Science that explains why we hear differences in cables?
Here are some excerpts from a review of the Silversmith Audio Fidelium speaker cables by Greg Weaver at Enjoy The Music.com. Jeff Smith is their designer. I have not heard these cables, so I don’t have any relevant opinion on their merit. What I find very interesting is the discussion of the scientific model widely used to design cables, and why it may not be adequate to explain what we hear. Yes it’s long, so, to cut to the chase, I pulled out the key paragraph at the top:
“He points out that the waveguide physics model explains very nicely why interconnect, loudspeaker, digital, and power cables do affect sound quality. And further, it can also be used to describe and understand other sonic cable mysteries, like why cables can sound distinctly different after they have been cryogenically treated, or when they are raised off the floor and carpet.”
“One of the first things that stand out in conversation with Jeff about his cables is that he eschews the standard inductance/capacitance/resistance/impedance dance and talks about wave propagation; his designs are based solely upon the physics model of electricity as electromagnetic wave energy instead of electron flow.
While Jeff modestly suggests that he is one of only "a few" cable designers to base his designs upon the physics model of electricity as electromagnetic wave energy instead of the movement, or "flow," of electrons, I can tell you that he is the only one I’ve spoken with in my over four decades exploring audio cables and their design to even mention, let alone champion, this philosophy.
Cable manufacturers tend to focus on what Jeff sees as the more simplified engineering concepts of electron flow, impedance matching, and optimizing inductance and capacitance. By manipulating their physical geometry to control LCR (inductance, capacitance, and resistance) values, they try to achieve what they believe to be the most ideal relationship between those parameters and, therefore, deliver an optimized electron flow. Jeff goes as far as to state that, within the realm of normal cable design, the LRC characteristics of cables will not have any effect on the frequency response.
As this is the very argument that all the cable flat-Earther’s out there use to support their contention that cables can’t possibly affect the sound, it seriously complicates things, almost to the point of impossibility, when trying to explain how and why interconnect, speaker, digital, and power cables have a demonstrably audible effect on a systems resultant sonic tapestry.
He points out that the waveguide physics model explains very nicely why interconnect, loudspeaker, digital, and power cables do affect sound quality. And further, it can also be used to describe and understand other sonic cable mysteries, like why cables can sound distinctly different after they have been cryogenically treated, or when they are raised off the floor and carpet.
As such, his design goal is to control the interaction between the electromagnetic wave and the conductor, effectively minimizing the phase errors caused by that interaction. Jeff states that physics says that the larger the conductor, the greater the phase error, and that error increases as both the number of conductors increase (assuming the same conductor size), and as the radial speed of the electromagnetic wave within the conductor decreases. Following this theory, the optimum cable would have the smallest or thinnest conductors possible, as a single, solid core conductor per polarity, and should be made of metal with the fastest waveform transmission speed possible.
Jeff stresses that it is not important to understand the math so much as it is to understand the concept of electrical energy flow that the math describes. The energy flow in cables is not electrons through the wire, regardless of the more common analogy of water coursing through a pipe. Instead, the energy is transmitted in the dielectric material (air, Teflon, etc.) between the positive and negative conductors as electromagnetic energy, with the wires acting as waveguides. The math shows that it is the dielectric material that determines the speed of that transmission, so the better the dielectric, the closer the transmission speed is to the speed of light.
Though electromagnetic energy also penetrates into and through the metal conductor material, the radial penetration speed is not a high percentage of the speed of light. Rather, it only ranges from about 3 to 60 meters per second over the frequency range of human hearing. That is exceptionally slow!
Jeff adds, "That secondary energy wave is now an error, or memory, wave. The thicker the conductor, the higher the error, as it takes longer for the energy to penetrate. We interpret (hear) the contribution of this error wave (now combined with the original signal) as more bloated and boomy bass, bright and harsh treble, with the loss of dynamics, poor imaging and soundstage, and a lack of transparency and detail.
