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So What Is Real?

There is a newsletter I subscribe to because the guy seems to talk about reality and not what some sales dude wants to sell you. mwaldrep@aixrecords.com   Now the funny thing to me is that all these cable specialists of high dollar remedies for flawed playback are somehow going to magically change what you hear and will then rise above the abilities of the music file limitations and recording engineers. A dumb wire that is used to create the hi-res recordings so sought after is not somehow suitable for the playback of the same. The following is from Waldreps newsletter and I fully agree. I love this guy and he is a light shining through all the smoke and mirror BS of high end audio. I confess I too am a cable denier and incapable of hearing " further uptick in micro-dynamic jump " but love the delicious word salad these guys create to try to describe something that is not there. I can see the cable guy sitting there with his buddy. Wow did you hear that uptick in micro-dynamics!!  You just know that's how he would talk, right?
  As an aside here how does one become a professional listener? What is the criteria for attaining this lofty goal? How do you know when you have arrived and what governing authority sets down the requirements for such a thing so you know  you are not deceiving yourself and others? Is it a nebulous category that is assigned to you when you spend a certain level of money or do you have verifiable and provable abilities above the norm as recognized by a large group of people including recording industry engineers, professional sound installers and high end audio system owners? In other words anyone but cable sellers?

  The following is from "Dr. AIX Post for January 25, 2020"

 " Cable Nonsense

What is it that Art Linkletter used to say? Kids say the darndest things. Well, it seems some FB audio group administrators, audiophiles, high-end audio salespersons, audiophile society officials, and manufacturers also say things that make little or no sense when talking or posting about cables.

I usually steer clear of FB posts or online magazines that promote high-end audio cables. It's just never safe to present with science, established electrical engineering theory and practice, or objectiveness when cables are concerned. A recent exchange on a familiar FB audio group page resulted in a member calling me a "cable denier" because I advocated for science and physics in evaluating power cords.

The thread basically dismissed my comments because I'm a member of the professional audio engineering community. Audio equipment salespeople, FB administrators, high-end audio marketing managers, and the general audio buying public are claimed to be better and more reliable sources of information when it comes to recommending expensive accessories and cables. According to the gentleman below, they are capable of listening in ways that audio professionals can not.

One commenter wrote:

"Mark is a pro and speaks just like one, but he is not a professional LISTENER, like you (Writer's NOTE: the guy offering the ultra expensive power cords), I and so many others in the high-end industry. Interesting is that most so-called experts are also naysayers who work in the recording industry, not in the high-end industry."

What does this statement actually claim? That professional audio engineers and producers do not know how to listen? That spending one's professional life in front of speakers in a control room doesn't require listening?Maybe...just maybe...the engineers responsible for producing the recordings that are played back in these guys high-end systems are correct in their assessment of power cords and expensive USB/Ethernet cables. Image that!

Can you really trust a gentlemen that just launched a new cable company that offers a 6-foot power cord for $3150? Oh and this person also believes that cables are directional! BTW They are not.

Here's a couple of additional comments...

"Cables can make a difference. I’m glad I can hear those differences it truly enhances the experience. I have been a dedicated audiophile and in the industry for over 45 years and have been able to identify those differences since my first experience with Smog Lifters in the 70’s. I search for and usually discover great products that deserve special attention by people looking for the last bit of resolution and coherency. I’m truly sorry for those that wouldn’t hear the difference."

Here's a comment from an individual that swapped a normal Ethernet cable for an expensive one.

"...the Vodka seemed to remove a layer of film for superior textural reveal. There was also a shade more tonal depth and recording space ‘air’. Most noticeable of all was a further uptick in micro-dynamic jump."

I don't know about you but I cringe when I hear people talk about audio in such terms. And this after listening to a commercial album and then stopping, swapping the cable and relistening. It's unbelievable.

I could pull quotes from cable reviews all afternoon but I think you get the point. When anyone starts spewing nonsense about power cords, digital interconnects, or network cables, run away. Keep your wallet in your pocket and unsubscribe from that group or online magazine. Their motivations are suspect. They either want to sell you something (usually at very high cost) or are dependent on advertising dollars from the companies they write about or the individuals they interview.

