Transport signal thru mult cables simultaneously?

Al:
Thanks for the thoughtful response. Much appreciated.

Al, is this because you do not have an opinion regarding breaki-in of cables in general, or only for digital cables?

KN -- My statement about not having an opinion pertained to digital cables specifically. With respect to cables in general, I believe that breakin effects can be and in many cases are significant. However I also suspect that there are a lot of cases in which audiophiles misattribute perceived changes to cable breakin effects. Those changes actually being caused by things like ongoing aging or breakin of system components, changes in AC line voltage or noise conditions, even changes in temperature or humidity. (Humidity, for example, can have profound effects on electrostatic speakers). Not to mention the vagaries of aural memory.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks, helpful. Do you have any thoughts on the relative importance of break-in for digital vs analog cables, based on theory, experience or other reference? I have read in several threads here about people breaking-in their digital cables, and I have wondered about the need for that. I guess if break-in is a real phenomena of changing how a signal interacts with the surrounding dielectric, then any signal could be affected.

kn

KN, no, I really don't have any particular thoughts about the importance of break-in for digital cables. I'll say, though, that I would not consider anecdotal reports of such experiences to be definitive unless they involved direct comparison on the same day of a broken in cable and an identical cable that was not broken in. With the system being in an equal state of warmup in both cases.

And even then I would be uncertain as to how applicable the reported experience would be to other digital cables connecting other digital components.

Regards,
-- Al