33ft/10metre Stereo 3.5mm Audio Cable US $2.99 Delivered Meritline

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Meritline.com

• 

  OzBen on 25/11/2014 - 08:33

  Any idea about the quality? Has anyone got one before?

  I don't need it to sound superb. Just reasonable sound quality and durability (doesn't break after a couple of months).

  • 

    ausmechkeyboards on 25/11/2014 - 08:36

    sound quality will not be affected by the cable. but durability is a completely different ballpark, you'd need to buy it and try it out for yourself.

    • 

      SBOB on 25/11/2014 - 09:33

      +1

      sound quality will not be affected by the cable

      I think it will, but how much (or how noticeable) would be based on the source/destination of the audio signal

    • 

      XeSSiV on 25/11/2014 - 10:17

      +1

      Err, yes it will. Resistance and shielding may have a great negative effect depending on the cable quality, especially over a 10metre distance. Where did you read that sound quality wouldn't be affected?

      • 

        ausmechkeyboards on 25/11/2014 - 11:13

        -1

        interference is the issue over distances (>1m), not resistance, and even the cheap 10m cables are typically sufficiently shielded. the problem with these cables is not whether or not they sound good, because sound quality varies on everything from the source audio through to the receiver, including the interference of the environment it is in. the real issue with these is whether or not they will stop working after a few uses (i.e whatever plating on the 3.5mm jack wears off, the heads break off, the internal wiring cracks, corrosion).

      • 

        greenie4242 on 25/11/2014 - 12:20

        +1

        @ausmechkeyboards:

        interference is the issue over distances (>1m), not resistance

        I have a laptop here that proves you wrong. When I connect it to my amplifier with a 10 metre thick good quality cable it works well, but a 10 metre dodgy cheap cable doesn't work. The cheap cable 'works' as in it is electrically conductive, and the multimeter shows conductivity. But the resistance is so high the low voltage audio signal can't get through. I get such low volume at the amplifier with the cheap cable I can barely hear it with the volume turned all the way up. With the good quality cable it works fine, same as with a 1m cable.

        even the cheap 10m cables are typically sufficiently shielded.

        Again, not true. Three of the cheap cables I bought from Meritline didn't have ANY shielding - they used twin-pair non-twisted non-shielded wires, despite the description saying they had shielded cable.

        Meritline is a drop-shipping company meaning they don't make any products themselves. They buy from the cheapest supplier at the time. Occasionally I've bought stuff from them and it turned out to be good quality, so I bought another of the same, but when it arrived it was from a different manufacturer and the quality was appalling. It's very much luck-of-the-draw.

  • 

    greenie4242 on 25/11/2014 - 08:45

    +12

    Don't buy dodgy 3.5mm cables!! Avoid these!

    I've ordered five 3.5mm cables from Meritline before, all different types. They were all GARBAGE. Obviously in an effort to shave a fraction of a cent off by saving metal costs, the plugs measured about 3.3-3.4mm, so they are actually too small for the sockets! This means they are very loose and either don't work at all or don't make good contact.

    It means sound quality IS affected, as even if it makes a connection, there is very little metal touching the contacts. This means high resistance, meaning you get crackly or softer sounds. These cables are for an analogue signal, not a digital signal, so unlike HDMI -where it works or it doesn't work - it may work a bit but not very well. Cheap cables often corrode easily due to poor quality metal, meaning they will not provide a good signal which can degrade over time.

    On one of the cables, the tip broke off and is still stuck in the back of my Logitech receiver! I'm angry about this as it's never happened before, and now it's permanently stuck in the socket. The receiver isn't designed to be opened, so it means I can never use that input again. By saving a few cents buying a dodgy cable I damaged an expensive receiver.

    My wife used one of the cables on her tablet between the tablet and headphone. I didn't know it but because the connection was so dodgy she always used to wiggle it or prop it against something at an angle just to make it work. After a while the force broke the socket off the motherboard, so the tablet was broken.

    I cut the ends off the cables as they were worthless at their job, and I was thinking that maybe the wires would be useful for something. But the wires they used were so thin, they weren't up to the job. A very thin cable means high resistance, again affecting audio quality. This will make an enormous difference, especially on a 10 metre long cable like this "deal" is selling.

    Four of the reviews on the Meritline website say it's extremely thin cable. 27 gauge wire should be more than 0.41mm thick, so two next to each other plus shielding and insulation should be quite thick. Therefore they're no doubt lying about the cable gauge, as they did with the cables I ordered.

    • 

      Conka on 25/11/2014 - 09:10

      +1

      Thanks for the heads up. I was going to purchase this, but will opt out. +1 for you.

      Not sure why you got a negative vote when the voter didn't comment…

      • 

        greenie4242 on 25/11/2014 - 11:44

        +1

        I should mention also, my above comment was from my own experience. I also used to work at a repair shop servicing Apple stuff, and quite regularly people would come in with broken iPods where the headphone jack had snapped off the circuit board or it was so loose it only worked if you jiggled the plug around, and the plug kept falling out. It's difficult and sometimes impossible to fix, as the circuit board is multi-layer. The regular explanation was along the lines of 'I had it plugged into a cable that was loose, and it's been getting more and more loose for the past few months so I had to keep wiggling it about, and now it's broken completely.' A decent cable should NOT BE LOOSE. If it's loose, the cable is faulty (or maybe it's a good cable, but you're using it with a dodgy socket - but at the Apple shop, we can assume the iPod sockets weren't dodgy!)

