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"World's Best Cables" vs Audioquest interconnects

I've heard many great things about "World's Best Cables". At such low price, these alleged giant killers are a no brainer, so I ordered two pairs. When the shipment arrived, I connected one pair from my phono stage to my preamp, and another pair from my preamp to my power amp.

These cables replaced my trusty old Audioquest interconnects.

First listening impressions: extremely lean sound. Details etched in space, almost as if a strong laser beam is outlining them.

Santana I, side 1: almost unlistenable. The highs are piercing, the soundstage is flat, the splash cymbals sound like trash cans. Made my head hurt.

Switching back to my Audioquest cables: my god, what a relief! The sound is back to its good old sound of music. Everything sounds natural again.

Now, the "World's Best Cables" come with the users manual that claims that the cables need to be burned in for 175 hours. Should I give them the benefit of the doubt and suffer 175 hours, or is that just an audio myth about cables burn-in?

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crazybookman
dinov's avatar
dinov
796 posts
 

I’ve never bought audiophile cables on Amazon….

wesheadley's avatar
wesheadley
145 posts
 

Keep listening to them. If after a few months you're not happy with them, sell them. They were cheap, right?

BTW-- there is NO BEST cable and price does not equal sound quality beyond anything properly constructed using quality wire, connectors, etc. People want to believe all the phony pseudoscience claptrap-- it's BS, and it's still a free country right? Your system plays a role in how cables will behave-- and your room is at least as important. In fact, is the room sounds bad you won't fix that with any cable regardless of how much you spend-- but you might get a nice placebo effect which could make all that moot anyway as you'll be happy!

dreas's avatar
dreas
86 posts
 

This topic will never be "resolved." Endless opinions, "research", (YouTube posts), and user experiences... lend to a bottomless pit. I've owned Audioquest, World's Best (I have World's Best on my headphone amp / DAC balanced set up) but my current favorite are Blue Jeans Cables. One feature I like most -- besides a very reasonable price from Blue Jeans -- is that they terminate with "Ultrasonic Welding". Even the several thousand dollar Audioquest speaker cables are merely set-screwed into the wire. At the end of the day, your "A-B" testing will tell you what you like. 

pcrhkr's avatar
pcrhkr
261 posts
 

I have both Audioquest and Worlds best cables. They both sound great but WBC has better sound stage on my system Both sound great but a bit different. WBC delivers great performance for me.

seanheis1
594 posts
 

With welding you are introducing another metal into the signal chain. This is likely why the big budget cable you reference is using a set screw...a more purist approach.

BJC interestingly enough, now has a line of cables that sell for a few thousand dollars a pair....using Cardas solder. If you can’t beat them, join them I guess. ;-) https://www.iconoclastcable.com/

WBC uses many brands of cables and connectors so your experience would only be relevant to the wire and connector combo that you tried...which I don’t believe you have disclosed.

 

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