Cable Guy ;)-

HzTweaker · January 28

Who is our resident cable dealer?

I need a few cables to make the next audio experiment work. All this talk/internet reviews about R2R dacs is giving me the "itch".

Heres what I'm looking for:

Two matching pair of 1-1.5m XLRs

One 3+m USB A to USB C of similar quality to the XLRs.

Any help would be great!

Thanks

billbillw · January 29

I went through this about 2 years ago and I ended up buying a 4 pack of WBC Mogami cables from Amazon. Unfortunately, Amazon is no longer stocking them, most likely due to tariffs making the product unprofitable for WBC. FYI, they were only ~$60 in Jan 2024. Maybe you can find a similar pair with Canare Quad wire or something that isn't made in Asia. I'm not sure if Doug @helipilotdoug is still doing custom cables, but he could possibly make something for you. This was the pack I bought. Maybe you can find another vendor that still has them at a reasonable price.
I don't have any advice for the USB cable. I still use an old Belkin Gold USB-A>USB-B cable that has been reliable for 10+ years.

Edit: After checking around Amazon's WBC 'store', they are selling a different version which has a self branded cable instead of the Mogami. www.amazon.com/Units-WBC-PRO-QUAD-Ultra-Silent-Ultra-Flexible-Star-Quad/dp/B0CV9K8W85

skipshot12 · January 29

What price range are you looking at?

I have some Monster Cable Sigma M2000 XLR's that I no longer use. They may be 2m runs, I'd have to verify that, if you're interested.
Not cheap but are really good cables.

Also have a bunch of regular XLR's that are 1m in length.
The seller I purchased them from said they were from Bryston but, they look like generic XLR's to me.

I was using them years ago when doing a Legacy Audio surround system. Would let those go on the cheap.

Also have a pair of 20' Monster Sigma M2000 XLR's if anyone needs a long pair. Have no idea why I purchased them as I've never used them, must have been a really good deal.
If anyone's good at terminating, these could be made into 6 pairs of 1m runs.
Would sell those for a very reasonable price.

The Blue one in the bag and one of those red ones are the 20' Monster Sigma's XLR's.

HzTweaker · January 29

Thanks for the responses guys! & That's a really nice deal/gesture Skip. I like the idea of making shorter runs of the Monster Sigma M2000. I also like the looks of the WBCs. Any cable I choose will end up in an A/B listening comparison to my WW Equinox 7s. Heres what I was looking at last night:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126095154964?

@ 1m with XLRs ~$100 a pair. Thoughts?

The usb is going to be a challenge. I mean I already have a monoprice A to C unit but this cable is going in the hifi so I'd Like it to be more elevated in quality. Plus it'll be fun to do another cable comparison.

HzTweaker · January 29

@skipshot12 PM incoming.

HzTweaker · January 29

Okay maybe the usb A to C isn't that hard to find after some digging around lol.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196154698466?

HzTweaker · January 29

I went a head and bought the AQ Forest USB A to C. I'll do an A/B comparison in the lofi rig with the AQ and monoprice cable once the AQ arrives.

I'm assembling all of this because @heiney9 and the rest of you guys peeked my curiosity in the R2R dac thread:

https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/202342/r2r-dac-vs-delta-sigma-type-dac/p1

And considering the FiiO K13 R2R dac to compare it to the Burr Brown chip dac that's already in my pre. Which is a nice way of saying "Thanks for helping me spend more money on the rig" lol

HzTweaker · January 30

Has anyone here bought from audio46? If so how was your experience?

skipshot12 · January 30

Be cautious and do your research... be aware that lot's of folks are selling counterfeit stereo stuff on ebay.

heiney9 · January 30

HzTweaker wrote: »

Okay maybe the usb A to C isn't that hard to find after some digging around lol.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196154698466?

It seems to be one extreme to the other. Either high priced "audiophile" offerings or inexpensive charging cords for cell phones. Nothing in between.

