Bought used one recently, will plug it to my master buss chain before my sound card. Ableton outputs to x desk and monitoring thru the headphone back as well as mix buss.
I like the idea that you can blend dry and wet signal for your mix buss in the routing with one knob, sounds like a big feature I need to try.
I keep my patchbay for my instruments and pre amps of choice connected to the x desk.
Only tested the sound with my rytm so far I need more testing and more recordings.
Iām with DaveMech on this, Iāve done null tests with Mogami and Hosa and there is no difference in sound. Where you might get some benefit of expensive cables is in longevity. Better manufacturing and higher quality components may make them last longer, but in my experience this hasnāt been the case. Iāve had some Mogami, RedCo and VintageKing cables go bad or have connector issues but donāt think Iāve had that with any of my Hosa. This in a studio with the equivalent of 5 96 point patchbays
I also agree with this. I havenāt noticed any difference in sound quality with the various cables I use, but build quality is something that has cropped up in recent years. Mostly with the hosa cables that are molded, as I used to use the stereo interconnect cables. Iāve had a few of those cables short out over the last couple of years. Itās a bummer when you are jamming and think you get a good take, but then you have to hunt down a crackle in the audio.
So over time Iāve been switching over to Castline Gold cables. Itās a cable maker here in the US that uses Mogami 2549 cable with their own connectors, and they are less than half the price of Mogami brand. So far so good.
Anyway, I should really learn to solder and make my cables own at some point.
Hannes Beiger used to play out with one
Was watching a livestream of Baseck jamming with Cevin Key in his basement home studio a while back. They did a little interview (apparently they have been friends for a while) and the topic of cables came up. They both said they used Hosa and kind of handwaved the whole cable snob thing.
Both those guys are pretty successful in their respective genres. So take that to mean what you will.
Thereās a lot more to cable quality than perceived audio quality.
That aside, the testing in the link you provided is full of flaws. They only measured frequency response, donāt list how they actually measured that response, didnāt test for anything else, and the people voting on listening to recordings of recordings in a non controlled environment is just hilarious.
if youāre going to argue the case for no difference in audio quality with just a link to someoneās testing, at least find a source that isnāt just pure comedy.
Sure itās not the pure scientific study on an .edu webpage that would probably still not change the minds of people that think they can perceive a difference ;), but it did show clearly that people have a hard time telling the difference between a coathanger and a cable. And mind you that this is not the first time the coathanger test has been done with same results. The big pool of people that did the ABX test is certainly relevant. Itās a much more useful result than individual people anecdotacaly claiming they can perceive a difference in sound quality with zero data to back it up.
Also, this was between a coathanger and a high-end cable. One can imagine the audible difference between two regular audio cablesā¦
In terms of durability I can agree that cheaper cables are more prone to breakage than a well build more expensive cable. Soldering your own high quality cables is super easy by the way and by far the cheapest option. Itās not rocket science.
For me there are two types of cables. Ones that work and ones that are broken.
The job of sound quality relies on the signal flow and output of the gear and the input of the mixer/interface.
Iām hearing that I need to upgrade my cables to high end coat hangers, right?
I think youāll have a very unique sounding studio that way
Isnt this about SSL X-Desk?
I bet 9 out of 10 people in this thread saying āit doesnt matterā dont even own an X-Desk ā¦lol.
Another debate starting about āwhy do you need an x-deskā ā¦oh boy, im out.
Im here to Learn and share not argue over stuff that really has more to do with the ego etc.
And the opposite exists ā¦dope studios using dope cables. So what though, im really here to discuss the X-Desk.
I havnt heard of the artist you mentioned, honestly, so ātake that to mean what you willā lol. Success doesnt equal superior skill or knowledge either. Just saying.
This thing we are all part of is VAST and ongoing