Instrument cables rated and compared. A buyers' guide!

#243
Naack said:
I bought a VOVOX Cable so you don't have to - A Review

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Before I dive into the main bulk of this review, I want to make one thing crystal clear: I have A/B this cable against several instrument cables and there was no discernible difference in sound quality. It wont make your bass sound better, and it wont add any sonic characteristics to your signal. This review isn't about sound quality or the physics of electrical conduction, it's about build quality and why I was so excited to purchase this cable (and a matching 1m pedalboard to amp cable).

Build Quality and Design
The VOVOX Sonorus is by far the nicest instrument cable I have ever had my hands on. The exterior is a natural fibre that feels good in the hands and visually appealing. Spiralling up the cable, across the checkered pattern, is a thin orange strand that I find quite striking. The jacks are made by GH, but the cover is VOVOX, looks nice and plugs in as one would expect.
One of the sillier design elements of VOVOX cables is that the instrument side of the cable has black heat shrink and the pedalboard/amp side has orange heat shrink along with the stitched VOVOX tag. Apparently this is to indicate which way the cable should go in for superior sonic transmission, but we aren't tricked so easily. (Yes I did try them in reverse and I can confirm, no difference)
The cable came packaged in a very nice cotton bag with hilarious instructions on how to install the cables.

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Quality of Life
We have finally arrived at the reason I was so happy to drop $120 USD (plus shipping) for this cable. It lays like a freaking shoelace. I can walk across my living room without having to uncoil it and it will just follow me along. It doesn't try to naturally coil itself up and I don't have to do the quarter-twist to get rid of the small coils like on normal plastic exterior cables. It just lays there. I think part of this is due to the natural fibre exterior and the fact that it is a thick heavy cable.

Conclusion
I like this cable. I like how it sits on the floor and moves with me as I wander. I like the fact that it is very pretty and has excellent build quality. Do I think it is sonically better than my custom Revelation Cable Company instrument cables? No. Do I think it sounds better than a $30 Ernie Ball guitar cable? No. Is it worth the price? Depends, but probably not. But am I happy to have bought it? Yes.

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I have purchased VOVOX cables too. On top of everything that has been said, I am still noticing some slight more clarity. Very subtle but it sounds a tiny bit more dynamic, more transparent than before. Maybe it is my ear tricking me but it sounds like I have to be a little more careful about my articulation and muting as it is a tiny tiny bit emphasized.

Nonetheless, you don't but this cable for the potential clarity it may (or may not) bring to your play, especially if you play distorted bass / guitar, or use heavy effects. You want to buy this cables if you like high end components, hand made, and if you want to support a small company that aims for the best possible product. I like this philosophy a lot.
 
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#245
Thank you so much for doing this, super helpful as your other analyses.

I've been using the Monster cables because they replace them for free when they fail which they've done twice so far. They even sent me a better model. Although I'm not sure what model I'm using.

Seems like they're not good with handling noise. What do you mean with "handling noise" btw?
 
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#246
Thanks, much appreciated!

I was under the impression that Monster changed their policy from exchange at point of sale, to having to send it in. not the end of the world, but I thought it was much more of a tempting offer to be able to walk into GC with your dead monster cable and have them give you a new one. Maybe it was a problematic policy for them. Now you have to mail it in and wait for them to assess and send you a replacement. Again, not the end of the world.

Handling noise: some cables are susceptible to a little bit of noise if the cable is physically moved while being used. I've never encountered much but I know it's a thing. It's one criteria I wish I had tested for, I just kinda spaced it.
 
#248
#249
markjazzbassist said:
have you read the first post in this thread with the link to Bongo’s scientific tests with frequency response charts and the like? If so you will see that cables don’t affect the bass or midrange just the treble peak point. That article has saved me a lot of money lol.
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yes I’m very familiar with all things ovnilab. Including that article. My methods and goals were very different obviously, and my findings were simply that expensive doesn’t equal “better” but that everyone agreed consistently about the different tonalities of the different cables. I’m not saying I’m right and someone else is wrong. And my article is stuffed with caveats and ymmv’s, this is just what I had to add to a conversation that already included some more scientific analyses, like the one you mentioned.
 
#250
J.Wolf said:
yes I’m very familiar with all things ovnilab. Including that article. My methods and goals were very different obviously, and my findings were simply that expensive doesn’t equal “better” but that everyone agreed consistently about the different tonalities of the different cables. I’m not saying I’m right and someone else is wrong. And my article is stuffed with caveats and ymmv’s, this is just what I had to add to a conversation that already included some more scientific analyses, like the one you mentioned.
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You're not simply buying a cable for its potential impact on tone. Or are you ?

Better what ?
Better feel ?
Better look ?
Better durability ?
Better economic impact ?
Better tone ?
Better price tag ?

-I want my cable flexible enough (I disliked fighting with the Fender Deluxe)
-I wanted to have nice looking cables with beautiful materials,
-I want them to last for a long time,
-I appreciate supporting a small company that does everything by hand in a small workshop, if possible not so far away from home.
-I appreciate the improved tonal clarity, but the 2-3% improvement are nothing compared to practicing more, tweaking the Eq or all the other settings from the pedal or the amp.
-The price tag is not relevant to me if the built quality is proportionate. I truly understand many of you might not agree on this point.

In my case, Vovox (or other high end cable) suited my needs.
For most bassists, I am convinced it is totally unnecessary if all you want is simply a cable to plug that works and doesn't cost too much.
 
