Shorting caps/Cardas protective caps worth the $?

i have never used the shorting plugs but i am using the clear rubber protective plug covers on my unused rca's & the cardas caps on unused xlr's.

neither did anything for sound but they do a fine job of keeping dust out of the terminals which is all i wanted to begin with,IMO they are worth the small cost.

mike.

The Cardas caps don't short out the connector, they just cover it. No down-side to using them. Since they are solid metal they theoretically could prevent RF from entering the connector. I can't honestly say that's a problem, but it's relatively cheap insurance, at least compared to some of the other things we buy!

Bigjoe, where can we find the rubber plug covers?

Agree with Pmotz...I use the Cardas rca caps on every open input. I used the balanced caps when I ran balanced. No down side here.

I use the caps on both RCA and XLR.

They are really only worth the money if you want to buy MY left over ones.

Richard

I was just about to purchase a bunch of them after hearing of them and (if memory serves me correct) was speaking with Emmanuel Go of First Sound about a possible upgrade on my preamp and he strongly recommended against the use of them on his preamp. *shrug* Well - that is where they would have been going, so I didn't ever order any. I can't recall the reason specifically for his opposition to them.

I use them (shorting plugs) on unused inputs on my integrated and think they they are a tweak that offers a very small performance enhancement. Along similar lines and with a much bigger positive effect is terminating the digital out on your CD player. Lots of info in the digital asylum at audioasylum about what is necessary to make up the appropriate termination; I'm never really focused on the technicals.

Thanks, people. I was just just wondering if it was worth getting into. I´ll see if I can lend some and try´em out for my self. See if I like´em ; )

Best,

I use the cardas on all unused RCA's. I am not sure if the do anything performence-wise, but they sure look clean and even the wife liked them, Not many tweaks that I have done get a WAF bonus.
Michael

RCA covering caps sound like dust preventers at best, however shorting plugs do work (to some degree). On my preamp I noticed on an unused input a buzz at highish levels. I put in shorting plugs and the buzz disappeared. Does that effect the output on other sources? Haven't got a clue but at the cost, what the hell.

Cardas caps and Shorting Plugs do work. Cleaner, better bass, detail and much more natural sounding. If your system is transparent enough these cheap add on tweaks will be worth the money.

I've seen the effect on my scope when testing a piece of equipment. Open RCA jacks pick up RFI very easily.