2. cables
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Opening a can of worms

Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
128x128gillatgh
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
@shadorne  of course not, as that would be a silly assertion.  Air is the "best" dielectric which accounts for cable manufacturers such as Audioquest who have been, for several years now, been using either PE tubes or Teflon tubes as the physical dielectric to minimize the physical dielectric's contact with the conductors, thus rendering "air" as the substantive dielectric in their designs.  

Might be instructive for others to weigh in on their experience with "air tube" dielectrics versus "wire coating" dielectrics which may make burn-in even more critical as those contacting dielectrics must "form" through burn in and in my experience yield a greater magnitude of sonic improvement through burn-in. 
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shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
So we agree - cables can never burn in!
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,832 posts
 
@kosst_amojan  

Interesting.  You seem fixated on capacitor break-in and by comparison I suppose it seems like I am stuck on the issue of cable burn-in.  to each their own.

You said..."Seems to me the best cable would be the least reactive, not one designed to be as reactive as possible. You seem to be calling reactivity virtue for some reason."

Don't know what I've written here that brings you to that assertion.  I've had quite a number of different interconnects pass through my systems over the years.  In all instances burn-in yielded a sonic benefit usually in the form of dynamic musical swing, smoothness of treble and upper midrange and openness of the soundspace.  I have never addressed technical measurements ie.  capacitance, inductance etc.  I care about what I hear and realize the obvious, that not all aspects that affect sound can be measured.
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