Like a true believer.
I've never believed much in cables, that said... (USB)
So, in 30+ years of being an audio geek of sorts I've never believed much in cables. I've always felt once it's a decent gauge and quality (think basic Mogami XLR's and Canare 4s11 speaker) that they don't make much of a difference. I do try occasionally and try to read the science to see if it makes sense.
Over the years there have been a couple cables I thought MIGHT have been different (not better or worse, but different).
1. Gregg Straley Reality cables - these are a solid core and I believe he cryo's them. I felt the speaker cables MIGHT have brightened things up a bit. 60/40 on if they did, but I'm pretty sure they did.
2. PS Audio AC3 power cables on my amp. I inherited this cable with a used amp purchase so said what the hell, I'll try it. Don't think it did a thing on the pre-amp. But, with two different amps, I THINK it opened up the soundstage a bit. Reading about it, I think that the whole highs/lows shapes of cables doesn't make a lot of sense. But I did think it might make a big enough difference. For what I essentially paid for it - I kept it and use it. If anything it looks cool and does stay in the outlet with a vice like grip.
That said.
Just got my first outboard DAC (oppo sonica) and started with a cheap USB cable then tried an audioquest cinnamon, clearly a difference to me. I was shocked (and bummed in some ways). But it was obvious, so I tried an audioquest carbon - and yes, again I'm pretty darn sure I heard a difference and it was better. Everything did have more separation and clarity without being brighter (which is what I thought speaker cables might have done). This was clear. It still makes little sense to me (0's and 1's). I've tried to look at tests like at ASR... but man it's the first time I really felt I can hear a difference.
Might try the PS audio power cord on the dac, but that means changing on the amp... so not sure if it would be fair or not!
Over the years there have been a couple cables I thought MIGHT have been different (not better or worse, but different).
1. Gregg Straley Reality cables - these are a solid core and I believe he cryo's them. I felt the speaker cables MIGHT have brightened things up a bit. 60/40 on if they did, but I'm pretty sure they did.
2. PS Audio AC3 power cables on my amp. I inherited this cable with a used amp purchase so said what the hell, I'll try it. Don't think it did a thing on the pre-amp. But, with two different amps, I THINK it opened up the soundstage a bit. Reading about it, I think that the whole highs/lows shapes of cables doesn't make a lot of sense. But I did think it might make a big enough difference. For what I essentially paid for it - I kept it and use it. If anything it looks cool and does stay in the outlet with a vice like grip.
That said.
Just got my first outboard DAC (oppo sonica) and started with a cheap USB cable then tried an audioquest cinnamon, clearly a difference to me. I was shocked (and bummed in some ways). But it was obvious, so I tried an audioquest carbon - and yes, again I'm pretty darn sure I heard a difference and it was better. Everything did have more separation and clarity without being brighter (which is what I thought speaker cables might have done). This was clear. It still makes little sense to me (0's and 1's). I've tried to look at tests like at ASR... but man it's the first time I really felt I can hear a difference.
Might try the PS audio power cord on the dac, but that means changing on the amp... so not sure if it would be fair or not!
Showing 17 responses by andy2
However, there is a point of diminishing returns, and the cost should be commensurate with the cost and quality of your other equipment. I think that is true within the context of the overall system cost. For example, if system A costs 10K and system B costs 50K, then the diminishing return for system A would be less than system B. In other words, system B would have more resolution therefore warrants a higher budget for cables. |
First I am not in the cable manufacturing business so this is just my guess. I was wondering the reason audio grade cables are so expensive not because of their own intrinsic quality but simply has to do with economy of scales. These high end cable companies probably only sell a handful of them per year so it just costs more per unit. For example, if I were to prototype my PCB board. If I only order 10 for debugging, then it probably costs a few hundreds dollars per board. But for the same board, if it were Apples and they need to order a million boards, then the cost will be substantially less. |
It still makes little sense to me (0's and 1's). I've tried to look at tests like at ASR... but man it's the first time I really felt I can hear a difference.Yes, it's more than 1's and 0's. It has to do with jitter which can be a bit complicated to understand for those who are "objective". https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/the-lounge/324628-talk-usb-cable-makes-difference.html |
ower cords also baffle me as to why they would make a difference after miles in the walls...If one uses "water" analogy, one might think so, but electricity is not water and how electric current flows sometimes can be counter-intuitive. For example, one would think the bottle neck is the tiny little fuse in the amp, but obviously it's not. |
One of the differences (among many) between water and electricity is that before turning on the faucet in your kitchen, the kitchen does not have any water in the first place. But with electricity, even before you turn on the switch of the amp, the amp internally already has a bunch of electrons just waiting to get moving. So intuitively, you think if the tiny fuse is the bottle neck because all the electrons have to be "squeezed" through such a tiny space, so why then adding a big fat power cable would make a difference? One possible explanation is that electrons are so small so there are so many more of them than needed even through the tiny fuse. Another thing that helps is that the physical length of the fuse is very short so the electrons would just shoot through it without having any noticeble resistance or phase shift. Now if you increase the length of the fuse to say a "foot" then may be that could cause some problem. The other explanation is the potential of the electrons in the fuse is at 120V they have a bit more juice before down converted through the transformer. |
Another variable to consider is what type of cables and xover components being used in the speakers. If you have some cheap speakers with cheap internal and xover components then well your speaker cables probably won't make much difference. Don't be surprised if your speakers (even those costing 10K or more) use some cheap electrolytic capacitors for the xovers. |
Audioquest used to demo their speaker cables on a boom box, so they may take umbrage with your statement above. So it is a belief system after all. It's possible that the cable improves the bass and may give a bit more treble/smoother treble but in term of soundstage and so on, I mean can you get a proper soundstage with a boom box? May be it's a big pair of boom box :-) |