Componets first, cables second?

Shadhorne, I hear you there and although I am not familiar with most of the forums here, I'd say you are not in the minority of my way of think at least. I have chosen components indeed because they do have massive power supplies. Whether they condition the power or not, I cannot rightly say. But I am like you, I do not want fussy components whose sound will change substantially with the addition of a cable. I agree there.

Tpsonic-great analogy to the analogue world. That puts it in perfect perspective for me. Thanks

I'll take a different road to Shadorne's comments. I too have chosen components with serious power supply designs: CAT JL-3 amps, Aesthetix Io and Callisto and APL Denon CDP with the NWO linear power supplies. Pop the hood on any of these components and it's ALL about the power supply. And yet these products respond significantly to interconnect and power cable changes.

The many people that repeatedly claim that cables do not make a difference or that if a component is chosen with robust power supplies, cables should not make a difference, clearly have not heard a system where such cables do make a difference. With all due respect, I can see how this would be the view for a system with $30k in speakers and $200-500 digital source components. Such priorities and philosophies are very different than mine.

If cables (a piece of wire) makes a large difference then I would definitely be concerned about the equipment.

Interesting. At this point from my experience, if cabling does NOT make a large difference, I would be concerned about the resolving capability of the equipment. I am not talking about one budget cable from Audioquest vs. a budget cable of Monster. I am talking about the top tiered cables from Purist, Jade, Stealth, Kubala-Sosna, Dream State, etc.

I do not think it is an issue of avoiding fussy components that respond to cable changes. I think such comments are due to the fact that the current system implementation lacks the resolution to allow for refined cable designs to be heard and appreciated. Let's not confuse fussy with resolving and refined.

Cables are not simply wire. Silver, copper, gold, etc., all contribute to very different tonality. And the implementation of the cable designs very much influences the spatial characteristics of the performance. Far too many systems out there fail miserably in this latter area. For such systems, only cable tonality differences will be heard. But for other systems, the differences in other sonic areas will be dramatic.

I'm with Jmcgrogan2 on this one. It's all about balance. As each link is refined, it exposes the next link as the weakest....sometimes it is a cable, other times it is a component. But to continually update components and stay with "average-joe" cabling will result in serious sonic compromise.

John

whatever will get you closer to your sonic preferences is the best course of action. thus, if you are considering a cd player and/or cable purchase, audition as many combinations within your budget. there is no best cable and there is no best cd player.

if you can't audition components before buying, it's a crap shoot.

While I generally completely agree to upgrade the component first; I actually cannot answer you based on the supplied information. What do you own.??

That $60 Toshiba SD-3950 DVD player used as a CD player sounds excellent even out of the box unmodified. I will bet that DVD player with a $500 set of cables will sound a lot better than a $500 CD player with $60 cables..

At one time I had a $1500 CD player with $1800 cables. To be honest, I only paid $550 for the cables used; and primarily bought them because the deal on the cables was too good to pass up. It sounded excellent that way; and a lot better than with the level of cables most people would buy with a $1500 front end.

I now have a $5500 Transport/DAC setup while still using those same interconnects.. So backwards does work sometimes...

It really helped when I auditioned those real high end digital front ends, to be using an excellent set of cables that I would actually be using with it in my system. You will be trying to choose a digital front end using cables that might not be up to the task.

I actually still own that $1500 CD player in a secondary system with other cables that were $1200 (list). Again I bought the cables used for about $450, but I can tell the difference against lesser cables, so it is worth it.

The arguments in favor of expensive cables here are the same ones my high end hi-fi dealer uses and even "Best Buy" applies this same argument, although at a much lower tier of cabling. This argument carries a lot of weight in the audiophile biz and there are hundreds of testimonials that reinforce this viewpoint. The argument also happens to be a marketing dream because the logic says that you simply don't hear as much cable differences with "unresolving" gear. Therefore if the cable does not work enough for you then it is says nothing about the expensive wire itself, instead it implies that an upgrade of gear is in order (either to more resolution or to better synergy or wait more time for break-in to occur), and vice-versa ad infinitum.

The absence of a well-accepted, plain, practical engineering-type explanation of the how and why a more expensive piece of wire should work much better in audio than an appropriate (but ordinary) piece of wire raises too many questions for my liking. However, to each his own - if cables make a difference for you then go for it! I am a minority and the majority is most often right - the Wisdom of Crowds, yes?