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Best 3.5mm Audio Cable Choices
A 3.5mm audio cable provides an electrical path between an audio input device like your smartphone or MP3 player and a set of speakers like the ones in your car. They come in various lengths and are also commonly called aux cables. This buying guide will focus on providing you with the best 3.5mm audio cables that are used to connect consumer audio devices together worldwide.
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Last Updated: 2/12/2019
In a Hurry? Here’s Our Top 3
7 of the Best 3.5mm Audio Cables
Anker 3.5mm Premium Auxiliary Audio Cable
Anker is a rapidly-growing electronics company focusing primarily on chargers and power banks. They also have branches that focus on smart-home devices, robotic vacuums, dash cams, and consumer audio including 3.5mm audio cables. Anker was established to counter the high-priced accessories that smartphone suppliers commonly forced consumers into purchasing.
Products designed and manufactured by the company are known for their quality and innovation, and their 3.5mm audio cables are no exception. Let’s look at some of the features.
Features
♦ Gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ 10,000+ bend lifespan
♦ 18-month warranty
♦ Aramid fiber reinforcement for added tensile strength
♦ Comes in 4 ft or 8 ft lengths, and in either red or black
♦ Metal connector shell
- May not fit all devices
- Sturdy build
- 18-month warranty
- Reinforced with Aramid
iXCC 3.5mm Audio Cable
iXCC is another electronics company focusing on cables and chargers. Users report that this cable is very well built, and it’s even found it’s way into the pro audio field according to some reviews due to it’s dual shielding and durability. It is very durable and will withstand daily use for a long time without failure. At the time that this article was published, this cable had nearly 7500 5-star ratings.
The only con to this cable I can see is the color scheme, which of course is subjective but may not match the interior of your car or your other audio devices. This cable is also backed by a 2-year warranty.
Features
♦ Gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ Dual shielding
♦ 2-year warranty
♦ Comes in 3 ft, 6 ft, or 10 ft lengths
♦ Metal connector shell
♦ Tangle-free design
- Slightly more expensive
- Dual shield
- 24-month warranty
- Tangle-free
iVanky 3.5mm Aux Audio Cable
![AUX Cable for Car, iVanky [2-Pack/4ft, Hi-Fi Sound, Copper Shell] 3.5mm Auxiliary Audio Cable AUX Cord Compatible with Car/Home Stereo, Headphone, iPhone, iPod, Echo Dot, Speaker, Sony, Beats - Black](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41MqetcLlsL._SL500_.jpg)
iVanky is yet another electronics company focusing on cables and chargers. Their 3.5mm audio cable is one of the best for several reasons.
First, this cable uses both Nylon and TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) for the jacket materials. TPE is a heat-resistant plastic – this cable will be ideal for connecting audio devices to your car stereo, especially if you live in a place with a hot climate. TPE and Nylon are also very abrasion-resistant, adding to the durability of this cable along with a 15,000 bend lifespan and lifetime warranty.
The cable uses oxygen-free copper conductors, which, if you remember from before, makes no difference but does add to the price.
The cable comes in two colors, red and black. The black audio cable has just a TPE jacket. The red cable has a dual TPE-Nylon jacket, but is slightly more expensive. Get a look at the full list of features:
Features
♦ Gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ 15,000+ bend lifespan
♦ Lifetime warranty
♦ Comes in 4 ft or 8 ft lengths
♦ Metal connector shell
♦ TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) and Nylon jacket material
♦ aluminum Mylar foil shielding
- Some minor QA/QC issues
- Dual shield
- 24-month warranty
- Tangle-free
Amazon Basics 3.5mm Audio Cable
Amazon has become so big, that they now sell their own branded products under their AmazonBasics line. Part of their product listing is their 3.5mm audio cable, and it’s one of the best out there.
Unfortunately, this cable only comes in an 8 ft length, so it may be a little too long for car stereo systems. It does have most of the standard features that you will find in the best 3.5mm audio cables, though.
Features
♦ Gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ Dual shielding
♦ 1-year warranty
♦ Comes in 8 ft length
♦ Metal connector shell
- A few reliability issues
- Dual shield
- 12-month warranty
- Up to 8 ft long
Mediabridge 3.5mm Audio Cable
Another great choice is the 3.5mm audio cable from Mediabridge. One feature that makes this cable stand out from the rest is it’s strain-relief connector design. This will add to it’s reliability in the long run, since this is a very common failure point for audio cables. It also comes in a variety of lengths for many different applications, and utilizes 27 AWG conductors which are thicker than most other 3.5mm audio cables.
