XLR Cable shoot out - including the Spotfire IC

[Macca]

I see your point mate and don't disagree that something unquestioned is something unsubstantiated. Trouble is, how do you prove burn in?

Blind test with a set of brand new cables and a set that has 100 hours on them. If you can still consistently identify a difference then you have something worthy of further investigation (or you can at least be personally satisfied that there is a real effect).

[Bigman80]

Blind test with a set of brand new cables and a set that has 100 hours on them. If you can still consistently identify a difference then you have something worthy of further investigation (or you can at least be personally satisfied that there is a real effect).

Challenge accepted. You up for a blind test? Do it at mine and you can hear the Krell.

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[Yomanze]

To be honest, until people actually do some proper blind testing, it's all just opinion & 'feelings' rather than reliably identifying cable differences. I don't think it is a coincidence that LFD, one of the most cable and wire fanatic companies out there, do not make XLR cables anymore, because they are a 'well sorted' connection. Being able to rank a series of them from best to worst, well, it smacks of expectation bias to me. End of the day, if the differences are so clear, then blind testing isn't going to make these differences disappear.

[sq225917]

Cable burn-in is hokum, there's absolutely no change whatsoever in electrical parameters with use. However the quality of your hi-fi fluctuates with the time of day, and with your mood, so there are many good reasons why our perception of sound quality changes and a new set of cables is an easy place to hang any system fluctuations. it's just human nature to want to be able to pin that tail on the donkey in this way as it helps us understand our world, we prefer categorisation to the unknown. That's how religions started when we didn't jack shit about how and why things happen, weather, the seasons, any of it. It's a comfortable way of explaining the unknown.

I can see perfectly valid reasons why the quality of shielding and impedance of earthing between components could have an effect on sound quality though.

[Yomanze]

I can see perfectly valid reasons why the quality of shielding and impedance of earthing between components could have an effect on sound quality though.

Two areas where there are far more variances in RCA cables. Standard pro-audio XLRs like Belden & Canare, with the ubiquitous Neutrik XLRs, have no issues with either shielding or impedance.

There is the 'Pin 1' problem as discussed earlier of course, here's a good article from Rane: https://www.rane.com/note165.html

[Macca]

Challenge accepted. You up for a blind test? Do it at mine and you can hear the Krell.

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Yes we can do that providing you don't live out in the back of beyond. Send us a PM.

[Firebottle]

He's in Wolverhampton, some might think that the back of beyond

[Bigman80]

an outrageous statement

He's in Wolverhampton, some might think that the back of beyond

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[walpurgis]

He's in Wolverhampton, some might think that the back of beyond

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

[wee tee cee]

great write up Ken....thanks for that.

my experience regards cables is that they do subtly change over time

my spotfire resides in my av set up....it settled down after 100hrs or so.

had many cable bake offs over the years-not everyone prefers the same sonic signature but usually we all hear and describe the individual differences quite consistently.

at the end of the day its good fun getting together for a session and enjoying our shared passion for audio/music