[Ampersand]

I've hear differences between IC's.

When I made DIY IC's with Mogami/Canare starquad and LOK connectors, I REALLY wanted them to sound better than the Cardas. According to this article and others like it, I should have convinced myself that the DIY sounded better. Unfortunately, they didn't. It wasn't even close. I was disappointed as I dropped a lot of $$ on those connectors.

Just my .02

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotchaforce /img/forum/go_quote.gif wow its clear this guy doesnt know anything. another "talks about cables without listening to them" sort of guy!!! gosh what an idiot!

Actually, it appears from the article that his company has conducted a number of listening tests. It seems highly unlikely that he would conduct such tests without ever listening himself to the cables that are the subjects of the test. Do you have any support for your claim that he doesn't base his comments on listening?

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ampersand /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've hear differences between IC's. When I made DIY IC's with Mogami/Canare starquad and LOK connectors, I REALLY wanted them to sound better than the Cardas. According to this article and others like it, I should have convinced myself that the DIY sounded better. Unfortunately, they didn't. It wasn't even close. I was disappointed as I dropped a lot of $$ on those connectors. Just my .02

Connectors are important, low resistance is important but the cable itself makes the biggest difference! In this case, the diy cable was inferieur to the cardas cable. Are there better cables then cardas, yes, but it will cost ya.

 

[drarthurwells]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tourmaline /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't agree with you about the 650 and 600. I also used the 600 with the original cardas cable and while it has better stage , it looses quite a bit in the tonal correctness department. The notes are light and less bodied compared to the hd650.

I find the HD600 with Genuine Cardas and the Bada 12 with two Chinese and one EH Gold 6SN7 and the Saturn with my rebadged Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II ICs, and Tice power conditioner and good power cables:

great clarity, sharp imaging with 3-D tones and plenty of empty space between tones, compact tones with no blurry or muddy bloating of the tones, sweet natural timbre, great tone body resolution with subtle nuances revealed, excellent inner detail and instrument separation in complex passages, and well balanced

The HD650 with stock cables falls just slightly short for me than the HD600 with HD650 cables, in terms of balance, inner detail, 3-D imaging with air between tones. Some prefer the strong bass of the 650.

I understand the HD650 with Equinox is better than the HD650 with Cardas - don't know from actual experience.

Cables do make a difference to me.

The K701 with stock cable has expansive tones that fill out the soundstage but these tones are bloated in a subtle way compared to the HD600/Cardas and its smaller but sharply delineated tones (which are focused in empty space as palpable and transparent).

 

[meat01]

Febs, I think Gotchaforce was being sarcastic

 

[Febs]

Heh. That's what I get for not having had enough coffee this morning.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs /img/forum/go_quote.gif You could also buy a used high quality brand name cable and pay less and get away with a bargain. This way, you will have peace of mind if there is a shadow of a doubt that stock cables are inferior.

I saw an old 50s TV commercial that showed a housewife with a worried expression on her face. The announcer was saying over the top, "Worried that your husband's shirts may not be as white as they could be? Use new and improved Dreft for the WHITEST WHITES POSSIBLE!" I'm sure the soap flakes in the box were exactly the same as in any other brand on the shelf, but just *knowing* that their whites were the whitest gave millions of housewives "peace of mind".

I really don't need my wires to help me feel more confident or give me peace of mind. All I need them to do is conduct electricity efficiently. Radio Shack cables have worked perfectly in my system for many years, and I've never had cause to lay awake at night and worry about them.

See ya
Steve

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells /img/forum/go_quote.gif great clarity, sharp imaging with 3-D tones and plenty of empty space between tones, compact tones with no blurry or muddy bloating of the tones, sweet natural timbre, great tone body resolution with subtle nuances revealed, excellent inner detail and instrument separation in complex passages, and well balanced

A veritable dictionary of vague romantic terms to describe sound!

See ya
Steve

 

[voxr3m]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif A veritable dictionary of vague romantic terms to describe sound! See ya Steve

Isn't that always the case? I listen mostly to my speakers, and tbh, their placement in the room and height off the floor makes more of a difference than even swapping between quality amplifiers. I've spoken with the designer of the timewindow 3's I own and even he couldn't justify rewiring the speaker with 'better' quality wire for improvments in sound. He did stress the importance of reliable connections in the circuit and even recommended redundant wiring.

I never bother trying to argue the point anymore. Cable believers will believe what they want. All you can do is respect their decisions and continue saving yourself money.

 

[Logistics]

Let's not forget the possibility that a persons cables are not the bottle-neck. It may not be as useful to change cables if you haven't cleaned things up elsewhere in the system. If, from a component level stand-point, your amplifier or source are lacking, then it's not going to be as useful to change cables, because garbage in, garbage out. People usually suggest that cables are the last thing which should be changed.

Of course, this becomes an entirely different matter if you're dealing with a cable that should be a specific impedance, and things such as the quality of termination can affect said impedance. (like video cables)

 

[Spareribs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif Radio Shack cables have worked perfectly in my system for many years, and I've never had cause to lay awake at night and worry about them. See ya Steve

Radio Shack cables are excellent these days.

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif I saw an old 50s TV commercial that showed a housewife with a worried expression on her face. The announcer was saying over the top, "Worried that your husband's shirts may not be as white as they could be? Use new and improved Dreft for the WHITEST WHITES POSSIBLE!" I'm sure the soap flakes in the box were exactly the same as in any other brand on the shelf, but just *knowing* that their whites were the whitest gave millions of housewives "peace of mind". I really don't need my wires to help me feel more confident or give me peace of mind. All I need them to do is conduct electricity efficiently. Radio Shack cables have worked perfectly in my system for many years, and I've never had cause to lay awake at night and worry about them. See ya Steve

Yet another inciteful [sic] post by our resident audio expert

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spareribs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Radio Shack cables are excellent these days.

Your definition of excellent is my definition of adequate

 

[vcoheda]

if all cables are the same, then where does it end. do all CDs players sound the same. does a $50 DVD player sound as good as a $2000 CD player. is a $100 amp the same as one costing 5x as much. at some point, you have to be more critical and admit that there are differences which even if not siginificant, although sometimes they are, are worth the additional cost.

 

[bigshot]

Adequate is a great description for a cable that is functioning properly.

There is a heirarchy of difference...

More differences from model to model
Speakers
Headphones
Amplifiers
CD Players
Cables
Less differences from model to model

Leading causes of bad sound...

Inadequate speakers/cheap earbuds
Poor room acoustics/speaker placement
Encoding compressed audio at too low a bitrate
Lack of headroom/overdriving
Overprocessing/Digital manipulation
Lousy miking/mixing/mastering
Imbalanced frequency response

See ya
Steve