almarg
6,455 posts
06-15-2016 6:10pm
Wow! Let the record show that on 6-15-2016 at 5:26 pm EDT Geoff submitted a post that I actually agree with 100% :-)
Stick with me, Al. I'll take you to the top.
Are audiophiles still out of their minds?
I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables. I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day. So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound? May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
- ...
- 486 posts total
geoffkait3,587 posts06-15-2016 12:00pmTo my knowledge no audiophile ever thought his sound was unacceptable. Even when it sounds like cats being tortured.or acceptable for that matter. geoffkait3,587 posts06-15-2016 4:26pm Thus the square of the imaginary number 3i is -9.True but still hard to imagine. |
Facten, "ask dracule1 a question , what's the difference in making a decision to purchase an expensive (new or used) DAC like the Golden Gate when there are presumably good sounding less expensive DACs, and someone making a decision to purchase expensive vs inexpensive cables?" Glad you asked, but let me rephrase you're question to be consistent with my original post. Why spend tens of thousands of dollar on wire when other components in your system like acoustic room treatment, speakers, DACs, turntables, amps make more of a difference in sound and often cost less than wire? For example, a 10' pair of Nordost Odin 2 speaker wire retails for $46k. That's close to 3x the cost of the Golden Gate DAC. And more than 12x the cost of my acoutic room treatment. Which do you honestly think makes more of an improvement in your system? IME, the audio wire loses embarrassingly. The GG DAC is hand built, contains components that require in-depth knowledge of engineering, is orders of magnitude more complex in parts and construction, etc. Acoustic room treatment makes the biggest improvement IME. OTOH, there's no rocket science in audio wire construction (I know high priced cable manufacturers will argue otw. E.g. electrons in our wire travel at the speed of light. 😒) . Audiophile wire can be made in miles by a machine unless you're boutique one man operation working out of your home. Most of these high prices wire is copper, not gold or palladium or platinum. There's nothing about audiophile wire that justifies some of the stratospheric prices asked by many of these cable manufacturers. |
- 486 posts total