I want to believe

[elbig]

All I can say is that I definitely heard the difference when I upgraded my speaker cables and I recently upgraded my power cord which also made a noticeable difference. My system is not that high end (see signature) but I am a believer. The easiest thing to do is try it out. If you don't hear an improvement then don't buy.

[antipop]

Originally Posted by GaryProtein

Several descriptions were along the lines of "they are tone controls," but still, I wonder.

I bought a $200 Behringer, I guess it's cheaper to control the tone of my system. But I think you're right. If we start from the fact that cable don't add anything but can only remove more or less, the cable removes what you have too much of and can justify its price somewhat

Originally Posted by Alberto

I don't see a system profile in your signature. My personal experience (much to my chagrin since cables have to be the most boring thing to purchase and own ever) is that in some highly-revealing systems cables do make a difference - sigh!

The good news is that, in many cases, I preferred the sound from cheaper cables to that of very high-end ones.

If you can't tell the difference (either because of your systems or your ears/brains) then -- PERHAPS -- you should consider yourself lucky :-).

Alberto

My system is : SF Elipsa Red, Accuphase e-360, Accuphase D67, Mac mini, Project RPM4, homemade speaker based on ethernet mono strand, Vovox XLR interconnect, QED SPDIF cable.

The cables are not the first price but they are relatively cheap

Originally Posted by LordoftheRingsEE

-- Alberto, I believe it costs money to have a sig showing your gear.

I need to spend that money ! I promise I'll do it soon

Originally Posted by Rayooo

One thing for sure, I seldom see these types of discussions change anyone's mind. I'd also state as mentioned that AA is about the only place where these types of discussions can take place in a civil fashion.

I know other places where I would never have dared posting such a thing without fearing for my life

What I can understand so far is that I have good cables that don't remove too much information but by going higher I can better control the sound of my system and find something more suitable to my own taste. Would that be a good summary ?

Oh and that it's all pointless if I don't experience it by myself (which I plan to do)

[chessman]

I do not think that better cables "control" anything so much as "get out of the way." We all understand that thin cables have enough resistance to attenuate parts of the signal. But there are other factors as well, like capacitance and inductance. Then you EMI and RF and you have lots of opportunities to lose or interfere with the signal. For me, the better cables use designs that lessen these effects to allow the signal to some through closer to a "pure" form.

[djwhog]

One more point any new cable has a break in period, so A/B is going to take a while or get a great set of cables that are broken in if you want to test sooner via A/B.

[Audiophilehi]

I remember some years back at the Home Theater Expo that Stereophile hosted in NYC that in one of the rooms was a Nordost cable demonstration.

They started with their entry level interconnect from the CD player to the preamp and proceeded to move up the line only changing that pair of interconnects. They never touched anything else and played the same song each time.

With every change of interconnect that was made there was clearly a change in the sound. All agreed that it was an improvement each time.

From that day on it made a believer out of me.

[Amado]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

I remember some years back at the Home Theater Expo that Stereophile hosted in NYC that in one of the rooms was a Nordost cable demonstration.

They started with their entry level interconnect from the CD player to the preamp and proceeded to move up the line only changing that pair of interconnects. They never touched anything else and played the same song each time.

With every change of interconnect that was made there was clearly a change in the sound. All agreed that it was an improvement each time.

From that day on it made a believer out of me.

+1
Nordost keeps doing it in every event.
It's the only way to demonstrate somebody that cables works.

[bradleyc]

Originally Posted by chessman

I do not think that better cables "control" anything so much as "get out of the way." We all understand that thin cables have enough resistance to attenuate parts of the signal. But there are other factors as well, like capacitance and inductance. Then you EMI and RF and you have lots of opportunities to lose or interfere with the signal. For me, the better cables use designs that lessen these effects to allow the signal to some through closer to a "pure" form.

Transparency is a key factor, great post Randy!

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

[GaryProtein]

Originally Posted by djwhog

One more point any new cable has a break in period, so A/B is going to take a while or get a great set of cables that are broken in if you want to test sooner via A/B.

Sorry, but I don't believe that either. IT'S A WIRE! The biggest part of "break-in" especially for something like a cable is the mind of the owner who has spent a lot of money and it getting accustomed to how something new sounds in his house.

Once again, wearing my flame-proof suit.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

I remember some years back at the Home Theater Expo that Stereophile hosted in NYC that in one of the rooms was a Nordost cable demonstration.

They started with their entry level interconnect from the CD player to the preamp and proceeded to move up the line only changing that pair of interconnects. They never touched anything else and played the same song each time.

With every change of interconnect that was made there was clearly a change in the sound. All agreed that it was an improvement each time.

From that day on it made a believer out of me.

interesting demo...but if it was revealed before hand that the procedure was as you outlined it's meaningless. It amazes me the number of so-called audiophiles that will not accept psychoacoustics as part of the equation.

[Volks]

LOL gotta love Cable discussions