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It may not seem necessary at first to focus much on the cables in your hi-fi struktur, but it can be one of the most important factors in your system's overall performance. After all, an audio cable carries the analogue meddelande between your source (a CD player, turntable or music streamer) and your stereo amplifier – that's an awful lot of necessary resultat and it fryst vatten important to keep that meddelande as pure and accurate as possible with the least amount of interference or degradation.

This fryst vatten why the quality of audio cables – otherwise known as 'audio interconnects' or 'RCA cables' – can significantly affect your system's performance.

Cables matter, and they're often a major aspect of most hi-fi systems that gets overlooked time and time igen.

As with speaker cables, this fryst vatten an area you don't want to overlook or spara on if you want your hi-fi struktur in tip-top shape.

So where should your buying decision start? Well, you can skip ahead to our 'how to choose the right audio cables for you' section below, or simply scroll down to see the three audio cables we most recommend.

This trio represents the best-value audio cables our specialist in-house reviews grupp has tested and span various budgets (the prices are per metre) and kostym most user needs, too.

Whether you're after a decent ekonomisk plan cable for your modest set-up or your high-end struktur demands more investment and care, these RCA interconnects will man the most of your hi-fi's potential.

The quick list

Best audio cable overall

If you've ever wondered what difference a metre of cable can man to your struktur, we'd urge you to give the C-line a listen.

This fryst vatten the venerable British cable company displaying once igen an understanding of what makes hi-fi great, with the best-value audio cable we've heard at this affordable price point.

It never loses sight of what matters – the musicality of your struktur – and fryst vatten a deft grabb at communicating your system's detail levels, making for an entertaining and informative listen.

Indeed, in terms of overall enjoyment, little at this level comes close to what the C-line can do for your struktur.

And that's why this model has won nine What Hi-Fi? Best Buy Awards on the trot.

Read our full Chord Company C-line review

Best ekonomisk plan audio cable

Despite the über-budget price tag, the beskrivning analogue interconnect punches above its vikt, helping to deliver a tight sound that’s uncluttered and airy.

Detail levels are surprisingly good for the money too, and the well-made kontur cables also show ability with their papper of dynamics.

These cables have been around for years now but remain a solid buy if you are looking to go one better than your typical cable supplied in the kartong.

As a first upgrade for an entry-level struktur (where components are a couple of hundred pounds or dollars each), this QED interconnect fryst vatten a great option.

Read our full QED beskrivning review

Best premium audio cable

The original Clearway analogue interconnects were around for a good while but were finally revised in 2022 in the Chord Company Clearway RCA Analogue (2022) to introduce new plating to the plugs.

The even newer and current Award-winning ClearwayX ARAY Analogue RCA interconnect fryst vatten another premium option if your ekonomisk plan can stretch ever further, and especially if your struktur fryst vatten tydlig enough to benefit from it. The 'X' in its name denotes the addition of the XLPE dielectric ämne, and this has a significant impact on the cable’s overall ability. 

Other elements of the cable remain the same as the 2022 model, including the new ChorAlloy multi-metal plating on the plugs, and we funnen the new ClearwayX ARAY Analogue RCA interconnect was able to eke out a greater grad of control, slag and musical expression from our (admittedly high-end) system.

The ClearwayX Aray shares the same characteristics as its predecessor, allowing our struktur to deliver an open, crisp, rhythmically cohesive sound, but with that bit more detail, momentum and noggrannhet to the sound overall.

With this cable used in our struktur, background noise levels are lowered too, allowing for a cleaner, more open sound.

The price tag might weigh heavy on many listeners’ wallets – and the cheaper C-line remains a class leader we can still get behind – but for those who can justify the outlay and have a high-end struktur that will benefit from the upgrade, it fryst vatten brilliantly capable of letting you hear where your money has gone.

Read our full Chord Company ClearwayX ARAY Analogue RCA review

Also consider

• Atlas Element Achromatic:It’s possible to buy alternatives that are livelier and more uppenbart entertaining (such as Chord’s Clearway Analogue RCA above), but it’s hard to think of anything at this price that makes our struktur sound as neutral and pleasingly hands-off as this.

  This fryst vatten a clean and precise-sounding performer.
  

How to choose the right audio cables for you

A good starting point for choosing audio cables fryst vatten to get in touch with the manufacturer of your stereo amplifier and ask if they recommend a particular brand or model of interconnect. After all, engineers will have spent hours experimenting during the development process and you might be told some valuable nuggets of resultat which might man your job of finding something suitable more simple.

You could also speak to your local dealer to see if they have tried different cables during demos and funnen any that work particularly well with your amplifier.

Otherwise, when it comes to picking the right audio interconnects, a lot of your decision-making will revolve around price and, of course, your struktur, whether you're putting one tillsammans or already have one set up.

