Audio Cables: All the Same?
My patience has worn thin reading numerous postings by individuals who proclaim that anyone who spends more than, say, $30 on a cable is an “audiophool” and that the manufacturers who sell cables priced above that price are snake oil dealers. These people base their claims on two factors: (1) they can’t hear the difference between a cheap cable and an extremely expensive one; and (2) all cables of any quality whatsoever measure the same when tested.
I believe that these individuals have blinders on. Allow me to set forth a useful analogy – eggs Benedict. The recipe for them is simple: toast an English muffin; sauté a couple of slices of Canadian bacon; poach two eggs; and prepare Hollandaise sauce. After those ingredients are ready, put the Canadian bacon on the English muffin, stack the eggs on the bacon, pour Hollandaise sauce over the eggs (and possibly sprinkle a pinch of hot paprika over the sauce), and serve. Voila! Now, take two preparers – one of whom doesn’t give a damn how his eggs Benedict turns and tastes as long as he gets his $17.50/hour pay; and the other a supremely talented chef renowned for his exquisite preparation of egg dishes. I am willing to venture a guess that one of them will taste terrific, perhaps being the memorable highlight of a marvelous breakfast, and the other will be an awful mess, perhaps a composition of barely toasted and soggy English muffin, Canadian bacon so overcooked that the meat is like shoe leather, poached eggs like hockey pucks, and a severely curdled muck of a sauce poured over everything, followed by far too much paprika. That serving will also be memorable, but for a far different reason.
Now, here comes the chemist to test and measure both versions of eggs Benedict. He confirms that, upon his testing of the two dishes, he is able to state unequivocally that they are identical because both contain exactly the same ingredients and provide the same nutritional value. The fact that one serving is nearly inedible and the other is altogether delicious is irrelevant. After all, there is no science-based test for taste.
I propose the same is true for cables – there is no scientific test for what we hear.
Let me end my soliloquy by relating my recent experience with cables. A couple of months ago, I upgraded my digital system by acquiring a new SACD transport and a new DAC. Both components are widely considered to be extremely high end pieces of equipment (and priced stratospherically, too). At the time I did not replace the cables I had been using previously – an Audioquest Cimarron Ethernet cable between my 24 port network switch and my DAC, and Monster Cable M1000 analog interconnects between my DAC and my preamp. Frankly, I was dismayed by what I heard when I began streaming (Qobuz) music through my new DAC. The magic I had heard at its demonstration at AXPONA 2024 was non-existent. Maybe it was a bit better than my old DAC, but certainly not by much. One of the local audio dealers with whom I shared my disappointment suggested I try a really good Ethernet cable, handing me a Shunyata Sigma V2. This Shunyata cable contains two filters (one for EMI/RFI and one for common-mode interference) as well as several differentiators in how it is constructed. I really despise the expression oft-used by reviewers – “like a veil was lifted” – but that is what happened. The magic had returned. However, now I had another problem. Voices seemed to come only from a singer’s mouth and not also from the chest. With instrumentals, a certain fundamental (bass) element was missing. Overall, it was as if the entire frequency spectrum was tilted – lifting the treble and lowering the bass. I went back to this dealer. He recommended I try a pair of DH Labs Air Matrix Cryo analog interconnects between my DAC and my preamp. All I can say is “Wow!” The frequency spectrum had returned to its proper equilibrium.
I have now been using these new cables for a month. Their impacts are not the result of a placebo effect. Moreover, the last thing in the world I had wanted was to spend a couple of thousand dollars more for cables after I had already spent far more than I had planned on the SACD transport and the DAC. However, they had addressed and solved two very real problems. The Shunyata cable filtered out noise coming from the network switch; the DH Labs cable eliminated a frequency distortion inherent with the Monster Cable cable (which evidently had been masked by the predecessor DAC).
Before this experience, I had never believed that cables could be so important an element of an audio system. I always spent between $100 and $200 on them because, on the one hand I did not want to “chintz” and shortchange myself sonically, but on the other hand I was very skeptical that even spending that amount was fully money-for-incremental-value.
Since then, I tried replacing another Audioquest Cimarron Ethernet cable between my Nucleus+ and my network switch with a $500 Ethernet cable of another well-regarded cable manufacturer. I could not detect a shred of sonic difference between them. Thus, it has become clear to me that every cable implementation is unique; sometimes there is a discernable improvement provided by one over the other, and other times there isn’t.
In summary, having a preconceived notion about the value of cables (or lack thereof) disserves oneself. In some cases, but not all, there is a cable out there that will truly improve the sound of one’s audio system. It may be immeasurable, but it is, nevertheless, very real.
@evillgeniuz Welcome, nice first post. Just use a larger font next time :) Bottom line is it is your $83,000 to do as you see fit, to spend on what you value, and what you perceive as a benefit to your enjoyment of your music, and therefore your life. That is the best purpose for our hard-earned money. You know the difference, and the price of admission is worth it. Why should anyone else have a problem with this?
