Most Expensive Audio Cables
For years, audiophiles have been dishing out dollar after dollar to attain the highest level of sonic perfection. Have they achieved it or have their efforts been a total waste? There are many who will argue one way or the other but, whatever the case, expensive speaker cables aren’t going away.
Pear ANJOU Speaker Cables – $7,250
Pear Cable Corporation’s ANJOU Speaker Cable, a 12 foot length of which retails for $7,250, reportedly “allow new levels of sonic accuracy to be explored.” Supposedly, this exploration is accomplished by “proprietary hybrid geometry,” “ultra low electrical reactance” and “fully annealed 99.999% pure oxygen free Copper.”
In response to a glowing review by Dave Clark, editor of Positive Feedback, in which he refers to the cables as “very danceable”, the James Randi Educational Foundation offered a million-dollar prize to anyone who can prove beyond the shadow of doubt that these expensive speaker cables actually perform better (to the human ear, mind you) than Monster Cable’s $80 HDMI cables. While the prize is available to anyone who can prove the superiority of the ANJOU cables, the JREF unabashedly directs this challenge at Mr. Clark himself. In fact, the JREF apparently has many such unclaimed prizes for audiophiles who can prove that certain exotic piece of audio equipment are actually as exceptional as they claim.
Nordost ODIN Supreme Reference Cables – $20,000
Using twenty-four conductors made of 99.99999% oxygen free copper with an extruded layer of silver, these cables promise uncompromising sound. The conductors are constructed using a “Precision Dual Micro Mono-Filament” design. I’m not sure what that means, but it certainly sounds awesome. The conductors are arranged in four groups of six conductors for maximum flexibility.
Nordost WHITELIGHT Glass Fiber Optic Cables – about $33,000
Audiophiles have been using fiber optic cables for awhile now, but they’ve always been an expensive option. Toshiba’s TOSLINK connectors (generically known as EIAJ optical) have been in use since the early 80s. The advantage of optical cable is that the optical fibers—strands of clear plastic or quartz glass used to transmit the signal—are not susceptible to the electromagnetic interference that plagues ordinary cables. It’s not surprising, then, that the most expensive audio cable in the world is a fiber optic cable.
Nordost, a company known for their scientific approach to audio/visual cabling, produces the WHITELIGHT fiber optic cable. Made for two-or-more channel audio systems, this expensive cable uses heavily polished, high quality glass fiber with three layers of low loss insulation and an internal damping mechanism to deliver the best possible sound. Each end is capped with a composite TOSLINK connector with precision-polished lenses.
Siltech Emperor Crown – over $40,000
Siltech utilizes both silver and gold metallurgy in the construction of their Signature series of audio cables. Their twenty years of research in the field have allowed them to claim the lowest measured distortion of any brand of audio cable. They do so by reducing the microscopic cracks (crystalline boundaries) in the silver and filling the remaining ones with gold. The Emperor Crown, part of the Signature series, has the distinction of being the most expensive audio cable on the market.
Coat Hanger – Under a buck
The world’s most expensive audio cables may sound nice, but do they actually sound better? According to this rather humorous story, a simple wire coat hanger produces sound that is virtually indistinguishable from that produced by audio cables sold by Monster, another brand known for their relatively expensive consumer cables. Perhaps you should think twice before emptying your wallet for a pair of speaker cables.
Joe Fama
says:Most Expensive Audiophile Power Cable is the BMI Cables "OCEANIC STATEMENT" Version UL/LE .
MSRP. is $14,500 for a 6-footer. Platinum Design.
I have seen BMI OCEANIC at the Munich Show and OCEANIC sounds incredible. Heard a system with an without the OCEANIC. The upgrade is AMAZING ! Makes a pair of $10K speakers sound more like $100K. Makes a $15K amp sound more like a $50K. Hearing the improvement is the most impressive I have ever heard in my 50 years of Hi-End Audio Ejoyment. I am saving up for my first BMI OCEANIC STATEMENT.
Joe
Mike Davis
says:The $15K BMI Cables Oceanic Statement Version UL/LE is the most innovative power cable product I have ever heard. I bought two and currently makes my hi-end audio system sound like a million bucks. True the Bmi OCeanic Statment version ul/le is expensive but it is worth the results. Superior dynamics and natural ambience. The human voice becomes so real when you insert a BMI Cable OCeanic Statement on the equipment. Currently using on my power amp and pre amp with great results.
Again BMI Oceanic Statement version ul/le is expensive but if you want the world’s best sounding power cable this is the choice.
