WHY CABLES MATTER!

For my $.02, I have a set of DIY 13 gauge, 4 conductor cables from Parts Express, marketed as speaker cable. The gold plated banana connectors are soldered on with silver solder. They're bi-wire, but only to eliminate the bridge connector between the binding posts. They don't sound remarkable, they carry a signal to the speakers.

 I have a set of Kimber 8TC speaker cables, same length as the PE cables. In comparison, the PE cables sound like the signal goes through a layer of gauze. The Kimbers are clearer, cleaner, more detailed, and present a more open and coherent soundstage. Sure, a $600 pair of cables should sound better than a $20 pair of cables. And they do-in my rig, in my room. Whether or not a stranger on the internet agrees with me is irrelevant. Two of my uncles were engineers so I take them with a grain of salt. One uncle insists I should get Bose Cubes and an Acoustimess because "It sounds just as good". He's never heard my stereo. So being an engineer in no way makes one the final authority on anything-and frequently gets in the way of actually learning something.

@alaric62 man you are speaking truth.  You got to try for yourself.  You can’t let random strays tell you what you are hearing or not hearing. 

@alaric62 "One uncle insists I should get Bose Cubes and an Acoustimess because "It sounds just as good". He’s never heard my stereo."

And another engineer might tell you to scrap it all and get good headphones with a good headphone amp instead. Whatever floats your boat, and trying is learning.

A good test comparing the PE vs the Kimber cables to get ideas and differences. As you try other vendors and designs, you may detect new differences yet again.

And those who cannot tell a difference, that’s okay, maybe they can stick with the PE cables or others for lower cost. Only the listener can determine if/why different cables "matter" more for them or not. Point is you have to try them to know them, as you did here. For those who try very little and rant on forever, just ignore them.

@decooney great observation.  Some guys are just trolls or know it alls who actually know less or in some cases nothing. 

My 2 cents from recent upgrades. 
 

Changed speaker cable from Analysis Plus Chocolate Oval to a double strand of their Black Mesh Oval 9 gauge. Big difference. I had long runs and some of the effect may be due to Bowie if more than cable choice, but a worthwhile upgrade.

I already had XLR balanced SR Foundation IC between amp and preamp, but as prior Streamer/DAC had only single post out, was using SR Foundation RCA IC between streamer and pre, and kept it that way when I got my current Gustard X26 Pro DAC. I finally got a SR Foundation SX balanced cable, and SQ definitely improved a bit - noticeably, not a lot, but enough that it was worthwhile IMO.

When I got the new DAC, I auditioned 6 different cables, and was surprised to hear that they all sounded different, and sadly the Shunyata Alpha sounded best with my gear (fortunately found one used on EBAY). Again when I had my Innnuos Phoenix USB reclocker between my streamer and DAC, I thought I would probably could get away with a cheaper cable fro

 streamer

to reclocker, and auditioned half a dozen cables again. Again they sounded different, and from what I heard, it still made sense interms if SQ to get another Shunyata Alpha. All my other cabling and power cords are SR, so to the extent I had bias, I would have expected to have heard the SR USB cable sounding better, but still heard the Shunyata as better.

Stereo System 2024

Amp: Bryston 4B3 300 w x 2

Pre:   Parasound Halo P6

Speakers: Tannoy Cheviots, Analysis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9 gauge biwired cables (21’ run)

Digital Streamer/Source: Heavily modified BlueSound NODE 130 (added Fidelity Audio clock board & LPSU)/ Innuos Phoenix USB/ Gustard X26 Pro DAC (connected by Shunyata Alpha USB cables.

All other interconnects: Synergistics Research Foundation or better

Power: Power conditioner: Synergistics Research Powercell 10 SE Mk 3 w SR Atmosphere level 3 cord; All power cords SR Foundation