Evidence Audio Cables... how good are your ears?

[Modern Growl]

Well, I have a feeling this will be like putting blood into a pool of sharks, but why not... lets re-visit this.

I just purchased the Evidence Audio Lyric HG and Siren speaker cables and point blank, there is a difference. No snake oil, or placebo cables... I have very acute ears, so please keep your lashes to a minimum. Please do your research as well...
There is a fundamental difference between sold core conductors, vs. stranded core cables. Solid Core being superior. Plenty of info on the web... Some say it doesn't matter. Most research proves solid core is superior, which Evidence Audio cables are.

I compared these back to back with Monster Bass cables, which are stranded, and by comparison the Evidence's were obviously:
Punchier
Tighter Bottom
Less 'harsh'/'edge'
More immediate feel

The Monsters were:
Foggy in the lows
Fat/Slow sounding
Edgier/harsher in the High's

I'm not going to go off and say these were 3D sounding, hyper more dynamic with leaping harmonics, ect... I didn't hear that, not yet at least. Tony at Evidence advises to give it a min of 10 hours play time, and 40 hours total. Then the cables truly open up. My ears heard the difference from about 1 1/2 hour comparison. I'm looking forward to more hours spent, breaking these in.

There is a difference, and depending on how good your ears are, its a marked one. Is it worth $140.00 for both cables... that I will admit id debatable, but my ears tell me its worth it.

[Modern Growl]

Maybe I should prefix this by stating this:

I hope I'm not coming off confrontational, but I will openly state that most 'cable' threads here bother me. Most everyone flames those that hear the difference stating he or she is only hearing a difference because they spent the money. I purchased these cables skeptical and fully ready to return them. Needless to say, I'm not returning them.

Don't start flaming me, or others that say they hear the difference. If you do, you just don't have good enough ears, which honestly may be a 'blessing in disguise'.

[lug]

Electrons primarally travel on the surface of wire (called the "skin effect"). A multistranded cable, having more skin surface area, should in theory be better able to conduct electricity. In real life, it would probably be hard to pick out which sound came from which type.

[Dirk Diggler]

LOL!
Hey if you like them who cares, cables are like religion, just don't try and push yours on me.
Dirk

[Modern Growl]

Originally Posted by lug

Electrons primarally travel on the surface of wire (called the "skin effect"). A multistranded cable, having more skin surface area, should in theory be better able to conduct electricity. In real life, it would probably be hard to pick out which sound came from which type.

I'm no scientist or electronics guru... like I said, doing a bit of research would explain much more then I could reiterate.
From what I gather the problem with stranded is a phenomenon called 'strand hoping'. Basically all of the muli-strands are fighting, as it were, to carry the same signal, which causes an inherent blur. Solid core doesn't have this, thus clearer.
If the clarity I'm hearing is not from solid vs. stranded then the purity of copper must be it, I don't know... but these cables sound better.
Like I said, I was looking to purchase the cables and return them with piece of mind... I will not be returning these cables. There is a difference and it wasn't hard to pick.

[lug]

Originally Posted by Modern Growl

I'm no scientist or electronics guru... like I said, doing a bit of research would explain much more then I could reiterate.
From what I gather the problem with stranded is a phenomenon called 'strand hoping'. Basically all of the muli-strands are fighting, as it were, to carry the same signal, which causes an inherent blur. Solid core doesn't have this, thus clearer.
If the clarity I'm hearing is not from solid vs. stranded then the purity of copper must be it, I don't know... but these cables sound better.
Like I said, I was looking to purchase the cables and return them with piece of mind... I will not be returning these cables. There is a difference and it wasn't hard to pick.

WE can agree on one thing for sure. I will never argue with NOT using Monster cables.

[Modern Growl]

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

LOL!
Hey if you like them who cares, cables are like religion, just don't try and push yours on me.
Dirk

yup, and most people just follow the religion of their parents without doing any research!

[Luis Fabara]

Monster Cables are actually low quality as far as I have seen.

Also, for Speaker applications, solid conductor IS better, as long as it is thick.

Can you compare your cables, with a Solid Conductor cheap cable of the same gauge? Would be nice if you do.

Comparing to monster... I dont know I always hear them darker than other cables. But one day I just stoped worring about anything like that, because in a Live /Loud Situation... it doesnt really matters.

[Modern Growl]

Originally Posted by Luis Fabara

Monster Cables are actually low quality as far as I have seen.

Also, for Speaker applications, solid conductor IS better, as long as it is thick.

Can you compare your cables, with a Solid Conductor cheap cable of the same gauge? Would be nice if you do.

Comparing to monster... I dont know I always hear them darker than other cables. But one day I just stoped worring about anything like that, because in a Live /Loud Situation... it doesnt really matters.

no other cheap solid core's to compare, sorry.

[KJung]

I have a couple of Evidence speaker cables... nice stuff. I can't imagine using that solid core for instrument cable... quite stiff.

I still don't get the Monster bashing. Been using them for years... no problem... a 12 foot cable is about $30 or so.. they don't tangle.

I recently A/B'd my Monster, George L and Tara Lab cables... through a very articulate rig (Berg/Walter Woods) with a very articulate bass (Sadowsky Modern). I won't say they sounded exactly the same... but no way/no how would anyone notice a difference in a live situation... period

[Modern Growl]

Originally Posted by KJung

I have a couple of Evidence speaker cables... nice stuff. I can't imagine using that solid core for instrument cable... quite stiff.

I still don't get the Monster bashing. Been using them for years... no problem... a 12 foot cable is about $30 or so.. they don't tangle.