Perhaps a useful analogy is a listening room with hard, reflective walls, ceilings, and floors and no acoustic treatment. While we hear the primary sound directly from the speakers, we also hear the reflected sound that bounces off all the hard room surfaces before it arrives at our ears. That second soundwave confuses our brains and degrades the overall sound quality, yielding harsh treble and boomy bass, especially if you’re near a wall.
That secondary or error signal produced by the cable (basically) has the same effect. Any thick metal in the chain, including transformers, most binding posts, RCA / XLR connectors, sockets, wire wound inductors, etc., will magnify these errors. However, as a conductor gets smaller, the penetration time decreases, as does the degree of phase error. The logic behind a ribbon or foil conductor is that it is so thin that the penetration time is greatly reduced, yet it also maintains a large enough overall gauge to keep resistance low.”
For those interested, here is more info from the Silversmith site, with links to a highly technical explanation of the waveguide model and it’s relevance to audio cables:
Our ability to differentiate between sounds is both an innate ability as well as a learned one. It is difficult to imagine a scenario where the learned ability can transcend the biological limitations we we born with. I’m not certain we understand fully what those limits are. And I believe that our abilities are continuing to evolve based on our external stimulus. Now, if one chooses to not exercise those abilities, learn how to use them, then no, there is a limited benefit. Much like some people are unable to tell the difference between two similar, yet different scotches, or red wine, or Vodka. Yet, most of us can. Went to a whiskey bar. One would think that you would serve something other than whiskey at such a place so the one person who doesn’t like it, can choose something different. I went to such a bar, and ordered a particular kind of Vodka. The bartender informed me they don’t serve vodka, because the owner insisted it all tastes the same… Well, talk about discrediting your whiskey bar…
To the old dudes spending >$500 on cables, I have genuine questions for you. Please see below and thank you for your time: 1. Do you ever second guess why you just spent an absurd amount of money on a piece of non-precious wire? 2. Do you / your partner use the cables in ways outside of the audio world? 3. Did you ever spend thousands on cables when you could’ve put that towards your son/daughters college? Did you ever think maybe you should’ve helped your child pay for college instead of blowing your paycheck on ridiculous speaker cables? 4. Do you maintain good relationships offline? 5. Have you ever wondered how it’s possible for modern science to defy expectations year after year within other electricity-related realms, building more efficient and powerful lithium ion batteries, all-electric cars can go from 0-60 in <2 seconds and do that for 300+ miles before having to take a quick 30 min break to charge up and repeat….time and time again the naysayers are proven wrong and a better rendition of the lithium ion battery is developed, new technologies are employed and measured via scientific methods…….sorry I got off track…..do you ever wonder why scientists can’t seem to crack the case wide open on these darn speaker cables???????? MY EEEEAAARRRRRSSS I HEARRRR A DIFFERENCEEEE…no you don’t. We have super computers now doing much more complex shit. Drop the age old pseudoscience and just admit you like the way those cables feel in your hands. I can say all of the above, and for some reason there will be days I’ll spend hours looking at cables. Not because I think they’re going to sound better though…there’s just something about a nice shiney silver speaker cable that draws me in.
Also interesting is that what is seen on the scope matches what is heard from different cables. Impedance mismatches do seem to create ringing distortion. This colors instrumental tones and textures, alters characteristic instrumental timbre, and so the less of it the better
The guys using a Time Domain Reflectometer machine to fix the internet yesterday did exactly that.
But the speed of light and the speed of electrons is about 3e8 m/secs, and the speed of sound is about 3e2 m.sec, so roughy a million times different.
Those ringing waves and echos would need to be caught in a crossover or something like a capacitor or inductor to hold them long enough to be around to be heard. (Or am I missing something?)
I think I’ll just try and keep my cables short by keeping my amp close to speaker.
Plus most speakers do not have special cables inside of them, and nor do the amplifiers, so unless the speaker cables are a lot longer, then I am sort of stuck with the sonics of what is in the speaker and amplifier.
Even those plate amps like Hypex and Purify have normal wires and they just hook up to the normal wires that grace the drivers.
