What should a high quality interconnect or speaker cable do to the sound of a system? Make it more transparent? Improve the sound stage and focus? Soften unpleasant highs? Tighten the base? Bring out the mids?
To me, a good cable should reveal more of what is on the recording and more of the true nature of my components. So when trying new cables, I look for more detail and accuracy without becoming cold and clinical. This seems logical, and yet after reading reviews and trying a few of the cables in the reviews, I find that the cables that have received glowing endorsements are not especially transparent or revealing. They modify the sound, but they don’t take me where I want to go. I wonder if the reason I don’t hear what the reviewer heard is that I don’t know what to listen for. Am I too focused on cable accuracy and resolution, and not enough on actual sound quality? Or is it just a case of no two systems sounding alike so why trust a review anyway? Thanks.
I'm not too sure about the two schools in that sense sense folks, but I'm keeping an open mind. If anything, there is the transparency, analysis, and resolution heads(I'm not naming any names), the warm, full bodied, and harmonically rich camp(you know who you are), And then MAYBE "the Neutralists"(it's what you THINK is neutral).
McGrogan is so right about cable modifying the sound to suit tastes/equipment and IMO it is suiting the "taste" of the equipment that is most important to keep in mind here!
Yes I believe you will love the sound the cable imparts on your system IF it works well with the equipment. For example, I can tell that cable x is really jiving with my DAC and cable y is sounding really good from preamp to amp. BTW...rarely ever are they the same cable in my experience.
Right. Nothing is wrong with either. But each must know his school. If you ask me, I belong to the school of 'realists' with an element of the dreamers' school.
And there is nothing wrong with those two schools. Each listener gets to decide which camp they place themselves in. As long as they are happy and satisfied with where they are then so be it.
I agree with two school idea but I would categorize it differently. One school are those who want to hear it as it was recorded, good or bad. And another school are dreamers who want to hear it the way they want it to sound.
There seems to be two schools of thought, with membership being somewhat age-dependent.
Attendees of the older school want their systems to sound good, and seek out cables that make their systems sound more 'musical'.
The youngsters gravitate towards neutral, full-range, highly resolving components and cables. The results in this case are more dependent on other issues, such as room acoustics and the qualities of the recording.
Only broken active components don't care what kind of cables they are connected with. Just as broken hearing cannot know the difference, so the argument hearing is believing does not apply here. And if there is a situation of broken brains, then it becomes especially tough.
The chance to enhance our own discernment of equipment instead of music.
Social sense of belonging.
I built my own interconnect cables from solid silver core wiring, and got off the merry go round. All my equipment plays well with it, or it doesn’t come home.
low resitance/capacitance/inductance, immunity to RF... Therefore, for a 10ft run, 14AWG or less, OFC copper, starquad or braided or twisted, multi-strands. I am happy with Canare, Mogami, Belden, basic Kimber...anything else would be pure folie on my 3K stereo, or a sign of major boredom.
I did. The OP didn't ask "What do 'you' want from a cable?"
Just my somewhat sarcastic observation from years of trying, buying and constructing cables, reading cable reviews,
reading this forum, and observing cable manufacturers that follow well-known marketing trends by introducing new "revelatory" models every 2-3 years - just about the time sales are tapering off from the previous models. While I certainly hear differences in cables, at the end of the day, it is mostly just wire and, beyond a certain minimum level of compatibility that doesn't cost much to achieve, I believe cables are much less important to the sound of a system than the equipment and speakers. I understand this is a minority opinion and not helpful to the tweaky and somewhat obsessive nature of the hobby.
If I were to make a better effort to answer the OP, I would say try cables of different types from several manufacturers (maybe from somewhere like The Cable Company) until you find something that doesn't cost too much but makes your system sound "right" to you.
In past threads Atmasphere has offered what I consider to be persuasive proof that in the case of analog interconnects the components being connected can be designed in a manner that will result in any reasonably well designed and inexpensive balanced cable having no sonic artifacts. In other words, in completely neutral behavior. Unfortunately few audiophile-oriented components are designed in that manner, although some approach it to varying degrees.
See the first of his posts dated 3-22-2013 in this thread for a description of the design requirements for the components being connected that are necessary to make that happen, and also for what I consider to be compelling proof of his contention. Also see the follow-up questions I submitted on 3-27-2013, and his response.
Audiophiles
want cables to solve all their perceived system shortcomings and
transport them to the perfect anechoic listening room where everything
sounds exactly as a live performance.
Fortunately, for cable
manufacturers, audiophiles are a determined lot that continually buy new
cables in pursuit of this neverending quest.
Audiophiles want cables to solve all their perceived system shortcomings and transport them to the perfect anechoic listening room where everything sounds exactly as a live performance.
Fortunately, for cable manufacturers, audiophiles are a determined lot that continually buy new cables in pursuit of this neverending quest.
+1 for inna Cables Are components and should be up to the quality of the components they are connecting. jmcgrogan2 +1 Your comment above is also correct. I don't think there is a cable that is totally neutral.
I can only say that revealing cables are IME and IMO a good thing and would be the correct goal, but keep in mind that they may only be revealing a lack of synergy in your gear choices....perhaps especially if your aural experience with them is substantially at odds with the preponderance of their reviews (both user and pro)...(or they may only be revealing a lack of quality level in the gear, if that applies). But, I agree with inna, the cabling should be of sufficient quality as to not be a limiting factor between equipment.
I said it before and I will say it again. In my view, cables should be at least one step ahead of the active components. In this case you can be assured that your active components are giving you everything they are capable of. Cables as tone controls? Not a very good idea, I think, but can it be avoided altogether? I guess not.
Yes. If the piano is recorded well and your room/equipment are capable of producing, then the piano should certainly sound like a piano. Yes, great cables will allow a capable system that is setup correctly in a proper space to more accurately reproduce the sound of a real live piano.
Well, of course, ideal cable should not alter the signal while transmitting it. But that's ideal, so any cable does alter the signal to a degree. The question is how do we want the signal to be altered since we cannot fully avoid it ?
I think the crux of my question is, am I a good audiophile? Am I judging cables the right way. I'm entirely focused on accuracy but not on how they make instruments sound, does a piano sound like a piano, or would I rather have it sound like a poorly recorded piano? What is the accepted measure? Would you rather have a piano sound like a thin representation of a piano or would you like cables that fix that problem? Is a cable that fixes the problem the best cable?
I try to use cabling to my advantage in the sound system. Cables are ALL different and they have different traits and effects on components, rooms, and recordings IMO. Key word being different lol. No cable, system, room, speaker, ear, or brain is exactly the same really, so it seems to me that everyone's mileage with cabling will vary MWard. What you will hear in a cable that you are using in your system, in your room and with your brain will almost always be different from another reviewer in another location, that's for sure.
I can hear a certain cables sonic signature in my sound system. I strategically put cabling into the system with specific components where I think they will work best in order to improve the system as a whole, and get the sound I want to hear. It's a trail and error thing until you find what you like or what you think is most true to the source. Spice is nice, but you have to start with a good room and good equipment or a good cable could be wasted IMHO.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
