Are cable “upgrades” just as likely to make your system sound worse?


Many of us with highly resolving systems have found that speakers cables and interconnect cables can improve the sound quality of our systems. But are they also just as likely to do the opposite?

A few months ago, I “upgraded” to a renowned speaker cable, and immediately noticed more detail and resolution. I was so pleased I also “upgraded” the interconnects. But with more time I realized that the trade-off for more detail was a thinner sound with diminished tonal richness. Thus began a maddening series of attempts to fix the problem – different speaker cables, different DAC, different streamer, and now even a 30 trial of a new amplifier to try to overcome the thinness and find a more natural tone. It finally occurred to me to replace the out-of-sight-out-of-mind interconnects (with my original interconnects), and immediately the problem was blessedly solved.

Have others experienced this frustration? What recommendations do you have to avoid such fiascos?

wester17

The break in time for speaker cables can be quite long. When I made my own cables using Canare 4s11, I waited 100 hrs, before making any determination about their sound. They have certainly gotten better with time.

@OP. It certainly can. I've seen several people move towards more analytical sounding cables and then spend a fortune longer term trying to rectify imbalances in their systems. What tends to happen is that people are impressed with the additional detail and resolution after making the change. Then over time they find that the system is less natural sounding and they become frustrated and start to change things in the system to get back to the sound they had previously.

My experience was a little backwards. Years ago I bought a whole used system that included Synergistic ICs and Speaker Cables. Since their original price was pretty high, I always assumed they were "better" than what I was using, mostly Tara Labs. No issues with the ICs but I always thought I was lacking in bass. I upgraded gear but kept using the SR speaker cables until about a year ago. For fun, I decided to swap out the SRs with my old pair of Tara Labs Prism Bi-Wire cables. I got all my Bass back and other noticeable changes. I never thought a $300 set of cables would out perform a $1200 set.

Keep in mind, the quality of your components and music files can impact what you hear. Many times high quality cables can be more revealing. This should not be confused with being bright. It’s the old garbage in, garbage out theory. There is a synergy between all three. 

There is no "absolute sound" that everyone would agree is perfect. Therefore it's all about listening preference or bias. I think most here would agree that cables can and will make a difference in our audio systems. Whether that difference is an upgrade (preferred) or not is totally up to the taste of the individual listener. The listener who "got his bass back" by re-installing his less expensive cables may have muddied his system or subtracted detail to the ears of another.