Cables more hype than value?

I would only say NO to all the average and poor cables. And yes there are many!!

Cables are an essential part of a system. The quality is so good these days you can get to a higher level without them. I will give you 2 examples. In 2004 I did blind tests for clients. I had a cd player of 2000 euro with a powercable od 2600 euro. And a cd player of 5000 euro with our most sols powercable of 100 euro. All people choose for the cd player and powercable of 2600 euro. They all were very surprised. Last week I received the latest Purist Audio LE powercable. I have the best articulation I ever had. Of all the cd's I played hundreds of times I easily can hear all the endings of words during singing. Even with poweramps which were 2 times more expensive I did not have this level in articulation. Cables can ad new qualities in your system what equipment cannot do.

Cables make your system come to life!

Because cables are that important. Cables are the veins of your system. So your system can breath even better. it gives your system more air.

Soon I will give presentatiosn and I will film them professional on full HD. I will do them in english as well. I will tell also a lot about cables and what people can aspect what it does in your system.

forward sound is 2 dimensional sound. There are cables of can mess up a wide and deep stage. The same about amps. sources and speakers. That is why I learn my clients the difference between 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional sound. I never had a client who preferd 2 dimensional sound over 3 dimensional sound. this was after my explanation between the difference and the demo with music. Many clients who bought 2 dimensional products for a lot of money did not know this was possible. Or even did not know what it is. They all said; next time I will go for 3 dimensional stuff. Because you would be a fool to choose for 2 dimensional audio ( Standard Audio) Because the emotion and involvement in music is that much better. What I did in the past was letting people know what the competitors were. I said you have to listen to that and that. I send them to other shops. All these products were 2 dimensional brands. They came back and said: that is not of the same level. It was that easy to persuade. I had a lot of fun with this. I love it wenn other people in this business have not a lot of knowledge.

You have to keep it as easy as possible. Spending a lot of money on cables give you not the insurrance of more quality in your system. But these days there are cables lmost who add new qualities in the overwhole sound. These qualities are convincing for almost all people. Like a wider and deeper stage. This is very easy to understand. Or more air and resolution. Some cables give a much better articulation of voices. So I do many a-b comparrison for clients to make it understandable. I never say: you have to buy this. I give them a demo to listen. They can make there own judgement. It is everyone's own choice. It is clear that differences in cables are big. Different does not mean better. But there are many parts were you can judge music and quality in sound for. Last few months I explain my clinets the difference between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional sound. Every one understands it quite easy. Witht there own music it makes them more easy to understand. I test a lot of stuff. Any yesss there is a lot more stuff which is not that convincing. But it does not mean every cable is the same!

Discussions about it so much fun!!! I love it. Give me more, for me it is enough. I like to read about other people there opinion. If we would all have the same idea's, it would not be that fun anymore. For long time the Valhalla loudspeakercable was the fastest cable for money. But 2 weeks ago I had by far the shortest and quickest low freq. respons I heard so far at my tests. It was with the Audioquest Redwood. I will write a review in about 4 weeks about this cable. Wenn you use this cable you understand the meaning of black better than ever before. Mmmmmmmmm...cables

Cables make audio more fun and better in quality. And wenn you understand them well you can get the peronal sound you are looking for. They give you extra control as well over your personal sound. It is just about personal taste. And cables can easilly help you with this. So yessss cables make life even better. I love them so much!

Dear Audiolabyrinth, cables are about real love! Friends for life.

Most designers do not know a lot about other brands. And they do not have a lot of experience with many different cables. I asked them many times about this. Many times I was surprised how little they knew.

What I did in the past was always an a-b comparison. Like a source with an inexpensive powercabele and a less expensive source with an expensive powercabel etc. Then a blind test and ask what people prefer. At the end it is just about the best sound. So keep it simple.....Your welcome Audiolabyrinth.

