Price Isn't Always Indicitive of Quality or Performance

"You get what you pay for" in high-end audio is more of a joke than a truism.

Do you really, honestly think that a $300,000 amplifier blows away a similarly specced’ $20,000 amplifier? Wrong.

Does a $5,000 cable sound better than a $500 cable? Nope.

There are differences in the sonic character of different products and it is equally wrong to think that all amps, cables, preamps, etc., all sound the same. They don’t. But in this hobby people are snookered by the completely phony adage that spending more gets you more.

Who would spend say, $300,000 on a turntable and not want to believe that it is flat out superior to a $30,000 turntable? Or that a $20,000 phono cartridge blows away a $2,500 cartridge?

It’s all confirmation bias. And in many cases, it’s just ego.

Think of most of this stupid-money pricing as you would about fine jewelry. It may look cool, but most of it is worth what the parts are worth and the rest is just bling. Unless it’s collectible, then the collectibles market for that type of stuff determines what it's worth. No better than or worse than.

Do you think that the most expense collectible vinyl records cost what they do because the music is better or the recording quality is better? Nah.

This hobby is so full of BS that is sometimes boggles the mind.

In the case of cables, the really expensive ones, their price has nothing to do with the parts cost or the R&D (lol) cost. The profit margins on these price-bloated items are truly, truly obscene. Why? Market positioning and marketing and YOUR bias.

Now don’t get me wrong, some products cost far more to build than others. Speakers for example. But even a $1000 speaker can sound as good as or better than a $5000 speaker.

It’s just the way this crazy hobby works. It is what it is, but more money equaling more sound quality, FOR SURE, ain’t what it is.

Where things get the craziest in in the aspirational gear-- priced to create an exclusive club of owners, and hopefully, made to last a lifetime and designed to be be (in the eyes of the beholder) beautiful-- like a Ferrari.

Stuff’s worth whatever people will pay for it, but it is not necessarily better because of it.

Yup. In this particular case, it’s absolutely true. The specs are ever better. Also, I have proof. The $1000 cable was unable to reproduce a specific note that this cable is capable of doing.

So you have proof? Evidence please. A defective $1000 cable might have audible issues with frequency reproduction, that’s about it.

A $1000 cable that cannot reproduce certain frequencies within the 20-20k range, has, shall we say, "issues". Or maybe you have a long run of analog cable-- that can easily pick-up interference. Deal with that and the cable suddenly works as expected.

You make the claim that better specifications mean the gear sounds better? Most specifications are meaningless, while some matter a great deal. The last publication that took the steadfast opinion that better specs equals better sound was "Stereo Review"-- decades ago. It was pretty much non-sense then, and it is nonsense now.

Beyond a certain level of spec, things like your ROOM, electrical interference, your unique combination of gear, and the overall quality of the power in your home-- all of that plays a far greater role in how a system/component(s) sounds than any given spec. Unless of course, something is broken.

Fantasy football, is, after all, still a fantasy, despite all of the numbers.

Well you’re kind of putting words in my mouth so I’ll clarify;

Regarding cables-- beyond a certain level of build and materials quality, you, nor anyone else, would be able to rank a series of cables -- all of good build and quality materials-- from best to worst basted upon price.

Your HDMI argument is noted-- but at minimum it’s moot because we are (at least I thought) discussing analog transmission, not digital.

Silver does have a different sonic signature than copper, and going from one type of metal to the next in a continuous circuit can effect transmission quality in a negative way, but at the level we’re talking about here-- which ain’t Radio Shack-- differences are just not very qualitative.

In other words, better cables have different extremely minor sonic characteristics. Like I said, you would never be able to rank cables by their audio quality based upon price assuming good build and materials quality.

That’s right, you would never be able to rank say five cables between say $200 and $5000 per cable in a blind test. No one can. No one ever has. It’s just audio booshwa.

So buy what you like, spend $20k on a cable if it makes you happy, but don’t kid yourself. Confirmation bias and the placebo effect plays a far greater role than you think.

Silver cable does not sound better than copper cable. All quality cables have subtle differences and much of that is system, power, or even room dependent. It's like getting into an argument about which bottle of a high-end wine tastes better. There is definitely little relation to the price when you get to that level. The market does not set the price on a thing like that, it's set on scarcity, taste preferences, collectability and so on.

Again, no one can rank a set of high quality cables from best to worst based upon price. No one. Want to bet? Here's a test, you rank the same set of five different cables, three times, from best to worst. Should be easy-peasy right?

Nice rant. Have you heard a $30K turntable

Why thank you. Yes, a couple in that range. VPI and an SME in that range. Both sounded great, but I’ll tell you the same thing as I did regarding cables-- the differences are subtle-- and NOT "better than" or "worse than". The factor that really jumps out at you on a high-end table is the cartridge-- where there are many flavors to choose from at every conceivable price. I have a set of cartridges that range from $500 to $9,000. They each have their strengths and weaknesses and the table will impact what you can get out of them to a degree. But again, it’s more about matching and synergy that it is about price. Far more. When you get into the thousand dollar on up area you are usually getting the best materials and they will resolve more micro-detail. But none of this speaks to better or best-- just differences-- so you go with what you like.

I’ve also heard some pretty disappointing sounding, very expensive turntables-- not because there was anything wrong with them-- other than the SETUP-- which is a huge factor.

I think people get far too hung-up on price as some kind of status badge. Boring and wrong.

Do you think that at the supercar level that those cars can be ranked on performance by price? No. There is no evidence of that. Anymore than there is any evidence that a more expensive cable by nature just sounds better than a less expensive one (assuming quality build and materials). It’s a myth that many cling to, but the evidence just ain’t there and never has been.

I have some Musicable for speakers, from Germany-- claimed (I say claimed because I have never even tried to verify it) to be made of pure silver. It sounds good. In my system, perhaps a tad bright, but definitely good. The main thing for speaker cable for me is pure materials, proper weave that works in my room, and no iron or other metals in the single path-- especially in the connectors-- both male and female. Where I’m at is in room correction mode. I’m getting more improvement from adding sound absorption and dampening here and there than I think I’m going to get from upgrading components at this point-- and I’ve been doing this for a very long time now. You may be at a point where you know your system inside and out, have a great room that’s not messing things up too much, and are going for the harder to get improvements.

It does not surprise me that you have found a cable that costs way less than another that sounds better that its more expensive peer. It may be that in your system, silver wire gives the sound the character that you prefer.

In the end, your ears alone are the judge. Better, or not.

I just know from long experience that more money does not equal better sound, and that there are many other factors that are at least as important.

I have an acquaintance that has spent a fortune on his system-- way into the six figures-- but his room sucks, his setup is wrong, and it’s just plain sad about all that money and gear adding up to a very mediocre sound. But try telling him that and you’ll hear a long rant about what this costs and what that costs. That’s confirmation bias on steroids!