Jump to content

Test Results: Chicago Cable Testing


Thunderbroom

Recommended Posts

  • Members

The comments in this post are solely my own and are based on my observations only. Others that were present may see things differently.

 

We chose to take the least expensive cable in the test (15' Whirlwind Leader - ~$15) and put it up against the most expensive (12' van den Hul Integration Hybrid - ~$180) to begin with.

 

T. Alan was the designated player using his MarkBass/Bergantino combo. I was the initial cable switcher. Kindness relieved me after numerous cable changes.

 

We did an A/B/X test. Listeners were told what Cable A was. A bassline was played. Listeners were told what Cable B was. The same bassline was played. I then randomly swapped the cables and asked those present if Cable X was Cable A or Cable B when the bassline was repeated for a third time. We did five plus iterations with only one person being able to tell the difference with better than guessing (50%) accuracy. That person was Sarabella. She was perfect all day. When asked which cable she preferred out of the Whirlwind and the van den Hul, her choice was the Whirlwind.

 

T. Alan thought he could tell the difference, but when having to choose blind could not tell the difference.

 

We tried the speaker cables as well. We only tested two while I was there: 18" Cardas Crosslink and an 18" EWI. I'm not sure of the cost difference since neither Lavaman's site nor Audiopile's site list the prices for an 18" cable. The shortest Crosslink cable on the Lavaman site is ~$33 for 1 foot. Audiopile's site lists a 5ft for $12.50. The consensus was that there was no difference between the cables.

 

There was some other testing of cables while I was there (including the Zaolla, the Tweed Lava, EWI, and Bayou), but I heard no difference from any of them. To me, quality of construction, price, and cable flexibility are the important factors for me as I heard no audible difference between any of these cables.

 

I wanted to hear a difference but just didn't. I wasn't certain about the "snake oil" comments that I read in the other thread here. I'm certain now. Having heard the cables, I'll give my money to Bayou, Audiopile and even the "cheap" lifetime warranty Monster cables (S-100 I think they're called). The van den Hul was way too stuff for me and would drive me crazy on stage.

 

If folks want to drop $100 - $200 for instrument cables, that's their business. I think most people that spend that kind of money hear differences because they think they should. If they did an A/B/X test, my guess is that they couldn't tell the difference.

 

Many thanks to Lavaman, Bayou, Audiopile, Burdizzos and others for supplying the cables. I give Lavaman much credit for putting his money where his mouth is. While I now don't agree that there's a difference in sound quality, I give him credit for sending us the cables to test. Kindness will be sending your cables back to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 2.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

No monster cable?

I had to buy a Peavey cable to practice with since the Monster cable was in my gig box which is in the trailer. I can tell no difference between the two even though the Monster is twice the price. But the monster has lasted me 3 years so far and it does have that lifetime thing. I won't buy another one if I lose this one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Very good!

 

I have purchased the last dozen or so mic cables, the last four instrument cables, the last several patch cables, and the last several speaker cables from Mark at Audiopile. Very good quality for little money. I have also purchased one of his mixer/power amps and at least eight microphones and stands from him for the school. Every piece I have bought from him still works (some going on three years).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

The comments in this post are solely my own and are based on my observations only. Others that were present may see things differently.


We chose to take the least expensive cable in the test (15' Whirlwind Leader - ~$15) and put it up against the most expensive (12' van den Hul Integration Hybrid - ~$180) to begin with.


T. Alan was the designated player using his MarkBass/Bergantino combo. I was the initial cable switcher. Kindness relieved me after numerous cable changes.


We did an A/B/X test. Listeners were told what Cable A was. A bassline was played. Listeners were told what Cable B was. The same bassline was played. I then randomly swapped the cables and asked those present if Cable X was Cable A or Cable B when the bassline was repeated for a third time. We did five plus iterations with only one person being able to tell the difference with better than guessing (50%) accuracy. That person was Sarabella. She was perfect all day. When asked which cable she preferred out of the Whirlwind and the van den Hul, her choice was the Whirlwind.