Yeah, you are missing the inconvenient fact that the ringing can clearly be seen on the scope. The signal is fast, but not speed of light fast. Nor do electrons travel by the way. Some do but by far the majority of the signal is wave propagation, in which electrons carry the charge but do not need to physically move any more than the people in the stadium need to physically run around to propagate "the wave". Metaphors are never perfect but there are better and worse ones. Ultimately no matter which one you choose it helps if it aligns with the facts. There is ringing. You can see it on the scope. You can hear it if you listen.
Whatever wire is inside a speaker, what does that have to do with anything? That is as lame as "power travels 500 miles what difference can the last 5 feet make?" Ringing is ringing. Are you saying less isn't better? What are you saying anyway? Besides some internet guys did something on the internet?
Good catch on the speed… it is the speed of electricity, like you said, and not the speed of the electrons.
I get the impedance mismatch on on say a 50 ohm connection, but what is the mismatch on a near zero ohm cable versus a speaker input to the crossover?
Was that o-scope X-Axis scale in the audio regime? Or a lot higher in frequency?
Are there any plots of these echo waves?
Whatever wire is inside a speaker, what does that have to do with anything? That is as lame as "power travels 500 miles what difference can the last 5 feet make?" Ringing is ringing. Are you saying less isn't better? What are you saying anyway? Besides some internet guys did something on the internet?
I am saying if the amp is directly connected to the speaker with say a 1” wire at 0 ohms, that seems optimal. And if that wire was say a foot long, and the wires inside of the amplifier and also in the speaker are both a foot long at 16 gauge… then the effect of a foot long wire at 10 gauge connecting them seems to have a bot less of an effect?
If the capacitance of the wire causes the amplifier to oscillate than that is clearly significant. It would be nice to seen example of this radial ringing that you speak of.
This is a quote from in my opinion one of the premier amp builders producing today Steve Deckert of Decware.
My takeaway tonight is that the cables are probably and literally as important as the amplifier both of which are 10x more important than the actuall speakers you hook them to. And I don't think 10x is an exaggeration in many cases.
@danager yes, I’ve been saying that for 40 years and running! The speakers are the least important link in the entire chain! That’s why my main setup uses nordost odin cables placed beside a pair of logitech speakers. The speakers. They. Don’t. Matter.
Cables cannot be more important than speakers and amplifiers...And certainly not beat the room...
In my experience for most people systems, NOTHING could compare in upgrading power to acoustic mechanical active controls with Hemholtz method and passive conventional material treatment...
Thinking otherwise is negating 2 thousand years of acoustic science and thinking...Sound come from the acoustic settings of the original event to be acoustically recreated in your treated and controlled room through and with your ears....
Timbre is NOT reducible to a frequencies spectrum NOR explanable for the times being by frequencies spectrum... The reason is AS deep than simple: Timbre is a subjective perceived event, frequencies spectrum is an objective translation... Your room acoustic CORRECT or DEFORM this original acoustic event translated PARTIALLY by microphones location and choices before the recording process itself....
Acoustic is not electronic engineering.... Cables are conveyor that matter for sure and different from each other....But Acoustic is so powerful i am astounded that so much people never experience that which is evident on all counts...
The sound speed cross average room 15 times in fraction of a second and your 2 ears syhthetize all the acoustic information of the recording through your INFORMED room...Which is a complex distributed sound resonant pressure zones...
Nobody listen the original recording, everyone listen to this original event through his speakers/room INFORMED relation...
Or through the shell chamber of an headphone.....It is the same acoustical event through different rooms uncontrolled or controlled with all the possible scale in between...
Ouffff !
Cables are different, yes like amplifiers, speakers, dac, microphones, etc....
Acoustic is the sea where all this boats are floating.... And the laws governing sea are not the law governing the boats...The boats are constructed for the sea not the sea here for the boats....
And by the way psycho-acoustic science is not reducible either to physical acoustic....And psycho acoustic science is more harder subject than only physical acoustic , including also with acoustic itself neurophysiology ,phonology, music, etc ...
