DO CABLES REALLY MATTER?

Cables do matter. Don't fall for the pickled red herring of red herrings that once some old, run of the mill cable is used to record something that a better made cable can't be any better at retrieving more info. That you can't get any more out of it with a better cable presupposes that something happened to the info when recorded, using the older cable.

About 100% of the signal is/was passed by the older cable (unless you're running 50' of speaker cable or 150' of interconnects)) only to be masked by it's inferior design during recording and playback using the same cable. It didn't eat it, or absorb it, so where did the signal go? Does the older cable look like a boa digesting a goat?

The music residing in that recording is there even if it came across on some run of the mill Belden cable. The better cable will reveal more of it. And it doesn't need to be expensive. Just take a look at what one ex Belden engineer designed over at Cabledyne (their entry level speaker cable). I, myself, use Tempo Electric speaker cables and the only real cost is in the silver used and the gauge necessary to get what I like out of it, and it's as simple a cable as one can get.

And, if you get that lower noise floor, freeing up more info to make it more enjoyable and realistic, that minute amount is across the board in any and all ways you chose to look at it adding up to a bigger and more satisfying amount of appreciation in what you hear.

You guys who say otherwise need a better argument.

All the best,
Nonoise

nonoise,

Thanks, but I found your post fairly confusing, not sure exactly what you wanted to argue. Because it seemed at some points you acknowledged that standard cable used for the recording transmitted 100% of the signal...and then at another point seemingly leaped to the idea you want a "better cable" to transmit that same information in your stereo system.

The way you got there didn’t make sense.

So, as you said:

The music residing in that recording is there even if it came across on some run of the mill Belden cable.

Right. The incredible sound of many recordings that blow audiophiles away was easily transmitted via run of the mill cables.

The better cable will reveal more of it.

Wait...how can using a "better cable" in your stereo system "reveal more" than what is on the source (which was captured by, for sake of argument, standard Belden cables)?  That seems impossible.  You can't reveal "more" of what wasn't there; the only thing there to "reveal" is what was transmitted by the original, basic recording/mastering cables.

Can you clarify your argument for me?

Thanks.

Prof,

I already addressed your concerns it in my statement and it wasn't confusing unless it's another game afoot. 

There are better made cables that allow more info to come forth. You've said as much earlier when you admitted that a minute amount improvement can't account for the big increases that some say they hear and appreciate. I say they do.

The signal measured shows everything to be okay but it doesn't take into account what is smeared or messed with by a lesser cable. They are tone controls after all but some do less damage than others. They may measure similar but can sound quite different. 

The smeared or compromised sound is not what's getting through in the final recording. It's what being heard while it happens. And it's repeatable until a better cable is used. Then, one can hear and appreciate the difference.


All the best,
Nonoise

A non sequitur can’t be “clarified.”

One construction is that latent data is passed on by crap cables that is somehow made manifest by superior cable. 

I am the parackete of Caborka....

Sorry nonoise, I still can’t make heads or tails of what you are saying, and I see nothing addressing the point I had repeated to you. (I think maritime51 is right about this, but I’ll try pressing on for a moment).

There are better made cables that allow more info to come forth.

That’s the very claim that is being questioned here. What is your evidence for this? Take a standard Belden 10-gauge 5T00UP for, say, a 6 foot speaker cable run. I choose this because Belden has been making professional industry standard cables for decades upon decades, know what they are doing, and because one can find test measurements for this cable, e.g:

https://www.audioholics.com/gadget-reviews/blue-jeans-10awg-speaker-cable-5t00up/blue-jeans-cable-me...



Can you point to independent measurements of a high end audiophile cable showing it transmits "more info?"

You’ve said as much earlier when you admitted that a minute amount improvement can’t account for the big increases that some say they hear and appreciate.

Essentially, yes. But you seem to mistakenly infer I have agreed that people actually ARE hearing the BIG improvements they claim, rather than it being from bias/imagination etc. Maybe some people are hearing real differences; but it's hard to discern in which cases that may be,  when it's all anecdote with no controlling for imagination and bias.

I say they do.

Well....anyone can say anything. But that’s called "begging the question" given what is under debate.

The signal measured shows everything to be okay but it doesn’t take into account what is smeared or messed with by a lesser cable.

Wait, so you are saying a standard cable can measure just fine, but the measurements don’t take in to account "smearing and messing up" of the signal? That’s not making sense; can you explain better? How do you know a cable is smearing/messing things up....if measurements show it’s passing the signal fine?

The smeared or compromised sound is not what’s getting through in the final recording. It’s what being heard while it happens. And it’s repeatable until a better cable is used. Then, one can hear and appreciate the difference.

Try as I might, I can make no sense of that paragraph. (Can anyone else parse what nonoise is trying to say?)

I still don’t see how you have addressed the issue I raised: IF you are hearing wonderful sonics from a recording that was created using regular cables, THEN that tells you what type of sonic information those regular cables are capable of transmitting.