HAVE CABLES EVER TAKEN YOUR SYSTEM FROM SOUNDING JUST OK TO SOUNDING GREAT? Experiences ?


Just asking the question. If you don’t  believe in cables. Good for you. But if you do have you ever made a cable change that opened up your system to new heights. Just interested if you have or haven’t. If you don’t believe in cables this isn’t a thread for you. What are your thoughts ?

calvinj

I have not heard any differences in any cables I ever tried. Based on my experience and demonstrated experimentation, not preconceived notions, I don't think cables make any difference.

Marginal compared to other changes. I'm still committed to my decent cables (DAC to Preamp, Preamp to Amp) but in my system, I do not hear much difference from power cables. Will likely sell the unwieldy ones off.

Like most responders here, I hear subtle but definite changes from cables, although not to the level that would make a good system sound bad or a bad system sound good.  Since I have a box (or two) of cables around here, a change in cables is sometimes helpful to compliment a component change, subtly of course.

The only time I’ve heard a near "transformational" experience with a cable was (strangely) the old Zu Mobius headphone cable on Sennheiser HD650. I’ve tried a number of cables on those headpones, and many more cables on different headphone models. The Mobius/ / 650 was the largest change in sound, by far - and all of it "in the right direction" (that’s rare). It essentially notched the humble-classic HD650 up to a next level headphone. I’ve even had 4 different examples of the Mobius over years, and its impact was consistent (not a fluke). It's probably relevant that the Mobius was designed for that *specific* headphone, and the headpone needed some "help" out of the box (too dark). 

Beyond that I’ve certainly had a few cables I think make a "nice" impact, but nothing I can’t live without, honestly. And frankly, the "wow" impact you get from a new cable tends to diminish over time (except the Mobius, lol). The next biggest impact I’ve expreienced (down from Mobius) would be speaker cables, where I tend to like a good amount of solid silver - Audioquest Kilimanjaro and Wildwood being my favorites, so far.

I generally LIKE the effect of silver cabling in my systems, but often the results are not continually additive - you can add too much and start to regress your system’s musical balance. That goes doubly (or triply) for tweaks, in general. A lot of times I’ve caught myself trying to make excuses for why I need to buy that next new cable lol. At the end of the day, it’s not a very per-dollar effective vector to increased long-term satisfaction.

I haven't heard an extreme improvement from a cable change. But I'm convinced it can happen on some systems, and not necessarily only the finest systems, but just ones with interesting matchings of speakers and amps, or other components where cable inductance, capacitance, or resistance can help the two components play together better.