Do headphone cables affect sound quality?

[Hikaru12]

Hear me out. We all know that buying overpriced Monster speaker or RCA cables makes no sense because they offer no noticeable audio improvement but the opinions I've heard on buying replacement cables for headphones (3.5mm to 1/4 or 3.5mm to 3.5mm) have indicated that it does indeed improve sound quality if you get a better cable than the stock one that comes with your headphones. Does anyone know if this is just some audio myth going around or is there something to it? I'd like to know before I have custom cables made for my Sennies. 

[FloRolf]

if the one that comes with the speakers is REALLY crappy then yes i guess.

(e.g. the isolation can make a big difference with picking up noises.)

[DigitalHermit]

To some extent...

 

Shielded cabling is something to look at... The shielding keeps EM noise from leaking into the signal being carried by the cable...

 

Low resistance metals (i.e. silver) in the cable also helps to keep the signal clean...

[BoredErica]

If your cable is not totally retarded, the sound is the same. Or, you're privately running a 50 feet run of cables?

Does your Crysis 3 graphics look better because you got a thicker cable? This the type of talk that passes for wisdom on Headfi which why that place is a fucking joke.

 

My blood pressure is going to rise by 30 points once I am done reading these threads. If you really want a smackdown take this to HA or Sound Science of Headfi, they'll deconstruct this kind of stuff like nobody's business and make me look like an pleb in comparison.

[Manny Calavera]

To some extent...

 

Shielded cabling is something to look at... The shielding keeps EM noise from leaking into the signal being carried by the cable...

 

Low resistance metals (i.e. silver) in the cable also helps to keep the signal clean...

True, cables are antennas and you can listen radio and other stuff on it

 

On Headfi they say 99% copper cable. Cant hurt if you have allready crappy twisty cable.

[DigitalHermit]

True, cables are antennas and you can listen radio and other stuff on it

 

On Headfi they say 99% copper cable. Cant hurt if you have allready crappy twisty cable.

 

If you're looking for headphone cables, my recommendation is a gold-plated plug, metal in construction with metal flex protection... The cable should be around 18 gauge, cotton-sleeved...

 

You'd want more durability in a headphone cable than shielding... EM noise will mostly come from the AC lines and not from the air...

[Hikaru12]

If you're looking for headphone cables, my recommendation is a gold-plated plug, metal in construction with metal flex protection... The cable should be around 18 gauge, cotton-sleeved...

 

You'd want more durability in a headphone cable than shielding... EM noise will mostly come from the AC lines and not from the air...

 

Thanks for the suggestions. The stock cable should be fine in the regard then. Now if I can sleeve them

[creatip123]

Hear me out. We all know that buying overpriced Monster speaker or RCA cables makes no sense because they offer no noticeable audio improvement but the opinions I've heard on buying replacement cables for headphones (3.5mm to 1/4 or 3.5mm to 3.5mm) have indicated that it does indeed improve sound quality if you get a better cable than the stock one that comes with your headphones. Does anyone know if this is just some audio myth going around or is there something to it? I'd like to know before I have custom cables made for my Sennies. 

 

It's developing into belief systems. One side believe it have minimal (if any) effects, other side believe it's substantial, mandatory even. And like other belief systems, usually those sides prefer not to touch each other

 

Personally, I've tried using a cheap ass cable, crappy electrical cable @ 20 cents/m (and it got 2 strands, so I got 2 meters worth of single channel cable), just for the sake of experiment. It does sounds crappy. But once you pass a certain standard threshold point, getting better cable will give you minimal, if any, differences. 

 

If you're going for aesthetic points, now that's a completely different story. A good looking cable does give a bit of pleasure to the eyes...

[EmoRarity]

The $15 one that came stock with my CHC's sounds like the one I made from a splitter and two male/male cables I had about. 

[Valhallatier]

reproducing audio is a chain, anything part of the chain will affect sound quality.

[NannerBeans]

The $15 one that came stock with my CHC's sounds like the one I made from a splitter and two male/male cables I had about. 

My room mate's cable broke on one side so I bypassed it by plugging an extension cable into that port for sharing your music and plugged that into the headphones lol. It still sounds the same. 

[EmoRarity]

My room mate's cable broke on one side so I bypassed it by plugging an extension cable into that port for sharing your music and plugged that into the headphones lol. It still sounds the same

Willing to bet that it changed the dynamic coefficient of harmonic dissidents tho

[JR1911]

I've had situations where a replacement cable did improve the sound (Cardas cable for my HD650) and situations where it didn't (Null Audio cable for my IE80), so if possible you should try a particular cable for yourself before purchase to see if it makes a difference.

[BoredErica]

And you gaise haven't done a double blind test?

Get out plz.

I'm not touching the "differences are minimal" bullshit, in use by a human being the difference cannot be distinguished. Technically no two cables are identical down to the atomic level, but that doesn't mean one is better than the other to the human ear. It's also extra sad because of all the audio components there are, the cable is the most objectively easy to construct item because good performance can easily be measured. A wire carries an electrical signal. That's IT. Yet none of you are curious enough or confident enough to venture into HA or Sound Science with your beliefs.

 

Some threads are a fetish: They're so horrible, but I keep looking anyways.

