[b7nguyen]

I heard the difference awhile back on my dad's home system and was sold to the idea that, yes, it makes a diff.

This was way before I got into HiFi.

 

[greggf]

Not really a cable guy here.

I think they matter, just not much, considering the $$.

 

[Downrange]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am! After buying a $1000 interconnect its hard to claim otherwise...

LOL! Cognitive dissonance, K!!

hey, "the more you pay, the more it's worth!"

I had to really bite down hard to order and pay for those silver cables you recommended (150 bucks), but they seem to be well made, and definitely do the job. (I've ordered a standard Belden set for the KGSS that's coming - as I hear "it's bright enough!")

Put me down on the side of the perennial debate that goes like this: "cables should be a clean connection between two components and add neither capacitive nor inductive reactance to the circuit." People who spend lots of money for exotic cables (I mean like 1000 bucks) could save some money by just inserting lumped constants (uuF or mH), in this humble audiophile's opinion. But what do I know?

 

[jonta_dj]

I don't really believe in positive effects of better/more expensive cables but I haven't really tested so I can't tell for sure. I want to think that there are no differences too, and I only use standard cables except for one probably quite expensive (with my measures) monster cable which I got "for free" when I bought a sub. I forgot, I actually have bought a couple expensive Linn speaker cables but I think they were about the cheapest my dealer had in stock...

 

[Icarium]

I definitely can hear the differences in cables with HD650s and Qualias. I just switched from my Black Dragon cable to the Blue as the Black Dragon was shorting (Tyrion's cable that was in great shape, and I treat it well its just that delicate with the Qualias) and the change was immense... the Blue Dragon just doesn't sound as good. The bass becomes unfocused and the balance is lost. Certain sounds become either unfocused or recessed... :/

 

[Gnus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini /img/forum/go_quote.gif Definitely not one. I hate the smugness of people who believe in cables, their arguments are usually reduced to: 1. You've not got/heard them in a high end enough system. 2. You don't have *my* super hearing Very few people are willing to debate physics, which I find abit strange, as they are usually the ones who are investing the serious money in it. I think you're already abit silly if you're throwing money at something you clearly do not understand.

Physics or otherwise, I can definately hear differences in the various cables I owned. (Silver Dragon, Cardas, ALO Cryo, RadioShack-branded)

If there is REALLY no difference like you claim, why is it that I prefer 1 over the others, price not a factor?

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am! After buying a $1000 interconnect its hard to claim otherwise...

Trust me that most of the times that is the logic behind many of those claims you see posted in many places...

Personally I really doubt that I will go any further than Blue Jeans Cables, and Quail shielded power cords...but do not trust me on that I said the same about the headphones and right now I have two pairs of Edition 9's, which 5 years ago, I would never thought in getting...

Now flame me if you want, and I would say the forbidden words, but in all double blind tests that I have know off, and read about, in the most optimistic cases the results have been simply random, none of them have even proved that the differences are equally appreciated by the listeners or that they match, what is bright for ones are dull for others and so on, and in some of them, even worst, they even wrote about these differences, and they were all the time listening a zip cord...

I still have the Cable Comparator CD that WireWorld Cables released some time ago in which they claim to have recorded the differences among 17 different cables, I do not hesitate, and honestly, I will not feel any remorse in state publicly that I do not hear a **** of the difference among them...all of them sound the same to me, and they went from Monster, Audioquest, Blue Jeans, Nordost, Cardas, etc...so there are indeed different materials and geometries involved, of course all cables tested were really well done, and very good quality....Even IIRC there is one really long cable like 20' or the like, and even though the same result...Well indeed that was not a surprise to me, I have an extension of Canare 30' here home, that I use everyday, and I will be really interested is see if some of the golden ears are really up to the task of detecting which of my two pairs of Edition 9's is connected directly, and which through the 30' extension...

 

[Televator]

I do think cables matter... if:
- you consider this quote Quote:

Quote: Originally Posted by kipman725 I just keep cable runs as short as possible and don't put them near mains cables Why? If cables aren't important and won't make a difference?

well, as I am currently still camping at three different sites (all lousy for audio) I can tell that length and mains vicinity matter. At my parents' place (where I keep my Marantz CD5001, H5, MS2i and $20 IC's) my audio-experience is often disturbed by magnetic interference from a TV, mains sockets and a pair of ultra-cheap PC-speakers. The same goes for wireless or mobile phones BTW...

- you calculate subjective perception whether based on price, looks, feeling of security or even peer pressure (which I don't dismiss as irrelevant at all)

- you add a couple of 200 Ohm resistors in the cable (thanks again for the great adapter cantsleep) so the H5+MS2i combo has a bit more gain-room to play with and which causes quite a bit of remarkable changes in the sound (not all for the better)

for all the other claims I'd love to see some scientific proof as with the test that shall not be named etc... so call me a skeptic until proven wrong

 

[Flasken]

High end powersupplies sound kinda fishy to me... But that comes no where near to this: Ultra high end digital cables!! Yep, even denon, a maker of great headphones, will go to all lenghts in order to capitalize on cable myths.

5 feet, $500 baby!! Hilarious.

 

[3x331m]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flasken /img/forum/go_quote.gif High end powersupplies sound kinda fishy to me... But that comes no where near to this: Ultra high end digital cables!! Yep, even denon, a maker of great headphones, will go to all lenghts in order to capitalize on cable myths. 5 feet, $500 baby!! Hilarious.

I'll sell snake oil if there're buyers...

 

[steaxauce]

Um, digital cables are a major, major cause of jitter, which is bad. No one who knows anything about digital audio disputes this.

 

[Lamprologus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif Now flame me if you want, and I would say the forbidden words, but in all double blind tests that I have know off, and read about, in the most optimistic cases the results have been simply random, none of them have even proved that the differences are equally appreciated by the listeners or that they match, what is bright for ones are dull for others and so on, and in some of them, even worst, they even wrote about these differences, and they were all the time listening a zip cord...

What about the less optimistic cases, non-random. Did they differentiate

?

This is a difficult subject for me who's been into "stereo and hifi" for many years (well, since the mid-late 1970's anyway). I don't want to believe in "cables make a difference" and most often, I don't think they do. It simply costs too much, and most of the time, lets be honest, it's minor differences. I usually try before I buy (cables at least). However, I seem to detect any worsening immediately, even in cases where eg. loudspeaker cables costs about the same as L3000 (at least one channel anyway) I pick up on tiny differences and sound the alarm. How come I don't detect improvements? Is it because my equipment is all high-end? Not really, I don't think so, and my equipment is certainly not high-end (by most definitions, anyway).

I think that as a cable manufacturer, all you should do is to try and affect the signal as little as possible. So when a certain cable is said to eg. increase bass, in reality this means that the cable is poor in the mids-highs.

I do believe that cables make a difference, but i I don't necessarily believe that more expensive cables provide better SQ.

I should tell you all a little story. I was at a show, Nordost were demonstrating their power cables (prices ranging from expensive to the unbelievably expensive). At every switch of cable, which was always to a more expensive cable, we (the audience) were told to look out for the increase in details, dynamics etc. I had a problem with the overall sound signature, apparently they had problems with standing waves somewhere between 25-80 Hz. I could not detect any difference between the "cheap" power cable and the power cable costing as a L3000. But all of my friends, who already did believe in power cables make a difference, could detect changes with any switch during the show. I thought I was either deaf or stupid until I read a review of the show, someone questionned the validity of always changing to a better cable and also whether any changes were apparent at all.

Switching to headphones, differences are easier to spot. But it's not that easy to tell if a difference is for better or worse (at least not in the long run).


If you do believe in cables, you would want to defend your investment by claiming it worthwile, if you don't believe in cables you will have a hard time defending why you don't use the most basic throughout your system. Me? I can only detect worsenings when it comes to cables, not improvements. It's a pity I started out with expensive cables

 

[snowball_rx-7]

to a degree, i cant see spending over 50ish on a IC, but i can tell a difference between my cardas and blue jeans. cant tell a difference between my $100 power cord and my free one (got the $100 one for $20)

 

[daltonlanny]

No, I am not a cable guy...I have Directv! LOL!
Seriously, in my many years of listening to, and testing different cables in my systems, I have to say I can honestly hear differences between them, and sometimes the differences are not subtle.

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnus /img/forum/go_quote.gif If there is REALLY no difference like you claim, why is it that I prefer 1 over the others, price not a factor?

Placebo.

I personally have not heard high-end cables, so I cannot really comment. I really don't think they'd make a difference, but I do see myself buying some budget cables (~$50) in the future to make my rig neater and cooler