New Male RCA Connector

MylesBAstor

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LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Thanks, Myles. I am no techie, but know a few manufacturers...one of the uses only Xhadow and thinks they're great. Prefers them over any others personally and in his business. I have a pair of Xhadow XLRs on one of my custom-terminated ICs at his doing...but never compared.
 

MylesBAstor

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Thanks, Myles. I am no techie, but know a few manufacturers...one of the uses only Xhadow and thinks they're great. Prefers them over any others personally and in his business. I have a pair of Xhadow XLRs on one of my custom-terminated ICs at his doing...but never compared.

Jeff Day over at 6 Moons did a comparison of the Xshadow and two other connectors.
 

MylesBAstor

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Impressive engineering indeed. Must be a pricey little bugger...

Not sure what the retail will be Don but can check. Not sure it's been finalized.
 

DonH50

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That looks like a lot of machining, and the capture mechanisms in the barrel (with all the extra machining on barrel and pin) are very sweet. Mostly air dielectric, too. I am sure it is way out of my price range, and I have not looked inside any other high-end RCA plugs recently, but that is one impressive design.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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What I've always understood from the pro sound people I've known, is that the best contact doesn't come from a super-tight grip on the connector, but from a snug nice fit that gets moved periodically to refresh the metal to metal contact. In portable audio, that happens naturally, Otherwise it requires a bit of a turn back and forth from time to time. But that could be all wrong. If a death grip that threatens to disassemble your pre's back panel upon removal is the right solution, though, that's an impressive piece of design work. What do they run?

Tim
 

DonH50

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Agreed. If any air pockets exist then the wiping action will help abrade away oxidation. If no air pockets exist then oxidation does not happen, at least theoretically... I suspect some of the change in sound with different cables is due to the wiping action refreshing the connections as the cables are swapped.
 

Lee

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What I've always understood from the pro sound people I've known, is that the best contact doesn't come from a super-tight grip on the connector, but from a snug nice fit that gets moved periodically to refresh the metal to metal contact. In portable audio, that happens naturally, Otherwise it requires a bit of a turn back and forth from time to time. But that could be all wrong. If a death grip that threatens to disassemble your pre's back panel upon removal is the right solution, though, that's an impressive piece of design work. What do they run?

Tim

If you talk to Chris, the inventor of these connectors a bigger factor is how the soldering connection is done. Chris is local in Atlanta and a friend. He's making a new line of Morpheus that will be tremendous.
 

daytona600

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Sep 9, 2012
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Looks a very nice connector I have some custom ones made out of wood
 

Lee

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I have been burning in NeoMorpheus this weekend, 1 m RCAs with the above connector. Very impressive sound even well before estimated 100 hour break-in.
 

Gregadd

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Apr 20, 2010
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Agreed. If any air pockets exist then the wiping action will help abrade away oxidation. If no air pockets exist then oxidation does not happen, at least theoretically... I suspect some of the change in sound with different cables is due to the wiping action refreshing the connections as the cables are swapped.
Beats being delusional.
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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Agreed. If any air pockets exist then the wiping action will help abrade away oxidation. If no air pockets exist then oxidation does not happen, at least theoretically... I suspect some of the change in sound with different cables is due to the wiping action refreshing the connections as the cables are swapped.

That might be the case in some instances but certainly not for any well conducted review where you switch back and forth between cables many times.
 

Mosin

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Mar 11, 2012
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I use Tel-Wire cables, and they come with Xhadow connectors. They are crimped, rather than soldered, so they are at their best. I can only imagine the improvement with this new connector.
 

MylesBAstor

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Apr 20, 2010
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I use Tel-Wire cables, and they come with Xhadow connectors. They are crimped, rather than soldered, so they are at their best. I can only imagine the improvement with this new connector.

I think Chris also makes the Xshadow connector. MIT was using them on their Oracle cables.
 

Phelonious Ponk

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Jun 30, 2010
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Agreed. If any air pockets exist then the wiping action will help abrade away oxidation. If no air pockets exist then oxidation does not happen, at least theoretically... I suspect some of the change in sound with different cables is due to the wiping action refreshing the connections as the cables are swapped.

I think "no air pockets exist" is theoretical all by itself. Even if you engineer a plug with the grip of a vice, it's not going to create a vaccum.

Tim
 

Fast/Forward

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Aug 21, 2011
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Will the wiping action remove contact enhancer such as Walker SST and if it does would the possible build up of any contact enhancer be detrimental?
 

DonH50

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I am not a materials engineer.

With a tight seal oxidation at the edges helps seal the connector. I have used hermetic connectors as well though not for audio. I suppose that will be the next Big Thing for the very high end... The amount of degradation over time is highly variable. I am fortunate to live in an area with low humidity and clean air, though static electricity is a huge problem.

The wiping action will gradually remove any sort of contact enhancer, yes. As to build up, I suppose that depends on the "enhancer". Not sure why you'd want to use something that causes build-up... I usually make sure the contacts are clean (if even that) and just plug them in. I have in the past used various contact cleaners/enhancers, but was never able to prove they did any more than cleaning the contacts in the normal manner, so spent the money on music and other interests instead. I do not claim to hear any improvments nor did any testing prove otherwise, at least IME. Unless the connection wsa poor to begin with. Other people have much different opinions and personal experience. YMMV.
 

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