Why Do Cables Matter?

You’ve made yourself very clear. You’d be embarrassed if you knew how clearly you communicate.

Ouch!!!

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- He lumps all audiophiles together - like the Borg in Star Trek. Not as independent thinkers with successful careers - who, as music-lovers, have arrived at similar observations and experiences over their decade’s-long audio journey.

- He doesn’t respect cable swapping. But, he definitely favors mic swapping. It’s okay to address the needs of different performing artists with different voice boxes and chest cavities during the recording phase. But, it’s not okay to address the various needs of source components and speakers during the playback phase. Such as synergy.

- Location sound is always tweaked in Post Production. EQ, room tone, re-recording, etc. Matching the SQ of different mic’s on different actors in different takes. Altering the voice perspective as to whether the shot is a wide Master or a Close-up.

- He still doesn’t get that the cables’ metallurgy and architecture affect the electricity - the fuel for the entire playback system. High octane = High performance.  Getting the various components to integrate well is the goal. 

- After insulting everybody, he wonders why people are attacking him.

@yoyoyaya 

Do you accept that recovering all of the information contained in the original recording is a legitimate aim of hi fi reproduction?

I think that's an admirable aim, especially when in the context of a cable. It should let the signal come through without adding noise or distortion. Of course, nothing will ever be perfect. But I think it's possible for a real cable to be indistinguishable from a perfect cable. Once a certain threshold of accuracy is passed it won't make a difference to our hearing perception. 

Changing cables undoubtedly causes perceptual changes for some listeners. Why that is could be a number of things beyond just expectation bias. For now we don't have much in the way of convincing explanations for what actual changes in the signal are occurring. We just have perceptual descriptions. It's quite possible that the cables are deviating away from technically correct performance, but that perceptually comes across better for some listeners. 

Well when it comes to audio engineers and audiophiles I chose to listen to Dave McNair @ PTA Grammy Winning engineer and a fellow who will actually consider all points. 

 https://www.davemcnairmastering.com/styled-3/index.html

@donavabdear

@donavabdear 

I'm still interested in hearing your more detailed view on entropy.

Personally, I tend to experience it when my microphone cables get tangled.

Actually, that's on of the plus points of hi fi cables - they are entropy resistant in that they are usually too stiff to tangle :))