Bernie Ayala
says:Damn! $15k PC, I know how good are BMI Cables. BMI Cables are one of my favorite Power Cords out there and A+ Service. I own few of them like the Whale Supreme and The Orca MK 2 Amazing! power cords. Maybe one day I get lucky to try the BMI Oceanic Statement in my Reference System.
Albert Li
says:Proud to say that I own a BMI Cables Oceanic statement power cable.
Yes indeed BMI Cables Oceanic statement power cable is lot of $$$$ but I must say worth it ! Spending thousands of dollars on power cables over the years I have not been able to hear what I want. Until when BMI Oceanic cable was put on my preamp. Simply the most perfect vocal midrange I have ever heard. Listening to a lot of singer standard music the Oceanic makes the recording sound like they are in the room with great natural and accuracy.
Super smooth treble with great air and transparency. The bottom end is most impressive and extraordinary with bass extension and exceptional depth. I also listen to a lot of jazz and classical. With the BMI Oceanic all the instruments sound more precise and three dimensional. Giving pinpoint detail to the precise instruments. In classical the Oceanic is incredible. Just put in some Wagner- The Flying Dutchman or Mozart- Overture to the Magic Flute and the speed and transparency is the best you will ever hear with the BMI Oceanic.
If you want to hear scary deeeep depth bass just use a BMI Oceanic on your preamp or amp and listen to Holst the Planets or Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture. The cannons with Oceanic sound more real and I mean scary real like the cannons are firing at you. Just shakes the whole listening room with precise definition.
I find myself weighing out the cost of the BMI Oceanic verse the performance cost. Answer : If you want perfection in a statement power cable the BMI Cables Oceanic Statement is grand marvel in performance and worth it . I can not listen to music without it. Especially Classical, Jazz and singer standard type music. Thank you to BMI Cables for designing a most natural sounding power cable. Happy Listening
Burt Wilson
says:How does the Nordost Odin power cable compare to the BMI Oceanic Statement?
Joe Fama
says:Burt, Nordost Odin series does not make a power cable. Nordost’s top power cable line is the Valhalla model. The Valhalla is a good cable for $3K msrp and more or less competes with BMI Cables step down models the Hammerhead Gold series. I personally preferred the BMI Hammerhead Gold power cable over the Nordost Valhalla. Felt the BMI Hammerhead Gold was more accurate and natural sounding. Having heard the BMI Cables Oceanic Statement at the Munich show this year I was very impressed. The dealer had both Hammerhead Gold and Oceanic Statement. The BMI Oceanic Statement had the most incredible detail and resolution I have ever heard in a cable. The improvement with and the Oceanic Statement was just incredible . The Oceanic Statement is head and shoulders above anything out there in the market for overall Natural sound in a power cable.
Joe
Mars Blackmon
says:You almost had me believing all that stuff about Oceanic… Ok, not really. My bose speakers paired with a set of The Shirt Man coat hangers, powered by my Sound Tek amp will kick any Oceanic system.
Please send your email address and wire USD 10,000 to my Cayman account for details as to how you too can enjoy my kick ass system.
Burt Wilson
says:Hi Joe. You’ll find that Nordost Odin power cable has been available since May 2008.
Are Expensive Cables Worth It? « The Official Wirewize Blog
says:[…] there are folks out there who would gladly spend $7250 for a 12-foot length of speaker cable. Almost everything is “worth it” to […]
John P. Ho
says:I am a fan of BMI Cables power cables.
Owning a plus $250K hi-end audio system with Wilson Alexandria and mainly Burmester electronics.
Very serious about my music and equipment. After spending many thousands of dollars on finding the correct power cables, I tried a pair of Bmi Oceanic statement power cables. To my ears I could not believe on how much of the music I was missing. The Bmi Oceanics settled my system down to a very real live sound. All the instruments and vocals had smoother but yet more accurate tones. I tried the Bmi Oceanic first on my Burmester power amps and then preamp. Very deep depth and incredible power was increased giving so much more dramatic soundstage and dynamics to the system. Then I tried Bmi Oceanics on my two piece Burmester 069 cd player and the improvements were the biggest single upgrade I ever heard on digital. The key word is “NATURALâ€. If you want to smooth out any edginess and sty true to the recording and music I highly recommend the BMi Oceanic Statement power cable. If fact I will have to order a few more Bmi Oceanics to complete the perfect sound I have been striving to attain the last 50 years.
Regards
John P. Ho
John P. Ho
says:Note- Excellent power cables are not just an accessory but a necessity for superb audio systems and BMI Cables does a great job in delivering a most natural sound design.
