Review of EXPENSIVE CABLES

[varma_vikas]

Hi All,
Would like to share some review of cables.
I should have written this HDMI CABLE review 3 years ago but OK better late than never.......

I am writing this for the people who do not believe in the magic of speaker cables & any other good or EXPENSIVE cable OR who have just started their audio & video journey.

I have reviewed, compared & seen effects of changing expensive cables every time i tried .

SUPRA HDMI

3 years ago when I had purchased plasma panasonic, I had highly ordinary rs.400 of HDMI cable which was earlier fixed with my desktop computer. When i purchased plasma I used a new HDMI of same cost from samsung.
When i used this hdmi with my plasma, i was not extremly happy with quality as there were pixels easily visible on the screen and was looking very odd. It was like distorted picture.

I went to Lakozy audio lajpat nagar & Aashish gave me a Zentac HDMI which is a SUPRA product.

This was first time when I had purchased a rs. 5000 cable.
BUT the moment I replaced my old HDMI with supra zentac my plasma went to a whole new level.

BLACK LEVELS RAISED instantly & all of my distortion gone suddenly. My plasma became like i was sitting in a theatre.
THIS WAS A JAW DROPPING EXPERIENCE FOR ME & SINCE THAT TIME I NEVER FELT to CHANGE OR NEED OF UPGRADATION IN MY PLASMA.

Review of SUPRA RCA cable
I had a rs. 50 of RCA interconnect with my woodstock amplifier and cambridge audio player.
Again I went to Aashish Lakozy 1.5 years ago and i tried a SUPRA RCA interconnect and HUGE difference came in front of me. BASS........became tight and powerful.

Speaker cable......

I had never experienced the change of speaker cable and was not aware that what could be the effects of changing speaker cable.
I am currently using a transparent speaker cable but one day i thought that i should see what happens if i change it.

So again I went to Ashish Lakozy delhi with my cable. I requested him to let me have a listen of different cables.
He gave me the demo of most of his SUPRA cables starting from 700 - 800 till rs. 25000 SUPRA scott speaker cable.

Initial supra cables were good but my own transparent cable exceled in performance BECAUSE IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE CABLE. 5 times expensive than starting SUPRA speaker cable. Then AAshish used SUPRA SCOTT cable and BELIEVE ME I HAD NEVER THOUGHT THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN JUST DUE TO CHANGE OF A CABLE.

SUPRA EXCELED HERE.

All micro dynamics started coming in songs which were never present there ever.
EXTREMLY GOOD----THIS IS THE REASON SOMEBODY HAD TOLD ME TO KEEP ONE FOURTH BUDGET FOR SPEAKERS CABLES OUT OF WHOLE SYSTEM BUDGET BUT THAT TIME I HAD NOT BELIEVED THAT.

SUPRA BANANA COMBICON PLUGS.

Till one month ago I had been using BARE WIRE for amplifier terminals.
I was not satisfied with the sound & was afraid of short circuit as i had read on internet.

So, again went to Lakozy aashish and he gave SUPRA combicon banana plug and my system got settled again . I got very balanced & perfect sound just by connectors.

I have always compared all supra products & found them very good personally and can recommend it to anybody.

 

[srinisundar]

Good... Not so interesting thread for last few weeks... Hope cable bashers will rejoice on seeing this thread. So Nick can join to add some post to his count.

Anyway agree with your comments and + to above.. However + 1 to above your comments only but not for Supra, since not used Supra... I have used low level to some mid-high end digital /speaker cables and happy with the results...

 

[vijwilso]

Not so sure about the digital cables for audio streaming as i never tried ( also assume the improvement will be less significant )

However the Speaker Cables make a huge change which is for sure and even my non-audiophile friends are able to figure that out easily .

