[Music Alchemist]

Now I understand how ferrite cores around a cable can help eliminate RF noise but do not understand how a cable carrying a digital signal can really make a SQ difference. From an engineering perspective I understand how cables can alter sound in the analogue domain but in the digital domain it either works or it doesn’t.

Some reading material for you:

https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/why-usb-cables-can-make-a-difference/
https://www.audiostream.com/content/draft
https://www.audiostream.com/content...es-hansen-gordon-rankin-and-steve-silberman-p
http://musicapristina.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-digital/

 

[tunes]

Some reading material for you:

https://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/why-usb-cables-can-make-a-difference/
https://www.audiostream.com/content/draft
https://www.audiostream.com/content...es-hansen-gordon-rankin-and-steve-silberman-p
http://musicapristina.com/theres-no-such-thing-as-digital/

Thanks for sending these technical articles. But as everyone knows it boils down to what is “heard” by the individual and that is why no two people hear the same. One glass of wine, 10 dB of volume change, or the slightest amount of distracting visual or ambient noise can influence the brain’s processing of sound far more than differences between USB cables. Furthermore, even with volume matching, A-B comparisons are difficult to reproduce since audio memory may not last long enough to discern fine nuances of change in sound signatures. Unlike the digital realm of o’s and 1’s and even the so called grey zone of jitter timing shifts and audio noise, our brain is not the same as a computer and to err is to be human. I think the companies and designers of cables want us to really believe that more expensive cables sound better as the price ascends into the stratosphere. Hence, there is always bias unless the testing is done blind and reproducible among a panel of listeners at the same time in the same environment using the same sources.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Thanks for sending these technical articles. But as everyone knows it boils down to what is “heard” by the individual and that is why no two people hear the same. One glass of wine, 10 dB of volume change, or the slightest amount of distracting visual or ambient noise can influence the brain’s processing of sound far more than differences between USB cables. Furthermore, even with volume matching, A-B comparisons are difficult to reproduce since audio memory may not last long enough to discern fine nuances of change in sound signatures. Unlike the digital realm of o’s and 1’s and even the so called grey zone of jitter timing shifts and audio noise, our brain is not the same as a computer and to err is to be human. I think the companies and designers of cables want us to really believe that more expensive cables sound better as the price ascends into the stratosphere. Hence, there is always bias unless the testing is done blind and reproducible among a panel of listeners at the same time in the same environment using the same sources.

You could say the same thing about DACs, but I think anyone following this thread knows about the benefits of Chord.

(Though even with Chord, you don't always immediately hear a difference in a rapid-switched A/B comparison, in my experience.)

If I ever get to the point where I can do controlled tests with very high-end cables, I'll let ya know. But there are at least tens of thousands of audiophiles who swear by cable upgrades (including digital ones) and insist they make a significant difference.