Features
♦ Gold contact material
♦ Stepped, strain-relief connector design
♦ Dual shielding
♦ 1-year warranty
♦ Comes in 2 ft, 4 ft, 8 ft, and 12 ft lengths
♦ Metal connector shell
♦ 27 AWG copper conductors
- Some quality issues reported
- Stress-relief connector
- 12-month warranty
- Up to 12 ft long
Oldboytech 3.5mm Aux Cable [2-Pack]
![Oldboytech AUX Cable,[2-Pack,4ft,Hi-Fi Sound] 3.5mm Auxiliary Audio Cable Nylon Braided Male to Male AUX Cord Compatible Car/Home Stereos,Speaker,iPhone iPod iPad,Headphones,Sony Beats,Echo Dot (Grey)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/416K0WTPRNL._SL500_.jpg)
Next up, we have some high-quality 3.5mm audio cables from Oldboytech. This company specializes in consumer audio cable, and since this is where their focus lies, they’re able to devote most of their resources to these products. As a result, their 3.5mm audio cables are some of the best.
Their cables put a large emphasis on durability and reliability with features like their braided Nylon outer jacket. Nylon is more resistant to cuts and abrasion than PVC commonly found in other cables. Aside from solid build quality, they also utilize two noise shields and silver core conductors for pristine and crystal-clear signal transfer. As if that wasn’t enough, you get two cables for around the same cost as some others out there. Not a bad deal. Oldboytech stands behind their cables with a lifetime warranty.
Features
♦ 24k gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ 15,000+ bend lifespan
♦ Nylon jacket
♦ Silver conductors
♦ Comes in 1.5 ft, 4 ft, or 8 ft lengths, and in either red or gray
♦ Lifetime warranty
- May not fit all devices or cases (connector is not stepped)
- Rugged and durable
- Lifetime warranty
- 2-pack is great value
Syncwire 3.5mm Aux Cable
Last, but certainly not least, is one of the best 3.5mm audio cables available from a company called Syncwire. Syncwire specializes in a wide variety of consumer audio and electronics products ranging from smartphone protectors, to gaming headsets, to cables of all types and applications.
Just like the Oldboytech cables above, these Syncwire cables use a durable Nylon jacket that is much more resistant to cuts and slices than PVC or PTE. Their stepped, gold-plated connector design will provide a highly-conductive, snug connection when plugged into most smartphone cases. But please keep in mind that they are still incompatible with Life proof Cases And Otter Box cases. Even so, this cable has tens of thousands of happy buyers from around the globe. Check out the full list of specs and features below.
Features
♦ 24k gold contact material
♦ Stepped connector design
♦ 15,000+ bend lifespan
♦ Nylon jacket
♦ Silver conductors
♦ Comes in 3.3 ft or 6.5 ft lengths
♦ Lifetime warranty
- Incompatible with Lifeproof Cases, Bose QC25, Skullcandy HESH, Sony MDR-1000X, Beats Solo, Beats Studio, Beats Executive Series
- Rugged and durable Nylon jacket
- 15,000+ bend lifespan
- Tangle-free design
What Are 3.5mm Audio Cables Used For?
For consumers, 3.5mm audio cables are mainly used to connect audio output device to speakers. In professional audio, 3.5mm audio cables can be useful when listening to a new track on several different sound systems.
For instance, lets say you just bounced part of your new track to .wav and you want to listen to what it’ll sound like on your home stereo system, in your car, in your friend’s car, and on your uncle’s club system. You’d transfer the file to your smartphone and then use a 3.5mm audio cable to connect to each of these audio systems.
How to Pick the Best 3.5mm Audio Cable
In this section we’ll run through what to look for when shopping for the best 3.5mm audio cable. It’s worth knowing that there can also be a good amount of clever marketing behind these cables, and this can add to the price without significantly increasing the quality. Lets take a look:
Shielding for the Best 3.5mm Audio Cable
- Just like in XLR cables used in pro audio, the shielding is a woven mat or spiral of copper fibers that wraps around the main conductors of the audio cable.
- Shielding reduces or eliminates electromagnetic interference from external radiation sources like your smartphone. This means the shield will reduce outside noise and pops from passing to your speakers and ruining your Gwen Stefani sing along session.
- The most common shielding materials are plain copper, tin plated copper, and aluminum laminate foil
- Usually the denser the shielding weave is, the more noise and RF radiation it will reject. This also takes longer to manufacture and will ultimately cost more money.
Conductors
- The conductor is what transmits the the audio signal from the audio device to your speakers.
