HAVE CABLES EVER TAKEN YOUR SYSTEM FROM SOUNDING JUST OK TO SOUNDING GREAT? Experiences ?

Simple answer, no.

Yes I’ve heard differences and sometimes improvements but nothing earth shattering.

The biggest difference I've heard was with the addition of Silversmith Fidelium speaker cables.

I noticed a very nice improvement when I went to using Cerious Technologies Graphene Lumniscate speaker cables. The music details were clear and had a bigger soundstage. I also noticed a nice improvement in sound when I went with a full lume of Veritas XLR cables in my system. Cables do make a difference, but everyone has their preferences and it’s system dependent.

I just added a second turntable. Since the new premium turntable cable was back ordered I used a cheapo just to get it running. I have to say when the new one came in and installed, the difference was incredible. I wasn’t expecting such a discernible difference. If you can afford it, I would definitely recommend considering a cable upgrade to your shopping list. TD124/SME M9R, VPI Classic HW/10” Fatboy

@jafreeman thats why at Infigo we allow people to try before you buy most of the time. It’s exactly why I started the demo program. I feel like a purchase like this you ought to be able to try it out most of the time.  Your system.  Your environment. Makes sense to me. 

Once the ganfet amps came in the door cabling in general became much more of an audible factor for me.

@roxy54

I'm certain the devil is much more fun than me ;-) 

We are told our gear and cable make good antennas for RFI: cellular towers, home wi-fi, home security cameras, digital TV, two-way radios, police radios,  powerful airport transponders--all make up the "fog" that occupies and clouds your music-signal pathways.  Good cables provide better shielding.  Better copper, such as OCC, has fewer grain boundaries and inclusions that distort the signal.  Believe what you want because you are told so, but there is no knowledge in this area without first-hand  experience.  

@dean_palmer 

Are you really the Devil?

Cables are not a "belief"... their functions are supported by electrical principals and physics. This must be one of the top arguments of all time, but if we throw out the extreme stupidity involved with using "lamp cord" at the low end and then cables that cost thousands at the high end, we enter a realm of reality of where there are clear benefits given by the best conductors, shielding, terminations, solder, soldering process, etc. Will any of this make an audible difference, probably not in most cases. Is there a difference??? Yes, it is there, and I think of it this way, if I use the best possible gear that I can afford, I'm pretty sure that is a component I really do not need to worry about in my system. People will argue this to the death.

A step up in sound quality each time I pull out the credit card to buy a new cable.

BUT! …. I don’t buy new cables unless I’ve heard them in my system, and they had time to break in, and I clearly hear a difference going back and forth with my current cables.

Always use favorite heard many times music tracks and listen for more details and a relaxing (non ear fatigue) presentation

It also depends on what your going to and where you going from 

@bugredmachine Read for a few years before even posting and based many of my trials on recommendations found here (and then was able to source a lot on Agon).  

@calvinj  Excellent cables added for sure but nothing beats a great (treated or untreated) room. Many like drinking and touting their own Koolaid and that’s just the way it is.  

No. And goodness knows I’ve tried a lot of ‘em.  10% improvement in some areas in the best case scenarios. If that. And ROI? Minimal. If that.

Original posting question: 

Yes, cables were my last frontier. In short I was not a big believer in power cables but am now. Synergistic Research are predominant in my system now on the power side.

My system page lists all the cables I have tried in the last 3 years and I took it seriously to punctuate what my system was capable of. There were many setbacks and sideways moves. No full loom for me. I ended up after plenty of permutations on what I believe is 90% or better unless I spent much more farther up the brand levels.

I read a huge amount of reviews including by members here and sought mostly used cables recommended by you folks. Had many eye opening moments but once I got the taste of what was possible I kept going and am very happy.

Ready for sharing my system with others now.

@mitch2 great points.  It also depends how much a match they are to your system. I have had some of my customers at Infigo Audio tell me about a substantial jump in the level of their system after they tried our stuff. But sometimes it’s a matching thing. 

@mitch2 great points.  It also depends how much a match they are to your system. I have had some of my customers at Infigo Audio tell me about a substantial jump in the level of their system after they tried our stuff. But sometimes it’s a matching thing. 

My experience remains that cables do not totally transform a system (i.e., from bad to great) but, at least in my recent experience, they can certainly add that final touch that changes the sound from "something's still missing" to "nailed it!"  

I have been comparing eight different sets of interconnects in a system that requires two pairs at 2M and one pair at 0.5M, all balanced - XLR. 

I have zeroed in on a set of Belden tinned copper cables, a set of Gotham copper cables, or a set of Cardas Golden Reference ICs. 

The Gotham cables are quite sweet sounding, the Belden cables are also sweet sounding and have a hard-to-resist richness and musicality, and the Cardas GR cables have great tone, depth, and punch, while sounding just a bit more rounded/smooth than the others.  I was surprised my reference Furutech u-P2.1 cables don't seem to be making the final cut, and I am also surprised to be finding it hard to put away the Belden 8402 tinned copper cables.

@jas_in_phila1 different systems need different things. Glad you found something you like. 

