Cable Controversy

Good points all around guys! Keep the information on cables/cords a-flowing.

I agree that, in theory, the role of cable is to deliver signal 'faithfully' (for lack of a better word), with as little degradation to the signal as possible.  Audioquest for one espouses this type of philosophy in some of their ads. It would stand to reason that I would like the Audioquest sound, but there are other wires on the market that sound better to my ear, in my system. I have no idea whether my wires of choice are more faithful (than Audioquest) to the original signal. Perhaps they are introducing good-sounding distortion into the playback chain.

@hifiman5, I think you need to read my post again.  

Regarding your post, you say "the wire in the amp is one of many designed for a specific purpose" (or more realistically, price point).  Also, when your binding post broke, you followed someone's advice and replaced the conductor.  That's fine.   Replace the conductor with whatever you want.  Replace it with something that's $1,000 per inch.  MY point was, in order to hear the most truthful representation of your new and improved amplifier, theoretically, you would need that same conductor going to your speaker.   You repeat the word "faithfully" numerous times in your post, also mentioning the word "integrity".  The only conductor that will do so, is the one in your amp.  NOT some boutique cable costing thousands of dollars.  Obviously no one will do this, I'm just trying to make a point.  

When used properly, cables can balance out a system very well.  If an amp is too warm or dark sounding for the owner, he/she may add a cable that livens up the highs or opens it up a bit, and vice versa.  That's the beauty of cabling.  

Thank you for ending your post with, what I consider to be, the most annoying, misunderstood line in audio.  

@hifiman5, one more thing regarding your post, specifically your use of the word "faithfully". You say you want to transmit the signal as faithfully as possible. Ok. Faithful to what?

Let’s say you purchase a cd. You take this cd home and you want to get the music from the cd to your ears as faithfully as possible.
Great, however your very first link in the chain is adding its own sonic signature to the signal. Every step of the way, something is coloring the sound somewhat:

1) cd player/trasport
2) digital cable
3) DAC
4) interconnects
5) preamp
6) interconnects
7) amplifier

So, now hifiman5 wants to reproduce the signal as faithfully as possible. I ask again, faithful to what? The cd? Pa-lease. You’re already so far away from what’s truthfully on that cd that you cannot be close to it at all. The only thing you can be faithful to at this point is get the sound as close to what’s leaving the amplifier. Now, you want to add some boutique speaker cables between your amp and speaker to be "faithful" to the cd? Gimme a break.  The damage has been done. 

Something else just occurred to me. For the sake of argument, let’s use the number 100. It could be more, it could be less, but let’s just use 100.
Using the seven components I listed in my last post (transport, digital cable, dAC, interconnects, preamp, interconnects, amp), that means there could be as many as 700 different manufacturers of 7 different components in the chain. I don’t know how to do the math, but I’m assuming the possible combinations would reach into the billions.
Think about that.....
By the time the signal leaves the amplifier, it could, theoretically, have billions of different sonic signatures that differ from what’s on the cd. Now, hifiman5 wants to put a fancy speaker cable on the amp to be "faithful" to the cd?

This was my whole point from the get-go. I understand your point, hifiman5, but with all due respect, I think you failed to understand mine. "Faithful" goes out the window the moment the music sees the first link in the chain.  

Not to mention the speaker interaction with the amp.  You may have a speaker cable that's close to faithful of what's leaving the amp, but it may sound like crap going to speaker A, but on speaker B it sounds wonderful.  

So, finding a cable that works well with amp and speaker is the real goal.