rhartshorn,
Just to make it clear (if it wasn’t already): I’m not an engineer myself and therefore no expert on cables. I remain skeptical about many of the claims made by high end cable manufacturers, but open minded to the possibility some cables sound different (or even "better" in terms of transmitting higher fidelity).
What I’m getting at now is a sort of conundrum I have pointed out before when audiophiles swear by high priced boutique audiophile cables: that they are generally listening to sources created by regular-old pro-grade (one hopes!) cables. Lots of it. So it seems inherently odd to say one "needs" to spend the big bucks on the type of cables mentioned in the OP (let alone the stratospheric prices of many other cables) in order to transmit a truly amazing level of fidelity. "Regular" cable used to create the source clearly is already up to that task.
As to your Nordost question: IF the Nordost cables in question could in fact transmit more information than regular cables, then sure it would make sense similar quality Nordost cables would give you the benefit of recovering that higher level of information. It’s like moving from a 1080p TV to a 4K TV. If you are using a 4K tv to watch only sources captured by a 1080p camera feed, then you will only ever be marvelling at what the 1080p camera could have captured. But if it were a 4K camera capturing more information, and now you have 4K res source to replicate, then the upgrade to 4K TV makes sense in order to see that extra detail.
Does studio grade cable the pinnacle of sound quality, not to be exceeded by audiophile boutique cables? I’m not sure - again, I’m not an EE. The best I can do is look at the discussions between EEs and get my read on the general debate. It seems common to read from people with the relevant expertise - who aren’t trying to sell cables - that you don’t need super expensive cables to successfully transmit everything you want through a cable. That’s been pretty much done for decades and decades with professional grade cables. (For instance, Belden etc).And that it’s possible to make cables sound different - but that’s not the same as "higher fidelity" or producing new or more information that a normal, competently designed and much less expensive cable can transmit.
That’s my read on the debates I’ve read. And like others, my own experience also informs my own hunches as well. That said...though many blind cable tests have not shown people can reliably tell expensive cables apart from well designed cheaper cables, there are *some* blind tests that have yielded apparently positive results.And that’s intriguing. I I’m certainly open minded about it. (Though...again...detecting differences doesn’t automatically equate to "higher fidelity" as if one cable couldn’t transmit all the information for the signal. If one cable simply sculpts the frequencies a bit differently, people may detect that, and even prefer it).
(I used to have quite a number of conversations about all this stuff with the cable-makers at my old studio. They were degreed EEs, very experienced with cables, and stuck pretty much to Canare and Belden for the raw materials. Those cable makers have a long history of expertise and reliability, and supply the type of measured specs, with little additional b.s., that often go missing or buried by marketing hype in the Audiophile market. I had a number of my own AV and audio cables made by those folks that have served me well for many years).
