Cables more hype than value?

Nonsense; with all due respect. It's frustrating how the obvious is always overlooked by the naysayers. It's not that recording engineers don't use better cables; actually, some do, and have expressed the benefits. It is that at the stage of the inevitable deterioration/ distortion of the music signal that recording engineers are working with, at the record/mix or mastering level, there is much more of the music still left intact. As a result, there is less PERCEIVED need to preserve that bit of fidelity that cabling inevitably mucks up. By the time we, as music consumers, listen to the product, which by then has seen all sorts of additional processing due to mastering, stamping, etc, if we lose another 3% (I hate attaching a % to these things; but, alas) it becomes unbearable..

I like food analogies: imagine you order a steak at a restaurant and it arrives pre-salted. You may or may not like salt on your meat, but a little bit is OK. Now, add a tiny pinch more salt, and you just can't eat it.

I, likewise, have been to many top studios and heard playback over crappy little Yamaha monitors, and the immediacy and impact of the master tape can be stunning. Same recording over my expensive speakers sounds, well...., recorded.

You have to keep it as easy as possible. Spending a lot of money on cables give you not the insurrance of more quality in your system. But these days there are cables lmost who add new qualities in the overwhole sound. These qualities are convincing for almost all people. Like a wider and deeper stage. This is very easy to understand. Or more air and resolution. Some cables give a much better articulation of voices. So I do many a-b comparrison for clients to make it understandable. I never say: you have to buy this. I give them a demo to listen. They can make there own judgement. It is everyone's own choice. It is clear that differences in cables are big. Different does not mean better. But there are many parts were you can judge music and quality in sound for. Last few months I explain my clinets the difference between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional sound. Every one understands it quite easy. Witht there own music it makes them more easy to understand. I test a lot of stuff. Any yesss there is a lot more stuff which is not that convincing. But it does not mean every cable is the same!

again, with all due respect, I challenge you to tell me what "electronic instruments" are SUPPOSED to sound like. Let's say you're a rock fan.....there has never been a stadium rock concert where imaging is considered. Stereo sources become part of a main mono mix. And do you really strive to have your home system sound like a stadium rock concert? Conversely, consider an acoustic instrument concert in a small venue. If no mic-ing is used and you're in the sweet spot, only then do all the variables audiophiles discuss come into play.

I spent my life in this business. I'll say again, while studios may experiment with different cable tweaks, virtually NO studio (not even the top studios) wires the entire studio with Nordost Valhalla.....its simply not necessary while it might even color the original source. Those who disagree would be better to argue that they're ATTEMPTING TO SCUPLT A DIFFERENT AUDIO EFFECT ON THEIR HOME SYSTEMS, OR AT THE VERY LEAST, A SOUND THAT MATCHES THEIR LISTENING PREFERENCE.

I too have previously spent a lot of dough on home audio cables. And it's hard to feel good about spending $10k on speaker cables if they don't sound DIFFERENT. If you like DIFFERENT then go for it. DIFFERENT is not always better. But DIFFERENT could be what your individual taste requires and that's OK.

again, with all due respect, I challenge you to tell me what "electronic instruments" are SUPPOSED to sound like. Let's say you're a rock fan.....there has never been a stadium rock concert where imaging is considered. Stereo sources become part of a main mono mix. And do you really strive to have your home system sound like a stadium rock concert? Conversely, consider an acoustic instrument concert in a small venue. If no mic-ing is used and you're in the sweet spot, only then do all the variables audiophiles discuss come into play.

I spent my life in this business. I'll say again, while studios may experiment with different cable tweaks, virtually NO studio (not even the top studios) wires the entire studio with Nordost Valhalla.....its simply not necessary while it might even color the original source. Those who disagree would be better to argue that they're ATTEMPTING TO SCUPLT A DIFFERENT AUDIO EFFECT ON THEIR HOME SYSTEMS, OR AT THE VERY LEAST, A SOUND THAT MATCHES THEIR LISTENING PREFERENCE.

I too have previously spent a lot of dough on home audio cables. And it's hard to feel good about spending $10k on speaker cables if they don't sound DIFFERENT. If you like DIFFERENT then go for it. DIFFERENT is not always better. But DIFFERENT could be what your individual taste requires and that's OK.

Frogman - some of the top studios in the world have cheap Yamaha NS10s in their arsenal of equipment. There is a good reason for this, and it's not about creating a believable mix or master......it is about complying with radio expectations, sales to the ear-bud crowd, etc....the joke is that if you can get it to sound good on NS10s, it'll sound OK on your car radio or I-pod.

My point above was that you might have 8-10 cables between the components in a studio signal chain. The components themselves can easily cost $100k plus. We don't spend that kinda dough on hardware gear if we can't perceive a benefit. Those specific 8-10 components I noted are most often connected with high quality Mogami cables they cost roughly $3000 - $5000. Do you not believe 99.9% of the TOP studios would gladly spend 5-10 times that amount on cables if they made the difference that you are suggesting. The theoretical science behind cables is interesting, and the cable industry has exploited this information. But again, how much of a difference does it make in a studio set-up. The studio biz is competitive and I will purchase every "edge" I can to beat my competitor. A tube condenser mic or vintage compressor or Pultec EQ or great monitors will often make obvious audible differences. I've never had a client "hear the cables" and that's because relatively inexpensive Mogami cable is completely neutral to the human ear. (MASTERING is a whole different topic where commercial requirements/expectations must be met to promote sales - hence equipment tweaks are used to boost and cut, etc etc.)