[tmars78]

Quote:

contradictory? the differences the nordost speaker cables made to the system were on par (though in different ways) to differences the dac made. Considering what the dac cost, I’d say the cables were a bargain.
 
but then, according to you "science priests" everything sound about the same... so ymiwyw
 
 
I really wish to say more about this... unfortunately I’ve got priorities. my apologies

So you've come up with one example. A subjective one at that. That doesn't make what he said any less contradictory. 

 

[Currawong]

I'm going to warn you guys in advance: Don't start getting personal with each other on this topic. Respect each other's opinions and, most importantly, each other. Ultimately it's a topic the answer of which people can only decide for themselves. Again, presenting your opinion (as that is all it is, whether you like it or not -- the one genuine fact that you'll never escape no matter how much you don't like it) is fine. Trashing other people because they don't agree is not.
 
Carry on.

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

I'm going to warn you guys in advance: Don't start getting personal with each other on this topic. Respect each other's opinions and, most importantly, each other. Ultimately it's a topic the answer of which people can only decide for themselves. Again, presenting your opinion (as that is all it is, whether you like it or not -- the one genuine fact that you'll never escape no matter how much you don't like it) is fine. Trashing other people because they don't agree is not.
 
Carry on.

Always can count on you to save the day haha

 

[Gwarmi]

I'll be comparing my current 4mm gauge copper USB Type A to B cable vs a ALO variant very soon,
hopefully next week. That should throw some fuel into the fire, feel free to vent the vitriol at that time!  

 

[DaveBSC]

Aaaaand here we go again. I've had many years of experience on this subject, and here's what I can tell you. Are there published AES papers proving that high-end cables make a difference? No. Can you hook up a cable to a meter, and have it spit out a different number than another cable? Yes you can. Inductance, capacitance, and resistance figures will vary quite widely, and you can change them just by arranging the same wires in a different fashion. Do certain wire arrangements have an effect on resistance to outside noise? Yep. "Star-quad" for example is very good at noise rejection. Frequency response in a very broad sense (think DC-100KHz+) can vary between cables. 
 
Cables tend to fail double blind tests. Guess what - so do amplifiers, cd players, etc. Just about any audio related product other than loudspeakers will fail double blind tests, and I suspect even speakers with similar designs and response figures will probably fail as well.
 
Why would Sennheiser or anyone else use an under performing cable? Why do Canon or Nikon include a crappy $200 kit lens with their $2,000 DSLRs? Aren't they crippling their own cameras? Kind of, yeah. If all you ever shoot with is the kit lens, you aren't really getting your money's worth. If they included $2,000 pro grade lenses in their kits, well that would double the price of the camera, wouldn't it?
 
Cables are like any other audio product. There are some great values out there, and there are some really poor values as well. $300 or $500 doesn't automatically get you to certain level of additional performance, regardless of brand or design. That's like saying, what if I spend $500 on "a headphone", will it sound way better than what I have? I don't know. What kind is it, who makes it?
 
S/Pdif cables are in my experience by far the easiest to understand. Use the best possible conductor (solid core silver, as pure as possible). Use an insulator with the lowest possible resistance, one that gets as close as possible to a vacuum with no insulator (foam teflon). Build it so that it so that impedance maintains 75 Ohms from tip to tip, which means 75 Ohm connectors. This can be done for about $100/m. Unless you have source equipment well into the 5 figure range, I wouldn't bother spending more than that on a digital cable.
 
With every other type of cable, there is no "right way" to do anything. The possibilities are near endless. Of the cables I've tried starting at the bottom in terms of price, Signal Cable's Silver Resolution gets a heck of a lot right for the money. Going up from there, I've found Audio-Magic's Excalibur series to be very impressive. The newest entry level Kimber Selects are very good. At the high-end, I like Kubala Sosna, Siltech, and Jorma the most. There's also a lot of stuff out there that's very expensive, and lousy (looking at you, Nordost).
 
USB cables are still a black art, and the best ones are made by very small companies. I don't think the big guys (Cardas, Kimber, Audioquest) really "get" them yet. This is why its so unfortunate that Locus Design is gone, theirs were pretty much universally regarded as the best USB cables on the market. Ridge Street Audio will now have to try and carry that torch.
 
 
 
 

 

[Girls Generation]

-snip-

I'm looking at VH Audio's Pulsar Ag for my coaxial.

http://www.vhaudio.com/wire.html#vhpulsar

 

[Parall3l]

What about balanced cables ? They will make an audible difference right ? At least thats what I thought. 

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

What about balanced cables ? They will make an audible difference right ? At least thats what I thought. 

Balanced cables themselves wouldn't do anything without a balanced amp. Balanced amps only sound different if they're designed to sound different, as far as I know. No one's convinced me otherwise, at least. Balanced systems have advantages and disadvantages, all of which seem to be present in some single-ended amps as well.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

What about balanced cables ? They will make an audible difference right ? At least thats what I thought. 

If the component uses fully balanced topology, there may be some benefit. Many components are "quasi-balanced" via a phase splitter. With those it makes no difference. Balanced cables also deal with noise better when used in very long runs.

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

I'm looking at VH Audio's Pulsar Ag for my coaxial.
http://www.vhaudio.com/wire.html#vhpulsar

The Pulsar Ag ticks all the right boxes. VH also carries the Neotech NEVD-2001 which is a really nice digital coax cable. They may be willing to terminate it for a fee. I know Take Five Audio offers the Neotech pre-terminated, or you could buy a bulk run of it, and then send it to somebody like Drew at Moon Audio and have them terminate it with whatever connector you want.

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

What about balanced cables ? They will make an audible difference right ? At least thats what I thought. 

They can and have in my experience.

 

[scootermafia]

In the future, head-fi will have an algorithm that analyzes your posts along with the list of gear you're personally familiar with, and auto deletes posts that are just made up bias and have no basis in personal experience.  

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

In the future, head-fi will have an algorithm that analyzes your posts along with the list of gear you're personally familiar with, and auto deletes posts that are just made up bias and have no basis in personal experience.  

Sounds reasonable.

 

[Gwarmi]

News just in,
 
Just benching my new Nordost Blue Heaven 1metre USB versus my old 1.5 4mm copper USB cable
 
Nordost has eradicated any clipping I was getting earlier on some recordings and there appears to
be a little more sound stage depth.
 
All in all, pretty positive which for the small sum paid. 

 

[Chris_Himself]

Quote:

News just in,
 
Just benching my new Nordost Blue Heaven 1metre USB versus my old 1.5 4mm copper USB cable
 
Nordost has eradicated any clipping I was getting earlier on some recordings and there appears to
be a little more sound stage depth.
 
All in all, pretty positive which for the small sum paid. 

Thats really interesting, I've usually dismissed most digital cables, this is an interesting datapoint!