Most Important, Unloved Cable...


Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder

Showing 3 responses by tubegroover

These conversations often leave me wondering, what does any of this have to do with enjoying recorded music? On another note, Doug, great response, a classic example of objective vs subjective philosophy. It’s another aspect of what makes this hobby so enjoyable, folks with different perspectives.
Doug I’ve given up on trying to correlate the quality of sound replicating reality in any way. For that to be even remotely attainable it would first have to start with superbly engineered recordings. However,  I am as you are, in the subjective camp. The objectivists are bound by their beliefs, and in the case of a few posters here, their education and biases. I don’t know them but their comments are typical of folks with preconceived ideas based on prevailing engineering dogma and also possibly what they can’t hear, if they even tried, nothwithstanding Al Marg’s excellent rebuttal. Obviously Al articulates in his typically lucid manner in what might be the cause of why we hear differences/improvements in something as seemingly inconsequential as an ethernet cable.

Doug I like you am interested in an aesthetically pleasing experience. I unlike you, at least it seems based on your comments, have no delusions that reality of a live performance and enjoyment of playback of a performance are really two unrelated experiences, one the experience of what an "audiophile" is attempting to achieve via the dictum of "The Absolute Sound" the other connecting to a musical performance in a meaningful and profound way, they are to me two distinctly different objectives. But as I have commented to others with objectives similar to yours, enjoy your journey!
Too bad indeed Teo_audio, I really wish you hadn't as it really summarized in a way I could never articulate the whole crux of the issue, great post and very thoughtful, if you still have it post again!