WHY CABLES MATTER!

tonywinga

So this video, which we are listening to on our phones/computer is supposed to show us how bad music reproduction is by comparing it to a natural voice speaking at the same time- through our computer/iphone speaker. Mr. Spock would say that is illogical. That speaker sounds bad with or without his natural voice talking over it. That much I can hear on my iPad.

Yes. PA speakers in the video sound bad. The purpose of video is to show how the all audio sound behaves like a left speaker which sounds un-natural (glare and bad noise) even if a’philes don’t hear it. More expensive hi-fi audio will sound better and nicer but the glare, veil and the sound coloration are still there. I hear it in all YT videos and audio shows. Many a’philes can adjust their ears to not hear the glare, but it is always there and women/non-a’philes hear it.

I don’t mean the un-natural sound is bad, but it is just different art and expression from the natural sound. A’philes can accept the difference of Hi-Fi from the natural sound and still can enjoy Hi-Fi sounds. If someone told me that all audio sounds un-natural 20 or 30 years ago, I would save a lot of money, effort, and my time in my audio journey.

I have and so has everyone else heard people talking in front of their speakers and they still sound great, fantastic, realistic. If an outdoor PA speaker is your idea of hifi no wonder the low opinion of the art. Just another sham.

If hifi really sounded so bad the industry would have died out long ago.

Human ears and brain are so amazing that it’s faster than some super computers. When we hear natural and un-natural sounds together, the brain switches between natural sound mode and un-natural sound mode very quickly (like 50 times a second). A’philes can do that better. Women can’t do that well. The brain switching between 2 modes is very tiring/hard and it is where real "listening fatigue" occurs.

People didn’t have any other choice. Hi-fi and PA (un-natural sounds) are only way to listen music again (reproduction audio) and let people to hear because there have been no natural reproduction sound in last 150 years. Alex/WTA

@calvinj The internet is filled with, not only more ’engineers’ (especially EEs!) than in reality but they’ve also all double-majored in psychology. All the while being rabid conspiracy theorists who believe tens of thousands of people are employed by companies who are professional, fraudulent scammers who feast on wealthy fools. The internet is an amazing, magical place indeed.

@audiom3 exactly. I stopped posting on the platform for a while.  Yes do some side work for a company and I’m upfront about it. But there are folks on here really shilling and trolling not adding a thing to our hobby.   Just a lot of bimbo babble that’s useless. Claiming to be the smartest guy in the room. 

@squared80 

my post was about the only system you can improve at no monetary cost, your listening ability - it wasn’t about the money one chooses to spend on cables, a silly issue that imposes your limits, or lack of, upon someone else.

We summarily accept at face value whenever someone says their sense of sight is better than their hearing, or that one has a more developed sense of taste than touch. It is, consequently, very amusing whenever someone makes a claim of snake oil based on their belief that the hearing of others must certainly be as underdeveloped as theirs : ) 

squared80, differences in human beings exist - seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and listening/hearing ability is different for different people. The good news is that these differences are not usually biological, they’re  psycho-acoustic. This means that one can learn to develop one’s abilities to listen, and thus ‘hear’ better, in much the same way one can learn to observe, or ‘see’ better, in order to depend less on a confirmation biased mind so as to critically ‘think’ better. The bad news is that it means more effort for some of us to develop better listening ability. 

For those truly biologically hard of hearing, I would say what a blessing, not needing to make all that effort to able to listen better, in building their systems. The effort and discipline to create a listening space where only one thing at a time is changed is far more difficult than bringing in that hard earned money to do it. I feel nothing but admiration for those who are more capable and skilled in ways I am not, be it with listening or modifying and building their own equipment and listening rooms that I try to learn from, instead ignorantly criticising others further along in their journey of listening ability in the same hobby we all share.- how idiomatically lazy and  unkind your words are.

Please read my additional post to smurfstain ahead, if you believe that there is always something new to learn. Do ignore me otherwise ; )
 

@mihorn 

Alex, tonywinga’s comment notwithstanding, my post was about sound realism, not natural or unnatural sound. It may simply be a matter of terminology, but I suspect it isn’t. The sound quality of your speakers for their given electronic chain as evident in all your previously posted videos tell me you have created good and decent speakers for their value, but they are still quite far down the scale in relation to realistic sound. By realistic, I mean the same sound waves we all may hear differently internally as individuals, but that we can all identify as realistic, as they all emanate from the same external objective sources. Piano or guitar sound waves don’t change what they are just because we hear differently - realism sounds differently to different people but we will use the same term to describe it. Natural sound, on the other hand, is subject to what your definition of natural is. I suspect you actually mean to use the word ‘realistic’, in which case, your speaker still has some ways to go, however good a value it may be. 
 

In friendship - kevin

@calvinj
Thanks for your kind words, and yes, cables do make a difference. It is a difference I would never have truly learned about, if I hadn’t been fortunate enough to have had access to demo a huge variety of them in the familiarity of my own system and listening space, with my own ears. I have learned from as huge a variety of cables as I have from other audiophiles in relation to what works better for me in bringing more depth, air and timbre to the realism I seek. Just in the domain of speaker cables, this has ranged from affordable supra swords and duelunds, through silversmith fideliums and tellurium Qs, up to Kharma enigma veyrons and nordost Odin golds. My listening experience with USB cables and interconnects is quite varied and comprehensive as well.

I also just wanted to say thanks for not driving your marketing on the forum as unrelentingly as some have. While you’re clearly no Ralph of atmasphere or Duke of audiokinesis, you’ve still practiced some restraint, and it’s not unappreciated. But do try to put your credentials at the end of every post you make, as a newcomer to audiogon might easily miss your affiliation to the commercial side of the industry - thanks again for your contributions : )

In friendship - kevin