analogsurviver
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2012
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Finally some reason in this thread ... - you've missed one or two applications for cables in audio that are at least as critical as those mentioned, but, it is a start.I agree with your observations...
Excessive generalizations are often a disservice for several reasons.
First, simply because they're sometimes wrong, which can cause errors to occur, and can lead to bad decisions.
And, second, because, when they're found to be wrong, they tend to raise doubt about the validity of science in general.
"Peanuts are NOT poisonous"; tell that to my buddy who's allergic to peanuts.
"All speaker wires sound the same"; except that, if you attach a set of Vampire Wires to a Threshold 400b amplifier, it will blow its fuse.
It's more accurate to say: "Peanuts are healthy for most people, except for the few who happen to be allergic to them".
And to say: "Most normal modern amplifiers don't sound any different with different speaker cables - unless there's something really odd about the cables".
I might even go a bit further on that last one.....
"Most modern amplifiers have a relatively low output impedance, and are relatively insensitive to the amounts of capacitance and inductance found in a typical piece of wire."
"Therefore, with most modern amplifiers, most speaker wires, made with regular wire, and having typical amounts of capacitance and inductance, all sound the same".
Interconnect cables are even more entertaining...... with both sides acting more like sports fans than either scientists or intelligent humans in general.
- The capacitance of MOST interconnect cables falls into a certain range.
- MOST modern preamps have a very low output impedance; and will sound the same when connected to an amplifier using interconnects whose capacitance falls within that range.
(I consider a preamp with a high output impedance to be "badly designed" - but that's just my opinion. Most people would agree with me today; in 1950 most would not.)
- MANY vintage tube preamps had a much higher output impedance; and their frequency response WILL vary significantly depending on the capacitance of your cables.
- MANY modern passive preamps share this characteristic, and their frequency response WILL also vary significantly depending on the capacitance of your cables.
- And, finally, moving magnet phono cartidges are usually sensitive to cable capacitance, and their frequency response WILL also vary significantly due to cable capacitance.
Therefore, if you make a generalization about interconnect cables sounding the same, without properly qualifying it, then you are spreading false information.
(Your claim may help more people than it hurts - but it could be more helpful, to more people, if you qualified it more carefully.)
If the purpose of this thread is to discuss "testing audiophile myths"........
Then the validity of claims in both directions is surely fair game.......
Without this post, practically everything else by other members defending the almost blind faith - not science - conforms to the below intentionally caricatured generalizations that went way beyond any reason many full moons ago :
" 20-20k/infinitely low source impedance / pure resistive load / perfect digital filters / perfect everything / zero audible differences / mp3 is enough / CD is overkill / .... - everything else is heresy / everything else is snake oil and rip-off / our Sacred Duty is to prevent people from buying anything not sanctioned by our Blind Faith "
The fitting graphic comment to the above would be a farm of ostriches, each and every one of them trying to outdo the other just how deep he/she can stick the head into the sand ...