Audio will always be a personal thing. You cannot think for others. Respect them, you don't have to agree with eachother. But be polite. I have my own opinion as well. At the end it is about what you hear. In the last 10 years I did a lot of blind tests for my clients. Many were amazed about the quality what cables can give these days. What I do is making an a-b comparison. I Always use a cheaper spource, amp or speaker with a not expensive cable. And a more expensive cable with a less expensive source, amp or speaker. So people understand more easilly what the difference is. These days the quality is so good that I can get a higher end result with a more expensive cable and less expensive source, amp or speaker. I want every client to get the most for the money they spend. So I Always give them different options to choose. In highend audio without the best available cables you Always will loose. I love audioshows because I like to blow every other set away. This gives me always a very big smile on my face. Good cables help me a lot to achieve this.

I sold MIT cables and I owned the most expensive Powercables. The problem of MIT is that they can give a wide and deep stage. But the individual focus of instruments and voices is not sharp as in real. Avalon users are told thay they should use MIT. How stuppid can you be? This is only based on personal interests. Avalon you need cables who can give a very sharp individual focus. I recently sold a Avalon Oak to a client/friend with Avalon speakers. It was superior to the e 5000,0 MIT cable in every aspect. Now he has the sharpest individual focys I ever heard from an Avalon speaker. The boxes MIT uses give you less mid freq. The Oak was superior in the mid freq. So much more musical and richer mid freq. People want you to believe that you should use a brand they say. F.....'m. I can promiss you one thing: YOU WILL NOT GET THE BEST CABLE FOR THE MONEY YOU SPEND.

I mean Audioquest Oak loudspeakercable.

The latest Audioquest cables are from a new level what I never heard from any cable brand. I tested hundreds of cables in 15 years of time. Blacks are by far the best ever from a cable. It is the most intimate sound what I heard in my life. First time that I had the same feeling as the classical concerts at my friends house. Here I learned how direct and small instruments and voices sound in real. Believe me Avalon has not an exteme sharp individual focus. People who own Avalon understand and agree wenn they listend to my set that the touchable 3d image is superior to there Avalon speakers. The Redwood 2013 version which I use is pure silver and copper. The low's are full copper and mid/hig freq is pure silver. All my interconnects are full silver. Pure silver is so much more open and live like than any copper cable. The best silver cables have no harshness in the mid and hig freq. This Redwood is also superior in timing and speed to the Valhalla of Nordost which I used and owned for over 12 years.

I use Monitor Audio PL-200. Which use also full silver internal. Monitor Audio Always want to use better materials in there speakers than other brands use. Why you think Avalon closses there speakers? I met a person who owned the Diamonds. He opened the speakers ( which was not easy to do) and he was amazed about the simple filters and cheap internal wire they use. Simple copper. The Pl-200 also uses the best WBT terminals. ( platinum version) Copper often works better wenn there is copperwire internal. But.......the difference between silver and copper is stunning. Wenn copper works better you probably have copper internal. Believe me you loose speed, resolution and focus. Realism in sound is often better with silver. Because Avalon uses simple copper inside ( more cheap for them) you cannot use silver. So thanks to Avalon you get a lower end result. At the show in April were I was with my set, other sets had less resolution. I was amazed about how less information there was. This were very expensive sets like the Magico S1 with Zanden and Kubala Sosna Elation cabels. For example Bruce Springsteen ; Brothers under the Bridge. The ss and ttt and th of his words were almost not there. My image was even superior in depth, speed and in 3d touchable image of instruments and voices.

Audio is not my work, nor it is my hobby but a part of who I am. This is what I do for a living these days. It never has been work for me. Because it does not cost a lot of energy. It is like 1 and 1 is two. I am addicted to music sinch I was 6. So yessss music is my favorite hobby. A system is only a way to play the music you love. But it can make you enjoy your personal music more. I am gifted to have a photographic memory in sound. It makes listening a lot more easy. Wenn I change a cable of source I know exactly what the difference is between the first and the second option. Wenn I listend to classical music at my friends house I was stunned about the intimate sound of voices and instruments. I wanted a system what could give me the same feeling. I am a perfectionist in everyhing I do. I love to compare and Always looking for the best. Why? Because I want the best, like I want my clients to get the best for there money. I would love to give every person in the world a system like I have. Because I want people to enjoy music. I Always say: I sell emotion. The world of audio is not a nice world. Why? because many many people really don't care what there customers get, they just want to earn as much money as they can. I really don't f..care. I want every person to get the best sound as possible for there money. These days in the Netherlands cause of the economic situation the world of audio has a very difficult time. The thing what happens and what I dislike most. Is that shopkeepers are only focussed on how much money the earn for the set. People in shops are told which products will give more money. I call this coloured selling. This I really hate. Because it is the opposite of how I work and think. I never will change the way how I work. I love audio so much that I never could lie to people.