I recently A/B'd my Monster, George L and Tara Lab cables... through a very articulate rig (Berg/Walter Woods) with a very articulate bass (Sadowsky Modern). I won't say they sounded exactly the same... but no way/no how would anyone notice a difference in a live situation... period

I see where your coming from w/ the live situation. I don't think there would be a discernable difference even w/ the Evidence... especially if your playing w/ loud rock drummer. I know for certain there would be no discernable difference with the cables you mentioned. There pretty much all the same, with hair like differences.

If your a solo artist though, recording, with just drums/keys, maybe not an obnoxious horn... Evidence would be noticeable.

[JMX]

Skin effect doesn't apply with bass signals in practice. Just look at these numbers here:

[quote[..]
Examples

In copper, the skin depth at various frequencies is shown below.
frequency d
60 Hz 8.57 mm
10 kHz 0.66 mm
100 kHz 0.21 mm
1 MHz 66 µm
10 MHz 21 µm

[..][/quote]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect


Just get some decent wire and good plugs, the rest is just voodoo/snake oil.

[lug]

Originally Posted by KJung

I have a couple of Evidence speaker cables... nice stuff. I can't imagine using that solid core for instrument cable... quite stiff.

I still don't get the Monster bashing. Been using them for years... no problem... a 12 foot cable is about $30 or so.. they don't tangle.

I recently A/B'd my Monster, George L and Tara Lab cables... through a very articulate rig (Berg/Walter Woods) with a very articulate bass (Sadowsky Modern). I won't say they sounded exactly the same... but no way/no how would anyone notice a difference in a live situation... period

Anyone who sells a bass Rock cable and a bass Jazz cable for the same price is getting bashed by me.

[lug]

Originally Posted by JMX

Skin effect doesn't apply with bass signals. Just look at these numbers here:

[quote[..]
Examples

In copper, the skin depth at various frequencies is shown below.
frequency d
60 Hz 8.57 mm
10 kHz 0.66 mm
100 kHz 0.21 mm
1 MHz 66 µm
10 MHz 21 µm

[..]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect


Just get some decent wire and good plugs, the rest is just voodoo/snake oil.[/quote]


Oh I agree, just pointing out that solid conductor is theortically not as good as stranded. In the real world at audio frequencies, it makes no decernable difference. If there really is a difference, it's not from this particular piece of snakeoil.

[Modern Growl]

I'm not sure what this means really... not very clear.

Two things though: Though we do play 'bass', its a full frequency instrument reaching up to 12K +. Duh, we all know this.
Second, science aside (cuz I really don't know all that mumbo-jumbo) my bottom end is definitely tighter w/ the Lyric HG, no question about it.

[mayhem]

Originally Posted by lug

Electrons primarally travel on the surface of wire (called the "skin effect"). A multistranded cable, having more skin surface area, should in theory be better able to conduct electricity. In real life, it would probably be hard to pick out which sound came from which type.

Not always the case.

I used to be a very enthusiastic home audio fan. I'm sure you know what an rca plug looks like, well there were a company called Eichmann, which made 'bullet plugs' and instead of the solid ground ring, it was just a 1mm contact area, it shouldn't have been a good idea, but it was genius, it gave much better vocals and a much more cleaner and crisp sound.

Cables do make a difference, but its not huge.

[Modern Growl]

do some more research... there are plenty of site's, Evidence Audio's aside that prove solid core is better.

[stedtale]

my 2¢:

The only thing I see as an issue is paying $135 for a 20fter, does it really 10x better than that $14 rapco? Perhaps it does, it'll last longer, but then Rapco used to do a lifetime garuntee, if it breaks for any reason, even your fault, it gets replaced.

I'm neither hear nor there on the issue, but $7/ft is pretty steep, in my books..and bank account. But, if you want to spend the money, and think they do sound better, then use whatever you want-don't let anyone stop you.

If you are in a live sound environment, and if you are concerned about your cables, you need to consider what the PA/ soundguy is using, you can use a $135 cable from bass to amp, but if it goes to the PA is running half chewed, beaten wires, it won't matter worth a darn upfront what great cables you have.

edit: not that they'd run half chewed wires...but you get my point

[J.Wolf]

I definitely hear a difference with my Evidence Audio cables!!!

Exactly as you say in the forst post, those are the differences I hear, compared to Monster, and also a Lava cable with canare cabling and Neutrik connectors. It absolutely has more punch and transient impact, definitely tigher in the lows, more natural in the mids, and less harsh in the highs.

I'm not sure why people continue to call it Snake oil, the difference is so obvious to me. Maybe if you have a less critical rig it makes it harder to tell. For me, its night and day,

The only gripe I have is the stiffness of the cable. It can feel kind of cumbersome and if it gets twsited at all, I feel like its all over me!!

[Marcus Willett]

I bought my Evidence Audio Lyric cable maybe 2 years ago. It's been my main cable ever since.

A couple observations: There is a difference in sound. It was not a huge difference; I would not even say significant, but it is there. Our guitarist noticed a "difference" and I had not told him I was using a new cable. (I'm sure folks would like to chime in about some unconscious body cues or something...please don't bother). I would more-or-les agree with Modern Growl's description.

Another one is the very legitimate point that KJung and others bring up is "but no way/no how would anyone notice a difference in a live situation." This is probably true and I wouldn't disagree/debate that point.

But

(and it's a big but)

If I can hear a difference (And I do) and it makes me enjoy the tone I'm getting (it does) I will play better with more energy and enthusiasm because I'm diggin' it more. That will make a difference in a live situation and to me is totally worth it.