In the audio journey, an often ignored fact and reality are cables.
For the better part of my experience I have used whatever is handy or cheap'n'quick.
And they have worked well .... enough. No real complaints.
A few ICs from good old MX brand, an AV component cable, electrical wire from Finolex/Anchor, etc
Early last year I decided that after 15 years in this hobby, I pay attention to the last mile.
Had a budget that happened to materialize out of the blue.
Paid some dues locally for a friend who is in the US. Could not ask him for a cheque.
So decided a barter. "You procure some stuff for me and we are even"
Gave the sites to buy from, links et all. The goodies were procured but Covid happened.
No travel, no way to get them here .... bummer. Finally they landed a week ago.
What's in the box:
Mogami W3103 speaker wire
Mogami W3082 speaker wire
Neotech NEI-3003 Coax + DG-301 RCA
Belden 8402, Mogami W2549 and SwitchCraft RCAs
Why do I need so many ICs? I am crazy enough to try them out.
Maybe even swap them every few months. This hobby has its moments of madness.
To assemble the ICs I have to wait a bit, don't have a soldering kit at home.
The speaker wire was easy to swap out. Out go the finolex/anchor and in come Mogami.
I have MediaBridge banana plugs (compression type). Relatively easy to work with.
Made the cables installed them and gave them a listen. Below are my impressions/comparisons ....
Anchor/Finolex vs Mogami (2 flavors)
First off, there is hardly any difference sonically between the Mogamis, one is fat the other one is not, but both are easy to work with and flexible.
The music presentation with electrical wire, I feel, is hurried and visceral. Nothing wrong with this for a certain genre of music, say rock/metal.
With Mogami, I feel it is a bit more relaxed and "un-hurried". The staging has improved; instrumentation is better placed (when listening at MLP).
The bass feels a bit more relaxed and behind the vocalist, as compared to up-front or in your face.
The mid-bass/vocals are also better. The treble is definitely tamed and nuanced; I guess there is some attenuation here, don't know.
In the next few weeks, I will attempt to construct the RCAs and compare against what I have.
Also amongst them. Stay tuned ....
PS: A big thanks to Joshua (@jls001) for guiding me through procurement channels and websites.
Cheers,
Raghu
For the better part of my experience I have used whatever is handy or cheap'n'quick.
And they have worked well .... enough. No real complaints.
A few ICs from good old MX brand, an AV component cable, electrical wire from Finolex/Anchor, etc
Early last year I decided that after 15 years in this hobby, I pay attention to the last mile.
Had a budget that happened to materialize out of the blue.
Paid some dues locally for a friend who is in the US. Could not ask him for a cheque.
So decided a barter. "You procure some stuff for me and we are even"
Gave the sites to buy from, links et all. The goodies were procured but Covid happened.
No travel, no way to get them here .... bummer. Finally they landed a week ago.
What's in the box:
Mogami W3103 speaker wire
Mogami W3082 speaker wire
Neotech NEI-3003 Coax + DG-301 RCA
Belden 8402, Mogami W2549 and SwitchCraft RCAs
Why do I need so many ICs? I am crazy enough to try them out.
Maybe even swap them every few months. This hobby has its moments of madness.
To assemble the ICs I have to wait a bit, don't have a soldering kit at home.
The speaker wire was easy to swap out. Out go the finolex/anchor and in come Mogami.
I have MediaBridge banana plugs (compression type). Relatively easy to work with.
Made the cables installed them and gave them a listen. Below are my impressions/comparisons ....
Anchor/Finolex vs Mogami (2 flavors)
First off, there is hardly any difference sonically between the Mogamis, one is fat the other one is not, but both are easy to work with and flexible.
The music presentation with electrical wire, I feel, is hurried and visceral. Nothing wrong with this for a certain genre of music, say rock/metal.
With Mogami, I feel it is a bit more relaxed and "un-hurried". The staging has improved; instrumentation is better placed (when listening at MLP).
The bass feels a bit more relaxed and behind the vocalist, as compared to up-front or in your face.
The mid-bass/vocals are also better. The treble is definitely tamed and nuanced; I guess there is some attenuation here, don't know.
In the next few weeks, I will attempt to construct the RCAs and compare against what I have.
Also amongst them. Stay tuned ....
PS: A big thanks to Joshua (@jls001) for guiding me through procurement channels and websites.
Cheers,
Raghu
Last edited: