Interconnects and non-believers


For anyone who denies there are differences in cables, I have news for you.
There are vast differences.  I just switched interconnects between my CD transport (Cyrus) and DAC (Schiit Gumby), and the result was transformational.  Every possible parameter was improved: better definition, better soundstaging,  better bass, better depth etc.
I can’t understand how any audiophile with ears can deny the differences.  Is it delusion or dogma?
128x128rvpiano
Post removed 

Seems like this discussion has taken better turn (from 'cable wars').  Did I do that?  If so, I'm proud.

PROF, GEOFF & ELIZABETH, thank you for your good posts.

PROF - I was kidding.  I know you're not angry.  In fact, you seem quite sensible... even though we disagree on some things.  And btw, I think Elizabeth was referring to others, not you or Geoff.  For example, TEO made a good point, but in a rather insulting manner.  But you know who then real trolls (Clearthink?) and snark-monsters (unreceivedogma?) are.

I agree that skepticism is healthy... IF it is healthy skepticism, and not just ignorant nay-saying.  As J. Gordon Holt said, "If you haven't heard it, you have no opinion."  I also believe that you should always trust your ears, but never expect anyone else to trust YOUR ears.  Each to their own! 

PROF - On speaker break-in... It's difficult to hear in 'real life', as your new spkrs. are going to break in gradually, over a long period of time.  Like the frog in hot water, you may not notice the gradual improvement.

Most people notice it when they replay something they had listened to early after the spkrs. have had a month or two of use.

If you can audition duplicate spkrs. - broken in vs. brand-new - it's much easier to discern.

RE pricey cables... I didn't say they weren't too expensive.  While some cables are much more expensive to produce than some people here understand, the mark-ups are also quite high.  The question is not how the price relates to the costs, so much as how it relates to the resulting improvement in sonics.

In my case, I've found that cabling can make huge differences in sound - at least, they're huge to me because they get me closer to reality. In fact, I think of interconnects & A/C cords more as 'components' than 'accessories' due to their impact on sonics.

As always, not asking you to take my word for it, so much as honestly sharing what I've heard.  I did not believe cables could make such profound differences until I'd heard it myself... repeatedly.

Example:  My Sunfire amp has a dedicated A/C cord, because 20 yrs. ago Bob Carver did not believe it could make a difference.  His new tubed amps have removable A/C cords, because since then he's HEARD that he was wrong.

I don't intend to change anyone's mind, but if I can OPEN one or two, they might change themselves... 

aalenik,

Sound cool to me.  Thanks again.  I agree the forum is about sharing our experiences.  It's also fun to hash stuff out about the hobby as well.
After all, it makes sense to be interested in the explanations for experiences as well as the experiences.
rvpiano,

Well, I have to say our assessment of Teo’s post(s) are pretty much at odds. You mention three words that pretty much what come to my mind when I read it. ;-)

I can see why you may like it; it’s a diss of people who claim not to hear differences in cables, so it expresses the sentiment of your original post. But I would challenge you to actually pull a good argument out of what he wrote. And one that isn’t ultimately self-defeating.

It’s one thing to go of into soliloquies attributing some specious argument to other people and "knocking them down." It’s entirely another thing to specifically address what someone actually written. Teo as far as I can see spends a lot of time on the former and doesn’t seem terribly interested in the latter. Note when I pointed out his critique of my position derived from his own strawman, he didn’t acknowledge this at all.

Similarly when I responded to another post of Teo’s:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/beware-the-audio-guru?page=4

He just carries on, ignoring all the problems pointed out in his string of confidently declared claims.   And that his very argument about the skeptics, and those who "can’t hear" the differences seem to just as ready to undermine those who claim they can. (And this is a common problem with arguments against blind testing, or other forms of controlled testing, and skeptical challenges: the Golden Ear who can easily heard "transformational" differences when he swaps in new cables suddenly looks for every excuse of why it soooo haaard to pick up these now-micro-differences in more carefully designed tests. The problem remains: if you think tests in which efforts to really control and account for known variables are unreliable...what in the world make you think tests with fewer controls, which allow for all sort of known bias effects, are MORE reliable????)

Teo continually poses as if he is tearing down the foundations of the type of skepticism people like me bring to some high end audio claims, but he has yet to accurately interpret or critique anything I’ve been writing.

But maybe that’s because my posts are too dangerously "Machiavellian" to touch ;-)

As I keep saying: we need to move out of black and white thinking - that someone either has to be a Believer or a Disbeliever - and that any nuance or caveats are just sneaky and Machiavellian. It really is possible to consider two points of view; to represent a case for skepticism without committing to that case, or to have come to a negative conclusion.

(Anyway, bye thread for now as I’m off on vacation...cheers everyone!)