“I don’t know, I think heard a difference between them on my iPhone 7 with only one functioning speaker...” He says as he searches the internet for the right tone wood for his telecaster build.

I’m an EE with 49 yrs experience. Dylan is spot on with his explanation of cable characterization - listen to him. To my old ears 1 had better highs, 2 noticeably less so, and 3 & 4 I couldn’t tell. Without hearing a side by side test like this I don’t think the average player would hear the difference. Just plug it in, adjust your tone controls to suit, and go play.

Great video! Learned a bunch. Thanks for making great content Dylan!

I manufacture Cables. I guess you could call them, "Boutique" Cables. I was not content with the Cables that were currently on the market so I started designing and manufacturing my own. First of all, they are unidirectional. This just makes electrical engineering sense. The Guitar jacks contains a Dynamic Transference Actuator for clean Ion Control. Every fifth foot of the cable contains an Universal Interference Dampener. Lastly, the Axial Confinement Modulator end contains a Molecular Frequency Transducer. No other brand can even come close. Guitar jacks are solid Rhodium and the outer surface is a Carbon Fiber mesh. The inner 12 layers are a highly protected secret. Prices start at 13,000.00 for a 10 ft cable. add 5,000. for every additional 5 ft of cable. I guarantee you will never buy another brand again, because let's face it, all the other brands are inferior crap.

1-3-4-2 The first was the best sound to me, second was right out, three and four were comparable with three being slightly better

very cool stuff. just ordered a pig hog yesterday. i got nervous when i saw you were testing that cable but i was happily relieved by the end. thanks for making these kinds of vids dyl, ive learned a lot watching your channel.

very informative thanks dillon. been a sub for a couple years and just want to say i really like the content lately.

Very cool I've been saving money with GLS cables for year this kinda made me feel warm and cozy inside lol! Great video!👍

I’ve have always had this thought, you confirmed it. I’ve studied electronics and have worked in an electronics factory. I love how you explain things so I can share it with friends that don’t understand the full in and outs of electronics. Thank you for your time.

I'm in applied electromagnetics class right now and this is giving me flashbacks to Gaussian surfaces, spherical conducting shells, and other irritating stuff like that

Thanks for the information. I was just looking at new guitar cables

Another great video, I've learned a lot!

I wasn't looking at the screen during the cable test and finally looked up on cable three to see when you were changing cables. I couldn't hear the difference at all. I love these type of videos. Thanks for busting guitar myths. Keep it up.

Interesting! I was listening with headphones and cables 1 & 4 (Mogami, GLS) seemed the brightest to me. I actually own a GLS 15 foot and a Mogami 10 foot and I can't tell the difference. (Although I have not done a serious listening test) On Darryl Braun's channel when he tested the cables, he found that the more expensive cables introduced less noise. Can you do a similar test to see if it makes a difference? Great stuff! Thanks!

Great vids mate! Always love the mythbusting vids. Used cheaper cables for many years, myself. Only ended up switching to the, slightly more expensive, Van Damme/Neutrik custom cables for better durability and colour options, to see what was plugged into what on a dark stage easier :) Never had anything to do with tone!

Thanks, Dylan! Clear and concise, as always. I’ve been using Pig Hogs for the past few years, and I have no complaints. The variation in sound between those doesn’t strike me as dramatic, so I think I’ll stay on this path. You da man! 🤘🏻👏🏻😎

Great video/awesome channel!!!

I was going with d addario recently anyway. Glad to see they are great quality. Good video.

I’m getting old and honestly I couldn’t differentiate from one cable to the next.... but thank you for your videos and lessons, I do enjoy them.

Amazing difference of opinions! I noticed a lessening of "edge"/brightness with #4. The rest were similar. Listened through dinky phone speaker w. no headphones. Another amazing thing (to me); I went online early afternoon to check cables on offer from the 'big box' outlets. Timing! lol. 🎵

Nice test. Sweet jeep!

Cable #1 had the most definition in highs. Followed by #4. #2 sounded muddy and #3 sounded slightly less muddy. All that being said, I used to match the cable to a particular guitar if I was in a studio. So depending on the part and the guitar, there were times when I would use a darker cable to tame down a guitar if it was too bright. Right tool for the right job, is my motto in most things.

1. Brightest 2. Dullest 3. Brighter than 2 but duller than the rest. 4. Seems similar to 1 but a bit duller. My guess would be: 1.Daddario 2.Mogami (most expensive) 3.GLS 4.Pig Hog I've had good luck with Pig Hog cables recently. Hadnt heard of them until about a year ago. Curious to see where they actually landed.

