The Whole Thing Is A Fraud: High-End Cables
 

The success of the audiophile wire industry is based entirely on the utter ignorance of the market. Notice that whenever these manufacturers advertise their products, they almost invariably discuss qualitative issues, they rarely if ever give hard numbers to their theories let alone put them in a technical context that will indicate to what degree what they say is significant. And so the whole thing is based on hope and fear among potential customers. That is why I think the whole thing is a fraud. Before this cottage industry got started, nobody thought audio equipment customers would be stupid enough to believe any of this. They were proven wrong.


http://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=5565

Just a BS article. :yes:

The author of that piece gives no evidence that "audiophile" wires and cables are a fraud - only his opinion that is is so. And while claiming that the whole thing is based on hope and fear among potential customers, he is in fact basing his whole thing on fear and ridicule couched in scientific jargon.

Electrical engineers don't have any particular advantage in appreciating high fidelity than anyone else - not that at any point this particular EE goes as far as to say he's actually done any kind of listening tests to determine whether or not he can perceive a difference in cables.

Ultimately, there are two types of audiophiles - those who can hear subtle nuances and those who can't. Those who can don't need anyone else's opinion as to whether something sounds better than something else. Unfortunately, those who can't are at the mercy of whoever's opinion they happen to be in earshot of.

Well said, Howard, well said indeed!

You need a very resolving system to hear cable differences and improvements. IMO cables come into play only after you have reached a high plateau of system quality.

This much debated topic will probably go on much longer than need be. Having some scholarly knowledge in this area I will point to the "Distortion-less Transmission Line" theory proven over 150 years ago. And having input from several metallurgical workers/professors helps some also. This is an area of seriously diminishing returns. It has become an area where the product is price. Please consider the actual cable components. Are the "ingredients" that much different in different brands? If one cable seems to be doing markedly different than another please go back to the aforementioned theory. I know what works for me and I want to hear the sound of the components and not how the connections are altering them. Let the debate continue. But whatever you do.... do not let proven scientific facts sway you. Spend your money.

There is a world of difference between saying "seriously diminishing returns" and "the whole thing is a fraud". Either there are audible differences or there aren't. If there are, the market will determine their value. If there are not, than the market will collapse. It's not rocket science.

About Mark Waldrep, Ph.D.


http://www.aixrecords.com/contact/about_mw.html

I whole heartedly agree with this. If the cable nay-sayers spent time with highly resolving high end systems on a daily basis, I truly believe most of them would be believers. That being said, I also believe that the difference between audiophile cables can and is greatly exaggerated by the high end community.

- Buck

If you have a crappy stereo then cables won't make a difference. You also won't be able to tell the difference between a Steinway and a Baldwin piano. If you on the other hand have experienced high fidelity systems and/or played an instrument then the differences will be obvious.

What's amusing to me is most people who make the claim that cables don't make a difference also think Bose is the pinnacle of audio.