Best length for analog cables from dac to preamp?

The best lenght for sonics is as short as possible, i.e. no length. As for resale I rarely see lengths of 0.5 M being bought and sold. The most popular length, however is probably 1 M.

Mechans - Thank you for your answer. That is exactly what I was looking for. Happy Thanksgiving, Aaron

Just long enough to reach. I have some .5M Siltech if you want short ones.

I am quite sure Purist can make it custom for you. How about .71 M ? But generally, yes, 1M.

I hate to complicate the discussion, but a well-known cable manufacturer once told me that RCA interconnects should generally not be shorter than 1 meter. He gave some kind of scientific explanation I didn't understand, and I can't guarantee it was simply because he didn't want to fool with selling anything shorter.

I hate to complicate the discussion, but a well-known cable manufacturer once told me that RCA interconnects should generally not be shorter than 1 meter. He gave some kind of scientific explanation I didn't understand, and I can't guarantee it was simply because he didn't want to fool with selling anything shorter.

There would be some truth in that in the case of a DIGITAL rca (or bnc or xlr) cable, where in fact the ideal length is 1.5 meters or slightly longer, as explained here.

However in the case of an analog interconnect the only reason that is conceivable to me that would make a longer length sonically preferable to a shorter length would be if the user wanted to introduce a coloration that is complementary to the colorations of the rest of the system.

Regards,
-- Al

I have heard a similar argument advanced on speaker cables, most recently by Pierre at Mapleshade. I really don't understand this one either; supposedly the longer length loads the amp better or something. I never found any evidence of that. The minimum length of speaker cables is suppose to be 8 ft. Pierre has some good ideas but I don't think this is one of them. I admit I have not spent hours comparing every length of cable but I have used many different lengths and never noticed an increase of performance with length. My wife can keep her opinions on the subject to herself.

As an OCD experiment, one weekend, I used an 8 feet cable and a 4 feet cable (Esoteric speaker cables) to see if I can hear the difference when I swapped the cables from left to right.

Conclusion, Zero, nada, nothing changed to my ears... Perhaps, some test gear can see the difference but since I LISTEN to music..