Thanks for another look at the voodoo behind some of the products and thinking in the guitar community. Nice to see it backed up with science and demonstration . Love the channel , thanks

There is so little difference between them all in sound quality through headphones. Could the difference in price be related to the general structure and durability of the cables? A great sounding cable is no good once it’s broken.

ur the shit bro love that u give back to our community!!!

So would a 30ft coily cable going from a strat into a pedal board significantly affect my tone? Or could I just turn up some treble on my preamp pedal?

This makes so much sense. But I wonder about the rate of capacitance loss through different materials at different lengths. For instance, would a low quality cable lose the same amount of tone through capacitance loss as a higher quality cable with a better ratio of wires and optimal braid pattern and better insulation between the wires?

"I used to sell cables, I don't anymore" - Glad to hear you've reformed!

I've never really paid that much attention to the cable.... thanks for the education. I've learned quite a bit watching your channel in just a short time. much obliged.

This was fun. Usually I just pay more for a cable in hopes that it will last longer. But it's interesting to think of it as possibly affecting the tone.

In order of increasing high-end roll off, I heard it as Cable 1, 3, 4, 2... so unless some other variables changed between the tests, the linear capacitance doesn't seem to be the main operating factor here. I wonder if the real difference is in the connectors?

@DylanTalksTone how does lower capacitance compare to using terminology of OHM ? I ask because in reviews and description I see 110 OHM and 75OHM - thank you for this video by the way super informative. I got a "cable matters" branded XLR to 1/4" TRS and i noticed that the high end "air" of my vocal was not present compared to using a $7 cable which did retain the "air" high end in the vocal recording. Of course recording technique and mic placement play a big factor but i made sure to test everything as identical as I could and the the $7 branded xlr to 1/4" trs sounded like it had the most high frequency information.

The first cable sounded the clearest,lots of highs.Then 3, 4 and 2. And yes,I've always believed that gold plated cables were gimmicks.Great video.🎸

Thanks nice review! During audio sample I voted for 1, next is 4 and 2&3 is a tie or I have no interest in lol😅. That GLS surprised me, I’ll gonna look for one. However - for my strat which is super sparkly highs (sometimes in a bad way)- I might consider those 2/3 to darken the brittle tone.

I know this video was done awhile ago, but I picked 1 & 3 as best sounding, and noticed a big difference between those two and the 2 & 4, which sound a little muddy, and less sparkle? I normally play bass, and when I switched from a cheap guitar cable to a Monster bass cable, I. noticed. a big improvement in sound. Is Monster better than some other alternatives? I don’t know, and maybe just switching from a cheap cable to a better one made a difference, or because the bass cable is made for bass? I’m not sure how it works with bass and the loss of clear low end versus guitar. But I did certainly notice a difference in your demonstration. If it were in a band and in the mix with overdrive, probably could not tell. I bought Monster because they are guaranteed for lifetime replacement. What do you think of Monster cables? Do you think they are worth it?

Thanks, good info.

I recently bought about 50ft of mogami, but I use it for interconnecting my synthesizer rig. Also, some amps that I have like 100ft cables when they’re cranked. A pignose comes to mind. I’d love another cable!

Special thanks to your video. I was gonna buy Mogami cable. What do you think about Canary GS-6 cables? I am gonna buy just cable and getting separate connector and solder them. The plug and play brand cables are very very expensive.

To my ears #1 sounded the best. I didn’t hear much difference between 2, 3, and 4. Another point to consider is construction of the cables. I’ve seen some very shoddy solder joints on some high end cables. Are the outside weaves worth the up charge ? Do they add to the longevity ?

Dylan, quick question. Are there cable plugs that have a sacrificial anode instead of gold plating to prevent oxidizing on the connecting points?

They should just market the muddy cables as tube like tone.

Video paused...1 > 4 > 3 > 2 brightest to dullest through my speakers. Also...kudos for the top wrapped tail piece. Thanks for this...it was fun to watch. Cheers!

What’s the difference between Emg, lace, and deathbuckers? Are there guitars that have humbuckers and emgs or lace and emg? Are these pickups compatible on a single guitar? Your show is great thanks.

Exelent video !!! Please show how to test the cables!!! , they can change with the time ???

