Cable Controversy
I love the cable forum. Discussions about cable can really generate sparks among the mature audiophiles. Regarding cable design: Other than the basics of resistance, impedance, and conductance, it seems that there is very little firm ground upon which one can form convincing conclusions. Witness the bewildering array of cable designs, incoporating network boxes, magnets, biased shields, liquid conductors, solid core, braided strands, exotic metals, air dialectrics, to name but a few. In contrast: Regarding balanced cables, at least one experienced poster and equipment designer has stated here that all balanced cables perform identically, once a few basic design parameters are met. I ask for the voices of experience and sanity to offer their theories and experience on the topic of cable design and performance. Thanks in advance.
Showing 5 responses by gdhal
devilboy, your statement is well articulated and very likely completely true; not only where cables and equipment are concerned, but in source material as well. The same lack of double blind testing has been indicated in cases where different digital formats and/or sample rates within the same format are used (i.e. dsd vs pcm, 16 bit vs 24 bit, etc.). I highly doubt anyone can tell the difference - blindly - between between PCM 16bit and something "better than that". |
From a purely scientific perspective cables are primarily and overwhelmingly a function of their resistance. Can the type of conductive material, insulation material, capacitance, the rest of teh audio gear and some other variables effect the overall sound, of course. However, all aspects other than sheer resistance or lack thereof are dwarfed in comparison (to resistance). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speaker_wire From perspectives other than scientific your guess is as good as mine. |