Do Better Guitar Cables Make An Audiable Difference?

[mili9152]

I'm also curious how much the length affects the sound quality. Maybe it could have as much of an effect as different brands...

Right now I'm stuck with a 20' cable, but I'm going to get a 5 or 6' mogami once I go back to the States in a couple of weeks.

 

[lolzgreg]

http://www.musiciansdesign.fr/
Problem is I don't think their website is in English at all though

Brett,

Thanks. Thankfully I speak a bit of French. Are we talking about the Equinox cable, because, for the most part, I just see mention of Mogami and Belden cable mentioned. Would you consider doing a comparison for us?

Cheers,

Greg

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Yes this is the Equinoxe instrument cable, which is their own creation. I was thinking about doing such comparison, just not sure which method would be the most appropriate for that. Any hint?

 

[Mutant]

I was thinking about doing such comparison, just not sure which method would be the most appropriate for that. Any hint?

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/10029844-post13.html

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Somehow I believe there are way too many "in between" in this. I'd rather go directly from an output of my card into an input, but I wonder if there are softwares that can analyze and compare two audio files to describe their differences.

 

[Ermz]

I think the ear is the best instrument to identify those differences. Specs on paper rarely mean much with audio.

 

[Mutant]

Somehow I believe there are way too many "in between" in this. I'd rather go directly from an output of my card into an input, but I wonder if there are softwares that can analyze and compare two audio files to describe their differences.

But if we are to compare hi-z signal from a guitar then we can't go from line out directly to line in...

These things "in between" are constant throughout the whole experiment and the only variable is the tested cable.

To check the difference, you only need to align all files and flip phase on one of them then mix them 50/50 to hear just the difference.

 

[lolzgreg]

Yes this is the Equinoxe instrument cable, which is their own creation. I was thinking about doing such comparison, just not sure which method would be the most appropriate for that. Any hint?

I'd say mic up your amplifier and do two takes of the guitar straight in to the amp with different cable. Afterward, put up a blind test labeled, "Which is your favorite, A or B?" This will be a good method of comparison for the two cables.

I would also play something simple overall with held out chords as well as palm muting.

Cheers.

 

[OneDaySky]

I'm also curious how much the length affects the sound quality. Maybe it could have as much of an effect as different brands...

Right now I'm stuck with a 20' cable, but I'm going to get a 5 or 6' mogami once I go back to the States in a couple of weeks.

Shorter the better, if you guitarist track 3 feet from your interface, then anything from 3 - 5 foot is all you need! Otherwise you end up with coiled cables and thats never good!

 

[Robert W]

I just had a chance to do a comparison for myself,

With Lava cable,
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17738100/lava.mp3

And with a cheap cable
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17738100/regcable.mp3

 

[locus_coeruleus]

Both sound equally horrible to me.

 

[Ermz]

Shorter the better, if you guitarist track 3 feet from your interface, then anything from 3 - 5 foot is all you need! Otherwise you end up with coiled cables and thats never good!

It's worth noting at that point, that the pickups will be getting serious EMI from the interface/nearby electrical equipment. A guitarist needs to be as far away as possible from any electronics which emit magnetic fields.

I always get noisy DIs if guitarists hang too close to my rack when tracking. And the PC?... fuggedaboutit!