why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable

If you have the money, Geoff, just buy a BIGGER NEEDLE.Buy one big enough to fly a 747 through it. No problem.

+1 Dave b

Who gives a flying fig!  Buy what you want and enjoy.  Don’t be jealous if someone’s cables are bigger, longer and thicker than yours 😉

A rich man has about as much chance of entering audio Nirvana as a donkey has of passing through the eye of a needle. 

I spent over $3000 on some AC duplex (for the stereo of course). Most recent spent $100 for four resistors which happened to be on sale for 50% off.                   
So just how much SHOULD I be spending for interconnects? (naturally this is a rhetorical question, but I am sure I can get some answers... FYI my last two IC spending sprees cost me $9000.)

 The following statement is true.The previous statement is false

Get the best sounding stereo you can afford. It's perhaps one of the saner things you can do with your money. Get the best (read most comfortable, sleep inducing) bed you can afford. Give as much as you can to those organizations that promote the most public and environmental welfare.Treat yourself and other to the good things in life.
 Who knows how much longer we have? Enjoy it while it, you last.

I think that’s called penny wise and pound foolish. 🤗

Yeah, Geoff, but knowing when to buy used, vs new is critical. I enjoy high end preamps, I have found used ones as low as 25% of new retail. Last one was 30% of new retail. that means I am just leaping in on a buy I was really not specifically looking for, just because it is neat, and cheap. Works out for me so far.                  
But if I want specific cables. Like say... my seven meter Kimber XLR KS1116. