[bigshot]

I think that was an episode of Twilight Zone, wasn't it?

 

[Ryokan]

Think it was a black and white film, did a search and can only find Sole Survivor 1970 but don't think it's that.

 

[bigshot]

King Nine Will Not Return? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734584/#

 

[Ryokan]

I was very young when I watched it, all I remember was the crew finding an inflatable dinghy in the sand which they had pushed out of the plane as they thought they were over the sea and walking but always returning to their crash site.

 

[Elegiac]

But do optical cables improve sound quality? How much should I spend on an optical cable?

Spoiler

I was trawling through the comments to find some dissent, and I gave up at maybe 300 or so. Maybe he deletes them.

 

[jjss]

An interesting interview of Sean Olive on test tracks ..

https://soundstageaccess.com/index.php/feature-articles/1259-dr-sean-olive-on-35-years-of-fast-car

An excerpt:
"If you were having a conversation with someone who’s just getting into hi-fi, and they were looking to maybe go to a stereo shop or two and audition some gear with “Fast Car” in-hand, what would you tell them to listen for? What would they be hearing that might tell them what makes one speaker better than another?

SO: First, listen to the bass. There’s a fair amount of it in “Fast Car.” The song has an electric bass and kick drum. Listen for which speaker can recreate the depths of bass better. Secondly, the hi-hat is quite prominent in the mix. Is it sparkly? Is it dull?

Also, listen carefully to her voice. This track has been found to be very revealing of distortion. The combination of the bass and her voice is such that if the speaker has trouble reproducing the bass—and we’ve heard this with bookshelf speakers—it’ll basically max out the woofer excursion, and then it will start modulating her voice.

You can actually hear her voice wavering a bit in pitch. This is something that Wolfgang Klippel, who makes test and measurement equipment, became aware of, and when he does seminars that demonstrate how to measure distortion and nonlinearities in speakers, he always uses “Fast Car” because it’s so revealing.

I think one of the reasons is, not only is the bass prominent, but there aren’t a lot of things around it, so if there are any distortion components, they’re not well-masked by other information in the recording. So the distortion tends to be quite audible."

 

[71 dB]

But do optical cables improve sound quality?

I don't know how they could. I suppose if optical cables were used to transfer analog signals, there could be minor differences in sound quality, but since they are for digital signals, it is about wether the bits survive the fiber-optic ride or not.

How much should I spend on an optical cable?

As little as possible. Money is better spend elsewhere. The whole point of optical cables and digital audio is you don't need to spend much money for 100 % performance.

 

[Elegiac]

Mine cost $10 haha, but it's good. Got a nice sheath and everything.

It's like someone I met recently, telling me that morals are subjective. And: what is peace? How do we define it?
I mean, I've got nothing against a bit of cultural variation and nuance, but I still had to tell her: why don't we go and ask someone who lives in the Congo what 'peace' means? Some things are beyond question.

 

[danadam]

Mine cost $10 haha, but it's good. Got a nice sheath and everything.

And the most important are those gold plated plugs

 

[bigshot]

But do optical cables improve sound quality?

No cable can improve sound quality, it can only degrade it. If a cable degrades sound quality, it's either defective or you are using the wrong cable for the job. Cables are designed to pass a signal from component A to component B with no audible loss.

 

[BobG55]

Lest we forget :

The CABLE COOKER will expose the cables to continuous signal levels they will not experience during normal use in an audio system. This improves the sound quality of all forms of interconnects, speaker cabling, and power cabling beyond any normal break-in cycle.
The CABLE COOKER 3.0 uses a swept square wave which starts at 0 DC and is calibrated at just over 40KHz. This frequency sweep improves on every sonic parameter, translating into more transparency and dimensionality, a deeper/wider soundstage, and deeper/tighter bass information. We use the CABLE COOKER 3.0 for all our interconnect, powercord and speaker cable burn-in. Also, highly recommended is the Cable Deep Cryo Treatment.

 

[gregorio]

This improves the sound quality of all forms of interconnects, speaker cabling, and power cabling beyond any normal break-in cycle…
This frequency sweep improves on every sonic parameter, translating into more transparency and dimensionality ….

This is what’s so amazing about audiophiles’ gullibility and lack of even the most basic understanding of what digital audio is, why it was invented or how it works.

Even if the claims of improved “sound quality” or “sonic parameters” were true (which they’re not) still it would make no difference because digital audio cables are not carrying any sound or a signal with any “sonic parameters”. Some audiophiles can’t seem to get it through their heads that digital audio is neither sound nor analogue audio!

G

 

[Davesrose]

It's interesting that today while I watched PBS Newshour (my main daily news program), they had a segment about Dolby Atmos for music. My personal interpretation was that it was an ad from Dolby. They did highlight any old dinky system we now see that's Dolby Atmos certified (IE cheap speakers and such, but has some Dolby Atmos processing). Then they also showed the most premium cars that have 16+ speakers that could have true positional audio for Atmos. At least with my own setups, I can hear Dolby Atmos "Music" with my Apple TV 4K: which willl play the Atmos tracks on my 7.4.1 speaker setup. As of now, not sure how different it is from other blu-ray surround. So my blu-ray concerts will have 5.1, that has some various great accoustics in 5.1 (being subwoofer use and ambient crowds). Of the most extreme Dolby Atmos music with Apple Music I can find it's a bit too arbitrary that they place insruments in rear speakers (and I've never heard a reason for having height channels with music).

 

[gregorio]

I've never heard a reason for having height channels with music

There’s the creative reason, say if the artists/engineers/producers want to have some sound overhead (or “flying” overhead) or the practical reason of recreating acoustic ceiling reflections, which can have an audible effect with certain acoustic spaces.

G

 

[Davesrose]

There’s the creative reason, say if the artists/engineers/producers want to have some sound overhead (or “flying” overhead) or the practical reason of recreating acoustic ceiling reflections, which can have an audible effect with certain acoustic spaces.

G

Currently with Atmos tracks, I have heard good tracks with some stadium scenes in movies (like Live Aid concert of Bohemian Rhapsody that has controlled pans of stadium to stage). With Apple Music, there are good presentations with good frontal soundstage (classical tracks) or some that seem to be too random with instruments going to rear speakers (such as Kelly Musgraves).