WHY CABLES MATTER!

Cables and power cords are complicated.  Cables that sound great in one system may not sound so good in another.  Stereo gear didn’t always come with IEC connectors.  I did some diy in the past removing the stock power cords wired into my amps and preamps and soldering in upgraded power cords.  Manufacturers added the IEC connector so that people could try different power cords.  But HiFi manufacturers have also done much to reject noise coming in through the power cord.  For example, I had an ARC SP-6b back in the late 1980s (with the fixed stock power cord).  I had a dedicated line going into my listening room.  I still had to remove all of the dimmers in the house because if a light with a dimmer was on, I could hear a quiet buzz in my speakers.  My later preamps did a much better job rejecting dimmer noise.

The biggest change I have heard with better power cords is actually what I don’t hear.  The background gets blacker- quieter.  I don’t know how they do it and I thought the background was quiet before I put in the better power cord.  That translates to a bigger and more 3D soundstage- more clarity and more focus to the images.  The highs get smoother and clearer too.  Even just a couple of years ago after I bought a Niagara 5000 power conditioner which made a large improvement, I thought to myself no need for better power cords on my DAC and preamps.  I was wrong.  I finally tried better power cords and found they improved the sound of my DAC and my preamps.

I don’t like paying for them because they aren’t shiny and pretty like a speaker or amp or one of those hifi turntables* with the foot thick platter, but power cords matter to the sound by a lot.

* I’d love to have one of those grand looking turntables with two, counter-rotating platters.  It just looks so cool.  But I spent my money on cables.

@calvinj 

The problem with naysayers is that they ask for proof, aka too lazy to look and research for themselves.  They want us to do the work for them.  They sit on their knowledge of “limited facts” claiming “prove me wrong”.  However, for the rest on this thread, I’ll post some info:

@tvrgeek 

Regarding Ethernet, quote from Puma Cat at WBF:

”…Respectfully, it's not a "digital signal"; that is only how the data is encoded. The actual signal is an analog voltage "square wave", and as such is susceptible to number of "noise factors", all of which have, and do, exert an audible impact on what is heard. The other important point for folks to understand, is that a lot of folks (most, probably), think that the "noise" rides "down low", at the bottom of the "signal + noise" component of the source "information" being amplified. This is not true: the noise actually rides "on top" of the signal...as such, its deteriorates and degrades the integrity of signal itself  As shown here with a digital signal source.”

”The reason that optical fiber provides a benefit is that it does not pass low- and high-source impedance leakage current, and this leakage current results in threshold jitter. Not to get too deep into the weeds here, but even the cores for the isolation transformers in the R45 jacks in an Ethernet switch can have an audible effect. 

While I dig up some more info, I recommend you read this white paper by John Swenson, who designed the EtherREGEN, and worked as a professional Ethernet engineer for Broadcom and CISCO for the better part of 40 years.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0...enson_EtherREGEN_white_paper.pdf?v=1583429386 “

”Remember, the signal is an electromagnetic wave that propogates down the cable (it is not electrons flowing through the cable like water in a hose or marbles in a tube). The Vp(propogation velocity) of the signal is frequency-dependent, and an electromagnetic "signal" wave can reach the end of the cable and "reflect back", just like water in a tub or pool. This means different frequencies propagate down and reach the end of the cable at different times. And, because the Vp is different for different frequencies, there will be a number of "back reflections" occuring at...different times†.

This is just some foundational info to understand, that particularly with respect to digital sources, our brains are very, very sensitive to the impact of timing. For digital audio, for example, we can actually hear the influence of timing errors in the picosecond range, which is why we use femtoclocks for components like DACs, streamers, network switches, network bridges, etc. The Sonore EtherREGEN uses a Crystek CCHD-575 clock, and this crystal oscillator was chosen specifically for it's audio quality. This is why components like the Cybershaft master clocks, etc., have such a positive impact, and why EtherREGEN also has an external 50 Ohm clock input*. 

The 1.5 M minimal length that Shunyata uses for Ethernet cables and USB cables, for example, was empirically determined as the shortest length that can be used to minimize the impact of signal wave "reflections" on audio quality.