T. Alan thought he could tell the difference, but when having to choose blind could not tell the difference.


We tried the speaker cables as well. We only tested two while I was there: 18" Cardas Crosslink and an 18" EWI. I'm not sure of the cost difference since neither Lavaman's site nor Audiopile's site list the prices for an 18" cable. The shortest Crosslink cable on the Lavaman site is ~$33 for 1 foot. Audiopile's site lists a 5ft for $12.50. The consensus was that there was no difference between the cables.


There was some other testing of cables while I was there (including the Zaolla, the Tweed Lava, EWI, and Bayou), but I heard no difference from any of them. To me, quality of construction, price, and cable flexibility are the important factors for me as I heard no audible difference between any of these cables.


I wanted to hear a difference but just didn't. I wasn't certain about the "snake oil" comments that I read in the other thread here. I'm certain now. Having heard the cables, I'll give my money to Bayou, Audiopile and even the "cheap" lifetime warranty Monster cables (S-100 I think they're called). The van den Hul was way too stuff for me and would drive me crazy on stage.


If folks want to drop $100 - $200 for instrument cables, that's their business. I think most people that spend that kind of money hear differences because they think they should. If they did an A/B/X test, my guess is that they couldn't tell the difference.


Many thanks to Lavaman, Bayou, Audiopile, Burdizzos and others for supplying the cables. I give Lavaman much credit for putting his money where his mouth is. While I now don't agree that there's a difference in sound quality, I give him credit for sending us the cables to test. Kindness will be sending your cables back to you.

 

 

Thanks for your test. I will tell you though, that this is first time that I have sent multiple cables to anyone and they have not heard a difference, so I question your testing methods and bias prior to testing (you were all clearly biased against hearing a difference and your results are no surprise to me). As I have had a an informal loaner program for a couple of years now and have sent sets of of 3-5 cables to numerous guitarists and bass players and they ALWAYS had a preference and returned the cable they did not like as much...

 

But there's a reason why I offer commodity cables such as Canare, Mogami, and Gepco at low prices was well...

 

And there's a reason why the Bass Player of the Black Crowes is using my Lava ELC Tweed cable....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

so I question your testing methods and bias prior to testing (you were all clearly biased against hearing a difference and your results are no surprise to me).

 

 

What about the testing methods do you question exactly?

 

Also, DO NOT assume you know what my thoughts were before we tested because you have NO IDEA. You're speculating at best.

 

We were nothing but fair with the cables that were tested.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

We had a good group today. It was nice to meet little Maggie and see her parents, SA Rios and MrsSvi again. We also had bpocall, Brother Mango, catphish, citizenralph, rummy, sarabella, T. Alan Smith and his wife. It was a nice day, thanks to everyone for coming.

 

As far as the tests, Tbroom does a good job describing what we did. I heard no differences. I mean, even when I thought I could figure out which was which, I always got it wrong. Comically wrong. T. Alan thought he heard differences, but couldn't identify the cables when asked blindly. I'll let the other guys give their impressions, but other than sarabella, no one was able to correctly identify the cables blindly and I don't believe anyone other than T. Alan thought there were differences. T. Alan was really good at describing the differences he heard in sighted tests, but once he was asked blindly, he couldn't pick out which cable was which.

 

Are there differences? Maybe or else sarabella is the world's luckiest guesser. If you ask me, I wouldn't bet a nickel on being able to correctly identify a cable by sound. I hope sarabella jumps on to give her impressions as well though. It was interesting to note that between any of the pairs of cables tested, she always liked the cheaper of the two, Whirlwind and Bayou cables being the the ones I remember her stating a preference for.

 

After seeing and hearing and using and playing all of the cables with my rigs, with other people's rigs, hearing other people play through their rigs, the only thing that matters to me is the construction of the cable. My personal preference was the Canare cable provided by Butch. However, other than some of the really stiff and heavy gauge cables provided by LavaMan, any of the cables we used today could be a permanent part of my rig. Let me also say I absolutely love the look of the tweed cable LavaMan sent. Love it.

 

Thanks to everyone for coming, thanks to everyone that supplied cables, thanks for everyone reading along and taking interest in our testing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderators

 

I question your testing methods and bias prior to testing (you were all clearly biased against hearing a difference and your results are no surprise to me).

