Bad RCA cable

Unshielded RCA cable is bad design. The truth is that unshielded RCA cable is bad design and should be avoided. Unshielded unbalanced cables are very sensitive to capacitive coupling especially when circuit impedance is high (impedance mostly determined by signal source output impedance in HIFI systems). For example power cords radiate a magnetic field and an electric field that is prone to carrying the interference that rides on all AC power lines to some extent. In today’s modern world you should always use shielded RCA cable. A coaxial design with a braided mesh shield is a good choice and braid shielded twisted pair is also good for making RCA cables.

Still there are some cheap and baddly made RCA cables. Here is what I saw in one RCA cable (cheap that came with some device and later broke down):

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Let’s take a closer look:

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Look at the end of the cable without connectors:
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As you can see, this cable is built with two insulated wires side by side. No shielding and no twisting. This kind of cable will pick easily noise. This type of crappy RCA cable is not recommended.

Another bad quality cable:

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Read more:
Unshielded RCA cable is bad design
Twisted pair RCA cables again

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