The Science of Cables

iasi,

Many skeptics would not say that cables have an impact on sound quality...but not necessarily in the ways many audiophiles believe.  That is: a basic, well designed cable, properly chosen for the job at hand (e.g. capacitance etc for a given length/job)...is essentially transparent.  That is, it's not the case that any time you change a cable the sound ought to change because "all cables 'sound' different."

But, yes, choose the wrong cable for the job and you can get something like a tone control (e.g. rolling off the high end), so in that sense cables can sound different.

That caveat out of the way.

I have often pointed out that audiophiles swooning over the 'sound' of their latest expensive cable purchase are simultaneously swooning over the sound of the relatively basic, cheap, industry-grade cables used to create most of the recordings we listen to.  

geoff,

Given your web site: yes,  I see you have trouble identifying extraordinary claims ;-)

I didn’t think you could give me any examples, Professor 🤓 As I said, a big old Strawman argument. Nothing brings the pseudo skeptics out of the woodwork like cables. 

So we all (kinda) agree that cables have an impact on sound quality...we all want to hear the ‘pure, unaltered sound’ coming out of our speakers... how about the cables that were used during the recording session? I doubt all those record studios use ‘high end’ cables...

Many studios do use 'high-end' cables. I wired many with Mogami, Canare, Belden, Monster, etc. Some spent as much on cable as the mixing desk.

However, those same studios all have a different sound due to room,  electronics and microphones. We often drove across town to record in a specific space for its sonics. The Complex, Sunset, Record Plant, Oceanway, Capital 'A', Village, or cross country to Hit Factory, Sony, or offshore to Monserrat, Abbey Road, etc. So when you get a piece recorded in multiple rooms, whose cable would you use? Change cable per disc? Track? Chorus?

Add in EQ & compression by the earless A&R department in yet another facility.

Add in sonic changes from watermarking, disc stamping, etc.

Add in sonic thumbprints for player, pre, amplifier.

Add in sonic bootprint for speakers.

It's a wonder it's listenable at all.

I just roll my eyes when I read equipment reviews where the kazoo on this or the conga on that or the calliope on the next had some particular authority. All that has happened is the endless series of colorations has aligned to what the reviewer thinks something sounds like. BUNK!

>>> NO PLAYBACK SYSTEM ANYWHERE EVER SOUNDED LIVE <<<

@prof 
 +1 - keep on firing.

ieales

Many studios do use 'high-end' cables. I wired many with Mogami, Canare, Belden, Monster, etc.

Agreed.  Most of the studios whose cabling I know of, tended to use Canare or Belden or a combination for much of the equipment.  (I had a bunch of custom-length cables for my own systems made by a supplier to local professional studios).


But I would personally differentiate those cable companies from "High End" cable companies, which to me denote those in the audiophile-sales industry - the Nordost, Audioquest, Shunyatta's of the world - who charge far more, and make more extravagant and dubious claims,  than the industry average prices for Canare or Belden.