Difference between non and factory terminated

Some of the guys just like the idea that is supposed to sound better, or otherwise be superior, whether they can hear anything or not. Of course they tend to imagine that they do, and will fight you over it. The audio industry loves them.

Of course the double blind test to them is like holding up a cross to Dracula. They retreat and hide at the mere mention of it :-)

There are ways to make significant advancement toward 'true to the original' in playback, but it first has to be the goal. Then one addresses the weakest link in any system: the speakers, setup. Followed by a distortion free amp.

The top end gear, cables, and tweaks, if still interested at that point can be experimented with, but they are the least significant.

I know this has nothing to do with sound, but in case you hadn't noticed: non-factory termination can severely damage a cable's resale value, especially with cables of more esoteric construction.

Mwilson:
Not as much as the truth about their validity though. I put about $3k worth of cables, which were few in number by the way, on the preowned market and replaced everthing with RadioShack Megacable for a couple hundred dollars fully expecting an audio train wreck.

All that happened though was that the system if anything just sounded a little more real.

While listening to this lack of phenomenon all I could do as shake my head at the power of suggestion. Thinking the mfgrs must 'tee hee hee' behind our backs as they drive their Porche to pick up their Mercedes, singing, 'isn't Capitalism great'.

Didactically - You're not the first one to say that, and you won't be the last. I got a Black Mamba v2 last year (Used may I add. May I?), and while detailed and rich, I think it's the one piece that's lagging in terms of dollar vs. sound ratio, so I get your point. My friend bought a famous power cord a while back that was hand terminated with better connectors than the original, and tested it against a Cardas Twinlink. It was better - much better. It was also more expensive than the Twinlink, even though cheaper than the original of that brand name. I imagined how the original factory terminated cable would have done against the Twinlink. I'll bet it wouldn't have been any better than the hand terminated one. Still we have fussy people out there with their eyes on the cables, more than their ears on the music.

I hear you. I am using a $15k system and it never ocurred to me to use a power conditioner or so called hi-end power chords. I feel I am just not that gullible.

Though I did aquire some vibration isolation devices which I put back on the market in a moment of recoverd sanity, feeling a little sheepish for buying into that notion.

Also I had more than a dozen heavy duty acoustic treatment devices which ended up in the dumpster when I went dipole for speakers (Audio Artistry).

They never did do the job and only accomplished deadening the room in the attempt to control low frequency room modes excited by full range box speakers.

Sometimes it takes awhile to seperate the stuff, from the stuff. Made all the more difficult with the plentiful enthusiastic expressions of those still duped.