The Science of Cables


It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why cables sound the way they do. When I see discussions on cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like shielding, gauge, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things like resistance, impedance, inductance, capacitance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t cables discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivist” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in cables. 

I know cables are often system dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
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Pro audio cables are expensive and not a good value when you consider that skeptics should be using lamp cord. They should be using the interconnects from their 1980's stereo. That is, if they want to be consistent. 

After all, they think no one can pass ABX testing, so why would they spend the money on Pro cables? It's all about fear of looking bad, prestige, feeling like a Pro! Yeah! They think, "If the Big Boys in audio do this, then when I buy their products I'm a Big Boy home system builder, too!  I'm so much smarter than all those fools who spent more than me... 

After all, look at that graph/chart! PROVES I've got the best possible sound. I use Canare, so much more scientific than Mogami! Only a loser would use such a thinly supported, unscientific cable as that. Look! They're religious with their guy sitting in Lotus position! Who can trust a cable company like that?"   

(The delusion is practically incurable) 
Rule number one. Attack the competition. Good job!

Gee, I wonder why Mogami’s tagline is Cable of the Pros. Duh!

http://www.mogamicable.com

@douglas_schroeder

or calling them unscientific
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Were it to stop at that it would be understandable and reasonable, I mean, some folks, and rightfully so, do not share either the fundamentalist understanding of science that is a large part of the skeptic’s "intellectual" arsenal, or what it ultimately represents as a world-view. But words like foolish, stupid, gullible, and deaf are routinely tossed around when describing those who have committed the apparent sin of buying anything more than inexpensive entry level cables. But the fun doesn’t stop there, any manufacturer who dares step outside the carefully prescribed circle of cable righteousness is branded a liar, or a charlatan, or a snake-oil salesman, or a thief....Sweet, real sweet, and definitely not a strategy to develop some form of solution or understanding....no, its more like building a justification to burn witches at the stake.

What’s funny is this level of vitriol is not routinely being used by the other camp in this, errr, discussion.
This from the Mogami site...where they are selling superior sound that apparently is somehow real special and superior......

Mogami has been the top choice for wiring professional recording studios for decades. Recording engineers have come to depend on Mogami’s superior sound quality, clarity, silent background, and consistent quality. Mogami is so widely used that if you have commercially recorded music, chances are overwhelmingly good that Mogami is part of the vital signal chain
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But here we have better cable, also by Mogami, so is this stuff supposedly superiorestistical or something.... its the most neutral, dynamic cable made....read the most, as in nothing better....like mo bettah than anything even their own other simply superior stuff.... ( ...and please note this... superior itself is already an absolute superlative form  ....so you can't have something like most or more superior...)

What could be accomplished if sound quality was placed above all else but not at the expense of others? Mogami answered this challenge with cable we call Platinum, the most neutral, dynamic cable made. Like all Mogami cable, the sound emerges from a silent background, but with more dynamics, frequency extension and detail than anything before it. A larger diameter cable, Mogami Platinum is flexible enough for the most active performers yet rugged enough for road use with reasonable handling. It’s why so many of today’s top touring bands trust only Mogami Platinum
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And always love the use of the term no compromise when a sentence or two earlier we see more economical....weird eh, no compromises but cheaper....like how is that even remotely possible....

Mogami Silver is genuine Mogami microphone and instrument cables built for more economical budgets than our Platinum and Gold assemblies. Despite having an attractive price, each Mogami silver cable is made without compromise to quality using top quality connectors. Every cable is hand assembled, then tested for performance before it leaves the assembly bench. Mogami Silver cables are backed by our no excuses lifetime warranty. Fortunately, with this level of quality you will probably never need it.


Hmmm....don’t want to jump to conclusions but seems the emperor and his clothes parted company somewhere along the line....that being said these guys also sound a lot like heretics to me, so lads, should we go get some firewood, and wieners ?....
It’s worth noting that Mogami was originally used to name a set of 4 Japanese heavy battle cruisers that Japan deployed during WW2. All of them were sunk during the war.

“The Mogami class cruisers have been seen by naval architects as a design failure.”

Not a great background for such a storied line of the best cables in the world.