Do Audiophile Cables Matter? Here's PROOF!

jasonnewell

... naysayers are almost always engineers, either professionally or via years of hands-on experience in labs, studios, etc. They understand intrinsically the scientific method as well as bias. They can also read scopes ...

You might want to read more carefully. While many cable deniers claim to be engineers, their renderings here often reveal that they’re not. And many who clamor for scientific double-blind testing, for example, are often exposed here as having no idea about how such testing is properly conducted. Unable to control their anger, some have even been banned from the group.

I think you are mistaken to believe that anyone can "understand intrinsically" scientific method and bias. Knowing how to implement the scientific method is not intrinsic at all, but a learned skill. Part of that skill is understanding the many ways in which research can be compromised, regardless of the diligence of the scientist. It is very easy to get things wrong, it takes a lot of vigilance to get things right.

jasonnewell

The common denominator between the naysayer and the cables afficionados are for Jason their relation to numbers mesurements, positive for the naysayers, negative for the audiophile snake oil buyers... Simple measurement dont tell all the story... Life is not so easy my friend....

This is ridiculously simplistic, sorry...

The cables problem is also linked to individual listening experience history, and to some audio system particular characteristics with too much parameters involved and non linearly measurable like room acoustics, mechanical resonance problems, and the general noise floor of the house and of the audio system...

«Science is too much difficult to be understood by scientists only» -Groucho Marx

« We need balls and heart and not only brain» -Harpo Marx

« History of science IS Science» - Goethe (uppercases are mine)

I was raised on Julian Hirsch "wire is wire", absolutely convinced for a good 20 years that my freebie patch cords were as good as it gets. Until one day I brought one of my freebie patch cords into a store and the owner let me compare side by side with something from XLO costing about $75. Which to me at the time seemed an absolutely insane amount of money.  

After listening to his very fine rig with the XLO I paused the player and plugged in my patch cord.  

Instantly it sounded like I had broken his stereo. It sounded just awful. I was convinced it was going to be hard to hear any difference and there I was not even making it back to the chair and the difference was hitting me upside the head like a two by four. 

Anyone who's listening skills are so dismal and their brain so defective they still want to argue this, they simply need to find another hobby. Because they suck at this one!

Mahgister gets it! Pertinent to this topic, I have been finalizing my cables for my current rig over the last year. I’ve learned to take my time and evaluate slowly and under various states of mind. My history with high end audio is fairly long and excessive. Entry level to uber expensive and all points in between. A couple of years ago I decided to re set things again without the influence of outside noise, i.e...magazines, online chatter or dealers. I have heard and lived with enough gear over the years to have a handle on what I need to be happy, so....I set a reasonable budget and attempted to bring a dynamic live sound to my den. Variables were to be few hence simplicity was to be the rule. At the heart would be my Krell Vanguard Digital Integrated Amp. So musical and full bodied with great extension. For a source, I wanted something reliable and capable of doing justice to my vast collection of CD’s and SACD’s. I chose the Yamaha CD S2100...neutral, accurate tone with great dynamic range and detail/extension. Most critical was my choice of loudspeakers. I wanted dynamics and headroom that could give me Club level sound while conveying accurate tone and musical expression. I chose JBL 4429’s mostly by gut instinct and a chance look at a MUSIC DIRECT catalogue. Most of my audiophile speakers over the years always seemed to be less than realistic sounding in the midrange and dynamics department. With a 60 day return option I figured why not try something different! Luckily, they won my heart fairly quickly with their buttery smooth dynamic midrange and extension. The “Vinyl “ sound was finally there, but with CD’s...hard to achieve these days. Last would be cables. Based on previous successes with certain designs, I wanted to get the power right first, so I went with a Transparent Gen 5 reference for my Yamaha to give my source the best power I could. My Krell has fairly good power regulation to begin with so I tried a few different PC’s and wound up with Anticables level 3 cord directly into the wall (it has its own filter). Cables have just recently settled out to being Anticables level 3 speaker cables with MIT Magnum Jumpers. Interconnects are Transparent Gen 5 Super Balanced interconnects, edging out the Anticables level 3 and 4 XLR’s. Stands for the JBL 4429’s are from Deer Creek Audio...an absolute must for these large bookshelf model monitors. Overall, the performance puts me in the venue with my favorite artists and does so while being faithful to the tone, dynamics and soundstaging inherent on the CD’s.