My main cables for years now have been ones I've made myself from mogami with switchcraft plugs. The main benefit I've seen has been with durability. Those cables have been malfunction free for many many years... Before making those I primarily used planet wave. I've never noticed one over the other sounding better, but my planet waves, or any other cables I used previously never held up over the long term.

Honestly Bro, No. 1 had the most definition/clarity/balance to my ears, and though i didn't hate the other 3 tones, No.1 was the only tone i would consider using. Having said that, i'd be curious to hear the same shoot-out with a Tele and a Strat. Actually, i was kinda surprised that You Didn't use a single coil guitar for the test, considering You mentioned them in the preamble. Great work as Always Bro!!! Bigtime THX!!! :D :D :D

Looking at the thumbnail, I am surprised that the strings are top wrapped around the tailpiece. Did it come like that, or do you have something in the works?

They sounded the same to me. Thanks for the video.

I'm old school GLS, got mics & cables that have always worked!

the biggest differences i've ever noticed from cables (length-for-length) is shielding capability, i half tuned out for the sound test and i didn't hear any drastic differences (because i have a variety of guitars with different sounds so fine differences don't really mean much to me). i've been using fender cables for a few years now and i think they're great for the price, i haven't taken any readings on them though, however i have a drive pedal on most of the time -with no buffered pedals, just "true bypass" which basically makes the pedals act like another short length of cable :)

Dylan, I was hoping you would address the type of jack, straight or angled. I have always had failures of cable at the angled jack, and taking them apart I would find that with the angled jack, the pin appears to be riveted to the connector, and the pin would weaken and spin inside the outer connector. Now I only buy cables with 2 straight connectors. I hope that doesn't seem snobbish.

Very cool test... I'm about to buy a cable and I think I'm buying a planet waves...

Excellent video! Thanks for the simplicity. I'd like to know if anyone else agrees with me. I was surprised to learn about the snake oil marketing. I do recall you doing at least one video with a large roll of cable. I currently use 10' cables. As for the test, they sounded very similar to me. I'm choosing cable 3 as the most expensive.

I couldn’t tell much difference without headphones. What is the threshold where capacitance becomes a bigger issue? Do any guitar cables under 30’ ever reach that mark? I usually go with durability and replacement warranty myself.

The first cable (GLS) sounded brightest to me through Sennheiser HD600 headphones into a Rupert Neve preamp and an ADI-2 DAC. All the others sounded less bright to varying degrees, number 2 (Pig Hog) seemed the darkest. That said, if I had one of the less bright ones I could easily brighten my sound with my amp's treble knob or outboard EQ. We are not helpless. BTW, I use Evidence Audio cables virtually exclusively and I have no idea what they are actually doing or not doing to the sound. I'm always tweaking EQ and such to my ear, so it doesn't matter much about the cables. If they work fine and don't break, I'm happy. Cheers, Dylan.

I have been using Planet Waves solderless cables and I am happy with them. Did an a/b cable test between straight and through pedal board and didn’t notice a difference in sounds (buffers in right places :-) ). I also have some more expensive cables with ”a lifetime guarantee” but none of them are working and I am too lazy to fix them...

Playing seems to be different throughout too, if you had a loop running and changed the cables, would that not be the best way to compare?

3 was my favourite. Funny enough I'm looking into getting a new cable after my cheap on died. One of the cables I was looking at is actually the plant waves. The other, and I'm leaning more towards purely based on looks, is Ernie Balls.

Thanks but I don't want one of those cables I want a Dylan cable. There are a lot of adds on Instagram for a cheap guitar radio transmitter can you do a review of that system? Thanks

One thing I might correct about gold vs other materials; on some *very* old things, like 1970's consoles, the use of tin/nickel molex connectors (which in addition were wrong because they were round peg in square hole, with optimistically four points of contact, really sucked for reliability. I'm looking at you MCI. Replacing these with gold square pin molex makes a huge difference. There's no snake oil there - simply the fact that over 40+ years, across thousands of connections in one console, the tin-plated round peg in square hole sucks. But... that isn't about cables I guess, just interconnects in general.

Regarding WBC-built cable, they charge the same for mogami and Gotham GAC Ultra, which is one of the lowest capacitance cables (well, Sommer aside), so yes, I'm with you when you say that Mogami is really strong in the market department...

