I have absolutely no idea, I’m not a sound engineer of any kind. I’m just sharing my experiences.
I’ve been in this hobby for a long time and I’ve a/b’d mogami XLR interconnects in a few systems, and in each case, it was not difficult nor expensive to get better sound from other cables.
Ok, I know this will not compute for some folks here, so be nice. I use a custom made Mogami cable as my phono cable ($150ish with nice RCA connectors). I have auditioned 7 different cables within a $1000 budget and found that my Mogami sounds at least as good and sometimes much better than what I have auditioned. From what I understand, the capacitance and shielding of the phono cable have much more impact on SQ than metallurgy or special recipes. It just so happens that the Mogami I am using has robust shielding and minimal capacitance. Would a $3K “reserve” sound better? Probably, but I am unlikely to ever find out.
I do not dispute your experience; I do not argue with others subjective conclusions.
But I remain fascinated.
Got ya, yeah my best guess is that there’s much inherently much less friction in recording live sound to the master tape or digital equivalent and playing that back from the same equipment that recorded it, versus pulling the sound out of a mass-produced (inexpensive and not the original) consumer medium and reproducing it.
While playing we’re almost always wearing headphones. The mix is played back thru the monitors and is intended to sound as uncolored and precise as possible. Or at least that’s what I think is the intention. But I’m far from an engineer.
Mogami seem to make cables mostly for pro audio. But they are also an OEM.
My Linn LP12 turntable came with a tonearm cable that was designed by Linn and made by Mogami. Linn call it the “T-Kable”. It’s excellent and an “upgrade” is largely considered pointless.
oh well,
From my experience:
Distance when you are in studio and you have plenty of musician you have long long cable and Interference could be sky high social shielding is very important
Next I use my son XLR piano cable and since I like my hifi underside or near me or in the back of my listening position professional cable are the only one without producing hum
For home cable Audio what I experience if you use some material you bring brightness silver is often use to make a long story short most Audio cable for home modified the sound they put an emphasis on something that other don’t
So if you want the real thing you use pro cable
And if you want “soupe du jour” Cable you go in the cable, But sometime with those cable you will learn that your system is dull or marshmallow less accurate than you talked in other hand you get the real thing of your HiFi
That’s why I like about PS audio HiFi When you decide you listen cable you’re really listen cable For the Audio part
In XLR with professional cable so far it post the sound the same, That’s why I’m interested in Mogami, They are supposed to have the edge that missing on the other one and since I need distance we’re talking about 50 feets
Mogami Seems a good option, Most Japan HiFi recommendation goes with this cable
Even the guy who purchase an electricity pole dedicated for his HiFi use those cable
distance shielding and colorless that’s what you expect from HiFi to bring you what pro recorded, The bad thing loudness and Auto tune will show
While I have chuckled at the same irony you describe, the idea that the majority of recording systems have reached the apogee of recording fidelity is obviously not true IMO. All one has to do is listen to recordings from companies like ECM, Waterlily Acoustics, Tonian Labs, etc. to hear how labels like those deliver results above the average. I was just reading about how Boenicke Audio owner Sven Boenicke has worked with LessLoss cables to implement custom audiophile quality cable made by LessLoss into his recording studio B:There Now’s equipment chain. Shunyata website lists a number of recording studios that have installed their noise reduction technologies into their studios. So it’s not like awareness that it is possible to improve on the usual studio status quo is totally lacking.
It is a complex issue.
I find fascinating that so many recordings made in the 1950s and 60s remain more than competitive in terms of sound quality when played back on modern equipment.
Certainly, the quality of modern recordings varies from adequate to spectacular.
A raw recording can sound sterile. For example, a pop singer’s voice lacks the creaminess we want to hear without some compression, especially when close mic’d. Electric bass guitar similarly does not lay well without compression. Classica recordings really employ compression. We have learned to expect a certain type of sound for certain genres.
On playback, good quality, pro cables do a nice job. But high quality audio file cables do indeed sound better.
well in fact for recording If I look video from the 50 to 60 and 70 one singer sing you see them smile you see their teeth and you see their face
Modern singer if they don’t have a headset when they sing in the microphone they just look like they’re eating d… Since the microphone is so close to their teeth
So instead of filtering popping sound they have to filter clacking teeth on the microphone
But they don’t care with autotune Taylor Swift made billion! But then again she use a deaf Record man and the sound is so poor no matter what cable you are using
This is interesting … and aligns with my phono cable experience.
“I find fascinating that so many recordings made in the 1950s and 60s remain more than competitive in terms of sound quality when played back on modern equipment.”
To my perception the best of that era may be competitive but not equivalent. The best of that earlier period and the best of today’s recordings sound quite different. Somewhat similar to the way examples of minimalist low wattage SET amp / high efficiency speaker systems and high tech and expensive systems of great technical complexity each have their own charms. One type of listener loves capturing the gestalt of how an orchestra sounds seated mid-hall and another person loves the analytical clarity of good multi-mike recordings that allow an understanding of the score in ways that diffuse “natural” sounding recordings obscure.
in another way:
PS Audio vs Decware!
State of the art technologie vs Simplicity to the extreme!
both work great but we are not looking for the same sound!
Enjoy
Why we don’t have standard connector as the pro used? much simpler to switch cable?
Excellent points
Well finding info is one thing, finding a bulk seller is less easier than I taught!
eBay or Alix?
or
fake audio cable on canuck with cloned box!
so many choice?
Currently in Akihabara tryna figure out how to make a great cable from Mogami parts… have lost the link to Paul’s how to (oh, instant hyperlink!) on XLR cables made from mogami.
Any recommendations for XLR brands?
Wish I could make a USB C (Tbolt) to B for my incoming B4M
Prices so much better here… anyone need a few yards of raw cable?! 
What fun! The selection is probably a bit overwhelming.
I broke down and bought a Nordost Red Dawn USB C to USB B. about $300. Better than anything else could find that I could afford.
I bought a Japan-made brand USB B - C (Oyaide Denki) for ¥4000 ($25), but think that Nordost is def in my future… just wish the TMR sales guys hadn’t yanked my chain trying to up sell me to a $1000 one after their system wouldn’t allow for shipment to Hawaii and let the open box one I was eyeing for less than half that get away… have $100 rewards cert all ready to go now tho after I get over it.
And, who knows, maybe the $25 one will do the trick - stranger things have happened.
