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About RCA Cables / Interconnects:
RCA Audio Cables are still the single most widely used audio cables made. RCA Cables and Interconnects are generally made of 55 Ohm single or dual conductor shield wire with RCA connectors solddered or molded onto each end of the cable. A single RCA audio cable will only carry one channel of audio information where digital RCA cable referred to as digital coax cables carry multiple audio channels These two types of cables are not compatible.
The most common type of RCA Audio Cable / Interconnect is the Stereo RCA Cable that will normally be 2 55 Ohm Audio cables molded together or 2 individual RCA cables. These cables carry typically carry Stereo Left and Right audio signal from DVD, TV's, CD, Tape and almost any other type of electronic device used for audio playback or signal processing devices. In recent years the term RCA Interconnect has come into the market and is really not but a fancy term from a cable used to connect multiple pieces of equipment together.
Any who shops for RCA Interconnect / Audio cables will discover that pricing on these audio cables varies wildly. Generally speaking the RCA Audio cables the that come for free when you buy a piece of consumer electronics equipment are really low quality and often made wit the thinnest gauge of impure copper cable that can be found. If the cables had any value whatsoever the manufacturer would charge for them. When you start talking about quality RCA Interconnects pricing usually starts in about the $10 area and goes up from there. The differences in RCA Interconnect pricing are attributed to the quality and purity of cable being used and the quality and plating of the RCA connector. There are many types of RCA Cable produced, good quality cables usually use Oxygen Free Copper, SIlver Plated Oxygen Free Copper, or Gold / Platinum plated Oxygen free copper. Furthermore the gauge of the center conductor and the weave of the shielding is what makes a differerce in sound of your system that you can hear. The RCA connector is also an important part of the interconnect cable. I should be gold plated at bare minimum. Better and more costly RCA connectors also use extremely pure metals to transmit audio signal.
So the difference in a nutshell: Cheap audio cables hamper all around performance of you expensive audio system. Good audio cables give you a more robust all around sound, are silent when your system is on ( there is not essssss sound) and have good shielding to prevent errant intrusion from radio signals. They are the single most overlooked part of an audio system and make the single biggest difference in audio quality.
