The Science of Cables

prof

Claims about cables, especially extraordinary claims, ought to be able to pass the same vetting method as any other science.

Agreed. But why is it that those who call for this vetting seem to always require that others do the work? Erik even has a thread called, "How I would measure audio cables" and he says it would be "super easy" to do. But: He can't be bothered.

cleeds,

You keep raising that question, even though it's been answered a number of times.  Here we go again....

You assume people skeptical about boutique cable claims haven't 'done the work.'   But note that most of the skepticism comes from the engineering world in which people work with the electrical theories in question.  It is from an understanding - theoretical and practical - of how electrical components work that many EEs and other technically qualified skeptics conclude many audiophile claims are bogus.  The "work" on electrical theory and cables has essentially "been done."At least, this is a common position of most EE skeptics I've read.

Further, there have been plenty of technically knowledgeable skeptics who HAVE done technical and blind testing of cable claims.   Someone has posted quite a few here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/

Science oriented web sites like Hydrogen Audio contain plenty of technical tests on audio components, including cables, and blind test results of all sorts of audio components.   You can find more technical tests on Audio Science Review, and on Archimego's blog.

More recently, skeptic Ethan Winer has proposed a null test for cable claims...and you can see videos of him showing the results.

I myself have, as I've explained before, blind-tested cables and other devices.

So this objection you continually raise...as if it had any force...just seems ignorant of all the reasons skeptics give for rejecting many of the claims from high end cable companies, and the knowledge, and work, those objections are based upon.

So we all (kinda) agree that cables have an impact on sound quality...we all want to hear the ‘pure, unaltered sound’ coming out of our speakers... how about the cables that were used during the recording session? I doubt all those record studios use ‘high end’ cables...

Uh, what are these extraordinary claims you guys keep talking about? Frankly I haven’t seen any. Unless you mean the claim, high end cables are better than clothes hangers. Looks like a big old Strawman argument if you ask me.

iasi,

Many skeptics would not say that cables have an impact on sound quality...but not necessarily in the ways many audiophiles believe.  That is: a basic, well designed cable, properly chosen for the job at hand (e.g. capacitance etc for a given length/job)...is essentially transparent.  That is, it's not the case that any time you change a cable the sound ought to change because "all cables 'sound' different."

But, yes, choose the wrong cable for the job and you can get something like a tone control (e.g. rolling off the high end), so in that sense cables can sound different.

That caveat out of the way.

I have often pointed out that audiophiles swooning over the 'sound' of their latest expensive cable purchase are simultaneously swooning over the sound of the relatively basic, cheap, industry-grade cables used to create most of the recordings we listen to.