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Cable curmudgeon

I'm not an 'audiophile" but I like to think I have a good ear having been a professional musician (principal wind player in major symphony orchestras) for 50 years. A number of years ago going into an excellent audio equipment store I talked with, what seemed, a knowledgeable salesman.  Being a musician experienced in audio systems but not expert on all the equipment out there I had some questions concerning high (over-priced?) end cables. The salesman assured there was an audible differencet in a demo room switching back and forth etc.  After a few minutes I noticed the sound coming out of only one channel.  He complemented me on my "good ear."  Hmmm? A few years later when setting up my home system I investigated speaker cables. Two sets of Monster, stranded standard cable, solid core copper (used for alarm system) attached with like connecters. There was a difference.  However, not in terms of better or worse: bass and treble were acceptable as was clarity loud and soft.  Differences were esthetic- like asking "whose the best tenor" (I like Plácido).  Now I know as a musician used to live (i.e. un-amplified) music that all I hear coming out of a loud speaker is perforce ersatz.  But most everything today comes out of a loud speaker whether a rock concert or a hi-fi system so perhaps my opinion is curmudgeonly. But, for me, spending oodles of money on hyped cables, well... I  liked the solid core for my alarm system- still do.

 

exflute
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,944 posts
 

wesheadley

I really didn’t mean to rile up the MAGA loving or the placebo-denying crowd ...

Huh? The only one who seems riled up here is you.

I’m just pointing out the obvious ...

No, you're engaging in a silly argument. Please don't pretend otherwise.

I have tried multiple cables from decent to very expensive ... it’s just trading one set of micro-differences for another with NO relationship between price and ultimate sonic quality ...

So you acknowledge the differences in cables. Good for you!

The only issues, then, are how important those "micro differences" are to each listener and whether they think any are worth paying for. You clearly think the differences are trivial. What isn't clear is why you expect your opinion to be universally accepted. You probably endure a lot of frustration in your life, so good luck to you.

music_is_life's avatar
music_is_life
188 posts
 

Hookah. 

thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 

It sounds better to the listener in a particular system and room.

Totally! Agreed. That’s all that matters. But I am very curious: if it’s possible that a $200 cable sounds better than a $50 to the listener in a particular system and room, Is it possible that a $800 cable sounds better than the $200 cable to the listener in a particular system and room? Or is it once you get to a $200 price point for a single cable, there is no more benefit to spending any more money, regardless of the listener’s system and room, and then it’s impossible that a more expensive cable can sound better than the $200 cable ?

 

Further, what if you buy a $800 cable for $200 via a screaming deal used? Is this allowed? Will then the $800 cable I bought used for $200 in theory MAY sound better than the $200 MSRP cable for the listener in the particular system and room?

Last question: what if someone gifted you the $800 cable? meaning, you paid nothing for it. Is it possible that this FREE cable can sound better than the $200 cable you paid money in the listener's system and room? 

 

 

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 

Cables, and to a large extent HiFi, is Jewelry.

Some cables are extremely complex to fabricate and can somewhat justify their pricing on that basis. A large part is to drive marketing as in "The same technology in our $40,000 cable is used in our $400 ones."

What really gets my goat is companies like Nordost and Audioquest with their demonstrably bad geometry and silly names. By their design, these cables are tone controls and will interact positively in some instances and egregiously awful in others. Salespeople blather on about PTFE, µm plating, etc. with ZERO understanding of why the cables alter the sound.

soix
9,456 posts
 

I once auditioned some AQ cables in a full Mac system that I would judge as pretty damn good.

I wouldn’t use Mac gear to assess any cables. They have a house sound that boosts tonal richness and rolls off the treble, which is why they’re often paired with B&W IMHO. It’s surely an attractive sound to some, but it’s a far cry from neutral and thus not a great vehicle for assessing the finer differences between cables.

moving from the $6k pre->amp IC to the $12k, the system became UNLISTENABLE.

So, you’ve shared one experience where a more expensive PC was supposedly inferior (lots of variables at play here BTW) to a “cheaper” $6k cable. Good for you! That means nothing. A lot of people throw around the term “confirmation bias” quite a bit here, but there’s another type of bias that also crops up here frequently, which is the representative bias. It’s when someone is exposed to results from a narrow sample sample or what they saw themselves a few times and extrapolates those findings across the board. Sharing one example of anything proves and means absolutely nothing.

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