Why Do Cables Matter?

+1 audioman58 

I used blue jeans cables until I was able to hear a difference when I borrowed a few pairs from audio connection. Not only was the highs cleaner, but even when I switched to the cable with the battery, everything was well balanced. Hard to explain but true. I liked some of those other analogies too. I think it’s like if you buy a sports car with a lot of horsepower and put cheap tires on it. Expensive High power amp, with cheaper cables. Let your ears be the judge. 

+1 rbstehno Following on from the previous post, it's amusing that the people who claim cables don't matter are generally using cheap cables.

Instead of asking this question, which has been asked a hundred times here, and if you want to truly answer the question you will need to listen for yourself so here is my suggestion:

Contact an on-line merchant who will allow you to return cables after a 60 day in-home trial. It will cost you about $75 to return the cables. I used Music Direct. When Shunyata Venom-X cables first came out I read some info that peaked my curiosity. So I bought $6,000 worth of interconnects and speaker cables and installed them into my system. The audible difference between the lower priced cables I was using and the Shunyatas was literally like a major component upgrade. Needless to say I kept the cables.

If you don't want to spend that much then go the used route. I helped a friend put together a set of Acoustic Zen for his system that cost about $2,200 for all cables. He was quite surprised and happy with the results. If you are not impressed then sell them and go back to your current set up. Some people can hear the difference, others cannot. If your hearing is not sensitive enough you may not benefit from the cable upgrade.

Prior to this both of us were skeptics. Now we are believers.

With this said, perhaps some room treatment would be more of a benefit for your pursuit of audio nirvana.

Blame it on Noel Lee! In the Days of Yore audio hobbyists used zip cord - and nobody cared or complained! Then in 1976 Mr. Lee started selling 10 gauge fine multi-strand cable in a clear jacket. He called it Monster Cable and it was an overnight success! Lee claimed his cable was better because the high frequencies traveled faster on the outside and the bass frequencies had more oomph due to the thickness of the cable. Cleaner, clearer highs and greater bass mojo compared to zip cord! All these claims by Lee were unsubstantiated by any lab measurements! He said " just listen". The "My golden ears told me it is so" crowd fell for this hype and bought miles of Monster Cable, making Noel Lee a multi-millionaire! Soon other entrepreneurs took notice and started their own wire businesses. They discovered that all you need was a nicely made product with a catchy name and a liberal amount of print spin (this was pre- Internet). Lab measurements not needed!