@dynaquest
Have you ever done a listening comparison to divergent types of wires in a highly resolving audio system? In my 40+ years as an audiophile I can honestly say I have, including in blind tests when I had no idea what cable I was listening to and it really isn't that hard to hear a difference. The only relevant question is... what sound do you prefer??
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Yea!! Listening rather than obsessing on denial of fact.
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Hey folks...too much angst here. If you're into this hobby and you don't feel you will appreciate the difference an upgraded cable will make to the sound of your system, then be happy with the generic cables included with your equipment. If, on the other hand, you have messed with different cables and have heard sonic differences that are significant to you then enjoy cable comparing and ultimately purchasing.
My personal situation has me hearing differences in cables, however, least of all power cables. For me, I've experienced the greatest differences in speaker cables and interconnects. YMMV!!! c'est la vie. |
@nonoise
Mentioning "your specific solution involves what is coming out of your outlet" is a good reminder that the AC coming into one rural home, may not be of the same quality of the AC supplying an urban dwelling.
Different dwellings have different needs. That’s probably why power conditioners/regenerators are desired in specific locales, let alone different power cables.
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Using your logic, the quality of circuit components should make no difference to the resulting sound. In other words if the quality of the interconnects between components should make no difference to well designed gear then the V-Cap in my line stage, the silver wire bypassing circuit board traces in that same line stage should make no difference to the resulting sound of my system with those enhancements. I guess I wasted hard earned cash. Back to the Sansui receiver I used in the 70s! |
Well, this has become quite the thread! After reading all of the posts and participating in this topic, it seems it all comes down to what YOU hear. It doesn't matter if I can or can't hear the differences between simple inexpensive designs or the high priced spread. If YOU do and you have the disposable income to invest big bucks on the expensive stuff and YOU hear a difference, so be it. YOU can feel good about your purchase and the rest of us who haven't spent our money there can invest it in other areas of our system in ways that seem meaningful for us.
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@zephyr24069 Thanks! I must say, the Treo CTs and the Modwright CD player have been game changers. The Vandies take quite a while to sound their best, the reward is that their best is incredibly good, perhaps astonishing at the price. The interesting thing about the Modwright is that at first it sounds "tubey". Once broken in it is very extended and clean at the frequency extremes. The "tubey" warmth is replaced by a harmonic rightness to instruments. More meat on the bone as it were.
As far as the 30 A circuit goes, I had my listening room built with the house and specified a 30 A circuit from the get go. Therefore I've never heard my system on anything but.
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Many of us have participated in various similar threads to this one. The cable conundrum is an ongoing source of subject matter.
If you have listened through your system with a variety of cables and not heard a difference, then unless you have an irrational compulsion to spend your expendable income on audio affectations, be happy with what you have and enjoy your music. For those of us who have investigated various cables of diverse metals and topologies with a variety of dielectrics and connectors and have heard differences meaningful to us...yippee for us, or in the case of preferring a high priced spread, woe for our bank accounts.
At any rate, in the same way that I may look at a "great" painting and see splotches of color and you, a cable skeptic, might see true meaning in those splotches, good for you for perceiving what my individual sensibilities did not enable me to appreciate.
Lastly, if you are reading this and think that there are these absolute truths in audio or watercolors you might do well to open your walls of perception and come to appreciate the unique differences that one will cherish and another not even experience. Viva la difference! oh, the humanity. |
@randy-11
I wasn't referring to a "scientific" or "mathematically significant" test result. Music isn't math. Music isn't science. Music is an art and the appreciation for sonic differences are inextricably tied to the emotional reaction to music in the same way a piece of art will move one viewer and leave someone experiencing the same exact work cold and uninvolved. A system wired with one set of interconnects could evoke an aesthetic reaction within one listener different from another listener. My guess is that most of us have been there with this experience in our time as audiophiles. An example for me personally is hearing the exactitude of notes reproduced by top level electrostatic transducers but being unmoved by the overall gestalt of the music in total. I "hear" the accuracy, but the music fails to engage me emotionally. It's an intellectually informed experience rather than one of the heart and soul. I'm always going for the latter.
