[akfaulkner]

Originally Posted by The Sandman

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.

Most people I know do not do a/b blind testing and honestly if they did the memory of what you hear in that detail with the time delay of switching a cable is just not reliable.

With two good cables to compare, I would argue that if you did a/b testing enough times with cable switching then you would probably get 50% the most expensive... basically chance.

In order to do even blind ab testing with audio, you would have to be able to switch on demand and instant and there aren't many tools that allow this for big system components.

That being said, I have pricey cables...I personally think they alter the sound but in a way that I like. (Transparent ultra)

I don't think the industry is a fraud or people wouldn't buy it. I think the industry plays to the strength and the limitations like everyone else

I feel that if you find some cables and they make you happy then buy them