@big_greg sometimes it’s a system matching issue and synergy. Your system probably needed that cable change.  I see that all  the time. 

@gordon thanks for your response. 

I just swapped out the Zavfino Highlands MK2 silver tonearm cable on my Sota for my Audience AU24 SE and I think the Zavfino may have been holding things back.  The AU24 SE is more "musical", and has more body.  There is a pretty significant price difference between the two, and in this case, for good reason.  

 reducing the noise floor in the cabling and equipment you have a better listening experience.

Agree if that is one's sonic target, it's an expensive endeavor with few with sufficient budgets to cover.  Also great if one can lower ambient noise, like in a dedicated custom treated audio room 

Yes, but not the ones you sell,

Yes. When I added Iconoclast Series 2 TPC speaker cables, the upgrade was dramatic. My boss called out from 2 rooms away to tell me that whatever I did, the system sounded much better. Later, she even turned the system on herself to sit and listen, which is rare. And the true test: She didn't start by asking "how much did it cost?" After she approved, I nervously asked if she wanted to know the cost. She said "no, it was worth it for that kind of improvement". (!!!)

Another big cable improvement was the Tubulus Concentus v.2 I2S cable btwn. my Jay's transport and PS Audio Stellar Gold DAC. Sublime!   

The dramatic improvement happens only when you change stock power cable of your amp to hi-fi cable, even not expensive. Later, if you hear a huge difference between two hi-fi cables, I think means, that one of them is dummy.

Yes. No doubt, sometimes huge.
follow me for more insights.

I recently started using UPOCC silver cables from Zenwave. I started with the new D4 ICs and the difference from my prior cables (TPC Iconoclast) was another level. So was the cost. However, there was much more musical resolution, image placement was much more accurate, the soundstage grew, and music simply became more involving. And I did also compare the Zenwaves to the Iconoclast UPOCC copper (I still own one of these) and while the difference was more subtle relative to the TPC cable, the Zenwave still shined in every way. These cables allowed my components to sound like they should to me, in an invigorating and musical manner.

I've also been trying some different power cabling over the last year as well. Audioquest Tornado and Hurricane, Triode Power Labs, and a few others. I have had both the Zenwave PSR silver power cable on my preamp and the copper PCR cable on my Pass amp as a trial for about a month now (I last week placed my order for 3 Zenwave PCs) and again, another level of resolution and musicality. The silver PCs are highly resolving and engaging, while using the copper PCR cable on my amp left the resolution in place, but added a bit more body (the eerie sensation of feeling a solo cello resonate musically is the sort of body I am talking about for instance).

One other interesting thing to me in my system with the new cables. Music that I really enjoy but was not that well recorded became more engaging with the new cables. Of course well recorded music sounded even better than before, but I find myself playing more music that is definitely not well recorded and being drawn in - more foot tapping and finger drumming!

I couldn't be happier with the Zenwave cable upgrade.

@adasdad by reducing the noise floor in the cabling and equipment you have a better listening experience. That’s the premise that we base everything we do on.  My system does that from the dac all the way to the amp and cabling. 

@adasdad funny you metntion that. That’s exactly what Hans does with the infigo cabling as well as the electronics. That’s the basis for everything we do. The more quiet the background the better the music. The better the silence between the notes in my system I can hear everything in a fast Ahmad Jamal piano run.  Sounds amazing.  

@calvinj, my experience was a specific case of reducing the transmission of as much RFI and EMI as possible coming from my Chord Mscaler going into my Chord Hugo TT2 DAC through the use of a design specific interconnect. If you can lower the sonic floor to where it is inky black with dead silence the better one can hear the layering and clarity in the music.

My experiences trying interconnects and speaker cables was 30 years ago and they made big differences for me. This was back in the days when you could take home cables and try them for a week at a time. My speakers have had tendencies to be a bit forward. So, to have my system open up and be revealing without being too aggressive has been a balancing act. The most “transparent” cables (Cardas, Siltech) could make my system overly aggressive. Once I settled, I’ve never felt tempted to try again. From my perspective, getting the components I own to play at their best is the icing on the cake. If I was still unhappy, I needed to upgrade electronics.

More recently, I have been amazed at the benefits of upgrading my digital interconnect and the power cords for my preamp and DAC. Relatively cheap upgrades the changed my perspectives on equipment I already owned. I had been talked into avoiding those upgrades as being needless and I was wrong.

No

@adasdad sometimes. Cables bring clarity soundstage and layering, sometimes it’s how the display treble. Sometimes they give a more open sound. Either way they make a difference. 

When I went from using a pair of Moon Audio Form-Fit BNC cables between my Chord TT2 DAC and my Chord MScaler to a pair of Nick Bacon’s WAVE Storm BNC cables the resulting improvement in the sound of my system was nothing less than astounding. 

