04-Feb-2016, 08:01
I came at this from the other direction.
For the first 25 years of having a hifi I went from believing totally in measured specs to being totally subjective, as a result of noticing a considerable difference between amps which should not have been there according to specs, I was checking to see if an amp I liked the look of was powerful enough for my speakers (it was less powerful than the amp I was already using). Finding that there was a big difference in SQ was a shock, and it took a while to find the source since a difference between amps was not where I looked first.
Anyway from then, around 1974, I only bought something which auditioned well to me, preferrably at home. I still do this but as an engineer things have to be plausible to science for my mind to be comfortable.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why amplifiers could and do sound different.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why loudspeakers could and do sound very different indeed.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why digital electronics could and do sound different.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why the listening room and the position of the speakers and listener within it make the biggest difference of all to the sound of a hifi.
I have never seen any technically plausible reasons why a correctly specified cable could possibly make a difference to sound quality.
I have seen a very few attempts but none were technically plausible at audio frequencies. If there is one I am sure it would have been published by now.
Sure there are ways one can make cables sound different. Putting a filter box in line can. Using high values for resistance, inductance and/or capacitance could all change the sound, but mainly by making the amplifier unstable...
Anyway, I had been persuaded to buy expensive cables, over the years, by enthusiastic demonstrators and other listeners getting all enthusiastic about them. I was never sure the I heard the differences they were hearing so in the mid to late 1990s I decided to do compare for myself at home.
I had a collection of very expensive, fairly expensive and modest cables from MIT, Goldmund, and various other flavour of the month items I had succumbed to over the years.
My daughter a music lover and accomplished musician but not particularly interested in the mechanics of hifi dis the changes. She made the changes so I auditioned interconnects and loudspeaker cables effectively blind.
The only ones which sounded different (and a lot better to my ears fwiw) were the expensive MIT loudspeaker cables with filters and the Goldmund ones, which had a different filter at each end. The filtered interconnects were a touch different.
All the others sounded the same, regardless of price and construction except one very expensive cable which turned out to have smaller than standard pins on its phono plug, and that was obvious because either one had sound or silence depending on whether the there was contact or not...
I still normally only buy equipment I audition first, preferably at home. Except cables.
Also people should not feel bad about the placebo effect. It works for a substantial proportion of the population. If it works for an individual the effect is real. It is the only scientifically plausible explanation I know of why a difference could be perceived between unfiltered cables.
I myself have gone from using speaker cables which cost >£6000 to ones costing around £20, but only because the Goldmund cables have a proprietary connector which Devialet doesn't match. I wouldn't have wasted the £20 otherwise.
For the first 25 years of having a hifi I went from believing totally in measured specs to being totally subjective, as a result of noticing a considerable difference between amps which should not have been there according to specs, I was checking to see if an amp I liked the look of was powerful enough for my speakers (it was less powerful than the amp I was already using). Finding that there was a big difference in SQ was a shock, and it took a while to find the source since a difference between amps was not where I looked first.
Anyway from then, around 1974, I only bought something which auditioned well to me, preferrably at home. I still do this but as an engineer things have to be plausible to science for my mind to be comfortable.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why amplifiers could and do sound different.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why loudspeakers could and do sound very different indeed.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why digital electronics could and do sound different.
There are perfectly good, well understood and researched reasons why the listening room and the position of the speakers and listener within it make the biggest difference of all to the sound of a hifi.
I have never seen any technically plausible reasons why a correctly specified cable could possibly make a difference to sound quality.
I have seen a very few attempts but none were technically plausible at audio frequencies. If there is one I am sure it would have been published by now.
Sure there are ways one can make cables sound different. Putting a filter box in line can. Using high values for resistance, inductance and/or capacitance could all change the sound, but mainly by making the amplifier unstable...
Anyway, I had been persuaded to buy expensive cables, over the years, by enthusiastic demonstrators and other listeners getting all enthusiastic about them. I was never sure the I heard the differences they were hearing so in the mid to late 1990s I decided to do compare for myself at home.
I had a collection of very expensive, fairly expensive and modest cables from MIT, Goldmund, and various other flavour of the month items I had succumbed to over the years.
My daughter a music lover and accomplished musician but not particularly interested in the mechanics of hifi dis the changes. She made the changes so I auditioned interconnects and loudspeaker cables effectively blind.
The only ones which sounded different (and a lot better to my ears fwiw) were the expensive MIT loudspeaker cables with filters and the Goldmund ones, which had a different filter at each end. The filtered interconnects were a touch different.
All the others sounded the same, regardless of price and construction except one very expensive cable which turned out to have smaller than standard pins on its phono plug, and that was obvious because either one had sound or silence depending on whether the there was contact or not...
I still normally only buy equipment I audition first, preferably at home. Except cables.
Also people should not feel bad about the placebo effect. It works for a substantial proportion of the population. If it works for an individual the effect is real. It is the only scientifically plausible explanation I know of why a difference could be perceived between unfiltered cables.
I myself have gone from using speaker cables which cost >£6000 to ones costing around £20, but only because the Goldmund cables have a proprietary connector which Devialet doesn't match. I wouldn't have wasted the £20 otherwise.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire
