Ears On

Every review I write has an "associated equipment" graf in which I dutifully list all the major components of my reference surround system: speakers, subwoofer, surround receiver, and universal disc player. When I use my turntable, I list that as well as the phono cartridge and whatever I'm using as a phono preamp. But I never go into similar detail about another significant component in my system, namely the cables that tie everything together. Readers may be wondering what I use and why I use it. This blog will tell all my dirty little cable secrets.

Exactly what qualifies as a dirty little secret may be in the eye of the beholder. Would you be more disturbed to learn that I use sickeningly high-priced premium cable? Or that I use cheap generic cable? Or that many of my favorite cables are museum pieces that you can't get for love or money? Misanthropes, rejoice: I indulge in all three vices.

Where cable ideology is concerned, I'm a moderate. I'm not one of those critics who say all premium cable is snake oil—though the industry is certainly rife with ridiculously high markups and eyebrow-raising hype. Nor am I the kind of listener who spends inordinate amounts of time splitting hairs over tiny (or potentially nonexistent) performance differences between cables—I save that kind of attention for things like, say, oh, speakers and amps.

However, earlier in my career, I did a fair amount of experimenting with cables—enough to satisfy my curiosity and to determine what would best serve my reference system. I discovered that in the analog domain, cables do indeed sound different. Speaker cables can make a discernible difference in the sound of a system: whether it's bright, bass starved, or just right. I also found analog interconnects make a slight difference. In general I sought out cables that were, to my ears, as neutral as possible.

In the digital domain, my ears were less fussy. One coaxial digital cable sounded much the same as another as long as it had the right characteristic impedance, similar to that of a composite video cable. Likewise, I did not hear differences among optical digital cables, nor did I prefer coaxial to optical. By the way, I will be gravely disappointed in my readers if that last statement doesn't inspire some zesty hate mail, as it has always done in the past.

However, I did notice that coaxial cables were much sturdier than optical cables, which cease working when kinked. And the immunity of optical cables from hum must be counted as a significant plus. In practice, my system had no hum problem, so I chose coaxial for ruggedness, at least until HDMI arrived. Then I stopped using either of them. Today, there are no coaxial or optical cables in my reference surround system. The only coaxial digital connection left in my life is the link between a CD player and my desktop amp. I don't use optical cables except, when absolutely necessary, in soundbar reviews.

By the time the HDMI and USB interfaces arrived, I was no longer in an experimental mood and just settled on whatever I could get for free and whatever worked. It might be interesting to do extensive ears-on testing with these types of cables, but my tiny storage space is full of speakers and receivers waiting to be reviewed and they interest me more. Anyway, enough introductory remarks. What cables does Mark use?

Back when I bothered to compare speaker cables, I found that I preferred those that were least bright, and after much experimentation, Monster Cable emerged as the candidate with the least aggressive top end and best overall balance (though Liberty Cable was a serious runner up). Cables with more prestigious names and higher pricetags offered more detail at some sensitive frequencies but they always wore out their welcome with listening fatigue. So I said to hell with boutique mystique and went with Monster. The last time I acquired speaker cables, I asked the late Daniel Graham of Monster to help me find a cable that was 12-gauge, fireproof, and heavily insulated. By process of elimination, the answer was M1.2s and M1.4s (the biwire version). I have used them ever since.

I have a full five-channel set of M1.2s and a duplicate set of M1.4s for the three front channels. Amazon sells the 15-foot length I use for the front channels for less than $100/pair, half off the list price. The cables have a screw-on termination that allows me to switch between banana plugs (my preference) and spade lugs (which I never use). Those cables have served in 90 percent of the speaker and receiver reviews I've written since I joined this magazine as a contributor in 2001.

On the rare occasions when bare-tipped cables are unavoidable, I use Monster's original THX-certified ribbon cable, with bare tips for the speakers and banana plugs at the receiver end. It looks an awful lot like the current model XP, which is not THX-certified, but is probably the same thing. When even those are too thick for certain narrow, inaccessible, or otherwise problematic speaker terminals, I resort to whatever skinny generic speaker cable will fit, adding banana plug adapters for the receiver.

I'm a home theater kind of guy, so HDMI is the dominant video and audio interface in my main system. For the link between my two Blu-ray players and the surround receiver I use high-end cables kindly provided by Tributaries. They are old models, no longer offered, but they are bulletproof and will probably outlast my heart and lungs. For the link from receiver to TV I use the cable supplied with my Oppo disc player, and whenever I need to recommend an affordable HDMI cable, I recommend those available on the Oppo Digital site, though the Amazon house brand might do just as well (I say might because I haven't tried it). For the link between cable box and TV, I use the generic cable provided with the cable box.

Though I no longer use digital coaxial or optical cables in the main system, two analog interconnects are unavoidable: from receiver to subwoofer, and from phono preamp to receiver. For the long run from receiver to subwoofer, I use a flexible but sturdy cable pilfered from a Velodyne subwoofer review sample. I did promise you dirty little secrets, right? OK: I stole it. Apologies to the manufacturer.

The other regularly used analog cable connects the various devices I use as phono preamps to the receiver (the turntable having its own hardwired cable). I use Esoteric Artus, another product from the distant past. That's the navy blue cable pictured above. Nope, it's not available any more, and if it were, you probably couldn't afford it. Here's some dirt: In their time these were among the most expensive interconnect cables around. I dimly remember that a one-meter pair cost $600. And here's some more dirt: As a contributor to various well-known publications, I got them free. Bwahahahaha. In fact, I got several pairs (one to two meters). I'd never dream of spending that much of my own money for a set of cables, so there's another dirty little secret: I'm a hypocrite.

But I do love-love-love these cables and have used them constantly for this and that ever since I got them. Back when I was doing ears-on tests of analog interconnects, these were the champions. I was then, and still remain, convinced that they do not interfere the sound of my system: no additive brightness, no bass attenuation. It goes without saying that they are structurally sound. And in lieu of the death-grip plugs many fancy cable makers prefer, the Artus has a plug that gradually tightens around the jack when you rotate the plug housing. That means that I will never damage a review sample by wrenching a death-grip cable out of a jack. The Artuses have been keeping me out of trouble for more than 20 years.

That does it for the modern-day reference system. Back in the primordial mists of time, when I occasionally needed to connect surround pre-pros to multichannel amps, I used a set of six half-meter XLO analog interconnects with a green plug. Nothing that looks like it appears on the company's website today. I liked it because it actually wasn't that fancy looking, just a mechanically and sonically reliable cable with a secure but not death-grippy plug. As with all the cables mentioned here, there may be some interesting design and construction features that I'm not going to touch with a ten-foot pole because I have no way of knowing for sure if any given one makes an audible difference. I do respect the end result, though.

Later on, when I used the analog multichannel interface to connect DVD and SACD players to the receiver, I used a set of six half-meter Silver Serpents from BetterCables.com (the grey snakeskin cable pictured above). They are still sold and will set you back $60 per pair. I'll even go out on a limb and say they're worth it, so no dirt here. They are sonically neutral, the plug is easy-on and easy-off, and they really took a beating as I connected and disconnected them countless times. I still use them when I need a half-meter analog interconnect that has to be absolutely trustworthy.

I also favored a half-meter length of the BetterCables Silver Serpent Digital ($35) for the coaxial digital connection between receiver and disc player. It hasn't been used for years; I connect my disc player with HDMI now. My favorite Toslink optical cable is a one-meter Vampire Wire cable. Like many of my favorite cables, it's history and does not appear on the company's website. When I review a soundbar requiring an optical cable from TV table to disc player, which in my system is more than a meter, I use a two-meter generic cable. I probably pilfered that one too, though frankly, I don't remember from whom. Though nerve-wrackingly slender and fragile, it works, and I haven't managed to destroy it yet. All my Toslink cables are reverently coiled and stored in a filing cabinet drawer, safe from harm.

My venerable Jeff Rowland Model One stereo amp and Consonance preamp are rarely used. Not because I don't love them, just because I rarely review speakers in pairs. But on the special occasions when they're up and running, I have two choices of XLR analog interconnects. One is a one-meter pair of the Cardas Crosslink, the company's entry-level interconnect, one of the few premium cables I've ever purchased, and not very long ago. Sorry, no dirt. You can pick up a one-meter pair from Audio Advisor for $170. The alternative XLR, if the amp and preamp can't fit onto the rack at the same time, would be a considerably longer pair by XLO, which does not appear on the company's website. Someday, when I no longer review receivers, the Model One will take up permanent residence on the rack's guest receiver berth and I'll rediscover my two-channel youth.

The cables in my desktop 2.1-channel system are subject to change. But currently they include Audience Ohno speaker cables, which at $199 for a three-foot pair may qualify as another dirty little secret to the premium-cable-hating reader. They replaced generic 12-gauge just a year ago and have a modest clarifying effect on the upper midrange. The amp's variable stereo outputs are connected to the sub with a pair of Straight Wire cables that are two meters long, have transparent red jackets, and are no longer on the company's website. The Red Book CD player feeding the desktop amp is connected with an older equivalent of Monster's current Interlink Datalink coaxial digital cable ($40 for one-meter length).

The house USB DAC is connected to the multimedia PC with a generic USB cable that has gold-colored-plugs and a ferrite core—I think of it as my lucky USB cable because it never glitches. I use a generic two-meter analog interconnect from DAC to desktop amp, largely because I don't have many two-meter cables to choose from. I should really upgrade the latter, so there's another dirty little secret, though this DAC is just for casual use. When reviewing USB DACs, or headphones while using a USB DAC, I use the lucky USB cable, move the DAC closer to the amp, and exchange the two-meter generic cable for a one-meter Esoteric Artus.

My headphone extension cables, both 15 feet and bought last year, include the Grado Extension Cable with quarter-inch plug and jack ($40) and a Parts Express cable with mini-plug and jack which Amazon sells for $5. I avoid using them for headphone reviews but at other times they can be convenient.

A complete inventory of my cable collection is impossible. A few years ago I discarded several shopping bags of cables, the inflated retail value of which would pay my rent for months, and still had enough left to fill a jumbo-subwoofer-size carton and a kitchen cabinet space measuring 46 by 13 by 17 inches. Both are just packed solid. Another cable purge may be imminent. If you stand around near my building long enough, you may be able to catch some as I fling them out the kitchen window.

Readers are invited to weigh in on cable issues. What cables do you use? How do you think they sound compared to other things you've tried, if indeed there's any difference at all? Your HDMI cable experiences and picks may be especially welcome to home theater oriented readers.

Audio Editor Mark Fleischmann is the author of Practical Home Theater: A Guide to Video and Audio Systems.