vasia

Ixos or Tributaries versus bluejeancables?

I was looking at the Accessories4less.com website and they offer Ixos and Tributaries audio interconnects, both of which are good quality according to multiple threads here and relatively inexpensive. Bluejeancables.com interconnects cost about the same and have received high praise many time, so I was wondering how would they compare to Ixos and Tributaries?

Chu Gai

I can't imagine why there'd be an audible difference. If those were my choices, I'd support the forum sponsor or the ones that looked nicest to me.

vasia

Well, I know this subject has been discussed over and over again, but it seems like getting better interconnects makes much more difference than speaker wire, which can be obtained just from Home Depot, etc. I have just a pair of the regular black cable with white/red plugs or RCA 6-channel cable connecting my DVD player to the receiver (for 2-ch ctereo or DVD-Audio). I definitely am not going to by some really "audiophile" interconnects, which would cost hundreds of $. However, would simply upgrading to bluejeancables, Ixos or Tributaries, which is still pretty expensive, make any audible differences or it would be too small to make sense or I would need to spend way more to get real improvement?

JamesGL

I like Blue Jeans.

I ordered a component set from them and I like the fact that they will do custom length.

I just ordered a bunch of cables from them this weekend to complete my upgrades. Also, the fact that they offer purple cables is a .

Chu Gai

With audio interconnects as long as their decently shielded (usually coax but one can in most cases use a twisted approach too...not usually much RFI problems in home environments) its largely a function of the cable capacitance and it takes a might big ass capacitance to cause an effect which is invariably a roll off of the upper frequencies. Even junk audio interconnects, which admittedly look cheap and have pretty ugly looking RCA's, have no issue with passing a flat signal with no added distortion from the source to the destination.

Specific lengths are a great reason to order custom. So you're a purple guy... One could always order some techflex and shrink tubing and make them red for the xmas holidays!

vasia

Chu Gai,
What I do not understand is the following. There is a fairly large industry making these various cables, many of which cost outrageous amounts. Obviously people are buying a lot of them for some reason. Can you or somebody else tell me at what level (price, examples of brands) would there be a noticable improvement if I were to upgrade interconnects in my system or essentially cable upgrade over the cheap stock ones is never a good idea?

Shane Martin

I have not tried the Blue Jeans cables just yet but from the looks of them they are fairly well made. I'd say from experience that the Ixos interconnects I bought were noticable better for music than my previous ones. I've tried Monster, Acoustic Research and the cheap crap at Target and these were far better. I think I paid around $25 for a pair of interconnects for my cd player. Not what I'd call a substantial amount of money really.

Chu Gai

vasia, consider the following link on Audio Interconnects which may answer your question.

There is a fairly large industry making these various cables, many of which cost outrageous amounts.
Not as big as you think with the exception of Monster. I don't have dollar sales for companies but it's smaller than it looks. You are quite right. Some cost dearly. Bear in mind that if a person sees something priced too inexpensively they'll associate that with it being crap. Price it higher and it gives a quite different aura.

Obviously people are buying a lot of them for some reason.
Indeed. It is one thing to buy cables on strictly engineering considerations and pay accordingly. Cables are like dishes, silverware, salt, sugar, etc. Come special occasions, you put out your nice china, good silverware, crystal decanters, artistic serving plates that echo the ethnic origin of what you're serving to create a feeling of ambiance. Close your eyes though and the food tastes no differently from Corelle plates you picked up at the flea market. That's cables for you in a nutshell. We live in a free enterprise system and rather liberal advertising and marketing programs. For example you'll see some rather pricy Audioquests that purport to lower distortion. This was recently put to the test over at Audioholics and they found this to be an unsubstantiated claim.
Define the problem. Choose cables that meet the requirements (that link ought to give you a feel for things). Identify your preferences (feel, appearance, locking RCA's, etc.). Pick one.

Can you or somebody else tell me at what level (price, examples of brands) would there be a noticable improvement if I were to upgrade interconnects in my system or essentially cable upgrade over the cheap stock ones is never a good idea?
I think it's good to have the stock ones in a baggie just in case. Generally they are not the most robust of cables but confining myself to audio interconnects, if you're looking for an audible improvement, it's just not there. Again, the original link should illustrate why.
People can, have, and will abuse cables. They'll pull on them instead of gently gripping and twisting the connectors, they'll step on them, and then blame the cable when there's a problem.
For sources, you can turn to RS, the Dayton line over at partsexpress.com, ARs over at acessories4less.com, forum sponsors, Target, Liberty makes some nice ones...so many places and mostly none of them bad.

Bob McElfresh

One guideline (to avoid over-buying) is: Budget no more than 10% of the equipment costs for the wires

So take your SACD player cost, and some of your reciever cost and figure out a budget.

Will you hear a difference if you up-grade? This is a factor of 2 things:

- How much marketing hype you read/listen to
- How 'sensitive' your system is (with speakers being the most important part).

A $800 set of interconnects wont help much for a $900 speaker system.


I believe speaker wires are a more critical part of your system than audio interconnects. There are more issues with pushing power down a wire than there is pushing line-level signals down coax.

I hate to burst a bubble you may have, but think about this: how much of a difference does a $120 wine glass vs a $8 department store wine glass have on the taste of the wine? While there IS a small difference, the wine is the important thing, not the glass. Same with music.

The source, and proper setup/placement/calibration of your speakers is much more important than botique interconnects. (The people trying to sell you cables will ignore this simple truth - but... they are trying to sell you something, not help you have good sound.)

JamesGL

Blue Jeans Cable ships way way too fast.
I ordered it Friday night, it was shipped Saturday and arrived Monday.

For the first time, I was hoping that something I ordered would ship later since I just realized I measured the RF cable length wrong. I ordered 3' but I realize now that I need 3' and 8".

Anyone need a 3' RF cable? I wonder if BJC will give me partial credit for the 3' if I return it. But then again, their cables are made to order so I am so out of luck.

vasia

Hi guys,
Thanks a lot for your comments. I think I'll just get a new 2 channel interconnect from bluejeanscable or accessories4less and wait on getting a 6 channel one, because it probably would not be worth the investment.