Oh Boy, the ever popular cable thread. Is there a more polarizing topic in all of audio?
I am myself a firm believer in the differences good cables can bring to a system and have demonstrated their differences to many a scoffer on multiple occasions on my system. In fact I extend an open invitation to all here - if you are ever in my area and have some free time I'd be happy to swap out any cable in the system and let you judge for yourself with your own ears what differences if any can be heard. I have yet to have ANYONE not appreciate the differences.
So here's the thing, and I've said it many times before, cables are a part of your
system. They are the link from one component to another. They should neither add to the signal nor detract from it. They should be as neutral as possible, thus allowing the components they are joining simply do their job. In this regard however not all cables are created equal. I've heard a lot of good cables and a lot of bad ones, but I always make sure I judge them
based upon the context of the system in which they are inserted. Simply put, a great cable inserted in a system that is incapble of providing the resolution necessary to make a valid observation will sound as if it offers no sonic benefit. Conversely a poor cable inserted between two great components will not allow those components to demonstrate their full potential.
The conversations/discussions/debates I've had with folks who don't believe that cables can make a difference in an audio system have usually revealed that they either...
- Have never really listened to a higher end cable in the context of either their own or another good system because they have rationalized for themselves that cables can't make a difference, therefore no emperical research on their own is necessary
- Have experimented at some point in time with cables, but having heard no difference made a decision that their contribution is either negligible or non existant.
The falacy in the first instance is that no real validation for oneself has occured. The falacy in the second instance lies in the context of the system that the cables may have been heard in. All of us for the most part have systems that are ever evolving. Call it Joeyitis, curiosity, experimentation, the availability of more disposable income or the never ending search for perfection, the fact is that this hobby of ours usually involves one degree or another of evolutionary improvement to ones system. The system I have today is much more resolving than the system I had 10-12 years ago, and leaps and bounds ahead of the Sansui reciever and Technics loudspeakers I had 25 years ago. I suspect that had I inserted a Synergistic Research Designers Reference cable into that old Sansui/Technics system I'd likely not notice any significant change. Insert that same cable between my Esoteric universal player and my BAT tubed pre-amp and I contend you would have to be wearing earmuffs and be battling a headcold not to hear the difference. The difference is the context of the
system into which the cable is placed and
the symbiotic relationships between every component of that system. If you have tried higher end cables in your system, but have since changed or upgraded your system you don't actually
know what effect those same cables may have in your current system. You only know what effect they had in your previous setup. What if the cables were able to give you even more of the sonic benefit that the new component brought into the system? What if in the previous setup it was actually the
component that was the limiting factor in the delineation of sonic benefit?
My point is that all of our systems are constantly evolving. What may be true today may not be true 6 months or a year from now. The only real constant is change. To shut yourself off from the possibility of a cable's contribution to your system without real validation may limit its full capabilities.
The invitation of a demonstration in the context of
MY system stands to all here.
god I'm sick....my wife wants to go on a trip... I want to get a tubed pre-amp....