It's physics, so yeah, it's a real thing”

Masterbuilt Cables were designed by the same government scientists involved in superconductors.  When a heated debate on WBF including scientists and engineers over some marketing material, they were all silenced when the supercomputer scientists answered/explained their claims which went way over my head.  Even scientists, engineers, etc are trumped by experts in a particular field.

If you want measurements in your cables, perhaps Iconoclast Cables. They have excellent white papers here and here that can educate on the problems and chosen solutions. Excellent read to learn about audio cables.

While a very few want proof aka understanding on how/why cables are better before purchasing, cable manufacturers rarely tell us the secret sauce so others can copy.  Most of us are simply interested in price/performance, seeking better sonics.  

My system sounds different using different interconnects and speaker cables.

@kennyc   You rock man!

We need to separate discussion of speaker and interconnects, which if crap can and do sound different degrading the signal, with things like Ethernet cables and power cords which you may HEAR a difference, but it is impossible by the laws of physics that the actual SOUND is different.  Remember, sound is a real physical property. Hearing is what your brain tells you and it lies like a dog. Excluding defective cables and there are some out there. 

If what you hear is better to you, then better is great for you as you enjoy your system more. Just please don't try to convince others who may be happy with their system that some magic thousands of dollars in snake oil is a must and their system is garbage without it.  That is where the damage is. They could better use the money on better speakers ( the weak link in all systems).  Analog cables can only damage the signal, they can't improve it. You may like that damage. Just recognize that is what is happening. I like my MOSFET amp, some like their tubes. 

In the mean time, I am waiting for someone to demonstrate their exotic cable to beat a Belden 1800F for RCA's  or 5000UP for speakers in a domestic system. for accuracy.   Different does not mean better!   Better, for real, may just mean the cable you had was garbage, not the magic-crystal, micro-diode, voltage-biased shield with colored braid is any better than a "good" $9 cable.  Good: L and C balanced and reasonably low. Enough shielding for spurious RF, and correctly twisted pair to reduce any possible hum pickup.  Cables less than a meter, Belden 1505F is pretty hard to beat. Good does not mean expensive as I have heard and measured for real, boutique cables that were crap.  Length can make a difference. Some boutique cables may be fine at 1M with their high C, but 2M into a low Z input actually roll off the top. I have seen higher than 47p per foot!  That adds up compared to 1800f or 1505f!  In very long runs, geometry like "star quad" do work to the advantage over just a single pair or coax. Understood science. Not magic. 

Carried away with shielding?  Kimber, one of the companies with actual engineers, remains selling braided unshielded interconnects to balance their L and C.  Never heard of any RF or hum problem from them.   Proper science, not magic. 

Wire itself being directional?  Better look up what "AC" means.  Shielding can be terminated to be directional, but not the wire. Just plain not possible. 

Ethernet causing micro timing errors? "Air" "Weight" "Impact"  Not possible. Your interface retransmits it into a buffer.  That is the way it works.  Look it up. Actually, Ethernet reflection issues are more like 75 feet minimum but by the design of the layer One, it is totally irrelevant.  Level one of the IP stack, BITS ARE BITS.  Look it up, don't believe me. I don't care what some advertising sheet says was "empirically tested" . BS. They make an extraordinary claim like that, OK, let's see the data!  What your equipment does with those bits is a different matter. Not the cable.  There is no minimum spec on cables, though in the 10G realm, some have additional termination within the cable to keep the BER below 10 ee-13 reducing the need for re-transmit of errors. 

Still using synchronous mode over USB? Stop doing that and any noise and jitter caused by the cable is irrelevant. The DAC takes care of that. Newer ones, very well indeed. 

Power cable adding "weight" or "air"? I am not saying you don't hear it, I am saying it is not real sound as it is impossible in this universe. 

What you hear is up to you, it is when you cross over from the not well understood and maybe innovation, to the impossible, then I have an issue and will call it out.   When you claim the impossible, the producer of such magic are making an extraordinary claim and need to make extraordinary proof.  Not what you hear, as your brain is lying to you. They lie to all of us.  Music reproduction is all about convincing you that lie is real. 

Now I know, no one wants to hear they have been had. We are all humans and our lying brain does not like that and will jump though hoops denying that lie.  So be it.  Please just make the effort not to propagate the impossible and focus on the at least probable and more people can actually improve the real sound of their system.