Every time I see a comment from someone 100% sure that nobody can hear a difference between burned in and brand new cables, I am reminded of those surveys where many couldn't tell the difference between 128 kbps MP3s and 24 / 96 kHz flac (or wavs) files. We all don't have the same quality of hearing nor focus on the same parts of the music being played, hence legitimate confusion / disagreement.
"World's Best Cables" vs Audioquest interconnects
I've heard many great things about "World's Best Cables". At such low price, these alleged giant killers are a no brainer, so I ordered two pairs. When the shipment arrived, I connected one pair from my phono stage to my preamp, and another pair from my preamp to my power amp.
These cables replaced my trusty old Audioquest interconnects.
First listening impressions: extremely lean sound. Details etched in space, almost as if a strong laser beam is outlining them.
Santana I, side 1: almost unlistenable. The highs are piercing, the soundstage is flat, the splash cymbals sound like trash cans. Made my head hurt.
Switching back to my Audioquest cables: my god, what a relief! The sound is back to its good old sound of music. Everything sounds natural again.
Now, the "World's Best Cables" come with the users manual that claims that the cables need to be burned in for 175 hours. Should I give them the benefit of the doubt and suffer 175 hours, or is that just an audio myth about cables burn-in?
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- 69 posts total
Mogami cables are used in high end recording studios and by musicians. I’d give them a chance to break in with white noise or a burn in recording. If they don’t please you with time to return for a refund to Amazon, send them back. |
Burn-in believer here. New cables to my ears can sound hard/harsh with a narrow soundstage. After some run time the highs smooth out, soundstage blooms, and the mud in bass becomes fast, and well defined. My latest upgrades were Cardas Clear USB a-b for Zen Stream to DAC, and Zavfino Arcadia XLR's from output of my DAC to Mac MA5300. I would buy both again. |
@jackhifiguy - I can't say that I've experienced any changes in a cable from burn-in, but I can also say that I've never paid any attention to it on the few cables that I've upgraded. I have experienced clear differences with one power cord upgrade (1 of 3) and also an interconnect upgrade. The interconnect improvement was significant enough that I opted to upgrade a second time almost immediately. One of my friends is a bit of an audiophile and also an electrical engineer, so you can imagine having to try and convince him that I've heard a difference. I know it perplexes him a bit because he doesn't want to believe it, but has also listened to my system since I first purchased it and knows that I don't claim an improvement/difference with every change, so when I equate the different to a similar order of magnitude as tube rolling he can't just discount my opinion. Have you ever experienced a change in sound quality after changing any type of cord in your system? |
- 69 posts total