I am on the lookout for a decent cable usb A to C, but it needs to be around 2M or more and I'm not paying AQ prices for a cable.

H9

billbillw · January 30

heiney9 wrote: »

HzTweaker wrote: »

Okay maybe the usb A to C isn't that hard to find after some digging around lol.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196154698466?

It seems to be one extreme to the other. Either high priced "audiophile" offerings or inexpensive charging cords for cell phones. Nothing in between.

I am on the lookout for a decent cable usb A to C, but it needs to be around 2M or more and I'm not paying AQ prices for a cable.

H9

Honestly, I'd go for a quality brand that advertises good data rates and is built well. This comes to mind: https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Carplay-Upcycled-Braided-Charger/dp/B0F5926WHB?th=1
Available in a few colors. It shows 480Mbps data rate, which is USB2.0 and faster than any high resolution audio that you are going to stream. Even a 32/384khz stereo signal is only ~25Mbps.
There is another one that is nice from Anker called the Powerline+, but it looks like only the 3ft version is still available.
I've never had issues with Anker cables going back 10+ years. Other odd brands from Amazon, yes, but not Anker.

heiney9 · January 30

Funny you mention Anker, I was looking at one of those and this one

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116017314734?_skw=audiophile+usb+a+to+c+cable&itmmeta=01KG7XBVB74PJ2JV9P2PWXR5ZA&itmprp=enc:AQALAAABAO7PUuNWmJ++UShgI9tQz/qgif4FXk14QKXPYuXygyelAXpdR8a/kEmUtiT9qjYQRH5MbY/Ug+amnDfQAKTtS6wRGYlYkf6t6YUIPd5V1W00n7OrDFszUl40dAeejjqmcCWNvtD7YWnwQ3aAPnTla/4JvRqfIhXL5Xn6B2f+26pax9gv0Hrvq6trxLheGP/ZV3ueaaUciqmi8u5PIo5gtuCgQwmhOD6hk85W5mRx6FHk26AYHGrEVB/tDoEreX2SFKcdvTYKyey2+HZoO3bJByTxmpqk0fdYzZQoY0k8TuuJ5Zs+544SszdpYSF+vYXZIlhVh5ymmGWqoyXdq4bkuEk=|tkp:Bk9SR9q1r_2BZw

billbillw · January 30

I don't think I'd order from China on a cable like that. They might have made it pretty with the gold plating, but the chokes are a gimmick and I bet the internal construction is no better than a basic charging cable. They don't even certify it to USB2.0.

heiney9 · January 30

I have been getting these types of cables from ghentaudio. They have an ebay store. They don't list any USB A to USB C cables. They use Canare Star Quad with high quality connectors. I have several A to B cables as well as dc cables for my LPS from them.

Bummer.

H9

HzTweaker · January 30

skipshot12 wrote: »

Be cautious and do your research... be aware that lot's of folks are selling counterfeit stereo stuff on ebay.

This is good advice! I was nervus when I bought some used AQ Q2 speaker cables from the "Bay" fearing that they might be counterfeit. I can't say that they are or aren't but when doing an A/B between the AQs and my Monster XPs they won their place in my hifi by a long way!

The AQ Forest A to C usb (from the "bay") will get the same A/B comparison to my Monoprice A to C usb cable as the speaker cables. I'll let you know what I hear.

Has anyone purchased from the site: audio46.com ?

HzTweaker · February 3

I went ahead a ordered a lightly use Fiio K13 R2R DAC (from the "Bay") for the rig alongside some XLR connectors from sweetwater. Now to purchase the Monster Sigmas from @skipshot12.

skipshot12 · February 3

^Cool^
You'll love them.

HzTweaker · February 3

One of the things that excites me about the K13 is the ability to use an external DC power supply. Once I get a pretty good idea of what the unit sounds like with it's built in PS I'll have to try it out with my LPS. Another thing I plan on trying is swapping the stock PC with an AQ NRG unit I have laying around.

Lots of potential with this update to the rig.

Cable Guy ;)-

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