Have you seen online that new cables need to be “burned in” before hearing any improvement in sound quality? During cable manufacturing processes that involve extrusion of insulation over conductors, gases may become trapped beneath insulation that extrusion can seal over, leading to an unstable sound with limited depth and detail that lacks detail and depth in music reproduction.
After burning-in for 100 hours or so (during which trapped gases dissipate and impurities within conductor metal start acting like diodes for current flow in specific directions favoring current flow in one particular direction), you should hear a more cohesive, balanced sound with improved transparency.
What Factors Impact the Sound of Speaker Cables?
However, other factors also impact the sound of speaker cables, including gauge, length, composition and whether they’re bi-wire or mono-wire. Quality connectors are also key, along with whether shielding is present and whether there are oxygen free copper (OFC), silver OFC or copper OFC cables available.
How Does Cable Routing Affect Sound Quality?
Also, how a cable is routed has an immense effect on sound quality; whether coiled, flattened or straight across can have significant results for its use; some people swear by specific types of cable more than others but this decision should ultimately depend on both your speakers and amplifier.
How do Capacitance, Inductance, and Resistance Influence Sound Quality?
However, certain factors do have an effect on sound quality such as capacitance, inductance and resistance. Capacitance determines how much current can be contained by wires while inductance refers to voltage variations when different currents change; resistance refers to how much energy is lost during transmission which varies based on cable construction, gauge and length.
How Can You Maximize Your Cable’s Performance?
All these attributes will ultimately determine how great a cable sounds, but for an instant fix it may be best to simply get some of the highest-grade copper cables you can afford and run them directly into your speakers. After every use use contact cleaner such as Blue Horizon Clean-IT or CAIG DeoxIT on all plugs and sockets in your system to maximize its performance as much as possible and enjoy its full potential!