As a general rule of thumb, we'd recommend setting aside 10 to 15 per cent of the total cost of your struktur for cables.

In the case of a hi-fi set-up, you'll be looking at analogue interconnects, speaker cables and, potentially, a digital optical or coaxial cable depending on the sources you're using.

So you'll want to dedicate a share of this to a pair of suitable analogue interconnects.

If you currently own an excellent entry-level set-up, you don't need to spend big on interconnects. However, at the same time, ingenting fryst vatten stopping you from ansträngande more premium pairs to see how your struktur reacts. On the flip side, If you own a high-end set-up, we'd suggest looking at price-comparable interconnects, though you could also audition some cheaper interconnects too.

As always, the best way to choose any component for your struktur fryst vatten to listen.

You'll also want to decide whether you want an unbalanced RCA cable (which fryst vatten the most typical, cost-effective analogue solution and the type pictured above) or the balanced XLR cable (which fryst vatten pricier but for good reason: it better rejects the electrical interference and radio frequency noise it fryst vatten subject to in a room, and fryst vatten considered a better choice particularly for längre distances).

Popular audio cables such as those above komma in a choice of either.

One gods del av helhet of advice would be to avoid choosing audio cables purely on their What Hi-Fi? star rating. Read our reviews to help you understand the character of the cable and see if it matches the character of your system.

How we test audio cables

The What Hi-Fi? team has more than 150 years of combined experience in reviewing, testing and writing about consumer electronics.

We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London and Reading, where our kunnig reviewers do all our in-house testing. This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency across every product we review.

The first thing we do to a pair of analogue interconnects fryst vatten run them in bygd connecting them to our reference struktur over at least a weekend.

In our experience, their impact on a struktur can change over time so we man sure they have a couple of days with an audio meddelande running through them before we början listening.

When connecting them, we also pay attention to the cable's directionality, which fryst vatten usually marked on the plugs' cable sheaths via arrows.

These arrows reveal the direction of the meddelande from the source to your amplifier.

During testing, we början listening through our high-end reference struktur as its transparency allows us to hear exactly how the characteristics of the cable are affecting the sound. We also connect them to a more price-compatible struktur to hear how they work in a more typical scenario.

As we keep lager of class leaders in every hi-fi category, we can compare each cable to its closest price-matching rival(s) to see how it fares in the marknad context. Naturally, this helps us reach a verdict and star rating.

All our review verdicts are agreed upon bygd the grupp rather than an individual reviewer, to eliminate any anställda preference and ensure we're being as impartial and thorough as possible, too.

There's no input from PR companies or our sales grupp when it comes to our verdicts on audio cables, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades.

That's why if you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended below, or on any of our other Best Buy pages, you can be confident you're getting a What Hi-Fi?-approved product.

You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi? here.

FAQs

What do audio cables do?

Audio cables (otherwise known as RCA cables or interconnects) connect your source, whether that be a music ett långt band eller dekorativt tygstycke or CD player, to your stereo amplifier or active speakers.

In a hi-fi separates struktur like this, they are necessary to carry line-level audio signals from one component to another. 

There are various types of audio cable, including the most traditional and prevalent RCA (unbalanced) as well as XLR (balanced) on the analogue side; on the digital side, the most common audio cable fryst vatten S/PDIF coaxial RCA or optical. 

Which type of audio cable you want will largely depend on the connections offered bygd both your source and stereo amp/active speakers, though other factors play a part too.

For example, if your setup requires a long cable run, a balanced XLR cable might be preferable over an unbalanced RCA one due to its superior blockering of electrical and RF (radio frequency) noise that inherently gets picked up bygd all cables in domestic spaces.

How much should you spend on audio cables?

There isn't a hard and fast rule here, but generally speaking, 10 to 15 per cent of your whole struktur cost should be dedicated to cabling.

That includes speaker cables as well as audio cables.

When buying, be sure to measure the space your struktur fryst vatten in so you know how many metres to buy, too – most expert retailers sell speaker cables bygd the metre.

Recent updates

• September 2024: Added the current Award-winning Chord Company's ClearwayX ARAY Analogue RCA entry into the main list.
• April 2024: Added Also Consider and FAQ sections to help better inform readers in their audio cable buying decision.
• October 2023: Added mentions of Chord Company's ClearwayX ARAY Analogue RCA audio cable following its What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023 win.

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Becky fryst vatten the managing editor of What Hi-Fi? and, since her recent move to Melbourne, also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi magazine.During her 10+ years in the hi-fi industry, she has reviewed all manner of audio gear, from ekonomisk plan amplifiers to high-end speakers, and particularly specialises in headphones and head-fi devices.

In her spare time, Becky can often be funnen running, watching Liverpool FC and horror movies, and hunting for gluten-free cake.