Cable auditions - Hard Work?

Chang, I have a 65 year old audiophile friend with hearing aids and he could hear the improvement a Hydra 2 and Python cord made to the sound of his old 1970's AcoustatX 4 panel speakers as well as I could.He was skeptical that it would and didn't want to spend "money" Maybe a hearing test should be made a mandatory requirement when someone says they don't hear differences.

DBT is a fun exercise in futility,best spent with friends and a couple of beers to pass a Saturday afternoon.
Everyone forgets what the first cable sounded like by the time they get to the last.Best to do it yourself with your standard cable and the new cable and be prepared to listen to the same track over and over and at different times of the day.You will eventually give in one way or the other.

I did a blind test using Audioquest dbs cables. I put on Rippingtons, and then after a few minutes switched to Joss Stone. There was a difference. Put in Harmonic Techology cables. The difference remained...I concluded that no cables are able to make all my music sound the same.

Seriously, I am beginning to think that both positions may be partly true. I am definitely in the camp that says, "I hear a difference" regarding cables. However, I also think there are other intangible factors at work in ABX tests. I think it is possible that there are indeed differences, AND that people are notoriously unable to differentiate those differences when in bind tests. The day may come when both are substantiated to most audiophiles' satisfaction.

It IS much more difficult to apprehend the difference testing any one cable in an entire system (i.e. swapping out only interconnect from cdp to pre). Even in highly resolving systems, such changes are very nuanced. But, the difference becomes much more evident when the entire system's cables are changed. Most people, I surmise, are not wiling to go to that extreme, but merely swap a cable, don't hear too much, and conclude it's all bunk about cable differences.
Take a system with average electronics and monitors, say, and you're not likely to hear much different no matter what single cable you compare A/B. But, use a more ambitious system with very resolving speakers and you can fairly easily hear cable differences when the entire set is switched out.
Who wants to tie up as much as $2-4K in cables just to listen to two sets? Probably very few, even among those who claim the title audiophile. But, that IS what it usually takes to do it right. The results are most satisfactory.

Finally, I had put up a lengthy defence of sonic differences in cables on the Assylum a couple weeks ago. Several posts that had taken some time to think out. It was all deleted (as far as I was able to discern) after two days. Last time I waste effort on lengthy debate there!

Glad to see the arguing is over.

Douglas_ schroeder

You make excellent points. I know I CAN'T tie up $2-4K in cables "just to see".

Maybe if someone could explain what to listen for when auditiong cables...ie: greater frequency extension, increased detail, increased dynaminc range???? Maybe i expect too much when changing cables. Maybe ALL cables in a given price range sound the same? I know this....the more I think I know....it seems the less i actually know. hmm.....

p

Lacee, you got me with the hearing aid : )
Oldpet, one way to tie with 2k to 4k is sharing the cost with your audiophile friends near you. That's what I did when we compared over 50 ICs