Is a high-end digital cable in some cases able to make it a worthwhile investment in a setup which is not top hi-end?
A good digital cable is critical and worth exploring and investing in, but how much to invest is very system/budget dependent. In my system a better digital cable made a very significant improvement and regretted waiting so long to upgrade, so with your current DIY cable I’d certainly encourage you to try something else. And getting a better digital cable will obviously also pay dividends if/when you upgrade other components, so there’s that. Why are you locked into the Transparent cable that may or may not work best for your system/tastes? Whatever you do, and as with all cables, I’d make sure you can try the cable first so either use a dealer who will let you do that or buy used. Just my $0.02 FWIW, and best of luck.
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Great question. Of course there is no absolute without trying. But here goes.
I actually bought a transparent cable and put it on inexpenive components long ago. It sounded terrible. But that was because I had a very noisy fatiguing solid state system with very revealing speakers. Cardas golden (reference) speaker cables warmed things up and sounded much better. I put the transparent in the closet.
Twenty years later I had good quality components and those same Transparent cables sounded fantastic. So, it is a mater of what the sound of your components. Transparent will get the most out of them if good. I use Transparent throughout. Looking at your system my guess is that the Transparent would be a great investment and net you better sound now and in the future.
That’s my guess.
BTW, I have no idea why but speaker cables, interconnects, and power cords of the same manufacturer and level tend to do exactly the same same thing for the system. I find this strange, but it has been true for me all the time
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I've used inexpensive DH Labs cables in my office system (Cambridge integrated amp and NAD cd player). Never tried anything better, but I doubt it would make much difference. Speakers are decent Wharfedale and a NHT subwoofer.
What I wonder about is my older systems. Adcom GFA-555 amp, NAD 1300 preamp, and Vandersteen 2C speakers. Back in the day, Monster was the good stuff. In hindsight, I wonder how well a system like this might have performed using good cables...
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. . . I only regret selling Furutech DPS 4.1, which added some warmth that I loved
’Warmth’ can be manipulated in various ways. If a system is fatiguing and has distortion, then warmth becomes a band-aid. Especially, if the room has hard walls, floor & ceiling - with no acoustical treatments. Warmth can mask subtle nuances in the music - such as triangles or snare drum brushes. Further up the ladder of good systems, the degree of warmth is dialed in for a personal preference.
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No cable in my experience has taken a bad sounding component and made it great all of a sudden, specially putting an expensive cable on a lower priced component. Cables are fine tuning. So much over hyp and pseudoscience on cables in hi end audio its not funny. Don't get me wrong I can hear a difference with better/different cables but not like some peoples claims of "huge improvements, life changing" line of BS. Fine tuning and maybe placebo more likely. Or trying to justify their prices payed for them. Sure they can and do help with fine tuning.
No reason in todays engineering and manufacturing ability's for $10,000+ speaker/power/etc cables.
After 35 years working in defense combat systems engineering, where we have many sensitive components that require specific types of cabling, it just makes me laugh at what we (audiophiles) pay for cables. Lets not even get into the claims of some of these companies.
Use your own ears and be subjective of what you are listening to and listen over a period of time, switching back and forth. Don't fall for the hyp or claims of the manufacturer and don't fall for the " need something new" for the sake of something new i.e. dopamine hit when you get a new toy.
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Now it makes more sense to me why Transparent said I should contact my dealer instead of just recommending their most expensive cable.
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I thought nobody would answer, thank you so much for posting, I really appreciate it!
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bugredmachine, that's what I fear. On the other hand, I use pretty good hi-end cables already, like the Furutech Nanoflux NCF, and they did bring an improvement (I only regret selling Furutech DPS 4.1, which added some warmth that I loved, one is enough...).
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I was only wondering if an expensive cable can actually make things worse in my system.
In my experience, the answer is yes. It can make the SQ worse.
A quality cable reveals whatever the system is producing. If the power is dirty (noisy), if other components are adding hash to the signal, etc - then those issues will be revealed - if not magnified.
When I first started using better cables, I heard all types of distortion. It was most noticeable with vocals - also the piano. I blamed it on the cable. My rookie mistake. It wasn’t until I substantially cleaned up the power with power conditioning & better power supplies that the benefits of good cabling showed up. I recommend working on cleaning up the power first.
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Generally speaking, better components have better power supplies. That's where a lot of the R&D is invested.
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Anybody has used Metronome CD8+?
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More sophisticated cabling can reveal the limitations of your electronics and speakers. Then you’re headed into the death spiral of upgrading 😀
As an aside, there are less expensive and probably more effective digital cables that the Transparent.
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So an upgrade to Metronome C8 would make more sense in the meantime? I could also potentially buy MSB Discrete with two power supplies instead, leaving me completely penniless, with fears I might not get "musicality".
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And to clarify more, an upgrade bug was telling me to get something special (like this Transparent XL) that I can afford with hopes I can get more of my system once I upgrade the equipment in the future.
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I was only wondering if an expensive cable can actually make things worse in my system. I was thinking that I would buy a hi-end digital cable that would later be used in much more expensive electronics.
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Thank you for your opinions.
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In my honest opinion, you will see more benefit if you match the equipment to the cabling.
In other words, an expensive cable probably won’t bring anything else out of a cheaper piece of equipment.
IMO, expensive pieces of equipment do seem to benefit from better cabling.
They have to compliment each other.
I would definitely think the equipment you are currently running would benefit from higher end cabling. Now, getting it to sound "right" to you might take a little experimentation.
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Another alternative is to buy a new DAC, though, like the Metronome C8+, but this is a bigger investment, and eventually I'm hoping to get MSB Discrete once I can afford it.
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I just thought that perhaps I should make things more clear: Am I likely to benefit from Transparent Audio Digital XL replacing a DIY Furutech cable (albeit with top-of-the-line connectors)? And I'm speaking of any minor improvement. Do not consider the cost of the investment.
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