A New Believer

Josh--

You need to do a double-blind A/B with matched levels to truly know if there is any difference. The human ear can detect minute differences in volume. A box to do this test is not available at Radio Shack. You need to check the volumes carefully with a meter and have the adjustments built into the A/B box with a high-quality pot. Only then can you conduct the experiment to see if you can really hear the difference.

Based upon everything I've read, there is no detectable difference in the sound quality (not to say volume) of any reasonably well-made cables. Hum, RFI, etc. can be brought into your system by a poorly shielded cable. But the sonic quality will not change otherwise.

The only possible differences are with respect to R, L or C. If anyone can explain how the resistance, inductance and capacitance of wire change the quality of the sound, they should say so. While that person is at it, he should state how that quality is measured and what equipment can be used to do so.

Would you agree that "immeasurably small" is the same as "not noticed at all"? Therefore something "very noticeable" ought to be measurable, correct? If so, please advise where in the literature of cables one can find a side-by-side comparison of phase shift or frequency response pitting one cable against another under identical conditions.

I would also contend there is no way a reasonably short cable (<4 feet) could possibly contain enough capacitance to affect the loading of the input, though there may be some poorly made beast out there that does. Shielding is a different issue, which can affect sound, particularly in low-current turntable connections. But added RFI is not the issue; sound quality is. I still don't know what independent variable can be assigned to a cable for this.

Ahendler--

If there is a specific study at Audioholics, I would be glad to read it. As for the Cardas link, that pertained to speaker wire, not interconnects. I would certainly agree that speaker wire should be as short as possible to minimize resistance. Anything fatter than 14-gauge, however, is probably overkill except on the longest runs.

But there really isn't a measurable difference among reasonably well-made interconnects (i.e. decent connectors, well-shielded cable). R, L & C are the only variables, and none of them vary enough in industry products to make any measurable--certainly audible--difference. Use whatever you like, but if you're changing out one decent cable for another, you are wasting money, time or both.