Next Sunday we will go live again! This time we’ll have a somewhat nerdy blind test of six interlinks. But not just any pair of interlinks. We will test six interlinks with different types of conducting material so we can determine whether there is a difference and if so: how big the differences are.
We at Alpha Audio sometimes have some crazy tests. Why? Ah well… why not!
We were curious about the influence of conductor material (copper, silver or a composite). After all, we often hear: silver is crisp and sharp, copper is warm sounding, etc. But is that really true?
We searched online for good base materials. And we purchased 4 meters of conductor material for each cable (single ended: 1 conductor, 1 ground…). We tried to get each conductor the same thickness: 1mm diameter.
- 5N silver, 1mm diameter, 35 Euro per meter
- Single crystal copper with graphene, 1mm diameter, 150 Euro per meter
- Gamma lamp cord (fine-stranded red copper, as some call it)
- Mundorf SGW 105 – 0.5mm, 15 Euro per meter
- Tinned copper, 1mm diameter, price unknown.
The sixth cable is a variant with copper/graphene and silver return. This is to determine if the ground has an impact on the sound and measurements.
Heeft de gebruikte isolator ook geen invlied?
mvg Andre
Alles heeft invloed. Dus ja….
Hope I’m in the right place, if not also ok 😉
Unfortunately I missed the stream, I’m looking it up now.
I’m setting up the system, would love to install a custome made alpha audio cable😬
#in lamp cable we trust
This is the right place! :-).
One question jaap: would you make your own cables in the future or do you think the cost of Hardware , effort and time for completion is too big?
It is very hard to make a very good cable that is completely in balance. Also consistency is hard. And don’t get me started in finding the good materials. Think: conductors, plugs, insulation, shielding… This test has cost me over 2000 Euro, not including time. And what did we get? ONE decent sounding cable… Is that cable perfect? No…
So, I would honestly think very hard before making you own cables. It is fun to experiment. And you learn a lot. One thing I learned is that the good manufactures have a LOT of challenges to overcome. I respect them even more now.
But no: I am not going to make my own cables. It is hard, definately not very cheap and a lot of work to make a nice looking cable.
I saw the video of you building it ….. that convinced me 😅
That’s totally crazy how much effort you put into it.
Thank you for the insights
Hahaha….yeah. It is much harder than you think! But thanks for the compliment!
Maybe…
HGC 99.99% pure silver wire, 1mm diameter – €24.78 (with VAT) + shipping
https://www.hificollective.co.uk/wire/hgc-pure-silver-wire-1mm-dia.html
That is 4n. We had 5n.
Jaap, can you share the affiliate links pls?
There is no affiliate link unfortunately. This was ebay. I will share the link asap.
This was the Silver wire we used:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/385054041750?var=652934148595
I want to have a child with you! 😀
Thank youuu and good holidays.
Let’s not do that 😉
Happy holidays!
Thanks for the link!
I hope this is the right place but I sure would like to try the winner in my set. That little bit of extra lushness would fit in just right.
Noted!
Very interesting test. As I am buildning up a new good sounding system from scratch it sure would have been intriguing to try out your cable in my system 🙂
Noted!
next time, ethernet cable ?? some argue that simple unshielded CAT5 is better…
Who knows! 🙂
Through all the tests that we are conducting, we heard that if the equipment on both sides of the ethernet cable share the same ground (same 0 reference in the alternating current), the influence of the ethernet cable used diminishes rapidly. In most instances that would be a switch on one end and a streamer or streaming amplifier on the other end.
So there is something going on, but maybe we audio enthousiasts are focussing on the symptom and not the cause. That would be interesting to confirm or reject.
Indeed. This could be interesting!
I really admire and respect the dedication.
Thanks man!