What is the audio equivalent of adjusting “contrast” (like in a photo / image editor)? When I have rejected a lot of cables and power conditioners (very expensive ones included) it is because I find them artificially boosting what I can only describe as “contrast”. Like in photography, boosting contrast can makes images look better (sharper, clearer, punchier, etc...), but kinda just for an instant. Over the long term, you kinda lose interest in the artificial boost and just want your images (or music) to look (sound) natural. In a sense I find a lot of cables trying to sell themselves on a sonic gimmick of sorts. That said when you find the right cable it can sound so “natural”, “balanced”, “uncolored”, “organic”, etc...
partly i I ask this question and make this comment because I don’t feel I hear a vocabulary around the “sound” of cables that corresponds to my experience. I do agree with the previous comment re: modern tone control... I have noticed that too. But more so in the negative... I find many deficient cables lacking in a proper tonal balance and the most synergistic cables pretty balanced across the spectrum, perhaps with a bit of extra weight in the mid-bass that seems to be my personal preference (or tolerance for a lack of perfect balance.)
partly i I ask this question and make this comment because I don’t feel I hear a vocabulary around the “sound” of cables that corresponds to my experience. I do agree with the previous comment re: modern tone control... I have noticed that too. But more so in the negative... I find many deficient cables lacking in a proper tonal balance and the most synergistic cables pretty balanced across the spectrum, perhaps with a bit of extra weight in the mid-bass that seems to be my personal preference (or tolerance for a lack of perfect balance.)