blumpkin

What is the best performing audio interconnect?

I know that twisted pair rca's all twisted together will eliminate all noise. But I would like to know if there's any difference between brands and specific cables. Would the difference between a hundred dollar pair of rca's be all that different from a 30 dollar pair? I would imagine it to be noticeable, but I'd like to know if there's really a significant difference.

I ask this because my laptop's soundcard has an optical output with 5.1 and 7.1 24 bit sound. It sounds incredible. I'm very sad to say that my audio receiver at home sounds much better than my car. (i've spent a lot less for my home equipment) It wasn't until i got the optical cable though, so that's really the key for me. My car is a lot louder and sounds very good, but its just a shame that an 80 dollar audio interconnect upgrade makes the shit sound so good!

I searched if there were any amps that had optical inputs, and there aren't. So if this technology isn't available for the car, what's the best thing to do to make it have that incredible clarity. I have hi quality hu, amps, interconnects, and just about everything, except for inside speaks (which i'm in the market for). I know the speakers will make a big difference, but I doubt it will sound as good as that light filled cable. Any options, tips?

thanks

Tsx536

Will twisted pair really eliminate all noise?
So if I'm using a GLI to go from my audio accessory to the SNHOND3.....I can just remove the GLI, use the twisted pair interconnect, and I won't get noise?

elduderino

OK, first, regarding noise... you're confusing different causes of engine noise.

Here's a thread just about noise.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10280
If you ignore the esoteric argument towards the end about how alternators work, you have an explanation of various kinds of noise.

I personally am a big believer in twisted-pair cables. However, twisted-pair cables do NOT remove ground-loop engine noise - they only reject radiated noise onto the cable itself.

There are many electrically-oriented folks who will tell you that cables make no difference. I am not willing to make that definitive a statement, because I have seen various audio tweaks and changes make a difference in sound quality, which was quantifiable by various people without consultation, which neither I nor anyone else could understand. I believe that there are changes you can make that help, or hurt, that we don't know enough yet to measure or explain.

I am not saying that that's why you heard a difference in your system. I don't know anything about your stuff. For all I know your D/A in your player was crappier than the one in your receiver, and that's why it sounds better (as an example).

HOWEVER... let's stipulate for a moment that in audio, this "magic" difference that you can notice is only even ABLE to be noticed after you get really good speakers and really good positioning and a really good amp and a really good disc player... and everything's all set up right, and you are listening to a really good recording. (This is how the Stereophile-type Hifi folks who seem to NOt belive in magic clocks would tell you that cable matters).

Let's say for the sake of argument that those things are 95-99% of sound quality (many would say it's 100%).

In a car, the speakers are in the wrong place, their cabinets are all effed up (since the drivers are located in different places), you're in the wrong place in the "room" (off center), you have a snotload of background noise, and the room is full of glass with its harsh high-frequency reflections. Who knows if your HU output is any good.

Even if it's theoretically possible to hear differences in cable, in a car you have to have your system pretty f!cking far along before it's at a point where these potential benefits can be heard! You have to overcome speaker positioning, your positioning, relative gain adjustments, crossover points, polarity experimentation, frequency response... how often does any car system get there? Rarely.

When I tell someone to buy car audio interconnect, I recommend three things:

1) twisted pair. This is for noise rejection properties only, not for sound quality.
2) Cast RCA barrels instead of stamped. They stay on better and make better contact over time - they don't loosen up.
3) Split center pins for the same sort of contact on the inside.

Other than that, I am setting myself up as a goober if I tell them that they will hear a difference in cable. Why? Because it's just about impossible to prove! With a home HiFi it's easy to switch - with a car HiFi, it's not.

If I were to make such a recommendation, it would have to be in a system where the rest of the components were at a very high level, and so was the installation in terms of SQl. As an example, there is no way I'd gut my car to go with some RCA other than the Monster 4-channel Micro twisted pair that I used. Why did I use it? Becasue it was twisted pair and it had good ends and it was cheap (returned to stock in a ZipLoc, so I got a great deal). I'm not saying there wouldn't be a difference - I'm saying that there are other things I should do first that would make a much bigger difference (EQ the midbass, rear deck sound damping, maybe a line driver, etc.)

blumpkin

I meant all noise that RCA's pick up... audible electrical interference.

jaydub

I made my own, but unfortunately the page I used to use with all the instructions is gone.

musicbox

Properly installed, I'd bet a soda that you couldn't hear the difference between the cheapest and most expensive cables you can find, while buzzing down the highway with the volume at ANY level....

In other words..don't spend too much money on cables, unless it makes you feel good on the inside...As a reference, I think $20-$30 for a 20ft cable is a reasonable price...

Tsx536

Yeah...I figured this wasn't the case at all. I was just really hoping it would eliminate the ground loops.

....I have a good GLI, but I've always heard they can deterioate the sound some. I don't seem to notice at sound deterioration, but then again I've had that GLI from day one of the install.

elduderino

I'd bet a six-pack o'soda, as long as we are talking about sound quality.

I was thinking about the original post... did you change from one kind of optical cable to another, or from a coaxial digital cable to an optical, or from analog RCA to optical?

elduderino

BBB, you need to read this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

blumpkin

The upgrade was from those expensive RCA's to optical and the difference was incredible. I figured if optical was an option for car audio, the same results would occur. I thnk that its an option, but only for systems with DVD players w/ DD.

i read the reviews for the book that you suggest on Amazon, half of the reviews were good, the other half said it sucked. i've been doing a lot of reading online, but I think ur suggestion is good, all the information compiled into one source.

btw, look who's biting my optical cables right now...

she's an 8 week old chihuahua

elduderino

So what? Read it so you know what one camp thinks. I don't agree with a good deal of it, but the ideas are clearly stated, and those ideas piss some people off quite a bit, so you should know what they are - then you can decide what to think. Reading a book is better than asking us bunch of monkeys... : )

You were not hearing a difference in the cables... any difference you were hearing was a difference in the digital-to-analog converters and the preamp output stages. At that point you were listening to totally different equipment.

The disc player changed from a player with a mechanism and a laser pickup feeding a digital to analog converter and an analog preamp section, to a transport and a laser pickup feeding an optical digital output.

Your receiver changed from a analog receiver to an outboard digital to analog converter with digital preamp functions built-in amplifier.

Sounds different, eh?

elduderino

Messed up at the end of that post, sorry.

First off, I meant that the two descriptions sound like two totally different sets of gear. But I screwed up that too by leaving out the words "and a built-in amplifier."

El Duderino regrets the error. : )

Meant to convey, don't credit the cable for a sonic change that results from you subtracting the D/A and analog sections of your disc player, and adding the digita-domain and D/A sections of your receiver. In this case, as MJ used to say, it's not the shoes.