If you need the math to substantiate what your ears transmit to your heart then have at it. Just doesn't work for me.
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@dynaquest Would you not agree that two listeners could do a cable listening test and agree to disagree as to which sets of cables in the same system helped to yield the best sound? We all hear differently due if in no other way, to anatomical differences. Add to that our personal preference for what sounds "right" and two or more listeners will differ in their sonic perceptions.
One more thing that occurs to me is the sensitivity of different people's senses. Example...my son and I have a poorly developed sense of smell, due mostly I suspect as a matter of anatomical differences over my wife and daughter who are, relative to us, hyper smell-sensitive. This example is, besides the profit motive, the only way to explain the panoply of speaker designs extant today. Different designers perceive music differently and that accounts, in large part, for the incredible diversity of approches to music reproduction. Vive la difference!
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200-400 hours is realistic to hear improvement in new cable as the dielectric breaks in.
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@ctsooner I'm a fan of Audioquest cables as well. For me, the AQ line of cables' sound is totally predictable. As you move up the higher end of the line each step up reveals a larger soundstage and more detail. The big leap is when you jump up to the PSS (perfect surface silver) part of the line.
An example of the above was a comparison I did between AQ Columbia IC's and the next step up the line, the Colorado. The only difference between the cables was a PE tube dielectric in the Columbia to a Teflon tube in the Colorado. So what was the sonic difference? Bass impact and depth. The Colorados it was/is.
So in the end, all cables can be used as tone controls. The AQ line just has a predictability about the changes you'll hear throughout the line.
One more example. I had used AQ speaker cables in my system for years. They were in the Earth Series and thus were composed of a lot of copper. When upgrading my speakers, the sound was too bass heavy and not allowing me to hear all that the advanced tweeters in the new speakers were capable of. After much research and reading (especially here at A'gon) i went to all silver Clear Day Double Shotgun cables. Voila! Bass heaviness (mid-bass especially) was ameliorated and the treble maintained its smoothness but was more detailed and open than with the copper-heavy AQ's.
So...yep, cables are tone controls and are an important aspect of voicing a system.
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Yep. If you can't hear the difference between "garden variety" and "quality cables" then this audiophile endeavor must be most mundane for you. Hold on naysayers...I didn't say "mega-buck, I have to take out a home equity loan to afford them" cables! Just cables with high purity conductors and low loss dielectrics with well made connectors. There are lots and I mean LOTS of them out there. Have at it!
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It is unfortunately human nature for "the Have-nots to covet what the Haves have".
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like I said! The "Haves" are not just referring to $ but also the wisdom to use it to greatest benefit.
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@mward What you said accounts in large part for why there are so many brands and models of audio gear. Your statement also accounts for why this forum exists. If we all heard in exactly the same way, we wouldn't be debating the topics that dominate this forum. |
@wgutz Sounds like you have your priorities straight.😀 |
@freediver I counsel caution. Usually when someone reacts so strongly so quickly to a very new system change, the test of time will usually provide perspective. Put simply...when something jumps out at you initially, be cautious. Give yourself time with the Nordost cables before making a purchase. Beware of the shiny ball!🤗 |
@jmcgrogan2 Exactly!! Anecdotally, if you go back through some months old cable threads here, you read of more and more Nordost folks abandoning ship. The sound Nordost cables present becomes fatiguing.☹️ |
@cleeds and jmcgrogan +1 exactly right. The "confirmation bias" works both ways!🤨 |
Watch your "dogma". High quality solid core silver conductors allow for more efficient signal flow than the best copper. And no... well designed and implemented silver cables do not sound bright. Sheesh! With careful listening however, those micro details that many high end systems can reveal become just a bit more discernible with fine quality silver speaker cables. And yes, I have had both!🧐 |
As we all know, facts are theoretical constructs!😮 |
@dave_b Could you please clarify what a "regular cable" would be? Are you referring to lamp cord or other brands of specialty cables or both?
Thanks!
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