zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 Hi guys I’d like a bit of advice if possible regarding cables to finish off my system. Currently I have the Elektra Pnyx preamp and the Elektra HD Reference power amp which I bought last year new. I also have the Matrix X Sabre Pro MQA Dac running from my PC with Audirvana and Tidal etc and also an old Rotel RCD 1520. Speakers are Osborn Epitome tower Elite speakers. I did have the whole system hooked up with Osborn silverlink rca and Xlr cables and Osborn Datalink bi wire cable. A few months ago I replaced the Osborn cables with ViaBlue cables and have noticed an improvement with the sound. I am one cable short and was thinking of getting another ViaBlue Xlr or Rca cable to connect the preamp to the power amp. I was told it’s better with Rca even though the Elektra setup is fully balanced. Currently am using the Osborn silverlink rca to connect the preamp to the power amp. I’m thinking of getting an Xlr but not sure.
xlr8or Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 1 hour ago, zonx said: I was told it’s better with Rca even though the Elektra setup is fully balanced. By whom? I would suggest using the XLR cable pair if both Elektra ends are fully balanced. Otherwise, stick with RCA if the XLR in/out are floating even if it's just one end. 3
zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Author Posted February 18, 2021 Thanks for the reply. It was suggested by the guy who sold it to me. His opinion was the Elektra pair sounds better with RCA instead of XLR even though they are balanced.
Steam Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 If you go to a Hi-Fi store and ask them you should be able to put both on your credit card and then return the one you don’t like. I have done that before. Only problem is sometimes they may not have the same cable in the same length with both connection types.
zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Author Posted February 18, 2021 That is a great idea but I didn’t think of it at the time lol
xlr8or Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 Exploring this further, can you confirm if the volume was louder in output when the Osborn XLR's were in there?
zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Author Posted February 18, 2021 Thanks good idea I’ll try it again tomorrow and let you know how it goes
buddyev Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 The designer - Arthur rappos - recommends rca 1
zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Author Posted February 18, 2021 Thanks for that maybe that’s why the salesman recommended that as well. I’m not going to argue with that then 1
buddyev Posted February 18, 2021 Posted February 18, 2021 Tbh I be never tried my Electra/pnyx with xlr after arthur told me that.
zonx Posted February 18, 2021 Author Posted February 18, 2021 Cool thanks I’ve mainly used the XLR but will switch to RCA now. But even with XLR it sounds pretty good.
joz Posted February 19, 2021 Posted February 19, 2021 I also run the same combination. I have run them both ways but currently using XLR for no other reason that I can. 1
zonx Posted February 19, 2021 Author Posted February 19, 2021 Hi Joz that’s what I have been doing as well and sounds terrific. I’ll give the RCA a go just to see because that’s what they are recommending. 1
joz Posted February 19, 2021 Posted February 19, 2021 48 minutes ago, zonx said: Hi Joz that’s what I have been doing as well and sounds terrific. I’ll give the RCA a go just to see because that’s what they are recommending. The only thing I can probably add is that any differences may be simply attributed to different wire. Like comparing two different RCAs.
zonx Posted February 19, 2021 Author Posted February 19, 2021 That’s a good point. I’ve just ordered a ViaBlue Rca cable exactly same as the Xlr version then I will be able to properly compare. 1
dreadly Posted February 22, 2021 Posted February 22, 2021 Hey Jonx i bought a March Audio power amp last year and it came with 75 cm Mogami RCA to XLR leads which i thought would be too short for my setup. So i tried some Mogami RCA to RCA leads with 6.5 mm jack converters because thats the inputs you have for March Audios,either 6.5 mm jack or XLR. Anyways switched everything around and tried the RCA(preamp) to XLR(power amp) leads and it was quite a noticeable improvment.
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