07/28/20: Hell Dylan, Tom from Orlando Florida. As far as the sound test, for my ears (listening along with my Tinnitus ear ringing ... LOL), they all sounded good, except number # 2 seemed just a little brighter. Check this out ... I got swept up by guitar cable sales pitched too. I bought expensive $100.00 six-foot, gold-tipped, Monster Cables cables about 15-20 years ago, and still use them. They were way much thicker and less flexible than other $10.00 cables. The marketing pitch was they filtered out-static noises, so when playing on a clean amp for clean Jazz, or clean tone Rockockerbilly, etc. there would be no static. I still have my old Ibanez Whoetone amp (no longer in production) 80W, 15" speaker. The speaker was a factory unknown brand. It was good tones at first, but slowly it started to make odd noises. so I upgraded to a 15" Weber Thames Speaker $175.00. Now, it was so much better with crystal clear clean tones. I used my 1994 Fender guitar with up-graded Lace Hot-Gold Pickups ($450.00), which also now had crystal clean tones. So, did I get a better clean tone with the Monster $100.00 Cables? Hell, I don't know, per I never really never heard any static from my amp and guitar after upgrades in the first place. But, for $100.00, I keep using those cables. I take care of my toys - so to speak. The cables look new, except for the gold is slightly dull from putting in/out of amp or guitar. Thanks for this informative video, per I will never waste money again on sales pitches for guitar cables.

Thanks for the video on this. You stopped me from shelling $80 on a Mogami cord. I’m just so tired of cord breaks. I usually buy middle of the road chords and they just crap out after a couple months...

To my 59 year old ears on a very average external computer speaker, best to worst was: 1, 4, 3, 2. I thought the #1 had the most clarity of high frequencies, followed by #4, 2 & 3 sounded very similar and I couldn't definitively tell which was better or worse.

So is the list of cables at the end of the video in the same order you played them? I could swear cable 1 in the sound test is brighter than 2. But the list following the clips would suggest otherwise. Are my ears shot or are we hearing them out of order to keep the test blind?

I remember getting up sold into buying a gold plated Monster Cable in my youth. Still have the cable which is a testament to its durability but I can’t say it sounds better than my other cables.

The only reason that I have a few Mogami cables for my guitar rig (not the patch cables) is because of the lifetime warranty. But after almost 7 years, I’ve had no issues. Not many of my other xlrs or 1/4” cables are still going, even the ones that don’t leave the studio and were never taken on the road like the Mogami cables. Do they sound better? I’ve never heard a difference. They just work. Edit: gotta buy some Dylan cables! Edit 2: I don’t see Dylan cables for sale on his site!

How about Ernie ball po6806 or any of this family if cables; or the Boss gold end cables tweed style cables? Let me know if you’ve tried them and what you think?

Having the order of the cables you played would have helped. What good is it to know the capacitance if you don’t also show which cable was which when you play through them.

Slightly off topic but do you think the upgrade power cables like mercury magnetic are snake oil?

I didn't heard that much of a difference except for the cable #4. I thought it was the cheapest. Great job as usual. Thx!

I have a cheap cable that it's very noisy and it catches a lot of interference compared to a nicer cable I have, does that have to do with the capacitance per foot?

GREAT VIDEO!!! I've been using the Planet waves and GLD cables for YEARS and they are AWESOME. They take a BEATIN' I use them in my loom and as my Instrument cables and never have they let me down. I keep buying them because they get stolen or I loose them and it's because at their price point I can afford to. LOL Gotta be more disciplined with my cables I know... SMH LOL

Wondering if you could hear a bigger difference if you plug in an acoustic (piezo) guitar.

Wilde Pickups (Bill Lawrence) sells a 12’ cable for $30, 20 picofarad/foot (much lower than any of the tested cables). OR make your own out of Belden 8218 (same cable Wilde uses).

2 sounded dullest 4 maybe had a low end loss. 1 and 3 were my favs upon 2 quick listens. You should check them with high gain where the noise and those outer frequencies become more exaggerated. Higher gain is where cables become noticeable, mostly for the noise floor and high freq response. Rock!

Love Spectraflex. Cost a little more but complement a nice guitar. Hate stiff cables that have bend memory. Same with test leads and solder iron cables.

I have no idea which is the most expensive, but the first one sounded brighter than the rest. I have a Planet Waves cable and I hate it. It sounds dull and muffled compared to my other cables. Which company do you think makes the best XLR mic cables?

So what wire are the Dylan cables made out of?

Which cable was the first one? Was it the Planet Waves? It sounded the best to me because of the most treble content.

