DO CABLES REALLY MATTER?

glupson

Geoffkait: “A rich man has about as much chance of entering audio Nirvana as a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle."

That must be a really big needle.

Why is being rich/able-to-afford so frequently mentioned as a negative trait on this forum?

>>>>>I don’t think it’s a negative trait per se. I think it’s negative only because expense of equipment or cables is irrelevant to most of the discussions about sound. Owning expensive equipment does not automatically mean the owner has found audio Nirvana or that his system even sounds good. Nor can he automatically win arguments based on the expense of his system. Even when he swears up and down his system sounds awesome. That’s what we call a logical fallacy. Asking someone to list his system is not really a way to find out what that system sounds like or to prove that system/cable X sounds better than system/cable Z. There are no shortcuts to Xanadu. 😛

calvinj
They half great treble extension, open midrange and soundstage, a little bump in the lower minds and the bass. 

>>>>An unfortunate typo. 😛

A couple of things.

First, have to agree with calvinj that Clarity Cable is a very fine cable that on performance should have much greater place in the audio world, and very sadly it doesn’t.

Second, agree with dorkwad about the Schroeder Method, in my humble opinion it is one of those procedures that absolutely and conclusively shows how cables can have a positive effect on audio reproduction ( so obvious no double bind tests required ). Frankly, lo res, hi res, expensive, modest systems will all benefit from this upgrade. In fact, as a friend said, if you can’t hear the benefit might be a good time to find another hobby like golf, or something, anything that doesn’t require hearing acuity ( slightly paraphrased and explicates deleted )

And one more thing. Basically agree with geoffkait above about how system components in and off themselves can or cannot define how good it is at audio reproduction. At the very least until there is some discussion about the acoustic environment they are used in. Lets remember that the room is the most important audio component and which provides the largest contribution to the "sound" of a system ( some have pegged that contribution at about 50% ). Put a potentially great system in a crap room and guess what, there is an almost certainty that the great system will sound like crap ( with diminished ability to hear detail, nuance, and change, both large and small etc etc etc ).

@dorkwad that is where it was for me the Cable was the final tweak for me. Some can’t hear a difference we can so it’s worth it in my eyes and ears.