What a Difference a Cable Makes...

Several months ago, I lost my precious little auxiliary cable.

I liked this cable. It was unique, and it was really pretty, because it was black with pretty red piping...and how many other auxiliary cables are that cute?

But then it went missing.

And instead of paying $6 to get another one, like any normal person would have done, I tried to hunt for a cheap one in the house. And so, as per usual, I ransacked my Dad's study to search for one.

My Dad's study is awesome. It's like a little tiny Bunnings. Whenever I need to find a screwdriver- of any size, shape or variety- he's got it. Whenever I need to use his multimeter, he's got like three of them. Plus AC adaptors. And international adaptors. And soldering stations. Oh, and lots and lots of cables.

On this occasion, I found two aux cables. The first one had this weird ridge and so I couldn't actually fit it in properly. The second one was flimsy, and cheap, and looked like it would break if I even thought about looking at it, but I used it anyway (my car has an aux/MP3 jack...all the better to hear Jigga with.)

And it worked. Up until recently, when I was listening to Flo Rida and one of the sound channels seemed to drop out in my car.

Resulting in:

"Ele....elevatooooooor...."

"She's stuck on....*static*....my...*static*...my elevatoooor...."

For a horrible moment, I thought my iPod had finally lost it- it's been on the blink recently- but I jiggled the cable and Flo Rida's voice boomed out, then faded.

This made me sad. Because I'm one of those people who can't stand silence in the car...or stand hearing commercial radio play Miley Cyrus for the umpteenth time...even if the journey is only seven minutes.

So I decided to get a nice premium cable from work instead.

Among other things, this cable- in its stupid, STUPID VACUUM PACKAGING WHICH TOOK FIFTEEN MINUTES TO SLICE OPEN- claims to have 'strain relief', 'gold plated tips' and 'easy grip metal connectors'.

So roughly, you'd pay $14 more* just to have a bigger pluggy thing, gold tips and the assurance that it won't kink when tossed around in your handbag. (Yes, I keep a lot of random things in my handbag. Including cables.)

But...when I actually hooked it up...

...the sound quality was GOOD.

Really, REALLY GOOD.

I was shocked.

You actually DO get what you pay for.

Either that, or I'm just experiencing the technological version of the placebo effect.


*I didn't pay full price, but I guess there's some justification to the price difference if you do...