Blue Jeans Cable Sound Good???

Blue Jeans good for pants not cable.

I just auditioned a pair of Blue Jeans Cable LC1 interconnects.  I did a AB comparison with other interconnects such as Transparent Music Wave and for kicks a pair of old Monster interconnects  My impression was that the BJC represents a good bang for the buck.  The BJC is well constructed. however, I got fatigued after listening for five minutes.  The highs  and mid range were dominant over the bass.  

Then I switched over to the Transparent interconnects.  What I immediately noticed was a richer bass that was in perfect alignment with the treble and midrange. The sound stage opened up significantly.  No fatigue.

Then I switched over to the Monster interconnects.  The Monster interconnects out performed the BJC with greater dimension.  I was actually quite surprised  as I never was overly impressed with Monster.  They have since stopped making the analog  interconnects.

So are the BJC bad cables.  I would say that they are not bad.  They represent a great value.  They are great as a entry level interconnect.  The price is certainly good.  When you really want to step up your game and you have the resources to do so, it is well worth considering Transparent interconnects.  You don't have to buy their top end interconnects.  They have a entry level series that are competitively priced.

The bottom line is that it is a personal choice.  There are so many choices that it will make your head spin.  Your really need to be able to test  the interconnects that you are considering in your own environment through loaner programs.  Then make your personal decision based on your financial abilities and sound preference.  If you like it then go for it.
 
  

No, they sound mostly like crap for one reason or another when compared to lots of pricier name brands. Yeah, I’ve done that and I am now BJC-free. Same findings across several different systems. But they do sound better than Radio Shack. Mostly.

Love me some BJC - my go to cables when I need to make a serious connection ;)

I find BJC to be a great value for the money. They will custom make them to the length that you want and attach a decent connector. I have never had an issue with them. Are there better cables out there? Of course, but I don't see many at that price point.

I can vouch for their Sub Woofer Cables.
Absolutely first rate!

BJC LC-1 interconnects are really good for runs longer than 4 meters.Its very system dependant using this series of cable.If you have a overly bright system it would make it worst but if you need the hardness smooth these are fanastic cables for the price.I owned the Cardas Sky,neutrals and microtwins and I say these are on the same level as the neutrals.I tried long runs of other entry level brands of less than $150 a meter and these are my favorite hands down.It may not work for everyone but for me I needed a pair of long cables that has decent shielding,doesnt colour the music and doesnt break the bank.

I bought a digital cable. Step up from basic that's all. Look for better stuff used

The copper does make a difference!! I owned a pair of the TPC speaker cables for 3 years and they were amazing. I have upgraded my system this year which included the SPTPC speaker cables. These are not “super expensive” cables when you look at the market. A 10 ft length of the TPC speaker cables is $1600. There is a no hassle return policy if they don’t meet your needs. I would suggest that listening will show you their “real value” more than reading. 

@drdkey thanks for posting about the article on Audiobacon.The makers of the Iconoclast readily agree that measurements can get you so far but admit that the various types of copper DO sound different from each other.They don't know why either,they all measure identically.Good article!

BJC has nothing to do with Belden iconoclast except for helping retired belden-engineer assemble and expedite the super expensive cables.
BJC does believe what is presented on their website is all the performance you need, but BJC does not endorse iconoclast as an audibly superior product than what they already propose.
This is what I have read somewhere.

Blue Jean Cables now carries Belden Iconoclast speaker cables, RCA interconnects and XLR cables. I am currently using the SPTPC speaker cables and RCA interconnects. I have played them against speaker cables and interconnects 2-3x as much and the more expensive ones don’t compare. Check out the recent review by Audiobacon. You won’t be disappointed. 

