Topic: Mic Cable Comparisons

[PH]

I put together an interesting mic cable comparison last week and want to share the results. I did this in a casual way, so let's not get all worked up about how the test should have been done or all the reasons why it's flawed. You can judge the comparison and results on their own merits and either take them under consideration or not. I felt there were some interesting results and I was frankly surprised that there were so many differences in the gear that was sampled. There is also a V3/R4 comparison thrown in just for fun.

I did this for my own uses, but thought many others would find it useful, so here you go.
All the info is below, enjoy.
Cheers, Phil
==============================

http://www.turtleside.com/misc/nashphil-cable-comp/Cable_Test/

All of these various samples were recorded with a stock Edirol R4.
The mics used were a matched pair of Schoeps CMC6/mk4 and a matched pair of Studio Projects C4.
Cody Kilby (from Ricky Skaggs Band) is playing a Collings Acoustic Guitar and mic pairs are placed
about 10 inches away from guitar and directly in front of the 12th fret.

The two pairs of mics were attached together using rubber bands to place them at
exactly the same angle and distance from the source. Each pair were placed
as close to each other as would allow. This gives you a good comparison of two cables at a time,
plus an interesting (but flawed) mic comparison between the $2000+ Schoeps and the $300 C4's.

The cables used are:
Van den Hul's Mic Hybrid (provided by Eugene Hi-Fi)
Hi-Ho Silvers (provided by The Great Gumbino)
Mogami Quad 2534 (their best cable)
Canare Mini-Quad
Guitar Center Cheapo Cables



TEST 1

test1a_hybrid
test1a_silvers
test1b_mogami
test1b_canare

The hybrid/silvers are the Schoeps and the mogami/canare are the C4's
==========================================================================

TEST 2

test2a_hybrid
test2a_cheapo
test2b_mogami
test2b_silver

The hybrid/cheapo are the Schoeps and the mogami/silvers are the C4's
==========================================================================

TEST 3

test3_R4
test3_V3-digiout

This test compares the R4 pre's/ad converter alone vs the V3 digi-out to the R4.
The two samples are the schoeps pair with hybrid cables, were recorded in
stereo seperately, and aren't the exact same performance. However, it does give
you an idea of the differences between the overall sound of the two units.
==========================================================================

TEST 4

test4_R4
test4_V3-analogout

This test compares the preamps of the two units. The R4 sample is mic direct
to R4 using hybrid cables. The V3-R4 sample is the mic to the V3, then
analog out to the R4 line input. Between this and Test3, you get an idea
of what the preamps and AD converters sound like in comparison to each other.

[PH]

any initial thoughts or opinions???
I'm going to hold off on posting my opinions until later.
trust me, I have plenty............

[dennisrtyler]

Phil, are all the files 24/48? if so, can you provide some 24/41 files. i can listen to 24 bit but not 48.

[PH]

all the files are 24/48 flac. you can easily resample yourself with soundforge or wavlab, audition, and others.

[eric.B]

Im no golden ear boy or anything and I certainly dont claim to know alot of descriptive words for audio consideration, so take this all with a grain of salt...  I gave these tracks a few listens through a pair of beyer dt880's, running through my computer through my egosys(external 24bit box)u2a, to my technics reciever(no headpre).. I listened to the whole thing three times, whereas the first was without the notes, and the second and third were with me looking at them..    my opinions are this..

the hybrids and the silvers seemed *bright* as compared to the mogami's, the canare's, and especially the cheapo.  Even with the change in mics between the cables, I found the mogami/canare to *darken* both microphones. The silvers sounded best with the c4 imo and the most pleasureable track to listen to, while the mogami/canare sounded best with the schoeps.  fwiw.. I find schoeps to be bright/brittle mid/high wize anyway, so the canare/mogami actually makes an improvement to the schoeps (sorry schwep guys!   )..     overall the c4 silver sounded best to me, and the cheapo cable absolutely was the *dullest* of them all..   

On the other comps..  the v3 sounded a bit more musical to my ears and a little more *upfront*, while the r4 inputs seemed a little dry and flat to me as compared to the v3..  but both still sound good obviously..   

I will say.. I knew one of the cables was a "cheapo" before I listened to these tracks for the first time, but not which one, and I was able to pick it out after the first listen..

thanks for the comp!  +t

[stevetoney]

OK, my turn. 

