Why Do Cables Matter?

I’ve been a lifelong music lover, so I’ve also been pursuing audio systems and upgrades that get me closer to live performances. I recently upgraded my interconnects from Kimber Hero to AudioQuest Dragon (read Robert Harley’s review in The Absolute Sound).  My Speakers sounded more alive, more detailed in the midrange and highs, and better controlled in the bass region. I am now planning to upgrade power cables.

@gs5556   YES! 

@nonoise Sounds much like Kenjit doesn't this poster.  

@jasonbourne71 Your history does omit some important facts.  Monster 300 (the original, not further Mark versions or Monster 400s) was simple in design and well executed.  For some reason, the future cable designer/manufacturer (I forgot his name & company) was entrusted with Monster's first interconnect.  It is a success over the typical really cheap and common RCA ICs at the time.  It has a bloomy and full bottom end, mostly neutral mid and rolled off highs, very pleasant, not highly resolving, but at the time, it was a step in the right direction for improving audio sound.  

So, don't tell me it's a bunch of baloney.  Sure, I've heard excretable, extremely expensive high cost/end cabling but I also have heard bad/cheap Pangea power and IC cabling in even high end systems where the owner typically was an electrical engineer and until shown the value of a quality higher end cable, said cabling doesn't matter (usually just power cabling).  

I'd be ready to make a poll and I'm pretty sure that, in 2023, the vast majority of audiophiles agrees on the fact that cables matter, that it's completely normal to hear differences and that spening a certain amount of cash on cables is, in fact, healthy.

Naysayers may think they are smarter than the rest, they are mostly unable to hear the difference and frustrated, due to diminutive hearing or a lousy system. 

Threads like this belong to 1971 when all amplifiers were thought to sound "alike".

I’m a dealer for Infigo audio. The company has experimented with the best copper and implements shielding that keeps outside noise out and are less likely to be affected by outside factors to just let the signal flow.  We do this in our USB cable for example. 

Pay little attention to those who rant and yet cannot share which brands/models of  higher end design cables they've actually tried or owned in a worthy system. 

Is there some magical difference that occurs to the electricity after it comes out of the wall?   

Maybe that's the "special" electricity.  All the miles of electricity before the wall outlet doesn't matter.  We'll fix it at that last six feet before the amp.  

Power cables  are psychoacoustic nonsense.  Placebo effect and expectation bias.  The owners and sellers of these don't want to hear that.  Especially the sellers.

On the other hand, the placebo effect does work.

ossicle2brain

Power cables are psychoacoustic nonsense. Placebo effect and expectation bias ... On the other hand, the placebo effect does work.

Not so. Placebo effect won’t cure cancer for example.

As for expectation bias, many a doubting cynic has been surprised by the results a cable can make, so that would be in defiance of expectation bias. There’s a whole thread on just that here.

Cables matter at least to my ear. I have tried the following Infigo, Cardas, clarity, Clarus, high fidelity, mavros, MIT, Fusion audio, anti cables, Ansuz, Tara labs, Kubala sosna, audio quest, kimber cables, purist, Nordost, shunyata. All of them have different sound signatures. I have tried more. Just can’t name them all. Cables matter. 

Is there some magical difference that occurs to the electricity after it comes out of the wall?   

Maybe that's the "special" electricity.  All the miles of electricity before the wall outlet doesn't matter.  We'll fix it at that last six feet before the amp.  

Power cables  are psychoacoustic nonsense.  Placebo effect and expectation bias.  The owners and sellers of these don't want to hear that.  Especially the sellers.

On the other hand, the placebo effect does work.

               WELL: the Cargo Cult's building another runway.

                                         Time for a rewind:

Cargo cult science is a pseudoscientific method of research that favors evidence that confirms an assumed hypothesis. In contrast with the scientific method, there is no vigorous effort to disprove or delimit the hypothesis.[1] The term cargo cult science was first used by physicist Richard Feynman during his 1974 commencement address at the California Institute of Technology.[1]

Cargo cults are religious practices that have appeared in many traditional tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures.

     Do a bit a research and you'll learn those primitives were limited in their understanding, of what they saw with their eyes, based on their prior experience, education and BIASES.

                                                A rewind:

                 It isn't that the Denyin'tologists are ignorant.

               It's they're knowing* so much, that's WRONG.