@maghister I’m not reading anything of that because it’s all ridiculous poop unless you eventually come to the same conclusion as mr. “Einstein” @danager. Speakers are the least important link in the chain. Your speakers don’t matter. BRB need to listen to these new cables. New speakers come in tomorrow, Logitech 5.1 THX certified setup, hopefully they complement my wires well or I’m going straight back to mr. Quest (audio, that is) to ask for a refund!
maghister I’m not reading anything of that because it’s all ridiculous poop unless you eventually come to the same conclusion as mr. “Einstein” @danager.
I will not comment...
Save to say that someone who claim cables beat not only speakers design but especially acoustic science, if not ignorant, sells cable with the wrong marketing ploy....
Your 40 years of "selling" your cables dont beat acoustic, psycho-acoustic and all speakers designers experience in the world...
Your claim is the most ridiculous one i ever encounter here...
Huge boner indeed... i apologize but i could not resist after my "pooping"..... 😁😊😊😊
Your 40 years of "selling" your cables dont beat acoustic, psycho-acoustic and all speakers designers experience in the world...
I think he is claiming that his 40 years is in-line with the psycho-acoustic part. Which makes sense if he was selling cable to people and using psychological methods.
Speaker designers are different than the cable people.
I’m not positive, but I think Teo Audio and Townshend Audio also use a similar model in designing cables.
With a liquid metal cable, for the liquid metal, it is all surface. there is no depth to penetrate. It is ’liquid’ down at the molecular alloy level, which is about as close to being a pure atomic/pure element level fluid, as you’ll ever get to. Conductive.
All kinds of crazy things going on in there that are utterly unique in the conductor world. if it wasn’t, the patent would not have been granted.
Have a elemental physicist and/or practical electrical physicist (specializing in these sorts of areas) read the patent. There are aspects to the patent that will intrigue and excite them.
Has anyone here ever actually read the patent? If one actually understands the physics and science of conductivity, at the atomic level... it will will make their eyeballs bulge.
eg, that us making audio cables out of it .....is about a 100th or less of it’s interesting potentials.
Love his minimalist approach to audio design and I have the utmost of respect for his skill. Owned a pair of DM945’s that were a wonderful bookshelf speaker.
He is by no means a peddler of BS, just straight up audio.
Trust him over Tinysoft any day of the week…
@nonoise
Totally agree. WTF is the doofus doing on an audiophile site? Don’t ASR and Audioholics exist for small tools like him?
I dont want people think i denigrated cable impact here.... My posts were aimed against an exxageration and meaningless hyperbole...Cables cannot be an upgrade exceeding speakers upgrade or room upgrade....
The Silversmith cables though seems to be a real deal and more than good....
Even me i am interested by them and tempted to buy some for my speakers ....I will be able to do so in few years...
Now if someone want to know what and which is all the information we miss in the sound when we receive the sound waves coming from our own room acoustic :
Listen to "batman", fatality make him in the obligation to learn how to hear....His ears are the same than yours...
Now think a second about what i am speaking about : If the acoustic treatment and control in a room are well done, and if the gear is good and well chosen, we are able to HEAR tonal TIMBRE instrument playing of notes microdynamics like if each note was a 3-d object in his space speaking details which we can see and decipher like a human face physionomy....
Anybody could develop his hearing and especially is listening skills to some level...It is a traning of the focused and peripheral attention in their interrelated rythmic playing.....
I am not batman nor Toscanini by a large margin...But......
The truth is simple: our hearing are way more powerful tool to decipher information about material oibjects in our surroundings than we are able to dream of...I learn that my way through elementary acoustic behind Helmholtz method...I am a very average guy in musical and audio terms by the way.....
Then i will say that cables could be miraculously good but they will not replace marvellous speaker nor room acoustic like someone just said erroneously...
Then i will say that cables could be miraculously good but they will not replace marvellous speaker nor room acoustic like someone just said erroneously...
