Monoprice or BJA? Options

[mccarthyk]

I am a huge fan of monoprice because most of their products have amazing quality and their prices are very manageable even for a teenager like me. I have been thinking about getting a Blue Jean auxillary cable for my headphones, but it is almost $40.

Is BJA really that great of a company? Or should I just stick with the low prices at monoprice?

[Arnold B. Kruege...]

I am a huge fan of monoprice because most of their products have amazing quality and their prices are very manageable even for a teenager like me. I have been thinking about getting a Blue Jean auxillary cable for my headphones, but it is almost $40.

Is BJA really that great of a company? Or should I just stick with the low prices at monoprice?

Actual link to the cable in question?

$40 for a headphone cable that is less than 100 feet long seems pretty excessive to me.

There is no evidence that once fairly minimal standards are met, there is any benefit in sound quality.

The very very cheapest headphone cables may not be the most durable things in the world, but a few modest notches up the price chain gets you there.

[yourlord]

Stick with monoprice..

[andy o]

I like BlueJeans, I've bought some HDMI cables from them. They're very straightforward and honest with their information from what I could tell. They even tell you which parts they use to build the cables. I once bought similar parts (IIRC Canare connectors and some other pro brand coax cable) and built my own cables with similar specs, and it didn't come a lot cheaper (their margin was reasonable). And building them was fun for a while, but after the 5th cable it started becoming a pain in the ass.

[andy o]

Actual link to the cable in question?

$40 for a headphone cable that is less than 100 feet long seems pretty excessive to me.

There is no evidence that once fairly minimal standards are met, there is any benefit in sound quality.

The very very cheapest headphone cables may not be the most durable things in the world, but a few modest notches up the price chain gets you there.

As far as I could see, BJ uses pro parts for many of their cables. I'm pretty sure they're overkill for sound quality, but construction is solid and for very long runs it's a good choice. They're probably hand-made (hand-assembled?), though I don't know for sure, but most of them are made in the US too. The Chinese made ones, like their lower tier of HDMI cables, are also good quality and they're cheap, though I haven't compared directly with monoprice.

[DVDdoug]

I've never had any problems with Monoprice cables. I have several of their "standard" 3.5mm cables, and a few of these "premium" cables. The premium cables are very heavy-duty (maybe too heavy-duty and too bulky for portable use) and the price is just amazing!

...and their prices are very manageable even for a teenager like me. I have been thinking about getting a Blue Jean auxillary cable for my headphones, but it is almost $40.

How much did you spend on your headphones? I certainly wouldn't recommend spending $40 on a cable if your headphones cost $80.... I have a pair of $200 Grado headphones, but I wouldn't spend $40 on a cable!

[yourlord]

I have monoprice cables connecting just about everything I own. All my HDMI, Displayport, USB, RCA, 3.5mm extension, you name it cables are mainly sourced from monoprice.. Not a single one has failed me to this day..

$40 for a consumer level audio cable is completely ridiculous. Buy 20 $2 cables that do the same thing and on your death bed you'll be leaving 15-19 (depending on how careless you are) of them to your heirs..

Oh, and I'll put my $2 monoprice cable up to an ABX with that $40 any day..
Beware snake oil salesmen.

[DVDdoug]

Buy 20 $2 cables that do the same thing and on your death bed you'll be leaving 15-19 (depending on how careless you are) of them to your heirs..

I don't go THAT far, but since the cables are cheap (in price) you can often end-up spending as much shipping as for the cables... So, I usually buy one or two extra, or sometimes a few in different lengths to get the price up to $10 or $20.

I've got a little box full of audio cables & adapters, and I usually have whatever I need. But, whenever do need a cable (or adapter) I order extra and add to my collection of spares.

[yourlord]

I don't go THAT far, but since the cables are cheap (in price) you can often end-up spending as much shipping as for the cables... So, I usually buy one or two extra, or sometimes a few in different lengths to get the price up to $10 or $20.

I've got a little box full of audio cables & adapters, and I usually have whatever I need. But, whenever do need a cable (or adapter) I order extra and add to my collection of spares.

It's a good plan.. I tend to order a lot of cables at once from them when I need to.. 3-4 HDMI 3-4 DisplayPort, 10+ USB of various kinds, etc.

[Woodinville]

Blue Jeans Cables are straightforward cables built like a battleship.

They are not special electrically, but are absolutely bulletproof, fireproof, and do not claim any kind of extraordinary powers.

The guy who runs it is very straightforward, the "delux" you get is ultrasonic welded, high-quality cables and connectors. Their double-ended banana speaker cables could hold up a bridge.