2. cables
  3. 124957-818

Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1
wattsperchannel
142 posts
 
Yes xti16 you are correct about Soulution/Raidho but you must be careful. If you use these types of instruments with properly designed isolated power, an MSB Diamond Dac V and a purpose built room you might start hearing differences in cables. This sort of thing can be hazardous to your health in these parts.
dracule1 OP
1,085 posts
 
Stevecham,

"I too went down the expensive cables/IC rabbit hole for a few years (Synergistic, Tara, Audioquest, Van Den Hul, Harmonic Technologies and several others) and then found Mapleshade and Anti Cables, the latter brand being what I currently enjoy and for the past two years, have felt zero inclination to "improve."

Precisely my point. There are plenty of affordable cables that will compete with and sound better than these over marketed expensive brands. 
jl35
4,017 posts
 
I love the Mapleshade Double Golden Helix Plus, still use my pair, but found in my main system that Transparent Super MM2 sounded much better...don't know that they sound 400% better though...
jl35
4,017 posts
 
I felt it would be a tragic waste of my awesome Dali Speakers and Pass Amp to not get the best sounding cable I could afford,  and that would have good resale value...I never thought about what the cables I auditioned cost to develop, manufacture, market and distribute...
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,311 posts
 
DNM Reson satisfied all my IC needs.

One could take a look at their minimalist design and think they are overpriced as well for what they are. 

But thing is I tried them specifically because of their  unique minimalist approach  (something clearly much different than the norm just by appearance) and have found them to sound best overall especially in regards to coherency top to bottom.   So I have dropped a few hundred into these wires that appear to not be much different than your run of the mill 300ohm dipole wire antenna you paid $5 bucks or so for a t Radio Shack in years past and no longer have any real interest in others unless they provide something truly unique for a comparable price.  

Well, they are single strand I believe and some come with beefed up connectors so I suppose that gotta cost something.
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