I find it difficult to put any particular cable in order of preference. They each are a product of the sum being greater than the whole. My suggestion is to fine-tune your system with the best interconnects, power cords, and speaker cables that synergize best with all of your components. Don't skimp on any of them by placing greater importance on one over the other. Your system will sacrifice when any of the three cables are given less importance. A little analogy: Which is more important, your heart, your kidneys, or your liver? Well, you would die without all of them, so they are all equally important. I know, not a very good analogy, but you get my drift. P.S. Also, a 4th equally important item is your AC. Get the cleanest AC possible for your system, for no matter how good your power cords are, they need the cleanest and purist AC power to extract the best sound from your system.
Which Cable Makes the Biggest Impact?
To all the audiophiles that have tried different power cables, interconnects, and speaker cables, which do you believe makes the biggest impact in your system in order of ranking? If you don't believe that cables/interconnects/pc's make any difference at all, and is all marketing hype and snake oil, you can vote accordingly, but my ONLY request is that you've tried different cables first!
Ok..My ranking:
1. Power cables - most important
2. Interconnects
3. Speaker cable
Ok..My ranking:
1. Power cables - most important
2. Interconnects
3. Speaker cable
71 responses Add your response
No, not cost, hopefully. Sometimes the most expensive is not necessarily the best, especially when you are buying used, which is what I have done on most of my cables. When I say skimping, I mean on the quality and sound. For example, why put a cheap $6.00 Radio Shack pair of interconnects from pre to amp and then put the excellent Fusion Audio power cords on each component with a nice sounding pair of speaker cables. Those cheap, inferior sounding interconnects will take away from what the better power cords and speaker cables are giving you. The cables are all one big chain where the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. |
Muralman1, I try my best not to fall in the Barnum sucker crowd. I am not a rich man who can afford any audio gear regardless of cost. I try when at all possible to buy used( generally 50% off retail ) on most cords, unless the cords are relatively new and aren't yet seen on the used market, but I'll usually wait if I want to try that cord out because a used one will be available soon enough with all the constant upgrading that goes on in our community. With the one exception, I recently bought some new power cords from a new company called Fusion Audio. I did get a nice introductory price, but these cords are the first that I have bought as new for my system. The rest of my main system cords were purchased used at a reasonable price. Unfortunately, if I had bought all my cables new at full retail, I would have paid a pretty penny because their retail is fairly high in comparison to many other brands, but to my ears, I had to get them. Yes, there is a sucker born every minute, but in a lot of cases, you do get what you pay for. I want to feel that whatever component I buy will be a good value for me. |
IMO… 1. Power cables - for power conditioner, amp, source components 2. Speaker cables 3. interconnects 4. digital cables (whatever the connection method…USB, ARS/EBU, etc.) 5. Ethernet cable to streamer
All with a caveat that you have all the critical stuff (top notch components, speakers that you really like and your room acoustics) in order. I wouldn’t worry too much about cables (isolation devices, or footers too) if any of the above critical items aren’t taken care of first. Cable swaps are easiest and most of the time the cheapest changes we tend to gravitate towards but as long as you have decent, neutral basic cables like BlueJeans or Mogami, worry about room acoustics and components first. @deep_333 I don’t thing $100 is a point of diminishing returns for anything in this world right now…although it would really be nice if that was the case! |
Unfortunately - my impression of biggest impact is clouded because the order I experimented. I think the answer might be 'where ever you start'. I started with speakers, ICs and power cables. In each case they made an impact resulting in me continuing to experiment and listen. During my experimenting with speaker cables I used mogami XLRs and the OEM power cables.
And for the record I would have been really happy to not have heard a difference!