To my eye that the poster was using sarcasm when “the Odin cables paired with Logitech” was presented.
Then i will say that cables could be miraculously good but they will not replace marvellous speaker nor room acoustic like someone just said erroneously...
To my eye that the poster was using sarcasm when “the Odin cables paired with Logitech” was presented.
Then i apologize if sometimes by my lack of the mastery of english language i mistake sarcasm with claim....
But he also said that cables are more important than speakers... Is it a sarcasm too?
My point is all changes are important, cables included, but their meaning and characteristics CANNOT be assessed WITHOUT acoustic treatment and control over a room related to the specific speakers charracteristics...
It was actually my post quoting Decware's creator who said cables were more important than speakers and of equal value to the amplifier. This was based on his experience building $1200 speakers and playing them with $12,000 dollars worth gear.
I'm sure there is a point in all cases where increases in the costs are not a value proposition for the increases in sound quality be it speakers, amplifiers. DACs, turntables, room acoustics or even cables. The real expertise comes in getting the most increase in sound for the dollars spent and it's not always a speakers first decision.
The perception of a cable change, for the worst or better, and his evaluation, like the evaluation of a speakers are HEAVILY dependent on the acoustic treatment and control of the room linked to these speakers...
Then saying that cable are more important than speaker , even on the same level of importance, make no meaning...
All is important yes, but nothing beat the improvement of the speakers/room acoustic wedding...
He sells cables, i dont sell anything....
Acoustic is the sleeping princess and all piece of gear are only the 7 working dwarves...
@mahgister - guess who just put a pair of solid cherry QRD17 quadratic diffusers in front of his speakers on the listening wall? Oh my goodness the difference isn't small. My wife agrees, and loves them.
I called Jeff Smith of Silversmith Cables who makes the Fidelium the other day, and asked him on the progress of the XLR interconnects he's soon to release. Not soon enough, well, not soon enough for me :-P
@mahgister - guess who just put a pair of solid cherry QRD17 quadratic diffusers in front of his speakers on the listening wall? Oh my goodness the difference isn't small. My wife agrees, and loves them.
Reflection and diffusion behind the listener and in front of the speakers play a role which is fundamental to create the listener envelopment acoustical factor (LEV)...
I am not surprized at all.... I lived through the same experience.....
@mahgister Decware sells amps & speakers & cables. No one here is discounting room treatment not even Steve. I get it you're a room treatment guy... got it. You should take it to the room treatment thread. This a discussion about cables and the science of cables. Maybe the two ears one mouth philosophy should apply here.
@rixthetrick Have not heard it. There's a lot about it on the DIY forum on the site. The cables are at the bottom of the main page after the amps, preamps and magic pills.
Given the ABSURD claims of many audiophiles/audiophools, I find it absolutely hysterical that the NON believers (ie. the SANE sector of the "audiophile community" are the ones being labelled as "Flat Earthers". I rather think you've got your cryogenically-treated wires crossed! Cables raised off the floor?? That's a nutty as the nuttiest Flat Earther.
We really need a collective term for a group of nutty audiophiles. Maybe a Placebo of Audiophiles. An Idiocity of audiophiles? A mid-life-crisis of Audiophiles? A Brainwashing of Audiophiles? So many great possibilities.
Given the ABSURD claims of many audiophiles/audiophools, I find it absolutely hysterical that the NON believers (ie. the SANE sector of the "audiophile community" are the ones being labelled as "Flat Earthers". I rather think you've got your cryogenically-treated wires crossed! Cables raised off the floor?? That's a nutty as the nuttiest Flat Earther.
We really need a collective term for a group of nutty audiophiles. Maybe a Placebo of Audiophiles. An Idiocity of audiophiles? A mid-life-crisis of Audiophiles? A Brainwashing of Audiophiles? So many great possibilities.
Buffaloes have a group as an “obstinancy”.However here is no word for a group of chefs.
The idea of a Heston chef approach where one cryogenically cools the cables in liquid nitrogen, and then needs to cook, or “burn in” cables has a sort of witches brew, or cauldron feel to it… So coven comes to mind. Maybe “A Resonancy of Audiophiles” since there is a group think to it?
