Cable auditions - Hard Work?

Yuri, I am sick of this ^%$# out of your mouth. You stand on your soap box telling us “folks” to listen to you because your Toys ‘R Us system can not discern the difference in Sonics between different cables and components. Then you “dare” me to come listen to your mid-fi system so you can prove to me how poor it does resolving detail. Wow, I am impressed!

Below is just a snippet of your lecture:

“Are you willing to bet you will be able to tell the difference between your expensive power cable and a cheap one in a blind test, consistently over 50% of the time?
I am willing to bet money you can't.
Anyone in the Northern NJ / NYC is more than welcome to stop by and take me up on my bet...”

“Here is the power chord double blind test link folks:”

“Guys, don't take this personally, but…”

“Musical Fidelity Tri Vista 21 DAC against the analog outputs of my Yamaha S2500”

“I dare anyone claiming that you can positively tell the difference between ICs, to test any of their expensive ICs against my home made Belden coax ICs on a set of blind tests, and consistently tell the difference between them.”

Then you continue your ranting with a comment like: (note I left the typo’s for your pleasure) “I am not saying there is no difference.. there may be one, but is not something our human ears can detect.”

What the %$#@ are you talking about. Like our ears are somehow inadequate in hearing these differences, yet you can recognize a friend’s voice over a cell phone with a speaker that has no fidelity what so ever. I’m sorry Yuri, you have no idea what you’re talking about, and your speeches to us while you stand on your soap box are growing very old.

Then you have the gall to jump on Jafox’s back. Son, you have no idea who you are talking with . This man would put your limited experience and intellect to shame. Now if you will please shut up, so I can stop reading your worthless nonsense.

Yuri's correct about one thing: the ultimate sound doesn't change once you reach the best possible setup. When do you know achieve it? until you are satisfied with your setup. However, it doesn't mean different cable will not change the sound in your ultimate setup. It only means that you found the best component possible for your setup which includes cables. How do you know if the cable you own is the best? You will need to explore in many different systems possible. i.e. I tried my cable in 5 totally different setups and all sound very good with this particular cable. If it doesn't pass this test then I wouldn't even consider it. As least to me, a good cable should work in any setup. This will throw away the system dependent theory. If a system is highly resolving then any little change will make a difference. It is like listening through hearing aid. On the other hand, do we listen to music with hearing aid? probably not. The listener can decide for themseleves. I would never suggest which cable is the best cable but rather I would suggest which group of cables would be good choice. There is no such thing as best since it is based on individual listener's ear and mind. Don't forget about room acoustic too. Speaker placement is very important too. It took over many many many auditions for the speakers to settle down in its best possible position.

S23chang, great points.

First I love your concept of getting rid of the "system dependant" comments. Cables are only system dependant if they are making up for weaknesses in the system. A strong system will help us determine what the cable is doing, but if the cable is bad, it's bad (and in my opinion there are more bad ones than good ones) This may be why some people claim cables make no difference or are scams, snake oil and the like. Many cables are just plain &^%$ and are simply created to take advantage of the audiophile hype. That is true, but there are also some truly amazing cables on the market, finding them is the trick. Especially if we want "affordable" ones. I believe some people have found some affordable great cables, but I unfortunately have not found the same. The cables that I have had the greatest success with are not cheap, but I have not quite looking either. In fact I'm awaiting another set to try, and I am studying the science to begin building some beta interconnects to try. It's interesting in that the only way to know what you want from a system is to have heard the best it can be. It is then possible to try and downsize from there, trying to find a cheaper alternative that provides the aspects in sonics we find most pleasing.

As an example, I tried a 300B SET amp in my system. It pointed out what was possible in the mid-range and dimensionality with my other components. It also showed me the weaknesses of SET amps. I took that experience and through footers and cabling I was able to match the mid-range qualities within my solid state amp. I could not have done this without hearing what was possible, this is why it is so important to try other friends equipment in our own systems, and why we need to hear as many systems as possible.

My goal is to continue to tweak my system to achieve the best aspects of other systems I hear (and that I chose to afford). If I continue to strive for the best of every system I have heard, then my system continues to be the best I have yet heard, and it is to my ears.

You have also brought up two of the most important and most often overlooked issues. Room acoustics and speaker placement can do more than all the money on earth. Acoustics is not only vital, but scientific and predictable. We all need to do a lot more research and self education on room acoustics if we want the best from our investment.

Thanks for the great post, very well thought out!

jd

Lateguestsnomore:
John Atkinson's 5% "golden eared" population is actually statistically incorrect, as you can read here:

http://www.bostonaudiosociety.org/bas_speaker/wishful_thinking.htm

Yawn....