High end iPod Cable blowout

[JohnnyB]

Zu Audio is an internet-based audio company that makes excellent cables, speakers, and modded phono cartridges. Right now in the wake of some product line reorganization, they are selling off a lot of cable products on eBay. Most of these are going for 1/4 retail, sometimes as low as 1/8 of retail.

Of particular interest is their selloff of iPod cables in their Mission line in a wide variety of colors and patterns.

These are normally $300 cables you can pick up for $25-70 based on closed auctions to date. I have two of them and they far outperform anything I've previously used for this purpose. In fact, I like Zu cable so much I've completely re-cabled my 2-channel analog-based system with their products.

This is about as risk-free as it gets. All of these items (bought new through the zu_promos eBay vendor) include free shipping and carry a 60-day satisfaction guaranteed return period. If you are not impressed, all you'd pay is return shipping, which would be around $5 for something this small and light.

[cynic]

My iPod came with a FREE cable!

[BubbaVO]

Johnny - QQ. Is there any advantage to running the signal through the headphone jack instead of the dock port? If it's a disadvantage to do so, would the cables make up for it?

[JohnnyB]

Johnny - QQ. Is there any advantage to running the signal through the headphone jack instead of the dock port? If it's a disadvantage to do so, would the cables make up for it?

Conventional wisdom dictates that the better sound comes from the dock because it's a pure line-out and bypasses the iPod's internal volume control. In actual practice, however, I have a pretty nice dock-to-RCA cable from RAM electronics, but the Zu Audio mini-to-RCA cable beats it all to hell in my system--smoother, more detailed, warmer, richer, more musical. It's so much better it renders the bypass issue moot. My wife commented that the Zu cable made the iPod-sourced music sound more like an LP (which is a good thing in our house).

A $300 dock-to-RCA iPod cable would probably sound better yet, but I posted this because you can get the Zu Mission (which is a $300 cable) for anywhere from $27 to $75 depending on how high the auction goes. Plus a mini-to-RCA cable is much more versatile--you're not limited to using it with an iPod.