Do Audiophile Cables Matter? Here's PROOF!

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.

Sturgeon,  i don't need any proof i know they do 
 enjoy the day 

« My ears understand geometry better than my eyes, they dont need measurements, they reduce all geometry to his projective harmony» -Anonymus geometer