They are a good value for a beginners system or something you want to listen to but for sure not critical listening .the only thing worth mentioning is their Beldon Ethernet cable is certified high band width. I use this for runs in my home ,the Audio quest Ethernet are over $100 a meter I just use from the modem to router ,and Ethernet hub to my streamer best bang for the buck .
blue jeans I have tried all their cables  so can speak  through experience they try to tell me all name brand is a waste of time 
they measured the responses. That being said if measurements 
is what counted most A vacuum tube amp,or preamp would allways fail with distortions , tubes distort with even harmonics 
easy on the ear SS odd harmonics , plus a ton more factors in design and parts quality. Yes blue jeans cable are decent. For 
a basic system, their Ehthernet Beldon Top cable good for runs 
but recommend a name brand for end junctions better refinement.
thats just my observation.

It really does seem to be system dependent. I had tried Blue Jean for interconnect and digital, changing each out in different configs to compare with my Mediabridge and another decent generic at the time. BJC elicited surprising presence, but seemed to place a veil over the tone of instruments and voices. Returned them and got Zu mission for interconnect and amplifier surgery 1.5 meter digital coax. Everything opened up, tone is now rich, more spacious, image placement, detail. Only a little brighter, which was also what I was lookin for! Don’t know why metallurgy and slight differences in construction and shielding, connectors (in this case a bit of silver in the mix), could make such an astounding difference.

I found the BJC very dull and veiled when compared to the Signal cable, and the Mogami I had here at the same time.
I preferred them both for entry level cables.

@ teo_audio

Most recording studios are wired as I explained. 
Isolated ground receptacles with earth home run to central star.
Grounds are never connected to shield - nor should they ever be.

Screen will do nothing for hum - except introduce it by creating a loop.

There is nothing unusual about having interconnects mixed with power cords. Almost every system on the planet operates thus. Running power and signal cables at right angles will do wonders for hum reduction.

I find it interesting that Teo cables are directional. Since conductors are liquid, and by definition liquids are in constant molecular motion, how in blazes can they be directional? Answer not required!

I’ve never heard and extended ground or shield, as in unconnected at the destination end...I’ve never heard one sound good.

To get to a good sound quality, the ground loop has to be corrected at the equipment level, not the cable level.

As for shield and ground being different, yes. but for simplicity’s sake, I stated it the way I did.

Never heard a single shielded cable sound any good, in the realm of unbalanced, or single ended.

Fix the system as it can’t be properly addressed at the cable level. If one tries to fix it with the cable connectivity end of the deal, one is asking too much and doing it in the wrong ways.

Just my experience.....
I cam see the sense of it with MM/MC signals and microphone level signals, but one has to be careful with the mechanical of the cable design.

With line level field bloom and intensities, we get to a point of interference/interaction with signal by the ground/shield. This makes the cables sound plain bad. In such a case, fix the room, fix the interference, fix the design flaws....and go with unshielded cables.
All Teo audio cables are unshielded and unscreened.

I took a 8M balanced liquid metal cable(GC balanced), totally unshielded.... and placed it mixed in with 6-7 different active AC power cords, into a high gain integrated, and high sensitivity speakers.. Volume potntiometer wrapped right around..wide open...and..not one single bit of detectable hum or noise, or interference of any kind. Just..transistor noise.

CAT cables are balanced end to end. The patch panel is grounded, but the cable shield is not connected at the source / destination equipment end.

When the screen is connected at one end only in twin or star-quad, it functions as an electrostatic shield and does not carry any signal current. A typical RCA coax carries current in the shield - not a good idea.

Lots of audio gear is badly grounded. Manufacturers add 3 prong power to unbalanced equipment 0v and presto, ground loop.

ieales, I have a question a bit off subject. I installed cat6a shielded thru out my home. I bought a shielded patch panel and when connecting the  cat6a the shield of the cable is fastened to the panel. A ground cable is connected to the panel which drains off any interference in the shield.  Why is that not the same for audio?  I just asking because I'm a bit confused? I realize shielding stops interference, should that be drained of into ground.  I am a newb just trying to understand.  Ty

@djones51 -

I fail to see how anything more than a basic 12 guage speaker wire which the manufacturer recommends is going to matter

There are many ways to arrive @ 12ga, any of which may sound different or not depending on amplifier and loudspeaker.

read http://ielogical.com/Audio/CableSnakeOil.php paying attention to how various cable geometries interact with the same amp and loudspeaker topology.