- Copper is the best material for the cable conductors.
- Oxygen-free copper (OFC) is not known to have any significant increase in conductance. It’s all marketing hype. Still, some audiophiles insist on having it even if it costs them more.
- Heavier-gauge conductors will reduce flexibility and increase capacitance, which we’ll talk about later, but are more durable.
- Cotton placed between conductors and shielding can help eliminate friction and static discharge interference.
Insulation & Jacket
- The insulator is the material that surrounds the bare copper conductor inside the cable.
- common insulator materials are PVC, polyethylene, and Nylon
- some manufacturers inject nitrogen into the insulators – this doesn’t make a difference, it’s just fancy marketing.
- The jacket is the material that surrounds everything inside the audio cable (shielding, insulator, conductor) and what is found on the very outside of the audio cable
- PVC is a good choice for durable and reliable jacket material.
- Some 3.5mm audio cables will also use a Nylon braid as the jacket – these are more durable
- We want a cable with a high bend lifespan, which is the number of bends that the cable can withstand before failing.
Capacitance
- Heavier-gauge conductors increase the overall capacitance of the cable measured in picofarad per foot (pF/ft).
- Higher capacitance can modify the voltage signal being transmitted through the conductors, therefore distorting the audio being reproduced by speakers, monitors, headphones (both open-back and closed-back), etc.
- Very thick insulation will reduce capacitance.
- Capacitance with 3.5mm audio cables is largely irrelevant to us because the conductor wire gauge will not change or vary much from case to case. Don’t worry about it!
Length
- In general, longer cables will be more prone to signal degradation, interference, and tangling
- Aim for the shortest length needed for your specific application
- If this 3.5mm audio cable will be for your car, anywhere between 2 ft to 6 ft should do. If you want to be able to pass the aux cord to someone in the back seat, shoot for a longer length like 10 ft to 15 ft.
Connector Quality for the Best 3.5mm Audio Cable
- Many low-quality 3.5mm audio cables fail at the connectors.
- Gold-plated contacts are more resistant to corrosion but not 100% necessary.
- Silver contacts are actually more conductive, and they’re also cheaper than gold contacts.
- Step-down connectors are the best. They have a small step on them that allows room for the connector to fit into the case of your smartphone without popping out.
- The best 3.5mm audio cables have hard metal outer shells. These will add to the longevity and reliability of your cable in the long run.
FosPower 3.5mm audio cable with step-down connector.
Sound Quality
Of course, when we are choosing the best 3.5mm audio cable we should naturally be concerned with sound quality. The video below shows an interesting experiment that compares the sound quality of four different aux cables.
As we can see and hear, the sound quality is indiscernible between the four cables. Keep in mind, however, that these cables were not exposed to high amounts of RF radiation during the test, so one with better shielding would perform better than one without shielding (homemade cable, we’re looking at you!)
It also may be difficult to make a judgement due to the quality of the speaker being used in the experiment. Using a pair of studio monitors may tell a different story. And obviously just by looking at them, we can tell some will last much longer than others.
Recap
- Oxygen-free copper makes no difference in audio quality
- Nitrogen infused insulators make no difference in audio quality
- Don’t worry about signal distortion due to increased capacitance from heavier conductors – wire gauge will be very similar across the board
- Gold-plated connectors are more corrosion resistant than silver, but are less conductive and slightly more expensive
- Shielding will make a difference in audio quality by rejecting RF interference
- Jacket material and connector build quality will make a difference in longevity, reliability, and fitment compatibility. Pay attention to the cable’s bend lifespan.
Concluding Remarks
The reality is, there are a lot of really great choices out there when it comes to choosing the best 3.5mm audio cable. This can sometimes make it difficult to make a decision! Paralysis by analysis, they say. That aside, there definitely are some things to look out for that set the best above the rest. There are also added things that aren’t 100% necessary and add to the cost of the cable without increasing quality. Here are some of the take-aways from this buying guide:
- Oxygen-free copper and nitrogen infused insulators are just marketing hype!
- Gold-plated connectors are a great choice for conductivity and corrosion resistance.
- Shielding will 100% make a difference in audio quality. It rejects radio interference and blocks outside noise from ruining your listening experience.
- Jacket material and connector build quality are essential if you want a reliable and durable cable that will last you many years.
- You should choose the shortest length needed for your specific application
We’re all done here. Thanks for reading, and I hope this helps you make a great choice for your 3.5mm audio cable purchase!
I appreciate you putting in the time to put out this article, but any cable you need to call out as having quality issues shouldn’t be on a best of list.