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@overthemoon I tend to agree, and much earlier in this thread suggested that the last cable added was the most important because you had taken care of issues elsewhere and now you were more fully experiencing and expressing the benefits of the next addition. I got called out at the time for being somewhat naive as each cable has it’s own function in a system and therefore can only have so much effect. My answer to this criticism many years later, having a better system, a much, much better room, and much more experience tweaking, is “whatever”. It all matters, and matters in different ways depending on what specific “problems” you are trying to address to preserve and keep signals in their lanes in your room and set up. I generally agree with the original premise that power cables make the biggest difference, and have now assembled and used many from different bulk cable and connectors, and have also used many PCs built by others. What I find is that different cables can make both revelatory and frustrating levels of difference depending on the system and application with different equipment models and types. But in the end, the effort is definitely worth it. I am also blown away with the difference digital cables make. I just swapped a USB cable from a SSD to my streamer and was gobsmacked. YMMV kn |
Absolutely agree with folks saying cables are complimentary not the key driver for the sound of the system. My upgrade experience includes upgrading speakers significantly above the grade of my electronics then upgrading my sources, then amplifier. In my case I started with speaker cables and felt it was worth the impact. And this experience reinforces the recommendations echoed by other…”try it before you buy it if you can” |
Okay, I'll get in on this. Since the OP's question mainly asks about cables (and not equipment), I'll offer - for my brain and ears: Biggest Impact(!!): RCA analog interconnects. Number one on my list - hands down Runner up: Speaker cables Lowest impact (again, for my ears and brain): AC power cables Since I use a mix of balanced and unbalanced analog interconnects; low capacitance, oxygen free copper and heavy shielding (double braid or Reussen), are qualities I seek out. I would also add ethernet cables as other important cables I pay attention to. There's no question in my mind that upgrading a small 3' ethernet cable added more resolution and detail in/to my streaming experience. It's very possible that since I already pay such close attention to my AC, that further upgrading AC cables just never makes a big difference in my audio system. Let's also keep in mind that audio is very subjective. Everyone's brain and ears are not the same. High performance audio reproduction (and how to attain it) is a learning experience. Everyone has their own priorities. For me, it's a quiet noise floor, with no external EMI or RFI generated pops and clicks. When critically listening, my main source will always be headphones, and headphones can sometimes be like an audio microscope. |
I believe there's no hard rule and it's very system dependent. Especially for power cords: the same power cord can make little to no difference on a given component and produce a "waw!!" moment when connected to another component. I make no secret that I use some components that can be considered extremely cheap / an insult to the audiophile world, some might say/ still they work great in their intended purpose. For example, the tiny Trends class D amp that powers the > 500Hz range in my (fully horn loaded) system. In my system, that amp is powered by an eternal linear PSU that costs almost as much as the amp itself; interestingly, using a good power cord on that external PSU was one of the biggest cable upgrade I ever made to my system. Width of stereo image got so much larger it felt like I inserted some kind of digital processing / effect. Said power cord is almost as expensive as the amp itself - because it's a very cheap amp - so the percentage ratio is ridiculous but the effect is well worth it. It's the result that counts. The same power cord on my preamp made the sound thick and sluggish, but another PC with a very different construction performed miracles there. And so on. In any case, while it makes sense to treat the source first, ANY bottleneck in the system will be heard, no matter where it sits in the chain. |
An interesting question without a definitive answer, but I've learned a few things since jumping into the shallow end of the pool more than a few decades ago. Things have changed since then. About ten years ago I began playing more with cables in a limited way. The effects were limited, but real. Still about knee deep in the pool at this point. In the last few years I reached the deep end and began serious cable swapping. I highly suspect my conclusions are unique to our times and what I've assembled. Until I had some serious gear, I can't say I could have fairly evaluated any cable. Now the differences are readily apparent. Being all digital in the front end now, any cable or device that keeps out or filters out RFI and EMI from the digital processing equipment has the largest effect. This is power cords, conditioners, and digital cables. Without these, the sound is gray, compressed, rounded, and muddied. The stage is narrow and shallow. This can't be fixed downstream. We are awash in RFI these days. But to assign a ranking still depends on how well the components are designed and built. So generally... 1. Power cords, especially those with noise reduction capability for source equipment. 2. USB/Digital cables (of course with digital sources) 3. Speaker cables (part of the all important amp and speaker pairing) 4. Interconnect (preamp to amp, then lastly source to preamp)
Twenty years ago I would have said the interconnect between source and pre was most important. But now my ears say otherwise. Times have changed.
It's still very true that the last weak link kills the party in a high quality system. If short one power cord, the whole system will sound like whatever the bad one is. And it will drive you nuts. |