In my speaker the entire system sits in the top like a can, from the binding posts at the bottom to those cans is basic 12 guage wire , there is also a 4 prong metal connector between . I fail to see how anything more than a basic 12 guage speaker wire which the manufacturer recommends is going to matter unless I  rewire  from the cans to the posts. 

@teo_audio -
coax is not used for balanced connections. Shield and ground are not the same. In balanced connections one rarely wants ground and shield connected. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_audio

@djones51 -
the cable in the speaker comprises part of the load seen by the amplifier. If you change it, you may change the sound of the speaker.

Voice coil wire is very thin, perhaps 40ga or smaller. Using your logic, the 12ga is over kill.

Speaker wire reacts to the amplifier and with the loudspeaker. Just as one may change capacitors from electrolytic to mylar to polypropylene to PTFE to PIO and detect no, some or great change, so to will changing speaker cables affect no, some or great change depending on the amplifier and loudspeaker. Similarly for TT/CD/DAC->Pre and Pre->Power connections.

The messy bit is that cables must be judged in a system and there is no guaranteed magic bullet.

I use Blue Jeans speaker cables ,   canare star quad. I don't  see how they could be a detriment  since the wire inside the speakers is basic 12 guage copper, a good 3 feet of it so why would the 5 feet between that and the amp need to be anything else. I also use their balanced interconnects  between the dac and amp. 

screen is referring to the ground and noise shield.... in this case, built like a cross hatched screen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaxial_cable
The image the link, it is the ’B’ item that is the ’shield’ or ’ground’.

Both ground AND shield, in this case of a coaxial transmission line design. To reject RF and noise injection into the center conductor, which is the one carrying the intelligence or signal.

That ’signal’ is referenced to the ground/shield, likened to your riding a bike and the bike is referenced to the ground you ride on. (Bike no workee with no ground to ride on)

Something in the given case has to refer to a standard set point, and in this case it is carried by the ground, and acts doubly as a rejection of noise and interference.

Thus the ground can be referred to as a ’shield’, as well.

It, in conjunction with impedance functions..that..is about all we really need to know when applying to RF signals...grab the engineering bibles and apply, all will be fine.

But it is unbelievably inadequate when it comes to dealing with audio signals, which have the widest bandwidth and go from DC to extremely high (low RF) frequencies.

Audio...which is unique and is the probably the most complex of all in the domain of electrical AC signals and propagation. Impedance applies to audio cables about as much as the given relative speed of the moment..of a car  --applies to the design of the entire car. It's applicable, minimally, yes... but relative to the whole package? No.

Ieales...total newb here...can you please define "screen"?
Thank you.

My amp is a bat vk200. It is a balanced amp. As far as the connection goes, all I know is it is rca to balanced. I need to look at cable, I believe it is analysis plus. Its 20 yrs old.

For your configuration, assuming the amp is a balanced input, you should be using a twin or star-quad cable.

At the RCA, screen and -ve connection are to RCA Gnd
At the XLR, pin 1 should not be connected to screen

If using twin or star-quad cables, RCA connectors should only have the screen connected at the destination end.

Ieales, thanks for the answer.  That's quite a bit of info to factor in and probably not for your newb like me to figure out. What do you mean by xlr without screen lifted at destination end?  I do have rca out to xlr on amp.
Thanks

Without listening to the cable, is there any way to make a good choice of which cables to purchase, like amp power, receiver and speakers on regards to ohms, speakers etc...

Yes, IF you know all component factors regarding impedance, both in and out, frequency and dynamic response, of all components and cables, have a good mapping of the room, know what is wrong, have a trained ear and experience tuning systems and rooms. Being good at math also helps <vbg>

Pretty much skotches all advice here, online and most audio shops.

P.S. BJC make a good product. If you are using balanced XLR with out screen lifted at destination end, shame on you. It could account for the grunge.