@Audiolabyrinth; I sold Taralabs for over 2 years of time. I loved the brand. But Holland was not important enough for them. The company who did Taralabs in Holland had many problems for receiving the cables we sold. At the end they stopped. They have still a little in stock, sometimes I still sell Taralabs loudspeaker cable

Odin is a Nordost cable, so it has Nordost properties. As you know I owned the Valhalla for over 12 years and I sold many Valhalla and other Nordost cables for a long period of time. I know exactly what it does and what are there weaknesses. I have done a lot of Nordost tests. Odin had a lot more authority over Valhalla and a better sound. But......still the same properties. This means.....less depth, not an extreme sharp individual focus and the overwhole sound is stil not as in real. This year I was a t a show were they used Odin. So Bobby thought mmmmmmm articulation test. Bruce Springsteen's Brothers under the Bridge gave the answer. You could hear some sss and tt and th. But it was by far not of the same openness as the Redwood does with this part.

I prefer and use Purist Audio Design powercables. The powercables of Audioquest are not good enough. As you know I am only interested in the best. BECAUSE GOOD NEVER WIL BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1362580561

These days Audioquest is my favorite brand in cables. Because it has all properties what should be there in a balanced audio set. They only thing what they cannot do; making exeptional good powercables like Purist Audio makes. I tested them, but Purist Audio is superior in every aspect. In 2 weeks I will meet Bill of Audioquest. I will tell him they have to get back tot the drawing table.

Audioquest made an exeptional progress in the last 5-6 years. They were fine cables but not exeptional. But these days they deliver stunning cables. With the best blacks and the best 3d touchable image.Wenn I compare them with Kimber, it looks if those people were sleeping.

The people of AVS are F.......insane. Wenn you do not let other people give ther own opinion. You never can and will be subjective. I never met such blind people in my life before in this business. Let them be happy with there simple sets and screens with budget cables. I guess they like to limited themselves. Who am I to Judge!!!

It is not about the price, it is about the level in sound quality you get for a certain amount you want to spend to the whole package. That is why I Always use blind auditions. I did many a-b blind tests whith cheeep cables and a expensive amp or source with a much less expensive amp or source witht an expensive cable. Then I aks what do you like more. These days the quality is so good of a few cables thay all people Always choose for the more expensive cable with less expensive amp or source. Thta is an honnest way. This is how I sell cables. Why? Because I want every person to get the best quality for the money they spend. Nothing more, nothing less. My Pass Labs X250.5 with a Purist Audio LE 2013 wins with ease of my older XA100.5 set with less expensive cables. Superior blacks, much better focus, more resolution, more control and even more 3d touchable image. I love audio so much, because I love to test. And Always looking for the best. This testing will never stop untill I die.

Not Always, but often it is more easy to get a higher level with exeptional good cables. Ofcourse you have to find them first. Because I still say: far above 90% of everything in audio it not that good for the money. Wenn you know those exeptional good things it is easilly to get a much higher level. I never say to my clients you have to buy this. I only say; just take a listen. Compare and make up your mind. My technical support is a person who is very talented. He modyfied many amps and sources. And yes it make big improvements for small prices. But the same about cables. The level in black what I have now I never heard this with the most expensive poweramps and sources. Wenn I do not use My Redwood and LE cables it is gone. At the end you listen to all the parts in your system including the acoustics. But wenn you use all the differentn tools well you can get a stunning level in sound. Wenn cables did not mater that much I would not use them. First I test and what to know what it can do and how good it is compared to there competitors. That is why you Always need to test many different options.

