Cable curmudgeon

Hello  

You have just entered a topic of much debate.  

IN MY Opinion 

Cabling…power cords - interconnects - speaker will make things sound different. whether you like the change or not is up to the individual.

Best to get great components that work well together and then tryout a few products to see if they’ll enhance your sound.

Remember it’s a hobby and have fun…the used market is a great way to experiment.  Many times I have bought and sold items and usually recoup my investment.

Enjoy Tony

I started with a cardboard record player. When I got a little older, my mom let me play records on her console stereo. The sound was better, especially the bass. Next step was a Dynamo ST70/PAS 3x powering Utah 12" speakers. Better. Then I swapped out the lamp cord for Monster cables. There was an undeniable improvement in sound quality, which was even more noticable when I upgraded to some B&O speakers.

I had to leave the Monster cables at home when I went to college, and went back to zip cables. That only lasted a few weeks, and despite being a broke college student found the money to buy another set of Monster cables. The Monster cables sounded better, and I was rewarded by my cable upgrade and was content. There was no question that the Monster cables performed better in my modest system.

Flash forward to today. I have a small collection of decent cables, and can afford to buy whatever I want. I enjoy monkeying around with speaker cables and interconnects, and there are differences, but they are subtle (not big differences like the zip cord/Monster cable difference). What I seek today is lack of listening fatigue and easier involvement in the music. Sound "quality" stays about the same: if I listen just for a few minutes I can’t discern much of a difference, but after a few hours it is easy to tell which cables work better in my system.

Like you, I'm a flutist with academic degrees in music - and I have a high-end audio system. I'm the last one to claim that my ears are better than anyone else's ears. In fact, I have two "golden ears" people whose opinions I highly value when deciding on equipment, and neither of them knows anything about music. I think it's about how closely you listen, and how you evaluate what you hear. 

Exflute,

I’m a classical professional expiano player and believe I have pretty good ears too.
I understand you feel recorded music can never equal live music and I agree with that. But, it can come closer than what I believe you think. The better your system, the closer it gets. I’m not so sure your system is at the point where you can effectively evaluate that closeness.

I have a WONDERFUL, nearly cable-free sound system - the only cable it has is the power cord to the wall outlet - no other cords needed; it solves everyone’s cable dilemma perfectly: a Bose Table-Top Radio with Built-In CD Player (it does have a short wire antenna to pick up local FM and AM radio stations).

Nothing could better help us avoid having to deal with interconnect cables in an audiophile system than what I describe here. Simplicity is THE way to go!