Dilemma: Should I not believe any reviewers who talk about cables or just ignore that section of... - Page 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tilpo 


Don't feel offended or insulted, but my personal interpretation of the reason people hear differences between different cables is because of psychological factors related to sighted listening tests, esp. expectation bias.
How can you be sure that whatever differences you may be hearing aren't caused by the fact that you expect differences to be there?
This effect readily explains why even large changes that are reported during sighted listening tests suddenly disappear when done blind, even when switched by hand without a switch box. Additionally, the effect of expectation bias is so big it can even make unreactive substances measurably improve a medical condition, i.e. the well known placebo effect.
The fact that you hear differences does not mean there are differences. So out of honest interest I'm wondering how you are able to assert the differences you perceive as 'true', and not as a result of expectation bias.
Edit: and as liamstrain pointed out there are indeed cases where the cable has measurable negative effects on the system because it is not used as intended. But I think it's a fair assumption to make that those kind of situations don't occur in a normal audio chain with headphones.

Quote:

Originally Posted by liamstrain 

Sorry Germanium - you have not presented any evidence at all to support your assertion. There is no evidence that has been presented by anyone, ever, to support that cables ever have, or are even capable of making a difference.* That you believe you heard differences does not mean that the cables actually made a difference. 

 

* except for those instances where they are of insufficient gauge for the application, or otherwise made incorrectly and generating ground loops or etc.

While I agree that in many cases there is no scientific reason that there should be a difference other than the marketers say so & the reasons they give are not good scientific reasons, interaction of output impedance with cable capacitance in line level cabling is the primary diference that I was in fact able to hear. It was most easily heard with piano music which became lifeless with high capacitance cabling. The cables I made were under 100pf for one meter with connectors. All cables I tested that were available on the market & were in my price range had more than 125pf for one meter with connectors. These cables caused mild deadening of the piano sound & as I approached 200pf there was an increase in the deadening effect. My cables were 75pf with connectors for one meter & 56pf for 1/2 meter including connectors. You will not find any cables with lower capacitance on the market than my homemade cables. These were the cables that provided the most lifelike sound on piano. Piano is the most dificult instrument to reproduce as ther is a broad spectrum of harmonics & wide dynamicis in many cases. The losses are revealed very quickly on piano music more than any other. Some electric guitar works can also show it pretty well as well.The searing tone of an electric guitar that is played loud in it's upper registers gets lost pretty easily as well.

By the way I'm not trying to sell anything here so I have no reason to trump up my claims & as you see I do not say that cabling makes a diffeence everywhere or that I have even heard a difference everwhere. Certainly not with my computer sound setup but certainly so on my seperates.

My computer sound setup however is different as there is no difference in cabling sound  as far as I have been able to detect & the difference is a lower output impedance pushing these effects up beyond the audio range of human hearing. also the closer the output impedance is to the characteristic impedance of the cable the broader the frequency response of the system as a whole & the less cable sensitive your system will be. You want any visable on a scope sign of roll off to be well beyond human heaing as far as the cable-output impedance matchups are concerned

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 

Superman ... couldn't save the planet, don't try.

Is that what you're going to teach your kids? Just roll over and show your yellow belly?

You need to man up and stop swallowing the pap you're being spoonfed.

w

1. What is the theory that supports this will have an audible effect? 

2. Did you do any blind testing to ensure you were level matching and eliminating bias? Or were you able to measure the signal changes (not just the impedance) to see if there were measurable differences? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 


this circular argument is just that. You win, No effort to debate from me as I enjoy my music as I hear it, not how someone tells me I should.
My point is not directed at the OP. It is directed at those that think that science has the world all packaged in neat, perfect explanations.

You are free to enjoy your music. I do not intend to take that away from you. 

However. Truth matters. If you are telling someone that a cable change affected your listening experience, I would expect you to be able to back that up - otherwise you are perpetuation a mythology that costs people millions of dollars needlessly (even if you, yourself, are not selling anything). The world may not be packaged in neat, perfect explanations - but that is neither a reason to suggest that some things cannot be measured or tested usefully, or that audio is somehow exempt from the rules that do bind so many other things. Perfect explanations may not be attainable - but we can strive for robust, workable, predictive ones. That's how we progress...something mythology has never done for us.

