I’m not meaning to open one of those age-old can of worms here, but you have another neutral party converted to the “Cables really do make a difference!” camp...
Wow! Just finished connecting new speaker cables. Took out the Sewell mentioned above, and replaced them with Kimber 8TC. Holy Mackerel, Batman!
Let me preface this in a couple of ways. Being relatively new at this, I don’t pretend to have a trained ear. However, in the office staff refers to me as “Horton” because they say I hear everything. I have also been able to subconsciously find trained listener’s system was off center, confirmed by measurements and others afterwards. I trust my own ears. The next point would be that my system is not the most revealing (see my signature), probably primitive by some standards here (but I am slowly working on that). It’s relatively small system in a small space (home office/library), but it’s what I have to work with.
With that, both before and after, I placed on what apparently has become my reference CD: Gorrilaz’s Demon Days. I have turned to that because the wide range of frequencies and sounds. The cliche... hearing it for the first time all over again can be true. I don’t know how else to say it, but: My brain smiled. Then, I smiled.
It is that obvious to me. I am a believer. One change in the system, an isolated variable, and I experienced that “sonic smile.” A part of my brain lit up in a healthy way. I am convinced this is not placebo, and I do know a thing or two about placebo. I am not generally the suggestible type.
I am hearing things I never noticed before, especially on the upper end (I have yet to replace my sub cable, but that is next). Percussion is crisper. The inserted sound effects are clearer. Voices are smoother when they are meant to be, and the rough & staticky effects on other voices are even more what they were meant to be.
I’ve heard high end cable in high end systems, but never experienced this isolated variable phenomenon. As I said, “I trust my ears.” Cables do make a difference.
Thanks again to everyone for their contributions!
Best,
Shrinky