Has Anyone Found Shunyata Cables Sounding Thin?

Psag,

You have stated "People in audio often say 'trust your ears', as if that's the end of any and all arguments. I don't believe that to be the case."

Audio comes from the Latin. It literally means "I hear". Rene Descartes said "cogito ergo sum" -- "I think therefore I am". In audio this would be the equivalent of "I think therefore I hear". I do not feel that anything should or can replace a good set of ears.

Psag, With all due respect your comment doesn't make sense(unless I misunderstand you).The entire point of having an audio system is to listen to music. We listen by using our ears(and brain processing). If we don't or won't rely on our ears what is the alternative? When you play music in your home how are you judging it's sound quality or determine if you enjoy it without listening? How are ears removed from the act of "listening" to music ? I just don't see your rationale.
Thanks,
Charles,

Sabai, I have abandoned the idea many years ago of what I call chaseing the cables by the tail syndrome, I have found running a full loom of a brand results to better sound for me, you may have different impressions, we all do in this hobby, if you believe that what you do, running cables in series is rare, well then, I got you beat, It has took me many years to come to my way of building, I use my cables as the reference, if a componet sounds forward on my cables, that componet is gone, if a componet does any thing I do not like with sound, that componet is gone, there are many ways to skin a cat here, my idea of building is against the masses entirely!, I have excellent results doing what I do here, cheers.

I agree that trust your ears can be misleading. We don't actually listen to music. Our ears (and to a far lesser extent, our bodies) pick up changes in air pressure which our brain then interprets as sound. The brain then processes certain sounds as music. Further processing in the brain categorizes the music into familiar archtypes and patterns. The key is that past experiences allows the brain to create internal models of "music" and the process of listening to music is comparing incoming sounds to these existing mental images of music. Effectively your brain is creating the music based upon external stimuli. As with nearly any human ability there's a variability within a population group and some people are better able to form mental models of music. Some people can instantly say whether it's Ben Webster or Coleman Hawkins, and others cannot. Some people can "hear" it's English horn and not an oboe.

What does this have to do with being an audiophile? Your system is a reflection of your mental model of what music should sound like. If you have a "good" mental model and further have the ability to assemble and setup an electronic system in your home that is close to your mental model, then other people of similar ability will say your system sounds good.

Trust your ears. Well, some people can trust their ears, but others should be working harder at developing better mental models of what they are hearing. On an internet forum such as this, it's near impossible to tell in which group a poster resides. This is particularly so when they don't list their system components.

Hi Onhwy61,
The ears are an integral part of this process, not our nose, eyes or fingertips. As I did earlier reference the obvious brain processing of information as you point out. I guess what I don't understand is why some people try to deny or diminished the stark reality of things sometimes. To appreciate music requires listening and in order to listen we need our ears.If you or I were unfortunately deaf would we be able to hear and enjoy the music we love? What would substitute for our non functioning hearing?
Thanks,
Charles,