I worked at a cable manufacturer in the 2000. it's the capacitance! yes it changes the tone. The rest is durability. The power the capacitance the longer the cord I can make. remember it becomes part of your tone control. If your ten foot cord sounds like you like, get a twenty that ensures the same. I use a 28 foot cable on stage because I worked at a cable factory and could make a free one every week out of whatever came .on the truck.

I recently saw a question and a Facebook guitar group, and the person asked if the price of the cable matters, most told this person that the most expensive cables will sound the best, Thankfully there were some Who were more realistic with their answers. I have been using cheap cables all my life. Thank you for the content, you just save me some cash.

Thanks man! I just bought 1 after seeing this:)

Hello Dylan...I really love the contents of your channel and videos...God richly bless you🙌 But I'm a bass guitarist and wish to know are your contents equally applicable with the bass guitar? Wish we could get into a conversation.

I found from what little differences I could discern that I actually liked the tone of cable 2 the best. Just a little more top end coming through. Having said that, I probably wouldn't notice it in any other forum outside of a cable comparison test.

THANKS FOR THIS. :) I have to say, I have made over 4k videos on my channel and the one that gets the MOST heat is the one about CABLES! Not kidding. But it was speaker wires, and people who are purists can be obsessive about wires. It is simple... side by side, electricity is electricity, and snake oil is everywhere in the music world. But of course, quality matters when you want durability. Also, you might get interference if you have super cheap wires with no shielding. But lamp cord will carry the signal just fine, to be honest.

I am blind, and most people think that we all have exceptional ears… guess what… It’s not the case!After playing music and being a DJ for so many years, I am glad and sorry I cannot hear any difference between any of these cables… so, I doubt that A bunch of drunk people Will be able to hear any difference in a loud environment like a Bar or a club. All I care about is the quality of construction… I also tend to keep my cables on the shorter side, when playing guitar 10 feet, since I don’t move around much… Also switching to a wireless system to avoid tripping into the cable! Now, a faulty connection, when amplified, can be very disturbing on the ears, drunk or not… when I was 15 and had my first electric guitar, I thought the hum I was hearing was because of a bad cable, I was too stupid back then to know that this was inherent to single coil pickups! Now, in a recording studio, proper wiring quality is definitely required…

Cable one stood out to me as the clearest/brightest..the other three were to close for me to distinguish. Very interesting comparison!

I do like the planet waves cable, keep mine to about 10 feet from guitar to pedal board too

Did you re-amp the signal swapping the cables? Because you have the potential otherwise to not pick it the exact same way. 1 sounded best to me.

Thank you. I was just about to buy a cable 😁

I thought I heard a difference between the first and second cable but going back and forth between them, I think that's just the subtle differences in guitar playing not the cable. Also, it would be a good idea to use some of the cables again. When there's duplicates, it's much harder to guess correctly on the first try and people are more likely to not hear the same differences the second time it's used.

I heard a difference between the first one and the other three. Two through four there was minimal difference. I personally liked one and three the most but not really enough of a difference for me to spend big bucks on. Thank you for sharing. Stay safe and be blessed

The GLS Audio cables aren't made very well but they still get the job done like any other cable. They're pretty inexpensive especially compared to the $30 big brand names that you get at a Guitar Center or local instrument store.

BASS player here, I'm 49 and 30 years later it's all the same !!!! Back then it was Monster but got myself Excalibur cables (extinct company ). Refreshing to have some one with a head on their shoulders !!!

Differences are subtle but nothing that slight knob tweaking can't fix.

I have been playing guitar since 1963 . The cable does make a difference in tone . That said , it depends on the cable . I have had cheap cables that I loved , and expensive cables that suck . Monster cables seem to hold up , the old coil cables never seemed to last more than a few months . I don't want to mention a lot of brands , but I have an old Fender cheapo cable that I have had for years that still sounds great ! I just had a Monster cable go bad that I have had for 15 years . It sounded great , did tons of gigs , super reliable . It served me well , I usually use 10 or 12 foot cables . Seems like long cables lose tone !

Hi The cable you use depends on what you’re using it for!!! Mogami Platinum (expensive )is the best cable for Lead Distortion Tone I have two separate rigs

This is off the topic is cables, but it is about hearing. Many people gets obsessed about tone, and we talk about gear. But there is one thing we leave out: the human ear. What I perceive as brighter or darker, will impact how I set up my rig. What are your thoughts on this.