The horrific truth of cables!

[cjfrbw]

I don't challenge the cable issue because it doesn't interest me in the least, and I don't regard myself as a consumer protection agency for audiophiles. Audiophile purchases are complex amalgams of myth, willful delusion, reality, valid and fatuous impressions, endless teases, status groupie crap(I have a Rolex, therefore your Casio couldn't possibly keep time), Grey Poupon clubbiness and raw economics where salesmanship is about creating and selling "needs".

Maybe the cable stuff is right, maybe it isn't, I don't give a rat's ass and I CAN'T bring myself to care. Phono cables/preamp=silver with good terminations, tweeter cables-silver with good terminations, twist them and give them good sheilding, oxygen free copper for anything else (oxygen free is salt thrown over shoulder for superstition) and I am happy. Silver cable does not have to be that expensive if you shop. I yawn and go elsewhere when the topic turns to various cables making or breaking systems, they are high profit items and the industry critics are forced to worship because they won't last long if they don't.

 

[mbskeam]

when I stared my quest for audio nirvana, I would try different cables and what not, I could not hear any difference.....
I thought the same thing, cables that cost how much?????....
But as I have upgraded equipment, things have changed for me.
with a set of speaker cables that I was given, I could hear a change for the better. (no, I spent this much, so it HAS to sound better comes into play).
I buy what I can afford.....
slowly, becoming a convert.....


be quite, Tom.....

 

[egidius]

Relax, a difference might simply not be there and still be essential!

This is the kind of arrogance which annoys me a lot. I'm not so much trying to save you from the evil doers, I want the audiophiles to see how right I am and how wrong they are.
Why dont you get a friend to switch over to zip cord in your system and see whether you can tell the difference every time blindfolded? Do you accept you ought to be able to do that given that you have spent thousands of dollars on it?

Whilst we are talking of differences, let me deviate (I am a professional violinist):
Somebody came to Heifetz and told him "Your Guarneri sounds so beautiful!" - the maestro takes his fiddle, listenes and says, "I can't hear anything"
I play such fiddles, and some modern ones: I can tell you, you will NEVER know, which instrument i play, i can make them all sound alike - BUT:
I know at all times, which instrument i play, and I prefere some to the others. So where does that leave you?
You will after all - if you really listen hard and want to know how I play - hear a difference, and you will claim, you hear the difference of the violin. Upon which I would say, NO: you hear how I feel on a violin..

So where does that leave us: Differences are there to be perceived. If you do not want to hear a difference, you will never hear one. Be happy.
Other, maybe even nervous people, will hear differences, where I cannot. I would personnally be rather conservative in hearing differences, as I know, it depends on how i feel.
q.e.d.

egidius

 

[Gregadd]

Ethan thinks there is a difference just by moving your head.

If you want to help How about that rip off called The Antique Road show or Suzie Ormans ongoing infomercial. Paid for by public dollars.

 

[FrantzM]

I don't challenge the cable issue because it doesn't interest me in the least, and I don't regard myself as a consumer protection agency for audiophiles. Audiophile purchases are complex amalgams of myth, willful delusion, reality, valid and fatuous impressions, endless teases, status groupie crap(I have a Rolex, therefore your Casio couldn't possibly keep time), Grey Poupon clubbiness and raw economics where salesmanship is about creating and selling "needs".

Maybe the cable stuff is right, maybe it isn't, I don't give a rat's ass and I CAN'T bring myself to care. Phono cables/preamp=silver with good terminations, tweeter cables-silver with good terminations, twist them and give them good sheilding, oxygen free copper for anything else (oxygen free is salt thrown over shoulder for superstition) and I am happy. Silver cable does not have to be that expensive if you shop. I yawn and go elsewhere when the topic turns to various cables making or breaking systems, they are high profit items and the industry critics are forced to worship because they won't last long if they don't.

+1

 

[Keith_W]

Guys, this is an old debate. We will let it go on but please tone down discussing the other person as opposed to technical topic.

Why let it go on? He joins an audiophile site, digs up the oldest chestnut in the book, then tells us that we are all idiots. People who hate audiophiles shouldn't be on an audiophile forum. What do you think would happen to me if I joined an Apple forum and told them they are all idiots? I would suggest you kick him off. That kind of attitude has no place on WBF.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I don't challenge the cable issue because it doesn't interest me in the least, and I don't regard myself as a consumer protection agency for audiophiles. Audiophile purchases are complex amalgams of myth, willful delusion, reality, valid and fatuous impressions, endless teases, status groupie crap(I have a Rolex, therefore your Casio couldn't possibly keep time), Grey Poupon clubbiness and raw economics where salesmanship is about creating and selling "needs".

Maybe the cable stuff is right, maybe it isn't, I don't give a rat's ass and I CAN'T bring myself to care. Phono cables/preamp=silver with good terminations, tweeter cables-silver with good terminations, twist them and give them good sheilding, oxygen free copper for anything else (oxygen free is salt thrown over shoulder for superstition) and I am happy. Silver cable does not have to be that expensive if you shop. I yawn and go elsewhere when the topic turns to various cables making or breaking systems, they are high profit items and the industry critics are forced to worship because they won't last long if they don't.

+2. Well, except for the second paragraph. I use integrated active speakers, so I have one cable, between them. All of the rest of my cables are digital. Don't start me talking about high-end digital cables. Or power cables. I actually think you're probably right, audiohobby. If there is an audible difference between two cables, one of them is either poorly shielded or malfunctioning. But you're not going to convince the true believers; they will simply conclude that your inability to hear what they hear is a weakness in your system or your ears. Your passion will do nothing but wear you out.

Tim

 

[amirm]

Why let it go on? He joins an audiophile site, digs up the oldest chestnut in the book, then tells us that we are all idiots. People who hate audiophiles shouldn't be on an audiophile forum. What do you think would happen to me if I joined an Apple forum and told them they are all idiots? I would suggest you kick him off. That kind of attitude has no place on WBF.

Well the hope is/was that something new gets discussed.... OP won't be around for violating our TOS for a bit so no worries on that front .

 

[mep]

I agree with Keith. Somebody lost their job and now they are mad at the world and decided to roost here and take it out on audiophiles. I know the way I get treated around here by the mods and if I started an inflammatory thread like this and said the things the OP did my thread would have been taken down and I would have been accused of "attacking" people.

 

[DonH50]

Ethan thinks there is a difference just by moving your head.

Comb filter effects; even I can hear those! And measure them, probably another taboo subject...

On topic, on cables, my opinions and simulations are already well-documented. To spare people from the hunt, audible differences are possible as a result of cable/component interactions but IMO are the exception rather than the rule, especially for interconnects of reasonable (perhaps <3 m) lengths.