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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
joecasey
484 posts
 
Trolls lack the ability to participate so they troll ... can't afford any expensive gears.   I guess it's a human mechanism to cope with their failure.  

This happens in all facets of life.   People buy Mercedes are idiots, $100 bottle of wine, expensive clothes ...
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
It is unfortunately human nature for "the Have-nots to covet what the Haves have".
clearthink
1,421 posts
 
" rolls lack the ability to participate so they troll ... can't afford any expensive gears."

This is a very true assertion and in fact those who cannot afford the cost of a high performance Music Reproduction System actually suffer a form of what they call "confirmation bias" because they can't afford it they think it is not high performance you see this with those who assert that cables do not make a difference because they have science that tells them this when in fact to their credit many admit they have never even tried high performance cables and the reason they have not tried is that they know the better cable will not make a difference! 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I’ve been to the top of the mountain (not just Base Camp) and this is what I found out.

- A rich audiophile has about as much chance of getting into Audio Nirvana as a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle. 🐪

- Necessity is the mother of invention.

- An ordinary man has no means of deliverance. 😳

- Generally speaking, people would be much better off if they believed in too much rather than too little.

Joke: two guys were sitting next to each other in a commercial airliner. One guy looks out the window says to the other, gee, those people look just like ants. The other guy replies, they are ants, dummy. We haven’t taken off yet.

ps
756 posts
 
Teo_Audio wrote:
"Part of human psychology. Which is why Jung had it right and Freud was, in the end, an idiot. And Bernays an opportunistic roving butcher. Eating the world, like all his contacts and connections."

Clearly Bernays was a renegade gourmand with meat cleavers in both hands. His assumptions and assertions with regard to the quest for the absolute sound were, in the opinion of 73.8 % of the audiophile community, at best, spurious and self-serving. His sole legacy was, tragically, essentially carnage.

Furthermore, a majority of audiophiles (at least 55.2 %) do indeed agree that Freud was an idiot, but they have an extremely difficult time articulating why. An astonishing 53.8 % of those very audiophiles reference the lyric "more than a feeling" to bolster their world view, as if that somehow remotely validates their subjective viewpoint!

Finally, with regard to Karl Jung, all that anyone can really say, is "may he rest in peace." The poor fellow never really did much care for music anyway, and, to the end, never could get beyond his stubborn and irrational love of 12 awg speaker cables.
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