Quote:
| Likewise, if someone has fifty dollar headphones and they are asking which $200 cable upgrade they should consider, it would be rude to NOT point out that the $200 would be better spent on new cans. Expensive cable upgrades are regularly recommended for midrange systems. What's the point of even putting a $200 cable on $200 cans? |
1. There are no aftermarket cables for any $50 can. Only aftermarket cables are for the high-end Senns ($250-$350 cans), AKG K1000 ($550 cans), and Sony Qualia ($2.5K).
2. Anyone recommending cable upgrades as a panacea for correcting deficiencies they *perceive* in a Senn headphone, is giving bad advice. Having experimented with a few of the Senn replacement cables and having a good sense of what a cable can or can't do, no cable swap is going to suddenly make you love the Senns if you don't already. Many times I've told people frustrated with Senns that investing in an expensive aftermarket cable to "fix" them is throwing good $$ after bad. Time to move on to a new set of cans. Those cables are to provide the icing for people who already love the Senn cake.
3. In general, if you have a Sennheiser 600 or above headphone, you've likely already invested in some amplification, and *probably* already have a decent source. Even in some mid-fi systems a cable swap will yield benefits. But I most definitely agree if someone is running an HD650 out of a sound card to listen to mp3s, he's much better off investing in front-end equipment (or *gasp* even some CDs), it's common sense.
4. You seem to labor under the impression that people are going around recommending people put $1000 cables on $200 systems. I almost never see that, and when I do, I'm the first one to chime in and explain why that's a bad idea. But there are people with $1000, $3000, and $5000+ systems on this board, who are well within their rights to inquire about fancy cables. Live with it.
5. As you well know, there's a big difference in politely suggesting that someone contemplating an expesnive cable upgrade on a budget system look at other options first, than in rudely barging in on a thread reviewing a particular cable, or a thread requesting info on cables within a certain price range and doing a drive-by-- "God you people are retarded, a cable's a cable, you dopes, show me the DBT" sort of thread crap. Ain't rocket science is it?
Quote:
| My main objection isn't that cables don't make any difference. I can imagine that it would be possible to manufacture a cable that has controlled inefficiency to act as a slight filter... My objection is to people who are incapable of accurately expressing the relative improvement a cable upgrade can make. The degree of improvement between one cable and another is miniscule compared to getting better speakers or cans, rearranging the listening room, removing a noisy component, or even adjusting the tone controls properly. All of these things should be done before even considering a problem with the cabling. Yet I keep seeing people recommending cable upgrades for problems that are better dealt with in other ways. |
Who are you arguing with that believes that cable swaps make bigger differences than upgrading to much better speakers, better sources, or better amplification? It's a pure straw man. Two dozen or more times on this site, there have been discussions on how to best allocate funds within a headphone system, polls on the subject, etc., do a search, you'll find them. You'll see that cabling always ends up at the bottom, where it belongs. Your perception of what goes on on this site and what actually happens are worlds apart, dude.
), I think I'll put a disclaimer at the beginning saying thanks but no thanks to anyone who feels the need to enlighten me about the subjectivity of audio.
