Who thinks $5K speaker cable really better than generic 14AWG cable?
people can be intelligent, and get duped into giving excessive money for a product that cannot possibly "work as advertised" when they lack technical knowledge and I suspect that includes most audiophiles - science & engineering majors are less likely to get duped than an otherwise intelligent liberal arts or business major |
I don't recall being that impressed (to put it kindly) with McIntosh gear regarding their status as high end, resolving gear. They do have the looks and their laurels to rest on to further their product line but aside from that..... The point is that high end gear is necessary for the ability to hear differences and yet doesn't have to be costly. We've all (hopefully) traveled that path and are now at a point where a small change can and will extract it's pound of flesh. Trained ears and the discipline developed to hear differences serves as a base point for all critical listening, which allows just plain old listening for pleasure's sake. For every Roger Russell who's in the "all cable needs to be...." crowd there's a Professor Hawksford who says otherwise: "I am not trying to say that this effect is necessarily significant, only that an error component is predicted by our theory and is shown by our measurements to exist." Citing someone will only bring up someone else. Who's to say that those differences aren't audible? I don't know of any study that says ALL cables measure the same. I've yet to see one. They are always different, albeit to small and varying degrees. Our ears are incredibly refined instruments and like any instrument, can be tuned to detect differences of very small magnitudes. Tests show this to be true. I think what harms intelligent discussion is the standard yardsticks we use to measure, or rather, that some of us insist that those standard yardsticks are the ONLY measurement to go by. They are nothing more than gross generalizations. Rounding errors for simplicities sake. Just as no two wires will measure identically, no two ears will either. I can hear small differences and have learned to appreciate them over the long haul. Others can too. "Nuff said. All the best, Nonoise |
The biggest problem I have with audio claims, is how the comparisons are made. I’ve learned that if there are differences, I want to hear them from someone who is making instantaneous A/B comparisons. It’s the only way our little brains can keep up with differences - if there are any. I’ve learned first hand from amp comparisons, if they’re level matched and I’m quickly A/Bing - I can’t hear a difference... Moving on to cables - I don’t have experience comparing cables in a reliable setting - but this guy did: http://www.dagogo.com/audio-by-van-alstine-abx-comparator-review-part-3-new-twists-conclusion I thought it was interesting that he couldn’t discern amps, but he did pick up on cable differences... |
