Opening a can of worms


Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
gillatgh

Showing 9 responses by dynaquest4

Most educated, experienced and knowledgeable audiophiles would opine that if OP knew which cables he was listening to, his test is invalid and of little merit.
Hearing cables "improve" over time as they "age or burn-in," if sincere, is total expectation bias. Psychologically....that is: "The tendency for experimenters to believe, certify, and publish data that agree with their expectations for the outcome of an experiment, and to disbelieve, discard, or downgrade the corresponding weightings for data that appear to conflict with those expectations."

You cannot convince someone who has already made an investment in cables that need to "age before they reach full potential" because they have already drunk the kool-aide and will never look back. Same dumb stuff as freezing cables and elevating them on little wood blocks. It is all pure slick marketing by very savvy scammers who completely understand expectation bias and use that phenomenon to fill their pockets.

For someone who seems to want to squash this discussion, blindjim is quite verbose.  
GK....and your point?  Or was that just a exaggerated display of grammatical cleverness?
Blindjim...I suspect no one actually read that laborious, long, rambling post of yours.  Please try to pre-think your responses and attempt to be succinct and concise enough that others here will actually read what you have to say. 

Unless, of course, you are one of those who is the digital equivalent of one who likes to hear himself talk...in which case, you are likely very proud of yourself. 
....yeah and it is almost fun being on the side of truth and not have to make up stuff to justify your naivety.
Nonoise calls me a "toadie" because I chastise him for name calling.  Seriously? Are we still in fourth grade?
There you go..again, nonoise resorts to personal insults as a way to stay, he thinks, relevant in the conversation.

Can we all agree, please, not to do this?

I agree with gilatgh...this particular thread has gotten sorta boring, useless and off topic (for the most part).  This will likely be my last as I get too many emails anyway and, unlike some here, I have other personal interests.

I think "our" point is there is no true science in exotic cables and wires.  I've never seen anywhere where a manufacturer or cable designer actually designs a cable product to "fix" an issue that is not already taken care of with good quality basic connects.  "We" believe it it mostly about showmanship and having cable "accessories" that look cool, beefy and cost more so they visually mate well with cool, beefy high-end components.

A smart guy once said: "When confronted with the truth, believers do not want to hear about it. They want to remain in the magical world of fantasy where they think they can hear improvements in their wire, often arrived at by making listening tests without adequate controls or understanding of the problems involved including speaker impedance and amplifier stability. One of the prime tools in creating such a faith for the average consumer is by capitalizing on fear and ignorance as in many other things that aren’t readily apparent. There is fear that the wire currently in use is not good enough. There is ignorance because most people do not have scientific knowledge in this area and lack adequate measuring equipment to prove otherwise."

So....saying you think it "sounds better" might please your ears and justify your expense, but it will never be a good enough reason to qualify as an adequate argument.