Cable Break In for the Naysayers

@ozzy Hey late to this discussion but have been meaning to let you know for about a year that one of your previous posts on copper cable break-in saved me from returning my Audio Sensibility Signature speaker cables. They are made from a square piece of solid copper. Honestly they sounded so terrible at first that I was going to return them until I found your post explaining that complex copper cables are very slow to run in. Now they sound breathtaking. So thanks!

Quick question, I have a digital cable (also from Audio Sensibility) that is 99.9% silver. I have run it in for over 200 hours but, with my Focal Sopra 2s, it just sounds a little fatiguing in the high end. But the resolution and detail are phenomenal. Is this a silver problem or a Sopra 2 problem - *in your estimation*? My alternative digital cable from Snake River Audio sounds absolutely lovely but has less resolution.... 

atanarjuat99,

I owned the Sopra 2’s for quite some time and enjoyed them very much.

They have beryllium tweeters and depending upon the source many think they sound bright. I didn’t, but at that time I was using tube amps.

I used mine with no toe-in, so you could start there. Silver cable may increase the brightness in the tweeters, but make sure your cables are really burned in.

I found that silver cables are all over the map in sound quality. Silver cables made from purer silver (.9999) sound great. But that can be expensive.

ozzy

+1 

Focal + Silver likely to = fatiguing

I'd go for Cardas Clear or Clear Beyond. Will be much smoother and more natural. 

@ozzy 

To avoid being perceived as being “irritably over-the-top” in my decidedly dim view of this entire discussion. 

Over the years, especially when suffering from severe cases of have FOMO, I tried well over a dozen high end interconnects costing in the low thousands per pair.

At the price points being discussed, I found no meaningful quantitative improvements. Ever. 

I sometimes thought that I may have perceived qualitative changes, but those perceptions could just as easily have been attributed to, in the immortal words of Ebenezer Scrooge, “An undigested piece of potato” that messed with the firing of any number of neurons between my cochlea and my auditory cortex.

One needs a cable that is thick enough, and shielded enough to do the job. Beyond that, the operative word, which you used, is “believe”. Meaning, faith, religion, occultism, voodoo.

Not for me. 

See my system on the about page of theaudioatticvinylsundays.com No mention of cables. 

unreceivedogma Thanks for your comments. I originally thought about cables as you do now. How can wire be different? It’s just wire, right?

My first experience into the great wire unknown was when a dealer years ago lent me a Synergistic Research Master coupler power cord to try. I was convinced that no way can a power cord do anything. It’s just thick wire? And the cost? 

But I tried it, and I couldn’t believe the difference. More bass, soundstage etc.

That one event sent me down the rabbit hole I am now in. 

By that I mean, I have found so many differences in the way cables sound and perform. That is, power cables, interconnects, speaker cables etc. And each piece of equipment may react differently with different cables.

But if your system, and ears are not up to it, you might let this pass you by.

Enjoy what you have and what you prefer.

ozzy