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Who thinks $5K speaker cable really better than generic 14AWG cable?

I recently ordered high end speaker, power amp, and preamp to be installed in couple more weeks. So the next search are interconnect and speaker cable. After challenging the dealer and 3 of my so called audiophile friends, I think the only reason I would buy expensive cable is for its appearance to match with the high end gears but not for sound performance. I personally found out that $5K cable vs $10 cable are no difference, at least not to our ears. Prior to this, I was totally believe that cable makes a difference but not after this and reading few articles online.

Here is how I found out.

After the purchase of my system, I went to another dealer to ask for cable opinion (because the original dealer doesn't carry the brand I want) and once I told him my gears, he suggested me the high end expensive cable ranging from $5 - 10K pair, depending on length. He also suggested the minimum length must be 8-12ft. If longer than 12ft, I should upgrade to even more expensive series. So I challenged him that if he can show me the difference, I would purchase all 7 AQ Redwood cables from him.

It's a blind test and I would connect 3 different cables - 1 is the Audioquest Redwood, 1 is Cardas Audio Clear, and 1 my own generic 14AWG about 7ft. Same gears, same source, same song..... he started saying the first cable sound much better, wide, deep, bla...bla...bla......and second is decently good...bla...bla...bla.. and the last one sounded crappy and bla...bla...bla... BUT THE REALITY, I NEVER CHANGED THE CABLE, its the same 14AWG cable. I didn't disclosed and move on to second test. I told him I connected audioquest redwood but actually 14AWG and he started to praise the sound quality and next one I am connected the 14awg but actually is Redwood and he started to give negative comment. WOW!!!! Just blew me right off.

I did the same test with 3 of my audiophile friends and they all have difference inputs but no one really got it right. Especially the part where I use same generic 14awg cable and they all start to give different feedback!!!

SO WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? OR I AM THE LAST PERSON TO FIND OUT THAT EXPENSIVE CABLE JUST A RIP OFF?
sautan904
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
Yep.  If you can't hear the difference between "garden variety" and "quality cables" then this audiophile endeavor must be most mundane for you.  Hold on naysayers...I didn't say "mega-buck, I have to take out a home equity loan to afford them" cables!  Just cables with high purity conductors and low loss dielectrics with well made connectors.  There are lots and I mean LOTS of them out there.  Have at it! 
toddverrone's avatar
toddverrone
840 posts
 
@hifiman5 spot on! So many naysayers go on and on about price, or that something is a rip off, or that marketing claims are hyperbole.. as if any of that speaks to the efficacy of the cables and their effect on a system. Tune out all that noise and just listen with an open mind...
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Hearing varies from person to person as much as intelligence and mental orientation and conditioning.

Smart in one way does not specifically relate back to smart ears. Cognitive capacity in the mind can also express itself in cognitive capacity of hearing in ears and mind as a pair. This cognitive variance in speed and precision (as a pair) from person to person (Human IQ of 100 vs 200)... can be as high as a million to one. It's a non-linear equation.

This definitely DOES encompass human HEARING function as it is a ear/brain function, tied to neural functionality and interconnectedness, tied to it as much as vision, motor drive, intelligence, and so on.

From Wikipedia:

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon in which the mind responds to a stimulus, usually an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists...

This holds true for cable deniers and cable believers.

To hear new things, one has to defeat this mechanism as it is tied to hearing function.

So one can have a dumb ear/brain combination and project this form of blindness, this forced blindness, upon others..others who don’t suffer from it.

And audiophile arguments are born. Like this thread.

The more difficult a problem is to solve, the more fundamental the error in the formulation of the question.

It gets into how the whole thing comes down to small variances in the signal, and some of us who design and work on gear, know how this works.

The lore holder and lore workers are not going to explain exactly how they make a living to the pouting, demanding, demanding, and dismissive deniers . Not gonna happen any time soon.

That: Some may help you.... but they don’t owe the denying forceful types - anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Before a given thing is in the textbooks, it gets worked out like this. The lore is the component that is tightly held, or not easy to understand, then it works it’s way into the common lexicon..then it is in the textbooks and is accepted...

Then the deniers move on to the next thing they want to pout about as a being a false paradigm (not in the dogmatic books, so it can’t be real!!) for fools to follow....

Rinse - repeat.
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 
Hearing varies from person to person as much as intelligence and mental orientation and conditioning.

Smart in one way does not specifically relate back to smart ears. Cognitive capacity in the mind can also express itself in cognitive capacity of hearing in ears and mind as a pair. This cognitive variance in speed and precision (as a pair) from person to person (Human IQ of 100 vs 200)... can be as high as a million to one. It’s a non-linear equation.

This definitely DOES encompass human HEARING function as it is a ear/brain function, tied to neural functionality and interconnectedness, tied to it as much as vision, motor drive, intelligence, and so on.


To clarify.. what is that ratio? It is: every increase in 5 ’IQ’ points is roughly equivalent to a required rumination time to reach a functional conclusion with said problem..this requisite time ---is halved. Roughly, and overall, in humanity. Each 5 iq points higher - half the time to figure a thing out.

Thus, the average person, IQ 100, working on a problem, may take lets say..114 years of 24/7 work to reach a satisfactory conclusion in a given problem scenario. the 200 IQ person can reach successful conclusion with the same problem, in one hour. All things being equal, which they are not.

Then comes hearing function, which is wholly integrated with this neural system, and thus suffers similar (not exact but similar) ratios and considerations.

You might have a person who in this lifetime will never hear a given thing.... when someone with really good and well trained ears and connected neural function....might hear it in 30 seconds or less.

No mystery.

Thankfully the brain is plastic so ignorance is a matter of will, in some ways, and it is not truly a native state.

Unless one forces it.

Audiophile, fix thyself.
wgutz
85 posts
 
TEO - That was some great info on the mind, intelligence and hearing relationships. I have a more technical question for which you may have some insight. I have been thinking about why vinyl and some Ethernet cables can have relatively lousy stats, but sound better than the more technically (verifiable test data) correct. Could it be that more cross-talk is beneficial? Or are there multiple issues that have yet to be measured that result in improved sound quality?
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