At this moment I prefer Audioquest, but wenn I find something better I will choose that one. I do not care about the brand or name. I just want the best. Audio is just like a formula one team. You cannot be the best every year. Time and technique Always will go on. The only thing that counts is to get the best for my clients and myself for the money we spend. That is why you need to test a lot for new products. The thing I hate most in this business is that there is a lot of shit for too much money. Far over 90%. In the installermarket you find it a lot. Sometimes I would like to beat this people up. They make often very worse products for even a high price.

Nooo, I have the LE 2013 version. It is about 4000 dollar. I have it connected with the best Oyaide F1 plugs. The Wattgates are not in the same league.

@ Audiolabyrinth:

maybe you will pull so much electricity out of the net that your neigbours will not have any electricity any more!!!!

Bobby

I understand!!!

It can be an addictive hobby. A few times I needed to let people know that it is only material. Nothing more. Sometimes people are almost obsessed like they need to have it. At those moments I try to get them on there feet again. Then I put the mirror right up in there faces.

Music is my biggest hobby. Wenn people say: audio is my hobby. Many times I have my doubts. I did visit people with audio sets over 70.000 euro and they had about 30-40 cd's. I saw it as my job to let them know that at the end it should be about music, never about audio. Because audio is only a system what can let you hear your personal favorite music. Many people who say my hobby is audio often are not even happy with it. This says a lot. So be aware!!!

I am aware of the reason why people change so often with cables. And yess they are nog happy with there set. Many people can not hear directley all the parts in audio what should be there. Wenn they are nog happy with the high freq. for example, they focus only on this part. Wenn they change a cable, source or amp and they fixes this problem. Some time later they get aware of another flaw. It is the combination of the limited knowledge of the people who buy it ( they are Always responsible for there own sold stuff) and they people who sell it. 2 months ago at the show were I was I made on monday a tour with my own cd's. Mannn I was listening to flaw's of other distributers. Many of them really do not understand music and audio. Here is were the problem starts!!

@Audiolabyrinth

write a review wenn you are ready about the Taralabs....

One day ago I was on the AVS website. There was a discussion about the Plasma's ZT60/VT60 and F8500. So I thought I will make an account as well. Mannnnnnn I was very popular.....hahahahahaha. I asked people with there expierence in HDMI cables. I said I tested many and there is one which is by far the most convincing. They all believe in calibrate your screen but not in differences between hdmi cables. They did not appriciate my thoughts about cables. I even got banned from the website. And no I did not insult any person. Maybe a website not for persons like me? I guess Audiogon is a different kind of website, or am I wrong?

@Jmcgrogan2, this was new for me. If you were not allowed to have your own oppinion. And they really believe that cables do not matter. They do not want to talk about it. How stuppid you can be? I Always say; more than 90% of everything in sound and vision is not that special. But......I Always want to Judge first before I know how good or bad it is. And wenn I do not know it, I say: I can not say anything about it. How simple things can be....

Yesterday I met Bill Low from Audioquest. I had spoken to him about 5 years ago also. Also a very nive person like Jim Aud from Purist Audio Design. He still developes there new cables. They do this with only 2 persons. He still does the main part of of. Yesterday I heard the way I like it to be. Extreme 3d touchable image with blacks to die for. Just like it would be in real. Cheeeeeers!!!!

Differences in cables is huge these days. What I do is many many blind tetst. Only wenn you do it this way people understand how big the influence is. What I said earlier: I give many blindtests with expensive amp/spource with cheap powercable or interconnect. And cheap amp/source with expensive powercable/interconnect. In most of the test people choose for the cheaper amp/source with more expensive cables. The thing is; use the right cables. There are many cables for sale who are not that great.

Vdhul? Are you kidding me. I am from Holland and I sold it for many years. I also did test them. There are enough better brands. VdHul is a very nice and funny person. There was a big audio show every year. Then he was waiting for me and wanted to look around with me togheter. We did this a couple of years. He is even graduated in colours at the university.

Cabels like 352 with a little silver many times causes problems with the high freq. Always choose for pure copper in these price ranges. Focus of instruments and voices is less sharp than Audioquest or Kimber. The more expensive cables are no match with the better Audioquest. The differences is the better timing and superior blacks of the Audioquest.

