Audio envy - dang!

@arafiq Yes, I am implying that. Of course I could easily be wrong and it’s simply that it’s unrelated people participating in a feel-good groupthink exercise. No cables will have the amazing revelatory effects being described here, and also the almost unadulterated positivity, no one at all except for one person seems to be able to be mildly critical. Don’t worry I haven’t officially labeled the AE cables as "nothing special" yet, more testing is required.

Anyway, AE has nothing to worry about. People, especially in the lower budget spectrum, will already make up their minds about the cables being excellent because they prefer to believe they’ve found the "smart" buy, and all they need to see is most people on here praising it. The one or two mediocre reviews will just get dismissed.

I did the same thing with Anticables some years ago. I trialed a set of their top of the line 6.2 interconnects. Far more expensive than these AEs. I compared them against a set of old no-name cables using pro stock (I forget which) with big heavy connectors lying around the basement. At first the 6.2 was much worse, but after a good amount of burn-in they improved to...no difference at all. No matter how hard I listened I couldn’t tell any difference that wasn’t so minor that it couldn’t be chalked up to memory effects. So, I returned them. No harm no foul. Of course nobody wanted to hear my findings for the reasons stated above and I’m sure that thread hasn’t impacted the purchasing decision of a single person.

And I guess I’ll say that the versions of the cables I have are labeled "patent pending" and look different compared to what’s on the site. The interconnects look more like the phono cables without the grounding wires. I also note that prices have been greatly increased. Has the owner increased price to match the better performance? Or is it just bringing things more into line with expected audiophile margins?

“people who try a product and post an opinion that differs from audio forum users who report positive opinions are often criticized and/or accused of having inferior systems or listening skills. It creates an environment where dissenting opinion is discouraged, and it happens with more than a few products across categories.”

@tvad,

I completely agree and for the reason stated above I don’t post here anymore as much I used to.
I have owned cable looms well into $40K range and much to my surprise, AE cables have bettered those supposedly high on performance top dollars cables in my system.
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8046

@lalitk I don't see any indication of the high-end cables you claim to have owned in there.

I don’t think anyone has a problem with dissenting views here. @madavid0 has every right to test AE cables in his own system and share his views whether favorable or not. We’ve all been around the block a few times, and it should not come as a surprise that for some AE cables will simply be a bad match. It’s not going to change my adoration for the cables for my taste and in my system. There's a reason 'YMMV' is probably the most often used term here.

The problem is when people start engaging in conspiracy theories, or disparaging someone’s enthusiasm for a given product because they don’t have "discerning ears" or "revealing" systems. At this point, we are not simply discussing likes or dislikes but making some serious accusations and attacking the integrity of not only AE fans but the company itself. And if you are making such claims, it’s reasonable to ask for some basis.