"
mahlman
4425
861 posts
 
no ranter here but if you really can’t hear a meaningful difference in the AQ example i used be happy....but i strongly believe you will prefer one or the other. i don’t know the math but the two metals sound very different. i would expect the same with kimber among many that others that offer the two different metals. if you’ve never compared the two in your own system an opinion would simply be speculative. 
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,173 posts
 
I am astounded that most people dont know that any audio changes in sound is not only system dependant relating to some particular electronic components, but way more related to the 4 grids where an audio system is embedded ...

Then any affirmation of some changes, positives or negatives, is not here to be doubted and mocked or to be trusted, it is only an indication of a possible way to improve something in some particular audio system....The fact that we hear it ourselves or not has nothing to do most of the times with his reality for some ears other than our owns.... My best....
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Welcome to my world, grasshopper. By the way, I urge you to consider adding a new embedding: you can call it information fields, mind-matter interaction or extra-sensory perception, as I use those terms interchangeably for the purposes of the discussion of sound and it’s perception. I am channeling Peter Belt as we speak and to a lesser extent Good old Rupert Sheldrake, who never really got on board the whole audiophile train 🚂 He was more interested in how dogs sense when their owners are returning home. Also, I’m not sure which embedding the CD fluttering belongs in, maybe that’s a new embedding. And the scattered CD laser LIGHT could be a new embedding too. Magnetic fields might be a new one too. Finally, save an embedding for good old Quantum Mechanics. This should be a separate embedding, more things are wrought by Quantum Mechanics than this world dreams of. 🤗 And wire directionality 🔛 should have its own place in the scheme of things. 
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
no ranter here but if you really can’t hear a meaningful difference in the AQ example i used be happy....but i strongly believe you will prefer one or the other. i don’t know the math but the two metals sound very different. i would expect the same with kimber among many that others that offer the two different metals.

Silver /  Copper, I can't tell the difference 500hz < very little to me. Above 500-700 hz  Yes, but it is still subtle with pure (close) conductors and same size and strand count.

Clad wire on the other hand, night and day. The thickness of the clad and of course the terminal ends. With ribbons or planars, different once again. Monsoon, Strathearns, BG all let you know about clad wire, Some people like the hyper bright sound that it offers, I don't walk away, I RUN..

I've yet to hear anything, ANYTHING different. I can't listen long enough to tell the difference in "The Brands",  But I can walk up on a CLAD system and tell it EVERYTIME. I walk away with clench fist and a scowl on my face. YUK!!! Quite a few of the Speaker manufactures use clad wire NOW..again Hyper Bright, highs, bloated bass and WHERE's the mids, WHERE'S THE MIDS?? Wired out of phase, not enough of it, goes on and on. 

I really think the last 10 years, have made the most progress in understanding WHY cables sound different, I just don't understand
WHY most folks buy into the more you spend, the better it has to be.

I'm sure the big BIG dollar stuff, is better for some, gotta justify a 1500.00 1 meter, single run IC somehow, I just can't. 

1500.00 in room treatment, clean VAC, EAR CLEANING goes a lot further in my book. DIY and spend a 1/3 -1/2 less or get twice as much and do a second or third system. I have a system, I spent less than 550.00 total used parts (some new) Mind blowing results. I paid no more than 100.00 per part, and it has a 5 + thousand dollar sound...It's the space their in, and KNOWING it, more than anything...

Respectfully
mahlman OP
433 posts
 
" Welcome to my world, grasshopper. By the way, I urge you to consider adding a new embedding: you can call it information fields, mind-matter interaction or extra-sensory perception, as I use those terms interchangeably for the purposes of the discussion of sound and it’s perception. I am channeling Peter Belt as we speak and to a lesser extent Good old Rupert Sheldrake, who never really got on board the whole audiophile train 🚂 He was more interested in how dogs sense when their owners are returning home. Also, I’m not sure which embedding the CD fluttering belongs in, maybe that’s a new embedding. And the scattered CD laser LIGHT could be a new embedding too. Magnetic fields might be a new one too. Finally, save an embedding for good old Quantum Mechanics. This should be a separate embedding, more things are wrought by Quantum Mechanics than this world dreams of. 🤗 And wire directionality 🔛 should have its own place in the scheme of things. "

   Tip of the hat to you Geoffkait. I think you have been very clever with your analysis and subsequent marketing. If you were any where near by I would like to stop in and meet you one day.
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