In a way, I'm taking a temporary pass on the technical evaluation because I'm currently on long-term work assignment in Europe and want to listen through my better system when I get home next week.  But I spent about 45 minutes listening last night through some not so expensive sony headphones (don't know the model but they're $20 or $30 off the shelf models) using Audition.  I didn't resample any of the sound bites and I don't have a special soundcard installed on this laptop I have with me.

So, my input is no surprise.  With this lower tech set-up, I could not hear what I'd consider to be much sound difference between the sound samples. 

This leads me to concur with what many have stated in the past...you won't hear the sound quality differences the cable makes if you are using lower end stereo equipment to listen to your recording. 

[PH]

HUGE thanks to STOBER for providing the hosting space for the cable comp.
Also thanks to Dennis Tyler for getting the Van Den Hul's to me in time for the comp.
A personal to thanks to Matt aka the Great Gumbino for
spending a lot of time corresponding with me about cables and such. Cheers, Phil

[thegreatgumbino]

Thanks for your efforts, Phil.  +T

Just listened on the computer setup.  I'm looking forward to hearing them on my home system this weekend.

[PH]

anyone care to share some thoughts?

[stevetoney]

anyone care to share some thoughts?

It's kinda hard to figure that there are 9 pages of opinions on how the cable comp testing should have been performed (and at times things got testy) and then when someone actually makes a really good cable comp test, nobody has anything to say about what they hear. 

Maybe peeps are reaching their own conclusions and don't want to talk down another product...which would be cool I guess.

On the other hand, honest opinions and feedback from knowledgable and experienced people I think are one of the things that make this a valuable website.

So c'mon people, let's get some discussion going!   

[Brian Skalinder]

anyone care to share some thoughts?

Getting to it soon, I hope.  My office and LR playback systems are in flux right now, so...need to get it sorted before I can do any meaningful listening.  Just confirming, but I assume since it's not noted explicitly that the CMC6/MK4 did not include KC5 actives?  Curious whether actives + shorty interconnects would benefit from higher quality cables, too.  Another comp for another day, I suppose (not suggesting you do it, Phil, just thinking "out loud" here).

Thanks for creating this comp, Phil!

[Massive Dynamic]

I'll agree with tonedeaf: I can't hear great differences playing files via computer > headphones (Sony MDR-V600). So, I burned a DVD-A of the 24-bit files and did a bit of listening.  [flac > xACT > DVD-Audiofile > Pioneer DV578a > Panasonic SA-XR25 > GMA Europas]

I can hear the cheapo cable as the dullest, though I am having trouble consistently picking out differences between the rest. Since I only tape/listen in 16-bit, I am not sure I'll hear the benefits of any of these cables. Time for someone with better playback/better ears to chime in. Thanks for the comp. Another +T.

Note: I think the test1 files have a non-standard header. ProTools won't import them, and they won't work in DVD-Audiofile. I had to open them in Audacity and re-export to wav to get them to work.

[PH]

non standard header? hmmm. that's weird. I used Nuendo to edit the wav files and then saved them each to mono. hit them with flac to shrink the size a bit.
I'll have to check that out. Sorry you had trouble. The rest of the tests2-4 were ok though? Are you using a mac? thanks, Phil

[Massive Dynamic]

non standard header? hmmm. that's weird. I used Nuendo to edit the wav files and then saved them each to mono. hit them with flac to shrink the size a bit.
I'll have to check that out. Sorry you had trouble. The rest of the tests2-4 were ok though? Are you using a mac? thanks, Phil

Yeah, I'm on a Mac. I checked the other files, and they're fine. Just the test1 files you might look at.

[Busman Audio]

I just gave a listen on my system   computer>firewire>tascam1884>KRK V6 series2

I thought test 2 gave the best difference in sound quality to compare the cables.
The cheapos of course sound cheapo
The hybrids were very nice with a good frequency response across the board and smooth through the highs

The silvers sounded at least as good as the hybrids to me on test 2 and that is hard to think that C4s sounded as good as schoeps.
The canares just sounded ordinary with no real "life" brought into the sound,  but not bad.

I will listen on my Thiel setup later.


Thanks for doing this. No matter how scientific I think real world tests are great.   +T