Cable curmudgeon


I'm not an 'audiophile" but I like to think I have a good ear having been a professional musician (principal wind player in major symphony orchestras) for 50 years. A number of years ago going into an excellent audio equipment store I talked with, what seemed, a knowledgeable salesman.  Being a musician experienced in audio systems but not expert on all the equipment out there I had some questions concerning high (over-priced?) end cables. The salesman assured there was an audible differencet in a demo room switching back and forth etc.  After a few minutes I noticed the sound coming out of only one channel.  He complemented me on my "good ear."  Hmmm? A few years later when setting up my home system I investigated speaker cables. Two sets of Monster, stranded standard cable, solid core copper (used for alarm system) attached with like connecters. There was a difference.  However, not in terms of better or worse: bass and treble were acceptable as was clarity loud and soft.  Differences were esthetic- like asking "whose the best tenor" (I like Plácido).  Now I know as a musician used to live (i.e. un-amplified) music that all I hear coming out of a loud speaker is perforce ersatz.  But most everything today comes out of a loud speaker whether a rock concert or a hi-fi system so perhaps my opinion is curmudgeonly. But, for me, spending oodles of money on hyped cables, well... I  liked the solid core for my alarm system- still do.

 

exflute

                     SO MANY variables

                   and: life's SO SHORT!

                        Happy listening!

There are many of us Olden HiFi enthusiast types, who are ’curmudgeonly’ influenced in their assessments and there are plenty to be encountered, who are at the threshold of being ’curmudgeonly’ influenced whilst making assessments.

The younger generations are not too eager to be found on forums, to much exuberance 🧗‍♂️ for life, to be idling away as a keyboard bound professor 👨‍🎓 of their viewpoints. That is for the Denison's of the realm of being that belongs to the 'curmudgeonly' old and those a little old before their time. 

I do get excited over a Cables influence on a system, I like to experience Cable Comparisons, I t does help put a few miles on the Zimmer Frame 😁but there are systems that are not too resolving of details and there are those that can demonstrate a prowess in resolving detail.

Dependent on which system type is having Cables Exchanged as a Comparison Experience, will determine how much a Cable can impact on the SQ of a System.

Also keep in mind that the Connectors chosen to be used on a Cable and the Devices Chassis are also instrumental in being contributory to the perceptions being created of the SQ being produced.

You’re right to be judging sonic qualities by listening to acoustic music. Large-scale classical, chamber, quartets, jazz can present proper tonal qualities, dynamics, and nuances not found in electric or amplified music. I listen to mainly classical music and also attend live concerts which helps confirm realistic sound from my home system.

So…for filmic qualities we should only be watching surveillance camera footage?

No one denies the need for nuance in hifi systems. But let’s not oversimplify things.

Music is a very general category that includes live, recorded, multi-track, synthesized, etc. The notion that the "sonic qualities" of music are paradigmatically represented by live acoustic music is like saying all food should be eaten raw or that all films should simply be surveillance camera footage.

Painting moved past simple portraits and landscapes to impressionism, cubism, etc. -- and, to tell the truth, even those simpler pictorial genres had a helluva a lot of interpretation and selection already built in. Any architect who built a concert hall already knew they were participating in the construction of sound. Same thing with any violin builder. The challenge is to create a technology that is expressive enough for the artist to communicate their ideas. It's not, and never was, about "realism" if that means some kind of simple isomorphism. 

The notion that sonic representation is necessarily sonic degradation betrays a profound naiveté about what art even is. To use it as a guide is foolhardy.

 

Monster stranded or solid?  It's like saying I tried two types of Thunderbird wine and I really don't understand wine connoisseurship at all.