                       *heart of the Dunning-Kruger Effect

                                              OR, two:

     The Church of the Naysayer Doctrine (like every other faith-based, religious cult) has as many dopes as it does Popes.   

     Bring up anything resembling SCIENCE/PHYSICS, dated later than the 1800’s and they become apoplectic, not having the formal education to comprehend the concepts, or- possible ramifications.    THAT would be hilarious, were it not so pathetic!        

           Gimme That Old Time Religion, Gimme That Old Time Religion, etc.

        At the very first mention of something as simple as Wave Function (a BASIC tenet of Quantum Mechanics), the Cargo Cult will label you a KOOK.

        But remember: they can only view/understand you, based on their limited experience, education and BIASES.

         They have overlooked the fact that, if not for the hypotheses/theories and experimentation, regarding Quantum Mechanics: a plethora of modern conveniences, medical devices and the gear they so love, would not exist.

          Had scientists, chemists and inventors shared the doctrines of the Cargo Cult (Denyin'tologists), there would be no semiconductors, computer chips, LASERs, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging devices (MRIs).

                                         Solid State amps?

                                     OOPS (back to tubes)!

                                        Your Smart Phone?

                                        FA'GET ABOUT IT!

                                         Your car's GPS?

                                                NOPE!

    Then too: some may be willfully ignorant and just enjoy being contentious.

                        Others: obtuse, uneducated*, misinformed?

      *Typically, from what's been exhibited here: H.S. STEM, if that, would be a safe inference.

      Either way: the result, when the Cult begins it's rhetoric is a classic demo of the Dunning- Kruger Effect.

                                          But, I digress: 

       Bring up those pesky details, regarding the likes of QED, Dielectric Absorption, Poynting's theorem and possible application/effects, relative to frequency, that our musical signals are carried via photon or wave, outside the conductor and you're a KOOK?

         Again: the Cargo Cult can only understand anyone with an actual background, experience and education in Physics/QED, based on their beliefs, education, experience and biases

                                      Remember this?

     One anecdote  that some may find interesting: their walks in the woods and how Feynman's father would encourage him to look beyond the fact that something in nature exists, but into why and how.

     It saddened him that while attending college, during a visit home and one of their walks: his dad asked what he was learning in college.

     At that moment, he realized: if he tried to explain what he was learning, there was no way his dad could understand.                               

                            It wasn't an insult or condescension.

                                                Just reality.

                                    Oh well: let 'em go build a runway!

                                                    references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_quantum_mechanics#:~:text=Examples%20include%20lasers%2C%20electron%20microscopes,systems%2C%20computer%20and%20telecommunication%20devices.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2015/08/13/what-has-quantum-mechanics-ever-done-for-us/?sh=37c459944046

https://uwaterloo.ca/institute-for-quantum-computing/quantum-101/quantum-applications-today

          But: I'm a kook, because I believe in the SCIENCE, from which all that sprang?

     https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-practical-uses-spooky-quantum-mechanics-180953494/

           Einstein got that last one wrong (Quantum Entanglement), BUT- I still wish he'd been alive, when the Hubble Telescope proved, what he considered his, "greatest blunder" (his inability to bring symmetry to his field equation, without lambda).

  https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200507/history.cfm#:~:text=Einstein's%20original%20equations%20had%20been,how%20the%20universe%20will%20end.                                            How about that?

Another example of a hypothesis/theory, with no way to EXPERIMENT/MEASURE, what you're sure must be there, in some detectable way, or another.

                                               Just for fun:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/6-times-quantum-physics-blew-our-minds-in-2022/

                                            Happy listening!

With the better power cord, the sound will be closer to the original music. This video sound is as close as the production audio gets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHEpZR_VHHs

The original music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiDRLHXSyT0

Alex/Wavetouch

Wire for audio gear is more honestly assessed by the jewelry comparison: if it looks good and you like the way it feels, buy it!

most of us are too old to clearly see our cables from the listening chair...a friend connected my cables, so I never actually touched them...

Funny how people go on rants and say cables don’t make a difference. It’s simple as this. Unless they have your ears how can they tell. Then the arrogance to tell you that you are just not smart enough like they are to understand what you are not hearing with your own ears! Lol 😂 can’t make this ish up! INFIGO AUDIO OFFERS FREE DEMOS SO YOU CAN TRUST YOUR OWN EARS! 

^  "I’m a dealer for Infigo audio."

I appreciate the honesty.