On
says:I just don’t get it. Can some one tell me in quantitative terms what these cable do? Do these cable reduce Johnson noise? How are these cable modeled? How can does the power coming on from your wall from a power plant 50 miles down the road all of sudden go through a super expensive cable and sound, well you tell me. If you can afford these power cables, why not rip all of the AC transformers out of your Audio equipment and buy a load of DC batteries to power your system? It would be much cheaper. And can someone tell me how the power which goes through a transformer, filters and capacitors has such a detrimental effect on listening? Again in theory and not “it sounds so light and airy. brings out the mids … ” One other question, can you list your professions, I am a college student and would love to be able to afford some of this equipment less these expensive power cables and speaker wires.
Eric B
says:You people with your $15k power cables clearly failed freshman Physics. Good job buying worthless products.
Benjamin
says:‘virtually indistinguishable’ does not mean ‘indistinguishable’
‘Under a buck’ is less than ‘$40,000’
bradp
says:Nice of all of these BMI employees to show up. I doubt any of you “audiophiles” can pass a double-blind test between your $15K cables and a coat hanger.
The Amazing Randi has offered a milion dollars to anyone who can tell the difference – who’s up to the challenge?
mystify1
says:bradp,
Google Randi’s challenge. He chickened out of it a long time ago!
Gary
says:I think this page is being spammed by BMI supporters. Seriously, the first 4 people on the page, how much are you getting paid to advertise your products? Really, for 15 grand, I think you could pay your favorite artists to show up at your house (or be flown first class to a stage) and play the damn song live. And by the time you spend a million dollars on the rest of your overpriced system, you could almost even get dead artists to perform live.
Qube
says:It’s all complete delusional psychoacoustic baloney.
Any audio reference source used in an audio test (e.g. CD, FM, vinyl etc) was all recorded or broadcast on systems/studios that generally employ regular broadcast/studio grade cabling and signal processing equipment.
Any “wonder cable” capable of enhancing the positive attributes of the signal is also going to enhance all the negative attributes of that signal. You’ll hear the expanded dynamic range of the singer and instuments, and also that of the line noise, EMI hum, sibilance, engineer scratching his balls in the background , etc.
A simple conductor without any processing circuitry can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear…
Arthur
says:hi all, i am new here.
there are a few things people need to realize before buying expensive crap. i am not saying expensive cables and gear is a waste of money, but there are things that a complete rip off.
1. music is recorded in a studio.
2. microphones are used to record most instruments
3. anything signal going through a microphone will change the sound characteristics of the instrument greatly.
4. all instruments are EQ’ed and compressed.
5. so nothing sounds like the original instrument. so all that “natural” sound out of your speaker is bullcrap coz everything is eq’ed.
6. lots of cd’s these days use cheap gear.
7. cd quality sucks to begin with.
8. learn to play an instrument and learn how each instrument really sound before recording then buy you gear.
bboy
says:I have gone to many Hi-End dealers for listening tests regarding power cables. To be honest, they all sound the same to me. I am willing to bet 10 to 1 (Max $10K) if you can come to my city and do some listening tests regarding power cables. If you can tell the difference then you will have $10K and if not you only loose 1K.
I am an Electronic Engineer and in my 18 years profession I have never actually seen any quantitative scientific data on cables, especially power cables. I've used so many test equipments (the test equipments only cost roughly from 10K to 40K for each. Then you tell me how the hell a cable can cost more a test equipment) to test Audio and Video products (chips, system boards, the whole system, etc) and cables don't make any differences at all. Except for HDMI cables, because of the high frequency signal in HDMI protocol. But even with HDMI, if you can pay $70/25 foot then you will all set.
Rudy
says:Any speaker wire that cost more than $7.00 per metre?
You are making someone else laughing all the way to the bank.
You are brain washing yourself that the sound is better with
these multi thousand dollar wires.
Stuff
says:You can't buy Yubari melons in some parts of the world. They have to be specially grown and shipped to those parts which makes it so expensive.
Mark
says:This is the most expensive USB cable I know of:
Cynosure v2 — 3 feet at $3549
http://locus-design.com/index.php/cynosure-usb-ca…
manny
says:There's plenty of engineers and physicists in electronics that have already did the science and testing of audio cables that DEFUNCTS the arguements of the snake oil pushers of the audio industry regarding cables. It's strictly money making and business in regards to ultra expensive cables. There's a dupe born everyday and all of us have been gullible and dupe in one form or another in our lifetime. Let those who believe in cables being worth that much waste their money on that. After all it's their money their wasting NOT us regular consumer can never afford them or will never buy them in the first place.