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This is the point of the OP's post here, there is no such lab. There is no machine/equipment/analyzer that can perceive the difference in taste between a Michelin 5 star chef's hollandaise and an inferior one, and the experts would claim what would be the point in developing such a tool when there is the human mouth which clearly can make the distinction. Likewise, there is no lab that can fully perceive the difference in sound quality between cables. The known parameters of capacitance, resistance, inductance do not. Also run as many reactance, impedance, susceptance, transconductance and magnetic flux calculations as you like, include all your fancy sine wave and frequency response graphs to impress the flat-earthers, but it will never reveal how the cable will sound. But human's do have ears, so why bother? Do you know what soundstage is? Measure that in the lab. But hey, feel free to pull out your $78 multi-meter and tell me all cables are the same. Maybe it will work in hollandaise sauce also? |
Totally agree with what you are saying, but you have to give more credit to more of the non-acoustic recordings for having the ability to discern sonic differences between cables (and gear). I agree it may be easier to hear differences with acoustic music, but I personally find it just as easy with some rock, pop, or even metal music. In a broad sense, the concept of difference only applies when one senses a change from what they are familiar with. I feel like writing so here is a story, apologies in advance I chose my Magneplanar’s almost 20 years ago based on what they sounded like with Coldplay and Rush. Going even further back than that -1988 ish? I recall my brother shopping for speakers in the $800 range (what is that, $1500 in today’s dollars?) And the particular mid-fi store I frequented to buy CD’s and records had these Mission’s we read about in a magazines. We listened to them standing up, as this "sound room" had no chairs, and they sounded just okay- when he played his favourite Queensryche Empire CD, Della Brown track, the bass wasn’t that good enough for him-it was not powerful enough. This "sound room" had several pairs of floorstanders all side by side, on a ledge a few inches above the floor, to hide all the unsightly hundreds of feet of cheap cable attached to all the speakers. Above this ledge was another ledge with dozens of bookshelf speakers. What a great idea hey? speakers on one side of the 20’ square room, home theatre receivers on the other side, and the salesman just has to click a few buttons and demo this receiver paying that speaker, and go back and forth- nothing to move or lift, nothing to connect. Brilliant! There were 4 identical rooms like this on one end of the store, all with glass walls and a glass door on one side, so 4 different sales people could be demoing at the same time. This acoustically horrible room was probably designed by an interior designer, not an audiophile. I did say it was a "mid-fi" store. But this was a knowledgeable salesman- he had enough knowledge to work at a high-end hi fi store downtown but told me he made more money at this store. He said "give me a minute": He dragged the speakers out of the room into the main area of the store, and went to a roll of bulk litz speaker cable and cut off about 20 feet, cut that in half, sheathed the ends, then hooked up the bare copper ends to the Missions, and the other ends to a Denon receiver he grabbed, and connected and threw our CD in a Denon CD player. Well, the bass pounded, our jaws dropped, and after 10 seconds my brother said "Ill take them!" From your post I don’t know which point above this is, but to add to it I’ll say 3) The system and the room: I now know this as it was demonstrated way back then. Perhaps many people who can’t hear differences have their gear set up in rooms such as this, with little knowledge or thought on how this setup affects the acoustics, ie: sound. I don’t think the simple speaker cable change would have made that much of a difference in that room. To emphasize my point- even back then, almost 40 years ago as a teenager, I found out what a difference can be had by playing speakers in a different space, with different cables, even with heavy metal music.
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Great post:
And while I definitely hear the differences in all cables in my system; power, IC’s, and digital, and filters, and LIve Vibe stands, I have yet to hear the difference in cable lifters. I have some, just because it was easy and free, and I have read things like that, but I have yet to actually experience it. Maybe one day I will go back and forth, or buy some manufacturer’s offerings and give it a go. Thanks for sharing this.
And that is exactly what it is with people: they believe they know, and will argue their opinion to the death based on their belief system, until the facts are proven to them. Unfortunately some never have the opportunity and will never know the truth. |
@alexopth1512 Wow, well done. That is much more university than I had the ambition for. I taught high school physics, but seems like a lifetime ago now. Yes, it’s funny. I have also noticed many flat-earthers who preach "science" are the ones who know the least about it with no formal science related schooling. They have all the answers already, don’t you know. Science is finished. Nothing more to learn. For example the post above on this page: "Imagine how good our systems would sound if the power station had Cardas wiring in it". "Yuck, yuck, good one George. Yeah, you tell him George!" I wouldn’t be surprised if the next comment was the most common ignorant cable related post regarding electron transfer: "If the electrons travel 20 miles from the power station all the way into our amplifiers, how is the last 6 feet going to make a difference?" You know, only smart people know that electrons don’t know the difference between 14 gauge romex and an audiophile cable. Ok I’m done.
offbeat thought/suggestion: if you are not aware yet, check out 3 body problem on Netflix, awesome show for physics fans. (or any sci-fi buff) |
But they could all name 10 rap artists I bet; all millionaires, none of which play a single instrument. I agree, it is sad.
Honestly I don't know the difference in the Bosenforfer piano signature vs. a Steinway, but I do know Jacques Loussier's sounds very nice on my system. He obviously cares a great deal about the recording quality of this work I imagine you listen to classical predominantly-I wonder if you could humour me? If you find some time, (and some patience as you probably don't listen to hard rock), and see if you can find 24min to "take in" Dream Theater- Octavarium. I am curious to hear your thoughts. |
