to a friend and he gave me his monster cable that was about the same guage wire as my AQ wire to hold me over. At low volume I did not hear much difference if any. BUT, as I turned it up there was without a doubt a huge drop off in the bass response more than anything. The bass was there but sounded scratchy and distorted. He called me and commented how much better the bass sounded in his system with the AQ cables in there before I ever told him what I was hearing. So maybe at low volumes you can get away with a much less $$$ cable.
Jim

Quick question - will my hdmi video signal suffer degradation if I take it from my cable box to a wall plate and then connect my tv's hdmi cable to the rear of the wall plate? I thought I could get away from cables by using a cable card but it did not work.
DHGranstrand

I just purchased 25' video component cables from bluejeanscableDOTcom. They were $80 for the set of three cables. Exceptional Canare RCA plugs with Belden 1694A cable. Extremely well constructed and flawless video transmission.
Cap'n Preshoot

You're going to have to put me in the camp of the non-believers. I was in broadcast (FCC P1-17-11478) many years ago and worked for several more as a Region Engineer for Cox Cable back in the '70s. True, there are "proper cables" for the job, but overall the buying public is getting hosed on their home entertainment cables.

The problem I have with "consumer grade" audio & video cables is the marketing hype of the "large" brand (pun intended) coupled with retailer greed in blister-packaging their own store brand & competing cables then pricing those "just enough" under the ridiculously priced brand to attract buyers. This "riding on the coattails" of the big marketer is tantamount to theft by deception.

There are some differences in cables, but paying 10 times as much for one vs another is absurd and should never suggest nor imply 10x the quality. You can get excellent quality cables for very reasonable prices. Unfortunately, with pressure on margins you'll seldom find much in the way of reasonably priced cables at the same store where you bought your fine HT equipment.

10% of your HT budget spent on cables? That still seems awfully high. I guess it would depend on how much your budget actually is. For a $2,000 system spending $200 (10%) on the cables might be reasonable, but spending $500 for cables on a $5,000 system sounds more like someone's getting taken to the cleaners. That same exact set of $200 cables should work equally well on either system and I have serious skepticism about the ability of anyone to prove that their eyes and ears can see or hear the difference.

In commercial broadcast we often made our own cables from bulk spools of brand-name cable (i.e., Belden) that at the time sold for a few cents a foot. Even the 5" diameter nitrogen-pressurized heliax cable carrying our 50 KW signal to the top of our 1,200-ft tower was assembled on-site from (huge) spools of Andrew cable that sold for a few dollars a foot.

Gold-plated connectors? Well, if your component (amplifier, DVD player, etc) also has gold-plated jacks then I might agree, but otherwise you may be setting yourself up for some problems from the dissimilar metals. Anyone remember the problems the PC makers had with gold-plated memory being plugged in to nickel-plated tin connectors (and vice-versa) on the motherboards? It wasn't long (about a year) before these dissimilar metal connections began causing many system lockups.
Reddog

I was going to explain the concept that digital systems still experience and deal with loss, but this explanation is much better "Regarding digital audio cables: At audio sampling rates, i.e. 96KHz, the 24-bit data for DVD-Audio at 6 channels means a cable bit rate of 13.8Mbits/s. Lets say the velocity of propagation is 4.76ns/m. At that data rate, a new bit is introduced onto the cable every 72ns.

Right there you can conclude that any cable less than 15meters is good enough for digital signals to be able to completely ignore inter-symbol interference.

That is the problem where one data bit interferes with its neighbors as it travels down the cable. For DVI data, still digital mind you, the data rate is more like 600Mbits/s for a 720p data signal. That means cables shorter than 0.35m can ignore ISI."

Too restate this in a more succinct way, the faster you want to transfer data the more important the quality of the cables. Cable quality does matter, even for digital transmissions.
Ben Hobbs

I agree with one of the posters comments about HDMI/DVI runs - for a 1-2 metre run, Im pretty sure that any DVI cable will do. However I had a 10m run of cheap cable that would not display a 720p or 1080i/p image, it would be fine if I set it to a lower resolution but woul djust fill the screen with garbage at higher resolutions.

I have also seen the sparkles from another cheaply priced cable at 10m, Currently I insist on cabling in decent quality HDMI/DVI cables for lengths of 10-15 metres +. These arent outrageously expensive ($125-$200 US or so) and have worked every time, in every install at every possible resolution. However these cables are VERY good quality, I could never see a need to spend more than this on high-end HDMI cables even for 15m runs.

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