 

[haisaikat]

I started my HT setup with chord silver screen cables that were ~14 awg and I loved it, but when I set out looking for a dedicated stereo setup decided to use chord odyssey 2 cables ~ 12 AWG and I must say there was a huge improvement in SQ. I think the main improvement was in highs and overall level of details. Sorry cannot help it if this sounds like every other audiophile snakeoil review but this is indeed true, cables do make difference

 

[srisaikat]

I became a cable believer when purchased chord silver screen. Later various purchases enriched that experience. A friend who also hifi enthusiastic told me that I might be suffering from placebo effect. But that is not true as I have discarded some expensive cables also on my cable switching journey. I believe I can hear differences. Whatever it is, at this moment I am using top model IC and Speaker cable from Anticable and I am happier than anytime ever.

 

[madbullram]

Srini: we should all do a blind test and put to rest the question of expensive cables vs good cables. what say?

Varma: good for you. I have seen huge difference between a bad hdmi cheap cable and a good quality HDMI cable (monoprice, bluerigger etc) but unfortunately, have not seen difference between a monoprice and expensive hdmi cables. May you can try getting a good quality hdmi and try and see if it makes a difference. When you try ensure you dont change the cables, have someone else do it without telling you which cable is what and see if you can spot it. this is the best way to determine if 5000 rs for an HDMI is worth it.

 

[srinisundar]

Yes Ram... We will do on our next chennai meet.

Regards

Srini: we should all do a blind test and put to rest the question of expensive cables vs good cables. what say?

Varma: good for you. I have seen huge difference between a bad hdmi cheap cable and a good quality HDMI cable (monoprice, bluerigger etc) but unfortunately, have not seen difference between a monoprice and expensive hdmi cables. May you can try getting a good quality hdmi and try and see if it makes a difference. When you try ensure you dont change the cables, have someone else do it without telling you which cable is what and see if you can spot it. this is the best way to determine if 5000 rs for an HDMI is worth it.

 

[Soundstage]

Srini: we should all do a blind test and put to rest the question of expensive cables vs good cables. what say?

Varma: good for you. I have seen huge difference between a bad hdmi cheap cable and a good quality HDMI cable (monoprice, bluerigger etc) but unfortunately, have not seen difference between a monoprice and expensive hdmi cables. May you can try getting a good quality hdmi and try and see if it makes a difference. When you try ensure you dont change the cables, have someone else do it without telling you which cable is what and see if you can spot it. this is the best way to determine if 5000 rs for an HDMI is worth it.

Spot on!

Comes as no surprise to me that all the "acclaimed" reviewers in the world diss DBTs especially when it comes to cables and shy away from them

 

[mpw]

without prejudice - it would come as no surprise to me to see different results for different folks again. The human eardrum would have a resonance freq/s where it would hear some frequencies more than others due to its thickness ( which may not be constant for all us homo sapiens )

some cables are strong on silver, while some on copper while some are more exotic.

It will be nice visit your friendly neighborhood ENT doc to get your ear response checked up. I did mine ( due to an issue i had in the recent past ) and i was surprised.

Then you may co-relate these to the swapping of cables and see for oneself.

nevertheless this will be a good thing to try and also to post the experiences on the forum.

good luck !

mpw

 

[Shivam]

I have tried various HDMI cables (chinese from ebay to Wireworld cables) but fortunately or unfortunately I did not see any difference in black levels or any other PQ changes. I now use the least expensive HDMI that works with my system.

I had also tried measuring the colors and brightness/contrast difference using a colorimeter which I use for calibrating my displays and projectors but even they could not detect any differences.

 

[Soundstage]

I am sure most of us have seen this before, but for those who haven't, here's some food for thought....

AudioQuest Headquarters Tour | Stereophile.com

The comments, which extend to 3 pages, make interesting reading. Even more interesting is the conclusion by JA in the WSJ test that the 2000$ speaker cable sounded "roughly 5% better" than the cheapo hardware store cable which would not have cost more than 10$.

5% improvement in return for a 20000% increase in investment?

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

but to be honest I steer clear of anyone who describes themselves as a "skeptic." They tend to be joyless, small people who deplore what they can't understand, envy what they can't appreciate, and feel they gain status by trying to rob others of the same.

... John Atkinson.

It's a fine line, trying to be rational without becoming the sort of sceptic that JA describes. I'm sure I fail the test often! :lol:

 

[madbullram]

since we have discussed this topic to death and beyond grave too, i am closing the thread.