XLR Cable shoot out - including the Spotfire IC

[sq225917]

Also worth a read.


https://www.hypex.nl/img/upload/doc/...1_problems.pdf

[Bigman80]

I've heard of that place. I believe they're still doing missionary work out there.

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[Macca]

I've heard of that place. I believe they're still doing missionary work out there.

I believe they're still using the missionary position.

[Bigman80]

I believe they're still using the missionary position.

There are others?

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[Qwin]

I'm a bit confused here - did the cable get noticeably worse as it 'burnt in', reaching a low point at about 60hrs of use, then started to improve after that?

It started poor got better then yes, it did get worse, then improved again. The whole set up has been running 24/7 for over three weeks, running in various bits of kit and I hadn't disturbed anything for at least three days when the last change occurred, only the cables had been swapped at the beginning of that period, all the boxes had over 300 hours virtually constant running by then.

I don't experience random changes in my system once everything has truly settled, I hear a consistent sound.

I get the same effect when putting hours on new caps in crossovers and they quite often sound at their best about 2/3rd through the process, then go slightly off the mark by smoothing out too much and loosing some of the dynamics heard earlier.

I don't sit listening all day, I tend to have a serious listen to progress each evening by cuing up the same tracks I know inside out. Any distortion in certain vocal tracks stands out immediately and it was VERY obvious, like fingers down a black board for me. Consistent across different recordings as well. I'm not certain what caused it but it crept in and was there for the last hours of the 3rd evening, but had almost completely gone by the 4th morning. This was confirmed when I listened properly in the evening.

I run 24hour radio station (Classic FM) from my freesat box using toslink into the PS Audio DAC/Pre to clock up the hours, then switch to Qobuz streamed files (USB from laptop) for my evaluation periods.

The Sommer Carbokab took a good while (days) to sound any good at all, the Mogami didn't take any where near as long (10hours) to get to a reasonable level, but it didn't smooth out at the top for a further 24hrs. So they were not all the same in the way they settled. The Spotfire continues to run without the distortion returning. I did a quick swap a couple of hours ago and put some Quad bookshelf speakers on the business end. These have a ribbon tweeter and are smooth as silk at the top, so any harshness will be even easier to spot, but I can't see it returning now, over 130hours and to be honest I've stopped counting. The little quads are sounding great.

[Qwin]

Also worth a read.


https://www.hypex.nl/img/upload/doc/...1_problems.pdf

Yes I had seen that, I took issue with Hypex after reading it and the Rane articles, which are all just confirming AES recommendations. The reason was one of Hypex's own diagrams in a PDF on how to wire their amps correctly, went against their own preaching. They showed the cable shield attached to the audio ground pin on their Amp modules PCB. They never got back to me.

[Bigman80]

It started poor got better then yes, it did get worse, then improved again. The whole set up has been running 24/7 for over three weeks, running in various bits of kit and I hadn't disturbed anything for at least three days when the last change occurred, only the cables had been swapped at the beginning of that period, all the boxes had over 300 hours virtually constant running by then.

I don't experience random changes in my system once everything has truly settled, I hear a consistent sound.

I get the same effect when putting hours on new caps in crossovers and they quite often sound at their best about 2/3rd through the process, then go slightly off the mark by smoothing out too much and loosing some of the dynamics heard earlier.

I don't sit listening all day, I tend to have a serious listen to progress each evening by cuing up the same tracks I know inside out. Any distortion in certain vocal tracks stands out immediately and it was VERY obvious, like fingers down a black board for me. Consistent across different recordings as well. I'm not certain what caused it but it crept in and was there for the last hours of the 3rd evening, but had almost completely gone by the 4th morning. This was confirmed when I listened properly in the evening.

I run 24hour radio station (Classic FM) from my freesat box using toslink into the PS Audio DAC/Pre to clock up the hours, then switch to Qobuz streamed files (USB from laptop) for my evaluation periods.

The Sommer Carbokab took a good while (days) to sound any good at all, the Mogami didn't take any where near as long (10hours) to get to a reasonable level, but it didn't smooth out at the top for a further 24hrs. So they were not all the same in the way they settled. The Spotfire continues to run without the distortion returning. I did a quick swap a couple of hours ago and put some Quad bookshelf speakers on the business end. These have a ribbon tweeter and are smooth as silk at the top, so any harshness will be even easier to spot, but I can't see it returning now, over 130hours and to be honest I've stopped counting. The little quads are sounding great.

Fair play Ken, can't argue with your approach to burn in. It may be a myth to some or a fact of life for others but whatever your flavour of cable, it's been educational about but. In times especially as Tony suggested the same.

I've now ammended my recommendation on this to 100hrs.

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[Qwin]

Yeh, I just like to put plenty of hours on a new part, be it cable, amp, or speaker, then you can discount any burn in issues, real or imagined, when you run comparative tests.

The Yammy NS1000m don't have the best tweeter ever made, it's response is ragged at the lower end, hence the mid is crossed fairly high, to try and help it out. Maybe they are more susceptible to even slight distortion in this area and highlight it more than other speakers? Just a thought.

Everything is ready now, I just need to set a date for part two of the test.
I spoke to Gordon (Halfwaytree) he's up for it and wants to do the comparison blind, he's a non believer for the most part, so me being (Increasingly) a believer, it will be an interesting exercise. Could really do with a third?

[Bigman80]

Yeh, I just like to put plenty of hours on a new part, be it cable, amp, or speaker, then you can discount any burn in issues, real or imagined, when you run comparative tests.

The Yammy NS1000m don't have the best tweeter ever made, it's response is ragged at the lower end, hence the mid is crossed fairly high, to try and help it out. Maybe they are more susceptible to even slight distortion in this area and highlight it more than other speakers? Just a thought.

Everything is ready now, I just need to set a date for part two of the test.
I spoke to Gordon (Halfwaytree) he's up for it and wants to do the comparison blind, he's a non believer for the most part, so me being (Increasingly) a believer, it will be an interesting exercise. Could really do with a third?

Fair enough mate. It's a solid approach and to be honest, not many folks have the patience for burn in before they judge. Luckily everything I buy is well used



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[Non-Smoking Man]

My route into a fully balanced domestic system was prompted by the (hum) problems I sometimes encountered with a 5 way active horn system using a MIX of balanced and unbalanced equipment.

It started with winning an Ayre balanced phono stage on the Exchanges and sourcing the matching pre (Ayre Evolution) from a Wammer (batterredhaggis).

I also have now some valve amps converted to balanced operation (reversable) and a pair of Monarchy Audio SE100 monoblocks (Bigman will be innterested to know, I take it) which can be run either way.

Currently Im using Chord Chameleon VEE 3 phono to pre and Chord Cobra pre to amps - all XLR plugs.
Im keen to be included in the discussion and provide additional testing/comparisons.
Jack NSM