I want to make audio better. Both for my personal enjoyment and the field as a whole. To do that, the first step is determining exactly where you actually can effect change. Rooting out money spent in the wrong areas, so it can be applied in the right ones is part of that step. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 

We all start off not believing because audio language is foreign and no references common to us noobs exist. It's when you start doing your own investigation that you begin to learn the language and magnitude of impact (if any).

I have found cables and power cords to have some impact. The things it impacted was not what I had experience listening for. When I went from a test cable back to my baseline cable, I could tell some slight variances. I would say that ICs are like tone controls. And as has been mentioned, not every component will have the same impact using that IC. Power cords also have an effect on some devices, in particular amps.

The big issue is whether the cost is worth the difference. The vast majority will conclude that no, it's not worth the cost. But taking price out of the equation and having the opportunity to try different setups at your leisure and with your gear is the only way to learn. I certainly wouldn't spend my money trying to find out. But if you get an opportunity to try some different items, it's worth trying for your own peace of mind. If the article or review has financial implications, keep that in mind. If a hobbyist is giving their experience and it's like a component upgrade, they are embellishing their purchase. But there are a lot of us that have found a difference worth change that don't have a bias other than liking the sound better. For those who need empirical data to tell them what to do or how to spend their money, buy a radio shack set and let live. Superman was a comic book character and couldn't save the planet, don't try.

The differences you hear is most likely a phycological effect, I know because I've been there, try conducting some fair blind-testing yourself and you'd see what I mean.

Either that or you have superhuman hearing abilities that I don't have.

Power cables? Don't even get me started until you've re-cabled everything from your regional power plant all the way to your home and change all of the infrastructures in between. Incase you don't know, power companies don't use OFC or silver to make their cables, nor are the cables in your house or what ever you live in (Unless you've already re-cabled them.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by liamstrain 

Quote:

"interaction of output impedance with cable capacitance in line level cabling is the primary diference that I was in fact able to hear."

 

 

1. What is the theory that supports this will have an audible effect? 

 

2. Did you do any blind testing to ensure you were level matching and eliminating bias? Or were you able to measure the signal changes (not just the impedance) to see if there were measurable differences? 

LOL, do keep in mind that cable capacitances are actually VERY small (in the magnitude of 1-10pF), This is smaller than the high-frequency filter capacitors used in amplifiers to remove unwanted supersonic frequencies and prevent oscillation in the amplifier (these capacitors are in the magnitude of around 100pF).

Yes the theory and fair blind-testing results are very important if you're trying to prove something here, the phycological effects plays a large role in our listening experience. 

I've heard some slight differences in certain cables (Piccolino for one), but the difference is not day and night of what a lot of people claim to be. Those that claim that there new ALO cable has opened up the mids, made there listening experience less fatiguing and less bright is just a psychology effect in which there brain is telling them they want to believe in a difference between stock and there ALO cable when there isn't any. Unless your cable's by default has some defect in it or is badly constructed then you will hear a substantial amount of difference. 

In the end, it's all about the aesthetics. You want to believe that there is a difference to make sure your new $500 cables are worth it, when there is no difference. It's sad to see that some spend 5x more on cables then there speakers or headphones.

My 2c.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DefQon 

I've heard some slight differences in certain cables (Piccolino for one), but the difference is not day and night of what a lot of people claim to be. Those that claim that there new ALO cable has opened up the mids, made there listening experience less fatiguing and less bright is just a psychology effect in which there brain is telling them they want to believe in a difference between stock and there ALO cable when there isn't any. Unless your cable's by default has some defect in it or is badly constructed then you will hear a substantial amount of difference. 

 

In the end, it's all about the aesthetics. You want to believe that there is a difference to make sure your new $500 cables are worth it, when there is no difference. It's sad to see that some spend 5x more on cables then there speakers or headphones.

 

My 2c.

$500 cable? this is just sad....
A cable shouldn't cost more than around $20 because that's around the cost of cables used in professional audio (where the music is produced).
*Note: when I say "cables used in professional audio" I'm talking about patch cables and interconnects under 10m in length, certainly not long microphone cables running 10's of meters. 

To the OP:

What would you rely more on? An eyewitness explaining a scene, or a video of the scene/CCTV?

A camera doesn't lie, nor is it capable of bias and failure of recollection on its own.

Same goes for audio.

I think I read somewhere, the max you should consider spending on cables is 1-5% of your setup cost.