@andrewkelley thanks for sharing  the right cables give you the proper synergy. Some of our ears are more sensitive to the little nuances 

The switch from AQ to synergistic IC was a huge step forward. Then came the SR active ground block… amazing detail and stage definition. Then came the powercell and powercords … the music flows it’s almost like the system is not even there… literally people will be in my home and not even realize where the music is coming from.  It just floats 

"No, because that doesn’t happen if you’re already using OFC cables at the proper gauge for the length of the run. Period. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lying or willfully ignorant. Science always beats snake oil marketing. Well, it should, but you’d never know that based on some of these replies."

"Simple answer NO, need fairy dust !! "

"Nope. Minor improvements with simple-designed tube amps that naturally have poor input and output impedances and are obviously affected by cable capacitance and inductance. With properly designed gear audio recording studio type XLR is sufficient."

I had a dealer recently say to me "other than tonearm cables, all the rest is bulls***.  I did not question him on this.  

"Pretty accurate. You’ll get more improvement replacing a set of brass binding posts with copper than with replacing cheap copper cables with expensive copper cables."

     No one can tell you whether/how your system, room and/or ears will respond to some new addition.   There are simply too many variables.

     LIKEWISE: no one can possibly know whether a new addition (ie: some kind of disc, crystal, fuse, interconnect, speaker cable, etc)  will make a difference, in their system and room, with their media and to their ears, without trying them for themselves.   

     Some companies offer a 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee, so- those that are actually interested, have absolutely nothing to lose by trying (experimenting with) such.     

     Anyone that knows anything about the sciences, realizes that something like 96% of what makes up this universe, remains a mystery.       

     For centuries; humanity’s seen, heard, felt and otherwise witnessed phenomena that none of the best minds could fathom, UNTIL they developed a science or measurement that could explain it.     

     The Naysayer Church wants you to trust their antiquated science (1800’s electrical theory) and faith-based, religious doctrine, BLINDLY (their credo: "Trust ME!"). 

     Theories have never proven or disproven anything.  It’s INVARIABLY testing and experimentation that proves or disproves theories/hypotheses.   

     IF you’re interested in the possibility of improving your system’s presentation, have a shred of confidence in your capacity for perceiving reality and trust your own senses: actually TRY whatever whets your aural appetite, or- piques the curiosity, FOR YOURSELF.         

                      The Naysayer Church HATES it, when THAT happens,

                                                          PERIOD!

An upgrade to an all-CARDAS CLEAR loom took it from “good enough” (..which was already comparatively at a high level … ) to “good”….. a fine but important distinction..

Rick Shultz  Audio former High Fidelity Cables Made some really big improvements in my system. 

Simple answer NO, need fairy dust !! 

Nope. Minor improvements with simple-designed tube amps that naturally have poor input and output impedances and are obviously affected by cable capacitance and inductance. With properly designed gear audio recording studio type XLR is sufficient.

@phd 
one of the customers who tried the Infigo audio usb and interconnects said it felt like he had a new component. The previous cables were a bottleneck. Sometimes the cables hold back your electronics.

calvinj, it sounds like a good way to go. I think for people that have very revealing systems will be more inclined to hear a big difference. A few years back I was testing a well-known highly reviewed amp. After careful listening I couldn't understand what the fuss was about until I changed out the interconnects. What a difference, it was if I spent thousands of dollars on a far more expensive amp.

I’ve swapped a lot of cables over the years and they a sounded much better with a fair bit of alcohol on board.., “ear lube.”

@roxy54 yes that. Is correct! Lol 

@calvinj is a very good guy, he’s just a bit, well let’s say, "grammatically creative" now and then.

@roxy54 this made my day: "Strange use of periods."

@mitch2 i have always let folks know that I’m affiliated with a brand but I have have been an audiophile first for the previous 15 years prior to that. I’m not here to trash any other brand or anyone else’s opinion. I want to know what people think.  I want to know what they hear when they try cables. What they think about them etc. I’m not here to sell anyone anything. I do this in my free time. I have ran a successful law firm for 22 years.  But I’m an audiophile first. I enjoy the hobby and the opinions of those in it. I been on Audiogon for the last 17 years or so. I come in and out. I do what I do to gauge what people are doing and thinking.  Even the loaner program I do requires nothing of the borrower. I just allow people to try things. Follow their own minds in their own systems. I was on the other side where people hype you up,to buy something then disappear when it doesn’t work. My affiliation allows me to not do that to anyone. It allows me to help where I can and where I can’t no cost to anyone. 

"Our Infigo Audio cables"

@calvinj - The wording above, your use of "we" and "us" in your posts, as well as references to loaning out cables and the "infigo cables demo program" leads me to wonder whether you have an industry affiliation with Infigo Audio?  If I missed that disclosure in this thread or in another thread, then sorry.  Also, it doesn't matter to me if you are affiliated but, if yes, that helps me understand the thread a bit better.

OP  Cables taken an OK sound system to a great sound?

A system's sound can be better than before but it can't never be great. Is there anyone happy with his system sound and stop upgrade/change a component? I don't think so. "Great" means a total satisfaction in audio. My system is great because I can't improve it's sound anymore and there is no other system sounds better than my system. Still I'm not happy with my system's sound. Why? What is the use of a perfect sound system if all recordings in the world sound dirty and distorted.

Alex/Wavetouch audio