DO CABLES REALLY MATTER?

Yes, yes, it so often comes back to that. The cables don't make a difference in your system because you can't afford an expensive system  like mine!Honestly, isn't it always that argument or "your ears just aren't cultured enough" .

I go back to the old Gold Ends cables in about 1970. The deal was that low capacitance between the preamp and power amp was the big deal. I've never heard any difference at any time in reasonably constructed cables.
Now it's fine if you want to spend your money that way. Please though,
none of the above arguments that are basically a put down of those that aren't capable of hearing the difference either because of poverty or lack of sophistication.
An active imagination is a good thing. Self delusion, not so much.

I propose ArgueOn as a companion forum to AudioGon.

@david_ten 

Brilliant. 

kqvkq9
I’ve never heard any difference at any time in reasonably constructed cables.

>>>>Hey, that’s the way it goes sometime. Have you considered ear candling? 🕯

Which makes more difference, the cost of the cable or the sound you hear when you use the cables? I'm not going to say that expensive cables always sound better, but even Monoprice $3 interconnects sound better with HFC Magnetic adapters. I will be listening to a loom of new CT-2 interconnects, along with Reveal speaker and power cables. I expect they will sound different and maybe better.

I'm not going to read through all 11 pages of this thread, but I did have a random thought and this seemed like the best spot for it...

Suppose you had two speaker designers at your disposal, and you gave them both an identical set of a woofer and a tweeter and said make me a speaker.  Would you expect them to sound the same?  Of course not.  One might create a sealed cabinet, or an open baffle, or a bookshelf, or a floorstander, etc.

Now suppose you gave them identical cabinets also.  Would you expect them to sound the same?  I doubt it, they would probably design different crossover frequencies, use different capacitors, silver vs copper wire, different cabinet damping, etc. 

So you specify the crossover frequency for them.  Will they still sound different?  Then you give them each a run of the same speaker wire.  How about now?  If they still sound different, at what point do the speakers sound identical? 

Now suppose both designers are in a vertically integrated company like Audio Note or Bryston and you throw an amplifier into the mix and say build me a speaker and also an amp to drive them.  How many components of the amp would you have to control before they sounded the same?  What if I add a DAC to the mix?

If I hear Yanny and you hear Laurel, will the speakers ever sound the same to both of us?  What if I use music that I like and you hate?  Will you be able to tell the difference if you aren't familiar with the music?

Audio equipment is more alike than it is different.  It's still a source, amp, and speakers.  And yet it does sound different.  My system does not sound the same as my buddy's system.  At all.  I know I wouldn't pass a double blind cable test, but I also know that two speakers that have the same specs don't sound the same at all.  Same for amps, does a 100w Best Buy amp sound the same as a 100w Pass Labs amp?  

My point is when we ask if cables matter, maybe we should instead ask what doesn't matter?  We listen to systems, not cables, but the cables interact with the system just like speaker crossovers, transformers, power supplies, and everything else, not to mention the music being played.  So if cables don't matter, what does matter?