Any thoughts on who @englishman-in-newyork was prior to this latest incarnation?
There should be some kind of lottery we could enter, and the admins could award prizes for the correct guesses.
You do realize this is an audiophile forum, right?
You sound like you might be dealing with some “issues”. Also sound like you’ve got a chip on your shoulder. Possibly something to do with how the “Elite” robbed you of your potential? How they are all stupid, undeserving of the money they wrongfully obtained and spend so foolishly? Too dumb to separate fact from fiction, or the truth from the lies being peddled by the almighty snake oil salesmen?
But the englishman knows the “truth” and is here to set us free
Lol @ Ignatius. See, this is exactly the problem with people like you...full of "conspiracy theories". Like, you MUST be right that I used to be on here under a different name. (Well, you're wrong, not sure what else I can say). I have never been on here before. I am indeed "an Englishman in NY", with 32yrs professional/broadcast engineering under my belt, and I find most of these "Audiophile" claims to be absolute nonsense. It's really that simple. Of course, bankers, doctors, businesmen, retirees, whatever they are, with zero professional experience but a subscription to Stereophile (or wherever these hifi myths eminate from) know more than me, because they "can hear it". Lol, sure, with their rolled-off HF hearing loss and a touch of tinnitus....sure they can hear the difference made by swapping the fuses for "audiophile fuses" (etc ). I find it amusing, but also rather silly.
englishman-in-newyork"I am indeed "an Englishman in NY", with 32yrs professional/broadcast engineering under my belt, and I find most of these "Audiophile" claims to be absolute nonsense. It’s really that simple. Of course, bankers, doctors, businesmen, retirees, whatever they are, with zero professional experience but a subscription to Stereophile (or wherever these hifi myths eminate from) know more than me, because they "can hear it". Lol, sure, with their rolled-off HF hearing loss and a touch of tinnitus....sure they can hear the difference"
That is AMAZING that you are able to conduct medically valid and scientific analysis of users haring without ever conducting an examination you truley have benefiied all of us with your experience, knowledge, wisdom and professional prowess!
So, your vast knowledge, has it precluded you from doing a simple A/B test to try any of these things that you are taking a dump on?
And why does it bother you what someone does with their money? Guess you just want them to know what you do, right? Because you are the be all and end all of audio knowledge because you were a button pusher in a studio?
Which is why you start off by calling us audiofools? Look up Maxwells equations. They help to outline how much we thought we knew at one point, and they shed light on how science still has much to discover.
But you don’t need to look them up, as you already know all there is to know.
Then i apologize if sometimes by my lack of the mastery of english language i mistake sarcasm with claim....
But he also said that cables are more important than speakers... Is it a sarcasm too?
Yes I believe so.In the limit where one just has a $100k cable and no speaker, then the cable will not make magic.
My point is all changes are important, cables included, but their meaning and characteristics CANNOT be assessed WITHOUT acoustic treatment and control over a room related to the specific speakers charracteristics...
If an RCA, or a speaker cable, cannot be AB identified in a 1/2 blind test, then one could argue that they are not in the group of “All changes are important”.
And why does it bother you what someone does with their money? Guess you just want them to know what you do, right? Because you are the be all and end all of audio knowledge because you were a button pusher in a studio?
Most of those studios are running specific interconnect cables that are not “magical”… they are just using shielded twisted pairs with low capacitance and inductance. Anything that enters the CD is either coloured by them, or it has not been coloured. If I use those same cables on my playback system, then will it sound different than if I use some high $ cables? And why are the studios not using kilo-$ interconnect cables?
With a liquid metal cable, for the liquid metal, it is all surface. there is no depth to penetrate. It is ’liquid’ down at the molecular alloy level, which is about as close to being a pure atomic/pure element level fluid, as you’ll ever get to. Conductive.
