Best RCA interconnect up to ~$100?


Looking for the best preamp to amp rca interconnect. I don't have experience with many cables. Need help. Thank you.

retroactiv

Custom 

You can chose every component. I just had some balanced interconnects made with solid silver and the exact XLR connectors that are in my Luxman amp.

still kept it under $150. His builds are so well put together I’ve almost entirely switched. 
 

https://www.prosperhifi.com/

 

Usually anything silver I like best between electronics, although an interconnect manufacturer told me that copper was best between a preamp and subwoofer as copper does better with bass than does silver.

A friend in NorthCentral PA made his own silver interconnects, called them ‘Blasphemy ICs’ and were some of the thinnest most reasonably priced silver ICs I ever saw.  They sounded phenomenal!  I bought many pairs over the years, and then gave them to friends or sold them with the gear that I sold at the time.  At one point, I was using all of his ICs in my system for several years, as I change gear pretty often.  You don’t need to spend tons of money to get great ICs.

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+1 on Darwin Cables. Right now, on their Specials page, they have a pair of their entry level Silver 1 RCAs for $195. You really can't do better at that price.

All the best,
Nonoise

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My vote would be to skip the Blue Jeans, this coming from someone who used them exclusively for my first six years or so with this hobby. In the end I discovered they don’t scale up very well from entry level, and better options in comparison reveal them to be a little grainy and bass shy.

The Mogami 2497 is $100 for 3 feet and is superb, would recommend wholeheartedly. Transparent, uncolored, neutral sound, with better high frequency extension than BJC, and much better mids and bass with a wider soundstage. They aren’t as good as Transparent in my system, but hold their own considering the reasonable cost.

Pine Tree Audio.  Well made available in a variety of colors.  Good insulation, OCC copper, quality connectors.  That's all I use in my system.  Power cords also.  Very quiet, neutral and good sound staging.  You will not need new ones. IMO

If you go DH Labs, buy bulk.

I made a two foot pair of Pro Studios with AECO silvers for less than a hunski.

DH Labs has an eBay store.

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I was in the same camp too thinking cables don’t matter. Then I finally tried the Belden 9497 speaker cables a few audiophiles recommended just to try without having to spend a fortune and I actually heard a difference. Appreciate everyone’s feedback, but now I’m feeling totally confused about which rca interconnect to try and I’m not limiting to $100 anymore. I just want to get a good one and be done with it, if that’s possible.

I’m currently leaning toward trying DH Labs BL-1 SERIES II 2meters direct for $212. What do you guys think?

I was firmly in trenches in the ‘wires don’t matter camp when I had a friend come listen to my system running SVS speaker cables. He was very polite commenting about the transparent sound stage, but lack of detail. It left me ready to go amp shopping until someone asked what speaker cables I was running.. I ordered and installed a pair of Anti-cables.. much more detailed, spacious with precise placement.. just goes to show you don’t know what you don’t know!

I use Cardas Headphone cables on my Sennheiser HD660S and really appreciated the improvement over the stock cable.  Their Parsec IC should be of interest.

OP,

I have used and can recommend: DHLabs (not White Lightning), Morrow Audio (50% sale right now), Supra Cables Trico or EFF RCA cables (dealer selling on eBay), or Pine Tree Audio which are showing promise. All could get you a very nice RCA pair that will grow with you through to "mid-fi". A couple might cost a little over your $100 limit, but only by $20 or $30

For really well designed, high quality parts, hand made cables made with pride and passion for the Audiophile space, check out Pine Tree Audio.  Call Jessie and he’ll recommend the design best for you based on your sonic preferences and system.  Check out Pine Trees site, read some of the reviews and do yourself a favor and call, tremendous value and you won’t need to upgrade down the road. 

You can’t go wrong with Blue Jeans at your price point. Also, I’ve had good luck with custom cables made by performance audio in Salt Lake City. Great to deal with, lots of wire & design options, and high quality.

https://www.performanceaudio.com/collections/custom-rca-to-rca-cables

AudioQuest Golden Gate are around $140.00.  Have a pair coming today for my new Mofi Turntable coming next week.  I have read good things about those cables.  We will see I guess. They have to be better than the 20.00 cables I have laying around right?

