every audio product class has low end, mid-end and high-end designs, including cables. even with my decades long design and test experience, is very hard for me to provide opinion on "to do or not” for cable replacement move, without specifics provided. I found excellence in SQ/performance of “some cables” from 80s, at very low price, beating many current “better” x100 exp. ones.
Can hi-end cables benefit less expensive electronics?
Some time ago, there was a guy on a Polish hi-end forum claiming that in his case it was better to buy some hi-end power chord than investing in a more expensive CD player. Has anybody had an experience where they invested in an expensive cable and felt the investment justified without upgrading the unit utilising the cable? Overall, would there possibly be any point in buying some expensive cable to feed electronics nearly the cost of the cable itself? I'm currently using a KT88 amplifier with a Metronome CD8 (which is also used as DAC) plus Metronome DSS as the streamer (transport only). Speakers: Franco Serblin Accords. In my case, an upgrade in electronics would involve spending at least USD 15,000 to make it sensible. But I can also spend much less and buy a Transparent XL Digital cable to replace my DIY cable that I currently use, at a much smaller expense. Is a high-end digital cable in some cases able to make it a worthwhile investment in a setup which is not top hi-end? I can afford the Transparent XL digital cable, but not necessarily any upgrade to the electronics I own. Has anybody experienced an improvement with an expensive cable even if the rest of the system would rather call for a less expensive one? When I wrote to Transparent about it, they said I should get advice from my dealer. Cable naysayers please do not comment. Also I'm not looking for cheaper alternatives to the Transparent XL. Just fancying buying a cable that many people say is an excellent cable. Of course, I do not expect the same improvement with this cable as with a full DCS Vivaldi setup, but am I likely to get an improvement, considering that the system is balanced and nothing really bothers me in it? Or should I absolutely get a cheaper cable because the more expensive one is bound to make things worse?
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@megabyte …”cables will affect higher end systems less than less well made (cheaper) systems”
Yes that sounds logical, but the reality is generally the opposite. The better (higher resolving, more carefully voiced) the more difference cables make. High end equipment is like very high quality scientific instruments, susceptible to more subtle differences. |
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I’m not sure I agree that a better power cord is a poor idea for less expensive electronics. The right cord should - at the very least - lower the noise floor, so you hear less electronic interference when playing music, resulting in a clearer sound. Now, if a "euphonic" sound is what someone wants, that’s fine. After all, it’s your system. But, even with my older NAD integrated, they sounded better with a better power cord. There’s a caveat here, though. If you are not listening to well-recorded music - which typically is classical and jazz and a few other genres, you won’t get all the benefits. I was listening to my system with a top of the line Shunyata cable, and what I heard first was the improvement in the bass, when I played a disco cut I played in clubs years ago. Having heard this record since 1978, I know how it sounded on earlier iterations of the system. Aside from the bass (on this particular record), I didn’t hear the rest of the sound to improve in any noticeable way. Since it’s a record i doubt they put much effort into recording, I wasn’t expecting much from it. And that’s what I got. Improved bass, but the vocals were no clearer than they were before. This is down to one thing: your choice in music. I’ve had other CDS or vinyl that sounded better with a better cord (and I used several levels of the company whose power cords I buy: Shunyata), but I know that it’s a hit-or-miss proposition if the music is typical of the way most music is recorded (doubling up the main vocalist’s voice, or 85 microphones used) - things that have nothing to do with music. What IS encouraging is that more recently recorded music seems to be tilting towards better recording, which is always a good thing. I can’t imagine a good cord making the musical presentation worse. I CAN imagine hearing the recording as it really is, and then being disappointed because it ’sounded better with a cheap cord.’ But again, the deciding factor there is the music one plays. Electra Records from the 1980s will never sound as if they have any bass, because Electra was famous for ’no bass’ on their records in the ’80s (the ’70s were quite different). Their entire recording process was horrible in that decade: glassy-sounding music with no depth. And a good cord might reveal more of that "this-is-how-it-actually-sounds" effect, but then, that’s the record (and I don’t imagine streaming or CDs will improve the sound quality). So, a really good power cord will show you what something sounds like - or at least, uncover the poorer recorded aspects of a record, but do you want that? Me, I play all kinds of music and am sometimes surprised by how good a recording I haven’t played in years, sounds. I also find that vinyl reveals this more than CDs (I don’t stream much at all), so it also depends on what your medium of choice is. That said, a well-engineered power cord will lift the system’s sound quality upwards. I’ve never heard one that makes the system sound worse, unless you count banishing the euphonic effects a bad thing. |
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