You are not the last.
Bling is a big part of high end audio. Hard to put a proper price tag on bling, but higher prices alone can add to bling factor. Bling is in the eye (not ear) of the beholder. How it impacts the senses from there is anyone’s guess.
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Mystery not unraveled. Life and expensive wire companies go on.
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I’d return my 90k amp if I found out they cheaped out on the cord.
If if you can do a 90k amplifier right and then get the cord wrong and the cord matters then guess what you screwed up and credibility gone. |
Shadorne maybe a dominant left or right side of the brain thing.
Playing is is more fun. |
Benjie,
Not a problem. Thanks for fessing up to a mistake. Does not happen in this world as often as it should.
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benjie you are putting words in my mouth. I heard no difference at all. Just results that did not live up to the hype no matter how much gear was packed in there.
Granted I was not impressed enough to stick around long given my limited time there. Maybe with a longer audition.
Plus I would have had to hear something I never heard before to even consider those expensive products. Didn’t happen. I was actually hoping it would. Magnetic wires are different hence interesting to me. But I was not sold even with teh tens of thousands of dollars worth of HFC products that were in the room.
That’s just my unbiased impression. I am not in this industry, just a customer, and have no business associations otherwise at all with anyone.
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I heard HFC room at Capital Audiofest last year. Was looking forward to it greatly given all the hype.
Small room, giant speakers, magnets everywhere, pretty good sound but nothing special except lots of gear and sound in a very tiny room that frankly most any good system, even smaller good quality monitors should be able to handle. it was definitely designed for sensory overload. Like that guy listening in the old JBL ads X 10. Whatever the magnet wires did or did not do, they had a lot of help from the oversized system (for that room) they were part of.
I liked other rooms with no magnets much better. Go figure!
Press covering the event seemed indifferent as well. Not many if any mentions.
I was turned off admittedly when I walked in and saw such a huge system set up in such a small room. Far from the norm and tons of overkill.
I do not doubt the magnets do something to the sound but with all that there was still no inherent superiority with the sound resulting though there was lots of it to spare. Did not live up to the hype.
Maybe if my expectations were lower going in and the wires were not given so much help impressing in that small room.
Very strange.
IMHO.
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I’ve had great luck with Amazonbasics digital wires.
Here’s the thing about Amazon. Everyone knows this company has their act together and does most things right usually sooner rather than later. Nothing Amazon brand that has been around for any extended period of time is likely to be of poor quality or a bad value. This company has its act together to an extent that is almost scary.
Does anyone realize how many first rate companies trust Amazon to host their computing resources on Amazon Web Services, the same software Amazon web site itself is built upon?
Didn't some wise man once say "put your money where it matters"?
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it is all ones and zeros and either thy arrive or they don’t
Dyna you definitely jumped the shark a bit here when it comes to digital sound. There is more to it than that. The right ones need to arrive at the right time. Also the ones and zeros must be represented accurately (ones be ones and zeros zeros and not loose too many, ideally none along the way). Nearby sources of noise and other parameters are real issues to consider. Some do it better than others. Also it is not always done exactly the same way. Good news is excellent performing digital wires (and digital audio gear in general) need not cost a fortune but probably a good idea to avoid poorly made products and be aware that wires are often still subject to significant noise and resulting "distortion". Of course like with all things there are good value products and others that do not offer as good value for most. However, value is largely a personal judgement. If someone thinks something sounds or is better the value exists for them. The question is how many see the value in any particular product. Also it is usually the case that the best made products tend to cost more. How much that matters.......well like most things it all depends. Not quite so cut and dry... Having said all that I tweak most anything that needs it but with digital cables specifically I buy good quality wires from reputable sources and have yet to have a reason to doubt my digital wires. I do not think I have any costing more than $20 or so. |
I’m sure the expensive ones are better made. Probably come in a nice expensive package as well.
Sound better? I’d have to hear in my system to know.
Do I get good odds if I bet on the poor ordinary wire?
What if its a tie?
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Placebos actually add more value but the shoe fits. |
Or there is no or little difference to hear. Conveniently forgot that one didn't you placebo man?