The DH Labs interconnects seem good. I need 6’ (2 meter) pair currently $220 on ebay. I’ll keep my eye out. Thanks

A third vote for DH Labs interconnects. I got 2 pairs of used 1-meter DH Labs BL-1 Series 2 interconnects for $75 total off of eBay. One of my best audio buys ever. 

Chinese clone Nordost Odin Gold difficult to beat and under $100 on Aliexpress. That is if you can live with what many see as an ethical dilemma.

If you are open to buying used cables, Darwin or Amadi make very good sounding interconnects sounding better than many times their price. The original Darwin Silver ICs are still a very good IC. They don’t look like much, but their sound is excellent.  Look them up.  They are way better sounding than most anything at $200 or less, maybe 300-400 even.

 

Bob

Ditching the $100 mark, Decware makes a terrific interconnect. Oft overlooked, I’ve owned lots of ICs up to over several hundreds of dollars a pair, and these are seriously good. https://www.decwareproducts.com/dsr3

Signal Cable also makes a very good hybrid for not much. Hope that helps.

https://www.signalcable.com

http://signalcable.com/silverresolutionanalog.html

There aren’t any good cables around the $100 mark. I tried some of the best Blie Jean cables instead of my reference just to see what people were excited about. They were gone in no time. Save your money and get a good set of cables that you can keep for years and they system upgrades. With any $100 cable, this will be your bottleneck now and in the future. Also, if you think you are saving money by going cheap now and then later get something better, remember you will get 40-50% of the price you pay for the cables when you sell. Now, anything I want to buy, I don’t work my way up to it, I save or wait until I have the cash or want to spend the cash on what I want for the next 5-10 years.

OP: 

Often fancy cables will darken the sound, which if your speakers are too bright will be a good thing, but in your case a similar effect can be had by adjusting the direction of the speakers. 

Always worth experimenting with the tweeters pointing behind and/or above your head.  You may find your personal sweet spot is NOT on a laser line with the tweets but somewhat below them.

Best,

 

E

My system is:

source: pc with matrix X-SPDIF 2 usb to i2s, also a streamer via coax

dac: Psaudio Directstream MK1

amps: conrad johnson cav45 s2 integrate or schiit aegir with freya s preamp

speakers: JBL 4309 on desk for nearfield listening

kef kc62 subwoofer


My vote is for World’s Best which uses Mogami or build your own from pure silver, shielded, balanced cables available from Parts Connexion.

They will become your actual reference cables from which all other fancy cables change the music one way or another.

From my DAC to my integrated I use the Parts Connection (DH Labs) cables, but from my HT processor/receiver I use Worlds best. All the other cables I’ve used somehow move the tonal balance, but always in a subtractive way. 

I think you need to post your system to determine whether a cable upgrade is worth it. That money may be better spent elsewhere.

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I’m already using Blue Jeans LC-1 now, upgraded from KabelDirect. Was just wondering what the next level would be. I’ve heard maybe try Worlds Best Cables Gotham or SignalCable Analog Two or SVS SoundPath.

I agree with others re Blue Jeans but would add it might help in determining when to move on, if at all, to having a set of cables with known different sound you can use. I recommend an inexpensive set of Mogami. They are different. When you can actually hear the difference it may be a good time to move on and it might as well point out the direction you should go. Take your time, don't get caught up in the hyperbole about cables. 

If you’re just starting out, my advice is to buy a pair of ICs from Blue Jeans cable and listen for a year. Then you can try something more expensive and see if it makes a difference in your system. Blue Jeans is very solid entry-level stuff. If you have to spend more, I would look at Audioquest. They have cables at all price points, so just find whatever they are selling in the $100 range. I really wouldn’t agonize over this at this point. But I still think Blue Jeans will give you a very solid foundation. 

SVS rca interconnects --> warm/thick sound with admirable detail retrieval/noise mitigation (same goes for their speaker cables, xlrs, etc)...There is no beating SVS cables on a 100 dollar budget if you like that type of sound.