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Cables Galore Speaker cables, Interconnects & Power cords

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Old 08-03-2017, 07:10 PM
JBT JBT is offline
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Default 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
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Old 08-03-2017, 07:26 PM
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Just a BS article.

Last edited by Still-One; 08-04-2017 at 07:06 AM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 08:20 PM
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Default The Whole Thing Is A Fraud: High-End Cables

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Originally Posted by Still-One View Post
Just a BS article.


Great response Jim! I agree.
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Old 08-05-2017, 11:39 PM
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Great response Jim! I agree.
Agreed! Recently when I starting auditioning new SC my wife who really couldn't care less about my audio room and only comes up to say hi occasionally asked what I had done to the system ... it sounded flat. I then swapped out the cables and put the original back in and she said it was good again. Then I tried a different pair (Shunyata Alpha) and she said that was the best she had ever heard my system sound ... then took off for a night out with the girls. Proof enough for me that what I'm hearing is real.
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Old 08-03-2017, 07:39 PM
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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.
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Old 08-03-2017, 09:03 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Sandman View Post
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
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Old 08-03-2017, 07:45 PM
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Well said, Howard, well said indeed!
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Old 08-03-2017, 07:50 PM
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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.
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Old 08-03-2017, 08:03 PM
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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.
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.

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Old 08-03-2017, 07:51 PM
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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.

Last edited by The Trace; 08-03-2017 at 09:50 PM.
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