        It's sad telling somebody that their $400 iPod can't be repaired after they used a cheap cable. When I worked there they didn't sell iPhones, but you'd be upset if your $1,000 new iPhone 6 broke because of a cheap cable.

        I didn't mention it before because they wouldn't have been using Meritline cables so it's not directly linked to this deal, but the reasoning is similar. I also purchased some cheap cables that were dodgy from DealExtreme before I learnt my lesson. Cheap cable + $400 iPod or $600 iPhone/Android tablet is not worth the risk. If you do risk buying one, if it's loose, throw it away. I used to think, it's only $1 or $2, I'll risk it. But after only about 1 in 10 cheap cables actually working OK, I don't waste my money any more. Don't risk it breaking the headphone socket, or breaking off inside your gadget.

      • 

        escusemay on 25/11/2014 - 23:33

        @greenie4242:

        Thanks! Ordered 6 but cancelled the order after reading your experience. Where would you recommend getting some decent (but affordable) ones?

      • 

        greenie4242 on 26/11/2014 - 00:32

        +1

        @takamine:

        Where would you recommend getting some decent (but affordable) ones?

        Selby are a good bet. At $9.49 with free post for their 10m cable it's nearly 3 times the price, but still under $10. It's based in Melbourne, so it'll arrive in a few days instead of two to three weeks:
        http://www.selby.com.au/10m-3-5mm-stereo-audio-cable-for-ipo…

        Not sure if the Selby Acoustics rep is still active here, haven't seen a post from them since 2013. Maybe it's worth sending an email to them and see if they can do some more OzBargain specials! If you need six, then you should definitely email Selby direct and see if they can do a deal, as it's much cheaper for them to throw six in a postpack than it is to sell six individually with free post:
        http://www.selby.com.au/contacts

        If you need something in a hurry from down the street, I was at the local $2 shop today and the Sansai cables seemed pretty sturdy. I have a few Sansai branded bits and pieces around the house, all have worked well over the years. They seem to sell that brand at every bargain basement shop I've been to in every city.

        If you've ever had an expensive gadget break because the headphone socket broke or became loose, you'll kick yourself for using it with a dodgy cable. Some people love the excuse to upgrade to a new device when their old one breaks, but I prefer to treat my stuff well and make it last as long as possible. I'm still angry about that cheap cable breaking off inside my Logitech Z-5500 control box, and I ended up having to spend another hundred dollars buying a new tablet for my wife after her headphone socket broke, which would have paid for more than ten of the good quality cables alone even if purchased at overpriced RRP from Dick Smith or JB Hifi.

      • 

        Windows7forever on 27/11/2014 - 07:32

        @greenie4242: Thanks for sharing your awful experience with these cables. I bet you wished you threw them out immediately when you discovered how dodgy they were, instead of persisting to tentatively use them at the detriment of your expensive devices. Sometimes it takes a hard lesson learnt.

      • 

        escusemay on 27/11/2014 - 15:30

        @greenie4242:

        Thanks for the advice and sharing your bad experience so that others can be aware of it!

        Another question, I'm wanting to setup my business with the following:

        1 computer outputs to 3 separate lines (so each line has an individual sound output which can be independently controlled). Each line will go to 3 separate sets of speakers in separate rooms (I'm thinking Logitech Z200 for the speaker).

        What sound card (or setup) would you recommend to make this happen?

      • 

        altomic on 28/11/2014 - 14:16

        @takamine: so you are playing 3 different types of music to 3 different rooms?

      • 

        escusemay on 30/11/2014 - 02:18

        @altomic:

        Yes that's correct!

  • 

    PVA on 25/11/2014 - 22:33

    I have bought a few cheapest from different ebay stores. They all sound fine from apple mac air to stereo in home or car. Problem is the build, they just stop working after a few months.
    Maybe these are better though.

• 

  Windows7forever on 25/11/2014 - 12:42

  Thnx

• 

  narz on 25/11/2014 - 12:50

  +2

  This is exactly what I needed. Even after reading user comments here, I should be OK as I'm installing this from the back of a PC to a shitty monitor attached soundbar, so once installed it will not be touched again. I just need SOME sound, not high quality, for training videos at work.

  Thanx OP.

• 

  jv on 25/11/2014 - 22:21

  +2

  I'm getting tired of all these Male to Male deals…

  When are they going to discount the Male to Female ones…

  • 

    greenie4242 on 26/11/2014 - 00:02

    Back in the '80s there was a huge market for gender-benders:
    http://www.agftechnology.com/images/rs232lineconditioners.jp…

• 

  videoman on 25/11/2014 - 22:25

  Thanks. I have two smaller cables joined together for one of my speakers and the sound quality coming from that one speaker is terrible. Hopefully this fixes it.

  • 

    greenie4242 on 26/11/2014 - 00:04

    This won't be any good for a speaker, it's designed for headphones, or to be used between a headphone socket and an amplifier.

• 

  bargainsville on 26/11/2014 - 09:38

  +1

  Yes, cheap cables are annoying, especially when you have to wiggle it to get the sound from both speakers because its not a good fit.

  I don't like the idea of damaging expensive audio equipment or tablets/phones, so I've always used high quality, short adapters that plug into the device, and then plug cables into the adapter.
  It might have a slight impact on sound I guess, but no need to worry about damaging device socket!