Usually metals are most conductive as we approach 0 Kelvin. I am not sure how one makes a classical atom, or molecule, or alloy of copper (or silver) metal differ from the known melting point and boiling points that have been observed for centuries? And how would a liquid version of it stay put?I would assume it would drop out like a melting fuse So I was assuming ^that stuff^ was what this quote was referencing:
Given the ABSURD claims of many audiophiles/audiophools, I find it absolutely hysterical that the NON believers (ie. the SANE sector of the "audiophile community" are the ones being labelled as "Flat Earthers".
If anyone would really like to begin a journey into what **might** make some difference, i suggest you watch a series (or any one is probably sufficient) of talks that that Rick Hartley gave to the Altium user conference. Altium is probably the leading PCB layout program, and these users are dealing with how to achieve good grounding in complex PC boards, possibly in the gigahertz region. he has a second one on differential pairs that has similar but complimentary information.
He goes into the science hand -waived about above - that the energy is really in the fields, and the fields are in the insulation. The conductors simply guide the wave (hence the term waveguide).
Several caveats:
they are long
the info you want is tangential and you need to dig for it
this stuff really matters at hgih frequencies, but may have some tiny impact at lower ones
He’s talking circuit boards, layers and ground pours, and you need to mentally translate to the physical configuration of wires
I have always maintained that the insulation was the most important part of any interconnect or speaker cable. If you;d use polypropylene, or Teflon, or at least Mylar in capacitors, you probably ought to in your wires too. G
I just replaced a set of speaker cables by the same company with a significant upgrade over what I'm trading in...although there's a 60 day return policy, they claim they sound best after around 500 hours of use so I'll report back in mid January...or February...My first experience with better sounding cable was a long while back with an early pair of Audioquest wires used with Vandersteen 1B speakers...surprise, surprise! Major improvement over whatever the hell I had been using previously, and various cables since have always been a good thing, leading to a substantial pile of wire in my personal "cable museum."
Clearthinker, I think you are being a bit too harsh on the englishman-in-newyork. He is just making generalizations that are more true about the individuals in this group than other groups excepting mahgister because I am not quite sure which group he fits into.
englishman-in-newyork, I am a doctor who has a science centered education. I make furniture and subwoofers. I started building Dynakit amplifiers when I was 13 and in high school constructed the power supply racks for dbx 32 channel noise reduction systems.(child labor) I am 67
I can still hear to 16 kHz and do not yet have tinnitus. I use 8 foot electrostatic loudspeakers. I am of course totally anecdotal.
Excepting the population dynamics I agree with everything you say. If you want to know why these silly trends get started I politely suggest that you might want to study articles on psycho-acoustics, the way we interpret what we hear. There are solid reasons why these people believe what they hear is true even though it is just an illusion. Magicians do this in a visual manner.
First, thanks for the attempt to inform our readers about something they may find interesting. Second, I admire the bravery you showed in waving your red cape in front of some of the angry bulls that populate this site.
I am always amazed at how so many amateurs believe they know more about a subject than people with actual knowledge and training, And why some people's first reaction to a different idea is to dismiss it out of hand, without even the courtesy of a valid counter argument.
Don't get me wrong, I have no idea if Jeff Smith is 100% correct in his assertions, but I am honest enough in my limited knowledge to not argue his point. After all, Jim Smith's theory may turn out to be the audio equivalent of the "Fosbury Flop".
To those who don't believe cables make a difference, I often wonder at what point they would hear a difference. Would they think a solid piece of coat wire sounds as good as the Silversmith? I often hear that any competently-engineered wire will sound as good as something else. Well, what exactly does competently-engineered mean? Does the lamp cord from Home Depot meet that criteria?
As far as measurements, the differences in capacitance alone between different makes should be enough to understand how sound may change, but to the none believers this seems mute.
Furthermore, I have yet to see a measurement that explains how I can detect a vocal passage in a complicated song mix better through one cable, but not another. That kind of measurement still does not exist. For those believing otherwise, you sound like a 16th century alchemist who says that all science and knowledge is already uncovered.
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