[TravelLite]

In response to the original question, personally I like/appreciate the following short statement from Straight Wire's Q&A webpage.
Quote:

All audio cables act as complex passive filters with elements of capacitance, inductance & resistance. While they have observed sonic & electrical tendencies - cables are reactive (and can have a complimentary, neutral or derogatory effect in systems).

Straight Wire - The Music Conductor:
http://www.straightwire.com/

TravelLite

 

[HD-5000]

Saying that cables don't make a difference is like coming up to me and everyone else who has heard differences in cables and saying he's wrong/crazy/stupid/hearing things/etc.

Skeptics, its not like the entire audiophile cable industry is built upon placebo and whatnot.

 

[NetRunner]

This is one article from Stereophile that I just recently read *or skimmed*.. It slightly borders on cables (S/PDIF only though) and measurements on them (jitter).
Just if someone is interested.. *It is longish article and the cables are a side point..*

 

[Geek]

Better cables have higher Q-factor, or electromagnetic resonance point. This reduces distortion, since having resonances in the signal induced by the cable is bad, and making the resonance point much higher in the spectrum (so that it affects the audible frequencies less) will yield less audible distortion. Better cables are well-shielded. This reduces interference since more shielding blocks out various types of electromagnetic radiation. Finally, good cables are made out of 99% OF (oxygen free) copper or silver, generally. This means the signal traveling down the cable is not lost or blurred due to impurities in the cable itself.

The end result is more of the signal gets to the headphone: a bigger soundstage, more detail, smoother sound, better highs and lows, a more involving midrange. . . etc.

The basic argument that cables do not affect the sound is easily defeated: would a 2mm-strand of heavily oxidized, totally exposed copper sound as good on your setup as a cardas neutral reference interconnect? No.

That's my take on how better cables improve the sound: it's all about refinement and quality, just like with other components.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 Skeptics, its not like the entire audiophile cable industry is built upon placebo and whatnot.

True. 99%+ of it is though, in my opinion.

 

[Leporello]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 Saying that cables don't make a difference is like coming up to me and everyone else who has heard differences in cables and saying he's wrong/crazy/stupid/hearing things/etc.

In that case you may have a problem in interpreting what other people mean to say.


Regards,


L.

 

[Snake]

Hmmm. But it is crazy that people wish to say cables make no sound difference. They all measure differently across capacitance, propagation, impedence, dialectric constants and such and yet the people who pay attention to such numbers say those make a difference in electronics, but not in cabling?

They will quote numbers for one item but not for another. They, generally, don't 'listen' to cables themselves and therefore do not wish to believe, nor find out for themselves.

Selective ignorance.

 

[HD-5000]

Quote:

In that case you may have a problem in interpreting what other people mean to say.

Whoa there, why the personal attack?

Sorry if I offended you man. I do have a habit of not reading all of what people have to say, and that is my fault.

Aynways, what did you mean to say anyway? If I'm right, all you argue about are markl's postings on cables.

 

[Leporello]

Quote:

Originally posted by HD-5000 Whoa there, why the personal attack?

I admit I was being harsh. Please accept my apologies.

My point was that being skeptical (about cables and all matters hi-fi in general) does not mean the same as stating that the 'believers' (for lack of a better word only) are stupid or foolish. Saying something like that would be pointless.

Now, being 'wrong' is a slightly different matter. When making claims in public, one has to accept the possibility of being wrong. I suspect many claims about differences between audio cables are factually wrong even if the audiophiles sincerely believe they are hearing those differences. It's only human.


Regards,


L.

 

[dvw]

I like to share some of my experiences.

I have found a significant audible difference between cables of same brand and same model. I attributed this to lack of understanding of the cable and so there is no way to control the quality of the cable.

I recorded this difference (some passage shows more difference than others). when I play this to other people. Almost no one can hear the difference. But after I point out what the difference is everybody can identify this 10 out of 10 times. So DBT will not work if you are not familiar with the material, but it will work if you are.

When I was replacing my carpet, I disassembled and reassembled my system. The sound changed. It gradually improved as I changed to new cables. It does not make sense to me that a cable can age. I cleaned all the connector and the sound now improved significantly. I think we should first look at the quality of the connection before we blame the cable. This is especially true with crimped speaker cable.

I continued to upgraded my system since my 20s because I can hear a difference when I A/B the different components. Now I adopted the philosophy if I can't hear a difference without A/B, I can't hear a difference. I haven't bought any new component in the last two years. If I have done this 30 years ago, I would be a lot wealthier. Every $3000 you saved, it will turned into $150K in 40 years. My advice to young people is save your money if you need to A/B to hear a difference. ( you can hear the difference between a boom box and a full ranged system, can't you?)

 

[Edwood]

You may not be able to debate here using DBT, but try it out with a friend in a quiet setting. It's best to get someone else's opinion too.


-Ed

 

[Sovkiller]

I have heard some minor differences in some not too ultra-expensive cables, so I'm a believer to a certain point, IMO from certain point up, is mostly placebo, and does not justify the price at all, but I have a quick question for all of you guys out there, there is no one single recording studio that uses even a decent cable for all their ICs, don't tell me that because of the cost, if we can, they for sure do, OTOH some of those recording studios are private and just for very limited use and some of them even for the same musician, and has only a few ICs, AFAIK, some of those recording studios has Dynaudio monitors, ultra expensive mics, acoustic treatments uber-expensive, and the most important thing, a lot of ultra-qualified personnel working there, and even musicians with a very good, and well trained ears, my question is now, are all of them wrong??? Why not using a cardas or a Virtual Dynamics instead of bulk Canare or Mogami....???

OTOH please leave the DBT alone, there are some out there, with ultra-ridiculous results, that may cause our most devote cable believer to doubt....like this one in which the cables were in fact never changed, and "all the audiophiles" in the room even wrote about the differences in the cables they were supposedly hearing......