[DigitalHermit]

And you gaise haven't done a double blind test?

Get out plz.

I'm not touching the "differences are minimal" bullshit, in use by a human being the difference cannot be distinguished. Technically no two cables are identical down to the atomic level, but that doesn't mean one is better than the other to the human ear. It's also extra sad because of all the audio components there are, the cable is the most objectively easy to construct item because good performance can easily be measured. A wire carries an electrical signal. That's IT. Yet none of you are curious enough or confident enough to venture into HA or Sound Science with your beliefs.

 

Some threads are a fetish: They're so horrible, but I keep looking anyways.

 

A clarification... Please...

 

My earlier post on this thread focused on cable durablility over audio quality (thanks to materials and construction)...

 

Cable gauge, shielding, flex protection, and sleeving all contribute to this... It would suck to have the left side audio drop silent from a bad/broken cable (which can easily ruin my day)...

 

I define a crappy cable as 24 gauge, stranded, with only 2 hair-thin strands of copper in them... and I've seen my share of those kinds of cables on 0.50USD earphones to 5USD headphones from a certain brand in my country...

 

Personally, I use (on my Sony component system) 20 gauge, stranded copper which costs around 0.50USD per meter... I do have shielded RCA cables (which I got for free) but they don't make a significant difference in audio or video since my source is the thing adding the most noise to the signal...

[BoredErica]

Sure, ok, if you're going to buy slightly more expensive cable to prevent the cable from falling apart on its own later on, that's a fine idea. Although, I think nowadays it's somewhat challenging to find a cable that is crappy is enough to really make a difference. Shielding's not going to do anything unless the cable is super long, as long as you know you're not going to be able to tell a difference, go for it. It's not like Monoprice cables are going to run you >$20.

 

When the cable is too thick though, it can get annoying because the cable becomes less flexible... I am barely able to get my 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to bend in a way that works for my setup lol. That was my bad there.

 

I just don't want to hear any BS about silver vs copper cables or that shielding makes a difference, etc. Gold contacts is still pointless to me, I mean, when's the last time your cable corroded?

[DigitalHermit]

Sure, ok, if you're going to buy slightly more expensive cable to prevent the cable from falling apart on its own later on, that's a fine idea. Although, I think nowadays it's somewhat challenging to find a cable that is crappy is enough to really make a difference. Shielding's not going to do anything unless the cable is super long, as long as you know you're not going to be able to tell a difference, go for it. It's not like Monoprice cables are going to run you >$20.

 

When the cable is too thick though, it can get annoying because the cable becomes less flexible... I am barely able to get my 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to bend in a way that works for my setup lol. That was my bad there.

 

I just don't want to hear any BS about silver vs copper cables or that shielding makes a difference, etc. Gold contacts is still pointless to me, I mean, when's the last time your cable corroded?

 

I'm using corroded cables/wires on my old Sony component system (>10 years old) now... I really need to get those replaced since I've cut them to the proper length when it was first set-up... I've got my eyes on a bunch of 18gauge cables that cost 0.50USD per meter... I do have the option of trimming off the corroded ends but the wire would be too short to not risk damage from tension...

 

I agree that shielding is pointless unless you're working in an environment with a lot of high-current-draw electric machines (i.e. washing machines, driers) or when you need the cable to run for long distances...

 

However having a gold/silver plated 3.5mm port/plug matters when the system gets old and your standard materials get corroded (approx. 10 years)... This makes having gold/silver plated plugs on cheaply constructed gear worthless since the plug will most likely outlast the gear itself...

 

Gold/silver wire is pointless... If the argument has something to do with electrical resistance, then it doesn't matter unless we're talking cables of several kilometers in length...

[watts300]

and make me look like an pleb in comparison.

Um.  What's wrong with plebeians?   We rule!  

 

[NannerBeans]

Willing to bet that it changed the dynamic coefficient of harmonic dissidents tho

... What?

[jameshumphries47]

Hear me out. We all know that buying overpriced Monster speaker or RCA cables makes no sense because they offer no noticeable audio improvement but the opinions I've heard on buying replacement cables for headphones (3.5mm to 1/4 or 3.5mm to 3.5mm) have indicated that it does indeed improve sound quality if you get a better cable than the stock one that comes with your headphones. Does anyone know if this is just some audio myth going around or is there something to it? I'd like to know before I have custom cables made for my Sennies. 

with analog cables yes it can change but if you were using a digital one such as a HDMI then no 

[BoredErica]

Um.  What's wrong with plebeians?   We rule!  

 

Well.... ok lol.

 

... What?

Stop questioning things and just roll with it. 

[Lutkeveld]

... What?

 

Sarcasm...

 

My opinion on this subject: a 'better' cable will sound better if you want it to.

If it's not measurable, it's not audible. 'Quality' doesn't really matter on line level as long as it's not a 0,10$ cable

[Hikaru12]

with analog cables yes it can change but if you were using a digital one such as a HDMI then no

Why do you say that? I plan on using RCA analog cables to connect a source to my receiver.

[ManWithBeard1990]

For headphones it's mostly the durability that matters.

[pas008]

alot of blind tests inside

 

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/486598/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths