[DreamKing]

  Well-built standard? 
OCC copper insulated with teflon? Litz, stranded or solid? Symmetrical, coaxial, anything more fancy?
What constitutes of the well-built standard?

 
There's various standards but since we're talking about headphones, demonstrate there's any change in sound between the various OF and ETP copper cables sold. 

 

[xionc]

I have no interest in demonstrating anything to anyone. I'm not selling cables.

 

[Speedskater]

 
Nonsense, it would take a great deal of skill to mess up a cable design that much!

Thinking about it further, many manufactures screw-up RCA & balanced interconnects.

 

[cjl]

  Any significant isn't exactly precise and we're not taking design of the other equipment into consideration.
 
I would say that with many balanced signal path products there is negligible influence of the cables on the reproduction quality. But those are rarely seen outside professional audio environment.

With an unbalanced signal path, the cable's impact (assuming a relatively normal cable) on audio reproduction is several orders of magnitude below audibility. We aren't talking about super low level signals being run hundreds of feet here, so there's no need for the extra noise rejection, and with any normal signal chain (I'm ignoring things like electrostatic headphones for the moment here, since they actually do have some oddities that can cause their cable requirements to be more strict than usual), and any normal amount of capacitance and inductance caused by something like 14AWG zip cord, your frequency response will be dead flat to way past 20kHz too, with no significant attenuation.

 

[DreamKing]

  I have no interest in demonstrating anything to anyone. I'm not selling cables.

 
You don't have to sell cables and you might not even believe in any of this stuff but what hasn't been done, ever is cable-believers demonstrating that there is indeed change in well-built cables. Until then there is no reason to believe in unicorns.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Cables absolutely make a difference. My system sounds infinitely better with cables than without cables!

 

[xionc]

 any normal amount of capacitance and inductance caused by something like 14AWG zip cord, your frequency response will be dead flat to way past 20kHz too, with no significant attenuation.

Who's talking about flat frequency response after summation and avg of several thousands of samples? Do all amplifiers sound the same because they have +/-0.1dB in audible frequency range?
We're talking about music perception and reproduction.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  (I'm ignoring things like electrostatic headphones for the moment here, since they actually do have some oddities that can cause their cable requirements to be more strict than usual)

 
It's interesting that you mention that, because the current STAX Lambda series (ranging from $390 to $925 retail) all have the same drivers, yet sound different, and the main differences between them are the cables, with varying resistance and capacitance. (Some also have different pads and enclosures.)

 

[cjl]

  Who's talking about flat frequency response after summation and avg of several thousands of samples? Do all amplifiers sound the same because they have +/-0.1dB in audible frequency range?
We're talking about music perception and reproduction.

That's an easy one. All competently designed amplifiers sound the same when driving a load impedance that they were designed for at a level within their capability. Any more questions?

 

[xionc]

It wasn't an easy one - it was a rhetoric one.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  That's an easy one. All competently designed amplifiers sound the same when driving a load impedance that they were designed for at a level within their capability. Any more questions?

 
Can you direct me to a competently designed electrostatic amplifier to use with the STAX SR-009? (With documentation illustrating how it is designed competently while others are not.) I ask because practically every single person who has used this headphone with various amps proclaims that the more affordable ones sound downright awful compared to the ones that cost over $4,000.
 
Just a taste: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/listening-great-headphone-amplifiers-and-stax-sr-900
 
It would be nice to get the most affordable amp, but the design and requirements for electrostats is so much more complex...

 

[cjl]

  It wasn't an easy one - it was a rhetoric one.

Yes, but it seemed like you were expecting a different answer, so I figured I'd clear up the confusion.

 

[jbarrentine]

If there were a difference we would see it in the video world and don't. One hdmi cable is just like another if they meet the same minimum standards. 

 

[cjl]

   
Can you direct me to a competently designed electrostatic amplifier to use with the STAX SR-009? (With documentation illustrating how it is designed competently while others are not.) I ask because practically every single person who has used this headphone with various amps proclaims that the more affordable ones sound downright awful compared to the ones that cost over $4,000.
 
Just a taste: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/listening-great-headphone-amplifiers-and-stax-sr-900
 
It would be nice to get the most affordable amp, but the design and requirements for electrostats is so much more complex...

Unfortunately, I can't say I'm that familiar with the detailed requirements of an electrostatic amp, so I'm afraid I can't help you much here. I don't expect to be getting an electrostatic system anytime soon, and as a result, I really haven't looked into them very much. I wish you the best of luck finding one though. I wish it were more standard to do things like measure the actual output of the amp while driving a load, and use that in the specs, but I haven't seen those measurements done with an electrostatic system in any review or spec sheet that I've seen.

 

[cjl]

  If there were a difference we would see it in the video world and don't. One hdmi cable is just like another if they meet the same minimum standards. 

Yeah, though that's one case where you really can sometimes see the difference with a really cheap (probably non-spec compliant) cable over very long runs. Of course, that's running a much higher frequency signal, with much higher bandwidth requirements. It's also not subtle when something's going wrong - digital interconnects are a very binary thing (heh). They either work or they don't, and if they aren't working you'll know it.