Taralabs is also better in sound, focus and control.

The cheaper Taralabs were better in dynamics compared to the 352. I owned in the past the best pure silver xlr Vdhul made. It was a good cable, these days you can get a much higher level compared to this. The difference are in timing, sound realism and in backs. I also Judge cable in depth and in wide. Here on Audiogon most people still play with 2-dimensional amps. They see threw total different glasses then I do. I have done maybe a few thousands of tests. Because I do this for over 15 years. I see you use a Naim amp. This is a full flat 2-dimensional amp. I personally could not sell this because it has nothing to do with music and sound in real. I had these discussions with the distributter many times. Instruments and voices have there proportions and also there is depth easy to hear. With Naim focus is quite poor compared to the extreme touchabel image I can create. And there is no depth. Wenn you use a recording with only 3 instruments and there are placed a few metres from eachother in depth. The Naim will place the instruments on one line. I showed this in a demo for the Naim people. They said: you are right. But an amp of 100 dollar does it the same way. Depth is the most thrilling part in highend audio. Wenn it is not there you are out of the competition. Most people who own Naim do have little experience with live recording. I taught many of them what a full 3-dimensional image is. For 95% it was new. That is why I learn people the difference between 2 and 3-dimensional image. All agrred that 3-dimensional sound is superior over 2-dimensional sound. The difference is big as to compare between compromised and uncompromised music.

The most important thing is that I sell most of the time 3 dimensional systems. It is very easy to learn people the difference between 2 and 3-dimensional image. I even use the stores of competitors. I send them to listen to particular amps, sources and speakers. Because I want them to understand the difference. I use the most important competitors in the same price tage. Sound has become like 1 and 1 is 2 for me. For me it is very simple which brands ( if I know them) are 2 or 3-dimensional. That is what I want to know wenn I test it. I want to know all properties of the stuff I test. I am only interested in the best. I hate all the average and poor audio there is on the market. So many people spend a lot of money on shit. I want all people to get a stunning sound for the money they would like to spend. It is that simple!

Soon I will have a new website. I will do it in dutch and in english. I have Sony professional cameras for highest level in Full HD without compression. I will make a lot of video's of different product. I will inform wenn it is ready.

I hope do give some presentations in the US as well. For me it is very easy to set a much higher level in sound than most other brands can give. Nice to read that people appreciate it. I received personal mails in the last few months from people at Audiogon who bought things were I was talking about I have a very direct way of talking about audio. For some it can be to hard. I want people to open there eyes and ears. With the right advice everyone can get a much higher level for the money they spend.

Often you need to buy better tubes wenn you want to buy a Vincent. Often within one years the sound of there own tubes was not the same anymore as wenn they were new.

@Audiolabyrinth: I will ask my technician, I don't know either.

I auditioned Naim often. With different speakers. To hear if there is depth is quite easy. For example speakers who give a lot of depth as well amps can do...or not. Wenn you play the same recordings on naim almost every instrument is standing on the same line as the voice. At shows I used the same cd's. After hearing with the Naim people they said yess there is no depth with this recording. These days I only sell 3-dimensional sound. I still use 2-dimensional sound to learn people how much less thrilling it is. I never met a person who prefers 2-dimensional sound. Maybe there are people who would prefer it. You never know. And yes you are right about that many cables work like an equalizer. That is why I say: you get less with some cables who equalize too much. I use a-b comparison to learn peole differences in sound. I also use a-b comparison to see what the preference is of a person.

I met people who owned Naim and they did not know what 3-dimensional sound is. After hearing it, they said: next time I would go for a 3-dimensional sound. Wenn people do not know it, they do not know what the difference is. 6 months ago at the show many shopkeepers came to me and asked about the 3-dimensional sound. They were amazed and loved it. For them it was new to hear a sound what was this palpable and the depth and wide of the stage. I want to give many people as possible the same stunning sound at home. I want to sell the highest level of emotion in music possible.

I asked them why you bought it? They said; we loved the sound and didn't know about individual focus and depth. Wenn you give them a demo of 3-dimensional sound they al say the ame thing: this is superior. So again; it is that simple!