 

 

Our testing methods were rock solid.

 

Bias is bias and it exists in everyone that was there today. I know I was biased towards not hearing differences and my biases were supported. I know others were biased the other direction and even thought they were hearing differences, but their biases were not supported. Even when he failed to correctly identify cables blindly, T. Alan still talked about them as being different. That's a real strong bias towards hearing differences. I don't know what sarabella thought coming in, but she heard a difference and correctly identified every single cable. I can't argue with that. It confuses the hell out of me and if she is good natured enough to put up with some more testing, I'd love to replicate the test and watch her do it again. It is amazing to me based on what I was and wasn't hearing. However, I have given sarabella a number of lessons and I can confirm her ear for pitch is incredible, well developed beyond her experience. It wouldn't surprise me if she hears things most people don't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

As I have had a an informal loaner program for a couple of years now and have sent sets of of 3-5 cables to numerous guitarists and bass players and they ALWAYS had a preference and returned the cable they did not like as much...

 

 

I'm sure they do always have a preference as they likely feel they have to. I'm not so sure they'd choose the more expensive cables if they participated in a test such as we did today.

 

I think folks hear a difference because they think they should. It's much like wine-tasting (as was pointed out after the testing today). Folks tend to think that more expensive wines should taste better when in fact they may not. Our wallet tells us different though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

First off, thanks to Kindness for hosting! Great place. Great location. :)

Second, thanks to T Broom for all the legwork. I wish I could have seen him back there swapping cords...had to have looked funny. :D

Third, as always, it's cool as HELL seeing everyone!! :) :)

Lastly, it's one thing performing in front of people, as we all know.

It's another thing performing solo.

But playing solo for a room fulla bass players???

I'm talkin' a

whole

'nutha

level!

The testing confirmed a lot for me. Sure, I stand by my feeling that I was hearing differences. Those differences were SO fudgin' SLIGHT tho! The performance of the Whirlwind & Bayou was outstanding.

I don't know if Whirlwind is assembled by 4 yr. olds working for a can of beans at the end of the month, or that the components are made by a guy working to send his kids to the USA for a better life. But I'm inclined to go with Bayou based on the testimony from the owner as posted in the original thread. He comes off as a 'regular' guy playing 'regular' gigs on bang for buck gear, as opposed to boutique stuff that you'd expece a manufacturer to be playing. He focus is starting with quality components assembled with the kind of care and attention to give years of reliable service.

...doesn't hurt that I liked the sound of Bayou's cable! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I wondered if the first test was meesed up because someone admitted to having used the cable with the arrows going the opposite way. Maybe that broke the cable & beffudled our testing. :confused::idk:

 

But the other tests with non-directional cables were just as ... (:confused:).

 

The good thing was that I got to see a lot of friendly faces and have and excuse to come out today!!

 

 

Maybe we can plan a G2G and test some perpetual-motion machines next weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The testing confirmed a lot for me. Sure, I stand by my feeling that I was hearing differences. Those differences were SO fudgin' SLIGHT tho!

 

They were so slight that in blind tests, you couldn't tell regardless of what you thought you heard. When you guessed, you were wrong.

:p

 

I remember you posting in years past about using Monster Cables because they "inspired" you. I'm wondering if you're still inspired.

:D

 

You did a great job playing as usual. I wish I had one ounce of the talent you have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

They were so slight that in blind tests, you couldn't tell regardless of what you thought you heard. When you guessed, you were wrong.

:p

I remember you posting in years past about using Monster Cables because they "inspired" you. I'm wondering if you're still inspired.

:D

You did a great job playing as usual...

 

Thanks. :)

It would have been nice to have thrown the MonsterBass cable into the mix as well...but like wine tasting, you should only do a little at a time.

Like I've mentioned before- I'm not investing into Monstercable any longer...which is why I was so intrigued about todays tests. The MonsterBass cable I've invested in have not been very reliable, and when I excercised their fabulous return policy, Guitard Center made me jump thru hoops. :mad: That said, I have Monster Studiolink cables from the mid 90's going strong. :idk:

I was much more inspired by playing that Thunderfunk head into the Aggie 1x12. :love:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...