Inter Connects - What I know and don't know


I've been researching Balanced Cables in anticipation of adding a new pair of mono-blocks (Atma Sphere Class - D) to my system. I'm hoping some of you who know a thing or two about cables might help me (us) clarify or demystify certain assumptions.   

 

My assumptions:

- You get what you pay for ($300 Brand X will produce more detail than say $60 Mogami Gold).

- The larger the gauge the better.

- Crimped and soldered connectors are better than screw tightened.

- Two or more large braided strands are better than several smaller gauge braided strands (all things being equal).

- Silver conductors are better sounding and measuring than Copper conductors.  

- Rhodium, Gold, Silver, Copper, & Brass, connectors objectively sound different. (as opposed to in your system).  

 

Remember, the more objective your responses are the more helpful they'll be to a majority of readers. 

Thanks in advance for your "feedback"

 

 

 

128x12869zoso69

OP

I already reached out to the dealer. He recommended Mogami Gold

The dealer will likely have higher profit margins on $$$ cables, this seems like a good starting point. When a dealer recommends something LESS expensive why not try it?

@69zoso69 If stop gap is the measure then why bother with expensive interconnects till you have everything sorted? I think you will find the Mogami cable to actually be quite good.

@atmasphere Thank you sir. Nice to know I can put my money towards a preamp rather than cables (at this point in the journey). 

 

I've heard you say previously (on a different post) that one quick and dirty way to tell if your preamp supports the AES48 standard is to see if there's a toggle switch between RCA and XLR. 

 

The Pontus claims it's a "true balanced DAC" but does not provide such a switch. And the "RCA and XLR outputs are shared". Does this mean the Pontus is *not* AES48 compliant? There's no mention of this standard on their output section in their product literature.  

"The Balanced output via XLR (pin2 hot), singled ended output via RCA. The PONTUS is a true balanced DAC, we recommend using balanced output whenever possible. The RCA and XLR output are shared, please use either of the output at a time. It is not recommended to use both RCA and XLR output simultaneously."

 

 

There's an easy way to know. If you run it single-ended into our amps and it plays at a certain volume, does it play louder when running balanced?

If yes= does not support the standard

if no, volume is the same = supports the standard.

This is because the balanced standard ignores ground- the output signal is generated with respect to its opposite rather than being generated with respect to ground. If its generated with respect to ground, its really just two single-ended outputs, one of which is out of phase with the other. While that is balanced, it doesn't support the standard.