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#251
Correct, I never said “buy this cable if you want your sound to be more x”. And that wasn’t the stated or implied goal of my article. It was simply an acknowledgment that these different cables do have different tonal characteristics, when all else is equal, in an albeit anecdotal setting. These are the results of double blind testing with a small group of savvy players and engineers with good ears. That’s all. Nobody has to agree with them, or has been asked to.

Bongos article is a fantastic resource, and he speaks eloquently to the tangible qualities, including build quality, components, value/price, resistance, capacitance, and handling noise. I’m not seeing anywhere in that article where he says “all of these cables sound exactly the same” so I’m not sure what argument is being made in that regard. And I don’t know any reasonable player who wouldn’t say “you should just practice more if you want to sound better”, but that’s not the question.

anyhoo, I just came here to share a data point, not defend it. Feel free to take shots.
 
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#253
bongomania said:
Regrettably I don't have a solid answer for you for my part. I still own most of the cables I tested, and none have crapped the bed, even the cheapest ones. I do occasionally wonder if one or another has become more microphonic than before, but I never did figure out how to test that in a reliably measurable way.

The cables I have used most heavily and consistently since then are the DiMarzios and some Canare cable with Neutrik plugs that Butch at Bayou Cables assembled around the same time as those reviews. Since those are still just fine after years of regular use, I'm inclined to give them the long term thumbs up. But I have not given equal treatment to all the others in the group, so I can't say whether they'd handle it better or worse.
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Thanks @bongomania
I think my take from reading this thread is go with your above mentioned "DiMarzios". Sounds like if I can get them for a good price, I should get plenty of years of life from them. Regardless of if they are not considered "the best overall" they are still up there. Plus, they have a lifetime warranty I've heard. Cheers!
 
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#254
Killens84 said:
Has anyone tried the newer MXR Pro Series (DCIX) cable? I'm curious about its capacitance and construction quality. I know MXR typically makes good stuff.
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I guess, it's better late than never. I owned some MXR DCIX10R and one DCIW12R cable for some years. MXR keeps the capacitance as a secret and doesn't publish it. the 10ft model has a resonant peak in high mids, but doesn't sound dark, longer lengths might be perceived as on darker side. I'd guess something around 35-45pF/ft, so it's not a really low-capacitance cable if that's your thing.

the cable itself is very nicely balanced: good protection and not overly thick; flexible enough to be soft, but rigid enough not to knit every time. and it sounds good, full and balanced. my grief is the jacks: they have plastic shells that wear out very soon, they're still functional, but there're more and more white dots on the black surface.

the DCIW12R's jacks are fully metal instead. but my grief is the snow white fabric around the cable, it gets dirty very fast and cleans badly. it also seems that the fabric is not very durable, my DiMarzio cables had a better one.

I'll end this mini-review with the fact that my oldest DCIX10R had four years of use and didn't have a single problem aside from peeling paint off the jacks. others didn't fail as well.
 
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#256
MaidenVT said:
Are there any cables just made for Bass guitar?
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Monster Cable and maybe a few other brands offer bass-specific instrument cables. The pitch is that the bass is better, but low audio frequencies aren’t especially challenging for a competently designed and properly functioning instrument cable to convey. One might argue that the upper harmonics can actually be more important (and more difficult to get right) to the sound of some bass players. Higher frequencies are affected more by the filtering effects of cable capacitance than lower frequencies. When you go down in frequency, the capacitive attenuation is less of an issue.

Some cables are manufactured with deliberate filtering effects in the audio band; I would expect those to impact bass response more than a fairly conventional design like Monster Cables.
 
#257
Low-Five said:
Monster Cable and maybe a few other brands offer bass-specific instrument cables. The pitch is that the bass is better, but low audio frequencies aren’t especially challenging for a competently designed and properly functioning instrument cable to convey. One might argue that the upper harmonics can actually be more important (and more difficult to get right) to the sound of some bass players. Higher frequencies are affected more by the filtering effects of cable capacitance than lower frequencies. When you go down in frequency, the capacitive attenuation is less of an issue.

Some cables are manufactured with deliberate filtering effects in the audio band; I would expect those to impact bass response more than a fairly conventional design like Monster Cables.
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Monster Bass cables (at least in the past) were simply high capacitance cables that rolled off highs creating the perception of increased low end.
 
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#259
FYI, I had an Asterope Studio cable that failed at the connector on one end. I sent it to Asterope for repair. Notwithstanding the "limited lifetime warranty" touted on their website, they charged me a $20 "handling fee" (because the cable was more than 1 year old), and after I got the cable back it quickly failed again. At that point, I didn't feel like paying another $20 fee for to repair an obviously defective cable, so it sits in a box. By contrast, I had a several years old Evidence Lyric fail and they repaired it for free, provided free return shipping, and it's working fine.
 
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#260
Robal said:
FYI, I had an Asterope Studio cable that failed at the connector on one end. I sent it to Asterope for repair. Notwithstanding the "limited lifetime warranty" touted on their website, they charged me a $20 "handling fee" (because the cable was more than 1 year old), and after I got the cable back it quickly failed again. At that point, I didn't feel like paying another $20 fee for to repair an obviously defective cable, so it sits in a box. By contrast, I had a several years old Evidence Lyric fail and they repaired it for free, provided free return shipping, and it's working fine.
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Interesting. I’ve had failures with evidence audio cables and I’ve had an asterope for years that has had no issues. Go figure
 
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