What process do you use to purchase cables?

This is how I went about it:

- consider my budget. I did not even think of considering anything more than 50% of what I think the budget will allow

- read up on stuff

- as I regard most of what is there to read is 5% information and 95% marketing, I make a “gut” call.

- as I knew of no retailer at the time (10 years ago was when I bothered to fool around with this cable stuff) who accepts cable returns, this meant to err if you must at the low end of the $ spectrum and hope for the best. 

- As I had a friend at the time who ran through cables like seltzer water, I was able to borrow some from time to time for s-@^s ‘n kicks that were considerably outside of what I would ever dream of spending and see if the extra $s made any difference.

@ emergingsoul: “…buy on faith and have patience.…”

You said it, not me.

I went to Catholic schools. I remember one religion class when I was a freshman in HS. The priest was talking about how we know God exists: “Look out there window, at the beauty of nature. Only an Intelligent Being could create it”. At the end of class, he asks for questions. I raise my hand: “When I look out the window, I see physical and biological processes at work. I can’t pretend to know whether or not a God created them”… and off to the principal’s office I went! There was not much they could do about me because I routinely graded at the top of the class and Catholic schools compete for funding from the diocese in part based on student performance. I got a C- in religion class needless to say, but straight A+ in everything else.

Yup. I gave up on faith when I was a teenager: science/empiricism for me! And patience is for my child or cat that misbehaves! 

In my estimation cables make up 20-30% of the performance of your system.
(1) Step one - ask yourself, is any aspect of your system you are unhappy with? In particular, is your system fatiguing, bright, or difficult to listen to?  Can you clearly hear the sound and characteristics of the room/ambient space the music or instruments were recorded in. Are you satisfied overall? A cable upgrade CAN be a surprisingly cost effective way to push to the next level.

(2) I use only Transparent. However, I approach every cable as if the manufacturer is trying to defraud me of my money with snake oil before I audition. You must audition cables with high levels of skepticism.

(3) If you can get an in home audition, do it. If installation requires that any components be powered off for any period of time (a power cord), allow your components to be powered back on for 12-24 hours before listening to the new cable. DO NOT attempt to compare an ice cold amp with a nee power cord to your experience with the warmed up amp with old power cord. You will likely get a false negative result.

(4) Once installed and warmed up, listen to recordings you know very well. If the upgrade is substantial the presentation will change quite a bit and you may hear details you did not hear previously. Listen to a cross section of genres and recordings.

(5) Stick to your routine. Listen to your system like you normally do. You don’t need to conduct a formal test. If you listen Friday night with a glass of red wine that is how you should test the new cable as well. The system should just be more engaging to listen to. You don’t need to identify the specific changes right away, but you should be able to by the end of the audition period.

(6) After the trial period is up, or after about a week of if you bought and can return, put your old cable back in and pull the old one out. Follow the same steps as above and live with your old cable again for a week.

(7) If the new cable was truly a significant upgrade over the old cable, you can confirm this readily by putting the old cable back in. Chances are the system is back to its original performance level and if the new cable is really good you WILL miss it. I call this the “withdrawal period”. If you find yourself pining for the new cable, you probably have a keeper and the cable is the genuine article. A lot of times you don’t realize how much a new component brings to the table until you pull it out and put the old one in. Then you miss it. 

Note: Some cables are meant to be calibrated for the components they are used with. Make sure you are auditioning the right one.

I stick with Transparent myself. I always go in skeptical and end up pleasantly surprised. Cheers! 

Good post @audiohedgehog 

Steps 6 and 7 IMO often are crucial in identifying the benefits (or lack thereof) of a new cable. This is the ultimate proof for me too.

@audiohedgehogs

I share your approach and have repeatedly chosen Transparent by direct comparison. Well articulated. Particularly I have found the two cycles of withdrawal act the most telling.

I agree about assessing your system before starting. In the past I have had to make up for some shortcomings in my components because of lack of funds. But, my feeling is if your system is fatiguing, you have a serious component noise problem and it is likely much better to put money into fixing that directly. I have to agree that cables and interconnects can make a huge difference… but in a well chosen synergistic system they will only make a relatively small difference. This is why, for me, Transparent only have become the right choice as my system became much better and not in need of correction. Transparent just get out of the way. That is a good thing for my system now.