@captainactic you can audition many cables through *the cable company*.The reason they all sound different is because there are so many ways to alter the signal impedance,inductance,resistance,and capacitance.Everything from the connectors,the dielectric,the specific materials used,etc. change the sound.
Like bigkidz says altering the signal internally in the components themselves obviously changes the sound and it can be altered externally as well.
It can be fun to buy,sell,borrow cables to find the perfect compliment for your particular system.It can be frustrating sometimes - me:Wow!The midrange and bass are perfect with this ic!Uh,what happened to the cymbols?!Dammit!😂

I have BJC LC-1's in my system, they are a good entry level interconnect.  I'm slowly upgrading my interconnects to Morrow Audio.  They seem to offer my cd player better sound than BJC or AC Cobra's.  Next up is the turntable interconnects.  Just get a cable that you can demo for awhile, then send it back if it does not sound better.  Good luck on your journey.

I have transparent thru out my system.  When I purchased a new receiver I decided to demo an audioquest digital coaxial between bluesound 2i and mrx 720, just to see what it would happen. Ive had this cable for 6 weeks. Without a doubt the difference was dramatic.  I will be putting the transparent back in the system and returning the audioquest. Audioquest is to bright.  Transparent was smooth.  And it's the bottom transparent cable I've had for 20 years.  I do have a question.  Without listening to the cable, is there any way to make a good choice of which cables to purchase, like amp power, receiver and speakers on regards to ohms, speakers etc... not sure if I'm asking the right questions.  Certain gage of  speaker cable. I see many talk about 11 awg and 10 awg. 

BJC represent good value at their priice point. No more no less.

They can be bettered if you are willling to put in some listening time with cables further up the food chain.

A lot of people recommended signal cables and I couldn’t believe how bad they sounded in my system. Also returned. I dunno.

I really do like morrow cables...but haven’t explored anything else after finding these.

I have one set of RCA BJC's and they sounded very close to Audioquest Yukon RCA cables. But I then did a side by side comparison with Audioquest Water cables and the Waters blew away both the Blue jean cables and the Yukons. I am currently bi-wiring my speakers with 10 gauge BJC speaker wire. I am planning on trying either Anti Cables or Triode cables. It is just too bad a person can't try everything out there and really find out what is best for his system.

AQ is a pretty neutral cable
i have the Wild Blue Yonder in 8 m length in my reference system
i also have a pair of 30’ BJC I use with a vintage system - they are not junk - they represent good value in a very affordable cable and assy here in USA by people that care. There are better cables for sure.
 Have fun
enjoy the journey and the music
jim

We're using various different cables here, including some that I construct myself primarily using Belden, Neutrik, and Canare. But also Blue Jeans Cable, Acoustic Zen, Oyaide/Ortofon, Mogami, Pro Co, and Timestep among others.

It's possible whatever component that's driving the cable is struggling with the long length.Just another aspect to consider....
I use 2.5 meter BJ ics for my sub with no ill effects.

I returned them.... guessing something wrong with cables or it just wasn't a good match for my system.

Search is on for 6m XLR....  thinking AQ Yukon ???

Anyone out there with 6m XLR to sale... ? any brand

I bought some BJC Belden 5T00UP Speaker Cables and thought they sounded fine in the system I had them in.  Having said that, I don't think I'm very sensitive to cable changes in general. 

I have used MIT "Music Hose", Transparent, Verastarr, Analysis Plus, to name a few.  I don't ever try to A/B them (or any other cables) and rarely notice much difference from one cable to another. 

There have been some cables that were detrimental to the sound of my system, but the BJC's weren't one of those. 

My experience with SC’s is they are System dependent, the Blue Jeans 10g with locking connectors bested more expensive cables for my system. The 10G took a slight bit of brightness out without sacrificing dispersion or clarity (exactly what I was looking for). I tried cables at the $1000 price point, being Nordost, Transparent and Kimber brands, too much energy/brightness for my liking (based on my components, speakers and room acoustics).. YMMV.