Putting an end to the audio cable debate! Part 1

Having read it a second time, I find his hand waving, deflections and verbosity less than compelling.

"On the one side is the audiophile who refuses to believe that a cable can make an audible improvement and immediately calls out any price deemed exorbitant. On the other side is the audio enthusiast who claims to hear differences and improvements between cables and understands why one cable may cost more than another, despite their identical length. Unfortunately, these two solitudes seem irreconcilable."

No they aren't.  He goes on to prove that he learnt some sales techniques studying for an MBA, and uses the word "phenomenon" in an inappropriate context.

As @djones51 said, if you wanna learn something about cables, read what the folk at Belden say.  All good stuff.  This guy is just gunna talk more about himself, his theories, and other people in his next epistle.

I was skeptical about cables for quite some time. But even switching out cheaper brands amongst my own system I have noticed there is sometimes a difference in the way it effects the sound - better or worse, that's all subjective - but there is a definitive difference. So yes, in my opinion, cable can absolutely change the way your system presents.

There have now been two suggestions to look at Belden cables. I point out in my review that Galen Gareis was head of development at Belden, and leaned upon his years of research there as an engineer to develop his own audio cables - Iconoclast. I share from my discussion with him that he had approached Belden to see if they would support his research on audio cables, but they felt it was not a large enough market. So, he did it on his own; kudos! 

Imo, Iconoclast is the closest I have seen to a pure measurement-driven methodology in making a cable that obviously influences sonic attributes of systems. 

I do enjoy reading his design briefs, and I find it interesting that such an esteemed cable engineer/designer doesn’t seem to buy into the level of importance that many other cable manufacturers and audiophiles place on certain tenets of the audiophile cable world.....

conductor quality

I don’t use wire “quality factor” as a design element since every contemporary draw science for wire is vastly better quality than ever.

cryo treatment

What we don’t offer is what I can’t hear as a designer. Sorry, but I’ve yet to hear CRYO treatments, intended to improve the wire’s PHYSICAL strength or grain consistency and direction, change the sound.

directionality

As far as grain direction goes, you can flip the leads in any direction you want, as the wire’s grains all go the same way due to the manufacturing process that we use. If you can hear the direction switch, flip them any way you like. We won’t send you a bill for that!

He does seem to like solid core wire, as do I....

Solid wire wins hands down for this application. Every question is in solid wire’s court. End use, costs less, processing cost, ease of termination and lack of tertiary elements (all those diode effect “arguments” between strands and more).