Why Do Cables Matter?

I've never weighed in on this but am in the "I can hear a difference" column. 

As a musician (75 yrs old) I've played in a lot of different groups with a lot of different musicians at all levels. The really good players have a subtlety to their playing - no matter the instrument. What I've noticed is that many of the musicians I've played with who have been playing for many years  "think" they play as well as the exceptional musicians and I've come to believe that they simply do not hear the nuance and subtlety of the top musicians. The top musicians DO hear it and learn to apply that sensitivity to their playing. In other words, some people hear nuance and subtlety that others don't. For me that is one explanation for this continued discussion.

I listen exclusively to headphones so listening room is not part of the equation. I also have certain tracks I've listened to for many years and when upgrading anything I always notice a change in different parts of the recording. Some I like, others I don't. I've purchased expensive cables that I didn't like and returned. Others brought a level of sensitivity I hadn't heard before.

@ieales ^^^

The above is utterly pointless. Any deltas are specific to that system and room and unlikely to translate to an entirely different system.

There are plenty of expensive cables that are demonstrably designed to be ’tone controls’ and are by no means an improvement on any but a small subset of equipment.

Have you ever tried it? What were there results? "Unlikely" how, share more?

The same tests can be repeated at home too with similar results. Tests like these are pointless to those who’ve never tried it, or shared results in a group of peers.

Having worked for a speaker company, where blind listening tests were executed with groups of 30-50 university students in different room settings; The speakers were designed and developed with access to an isoberic chamber. Cables were swapped too. One could argue none of this translates either once the speakers are brought home for use. None of it was pointless. A lot can be learned in tests. Sure, one can argue all cables are passive tone controls, and poor designs impacting sound more than others.

Any deltas are specific to that system and room and unlikely to translate to an entirely different system.

Completely baseless claim that offers neither scientific nor experiential justification. This kind of claim is, however, a good argument against selling keyboards to just anyone who can type.

I hear what I hear. Everything in my system is relative and has made an improvement or it goes out the door.  

Blame it on Noel Lee!

Some of us were experimenting with cables & connectors long before 1976.

Ieales needs a graphic equalizer- much easier for adjusting the tone of his system.

@tonywinga

Ever viewed the phase response of a graphic? It’s horrendous.

For longer than I care to remember, I’ve said "It’s not the frequency response. It’s the Time!!" Asynchronous harmonic arrival causes a musically educated brain to work overtime trying to rearrange the harmonic structure. Good time and phase response is why the Quad electrostat still sounds amazing and something like the Tekton Moab and its ilk are initially impressive but ultimately extremely fatiguing.

Many systems can be vastly improved with the minimal EQ with a ’tilt’ of ±1 or 2 dB around a mid frequency. In the studio, we used to fake it with two band really low Q parametric EQ, especially when disc mastering. Today it’s a doddle to implement in the digital domain.

Completely baseless claim...

More than 50 years ago, pals and I began experimenting with listening to cables and electronics in our various systems. Initially we tried A/B testing, but found that what we had was C/D.

We all had separates. Some examples: Mitch Cottter, Apt, SAE, Ampzilla, Marantz, HK, db, Dayton-Wright, KEF, Celestion, Tannoy, AR, etc. No Bose, API or Japanese speakers.

We schlepped everything but turntables and speakers to one another’s homes. We mostly agreed that systems were better with the familiar than interlopers. About the same time we agreed that specs were so much twaddle.