Are manufacturer AC cables good enough?

Geoffkait, I think you are confusing blind with deaf. Similar words, different meaning.

Glupson, I think this comes down to extraordinary claims, and while there has been tests on amplifiers over the years that showed that audiophiles can have a hard time discerning relative inexpensive from expensive amplifiers when all other variables are removed (and the speakers are not an overly difficult load), there have also been tests over the years that showed differences. Controlled tests have also shown sensitivity to the distortion profile beyond what would revealed with pure THD measures, IM distortion has been shown to be easier to detect, and amplifier vendors will even tweak the response and distortion to achieve a desired "tone".


The claims for certain products are truly "extraordinary" and the explanations used to justify don't pass the smell test. Sure some of them are "real" things, but real, and being anywhere near audible are completely different. If real, as well, they should be easy to prove.

Hey AtDavid (aka @headaudio... numbers... now): You never answered my question. Why did you have to change your Audiogon handle?

Stop worrying about crunching data.  Stop worrying about whether you've been peddled snake oil.  It's okay to go goo-goo-eyed over a price but if the price is comfortable to you after you calm down a little, why the heck not?  Over the years I've decided that purchasing hifi is as subjective as purchasing a musical instrument.  Expensive usually means better but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the heck out of a less stratospherically priced example of the breed.

I dont give a damn about cables differences... There exist and they are not the first thing to address at all in the way to create our own Hi-FI heaven...Cables differences are minute differences compare to the controlled acoustical dimension of a room, or to the controls of the electrical grid of the house and even minute differences compared to the controlled methods about resonance....

Cables controversies and other electronical components controversies HIDE completely the real problem to solve:

How to embed in the mechanical grid, in the electrical grid, and in the acoustical grid of a house, any audio system without paying big amount of money to do so...I solve that myself without investing much and with homemade solutions only...



Results: The acoustician is more important (55% of S. Q.) than the mechanical engineer(15% of S.Q.) and even more important than the electrical engineer (30% of S.Q. )…(These % are only metaphors to convey my experience and the final impact on sound quality in my own audio system, not real measured numbers)


A final remark :

When I speak about acoustic I dont speak about only PASSIVE ways to changes the acoustical field with different materials, like most people think about when they think acoustic; but also of ACTIVE ways to do so, which are rarely spoken about in forums and, when spoken about, which are explained like secondary and completely separated tweaks instead of systematic and complementary methods like they effectively are....

Not all people had the monetary means to create a perfect acoustical room....I know that it is possible to create one with very low cost....Peanuts.....But with active and not only passive methods....

And for those who speaks about placebos and audio hallucinations.... In the last 2 years I create a complete set of step by step, incremental, experiments, that produce minute increase in S.Q. one after the other that cannot be dismiss no more by the word "illusion".... An experiment in the making is not placebo.... :)


And measuring amplifiers is NOT the essential way to improve S.Q. in a strong way anymore....A good amplifier of today dont crush a good amplifier of yesterday, except for little differences that are in no way on the same level than the rightful controls of the 3 embeddings....

Dialogue between deafs or believers is not useful to create S.Q.

Thank you turnbowm for answering my question in regard to what aftermarket cables you've compare to stock ones. I can't speak to audioquest as I've never owned them, but pangia never impressed me much. They are well made however. If you're so inclined check out Jena or Siltech. I've had great results with both of them. 

ATdavid, Still waiting on your answer to that question.