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people can be intelligent, and get duped into giving excessive money for a product that cannot possibly "work as advertised" when they lack technical knowledge
No doubt technical knowledge is the key to avoid being duped. |
pops these is a report this button at lower right of each post that can be used to report improper postings. I don't think political content is necessarily prohibited but anyone can flag any post they think should be reported.
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Its abandoning some high end costs, not necessarily high end sound.
Try not to tremble at the thought GK. I’m sure your products would still hold value.
Don’t worry. Nobody is going to take away your beloved Sony Walkman! Were high end sound to be abandoned, your sales of those could actually skyrocket!
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I still have many older monster wires around and I even use them when needed. Guess what? They sound perfectly fine these days. Of course the systems I use them in these days are miles ahead of what I had back when I originally bought them. Goes to show that whatever the upside to certain more esoteric wires may or may not be, the downside is limited when everything else is performing well already.
Notice I did not say they sound the same or as good as others I use. I know some to sound different in spot a/b tests I have done from time to time. All I am saying is the the wires in of themselves do no harm. So I can choose to tweak wires or most anything else as needed and get quality results. Exact flavors of sound that results may vary.
Thing is it is easy and can be relatively inexpensive to tweak with wires. Its the same mindset that drives fuse tweakers I think (I am not one of those).
If a tweak is needed or desired and it does not cost much and I can change it easily and see what happens I will. HEck I even tried out a $100 fuse that someone here offered up to try for free. It was an easy thing to change and try so I did.
The interesting thing is some of our gear and systems cost a lot of money which means the price of "relatively inexpensive" goes up as well. Makes for a nice environment to sell things that are probably overpriced but still relatively affordable on the grand scale of things. Someone with a 6 digit system to start is not likely to balk at a 4 digit wire. More likely to balk at a less expensive wire not being up to par with the rest.
Its like if decorating a large expensive room in a mansion, One is probably not going to cheap up on the paint or other basic materials used that may or may not make much if any real difference in the end.
Luxury items are just that. Things that are less common, of good build quality, that look nice, and make us feel good about owning but may or may not actually be more functional in the end.
Just realize that expensive wires are luxury items for the audio elite and then we can all not loose any sleep about it .
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I need to read the DNM site again and see if what they say there sounds kosher or not. I swear no other large form ICs sound coherent in comparison for some reason. |
Randy do you think it could be more significant in interconnects than speaker wires and maybe be heard there? |
Hey look I may not be a pin boy, but I do think that there are certain aspects of wire construction beyond the fundamental electronic properties that affects how waves of varying frequency propagate along it much like the atmasphere affects propogation of light so that it is not always seen as white, ie as blue skies, rainbows etc.
Anecdotally, I even think I can hear differences between say minimalist DNM ICs (single solid conductor core) I use (and tend to like best) and other wires of much different form factor and construction. They have a coherent sound I do not find in large overbuilt wires.
DNM proves to me though that its a simple problem to address and does not require fancy overbuilt wires that may add some unique or exotic flavor to the sound but is not required and may even cause further harm in some cases.
Don’t you love a good anecdote?
Regarding speaker wires specifically, I tend to not care much other than I follow old school dogma that says longer runs need to be lower gauge (larger diameter). Back when I actually sold gear I never recommended 16 gauge speaker wire to anyone. |
That's OK. I've lost count by now. |
Dunno but its cold and snowing. Nice bowling weather actually. |
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You may. Most all posts here are anecdotes in a sense. Yours included. |
The nice thing about anecdotes are anyone can write one and say whatever they want. Jacob Grimm came up with some classics in his day. |
how about teleportation tweaks? That's not even anecdotal unless one considers the seller saying it works enough to qualify.
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Yep straight from the experts mouth....
Gotta walk the walk not just talk the talk in order to really know anything for sure.
Walkmen rule!
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GK I am high end compared to you for sure.
I’ve spent tens of thousands on hifi gear.
How much does your Sony Walkman cost again?
You have a lot of nerve I must say trolling others here about high end. Its a good comedy routine at least.
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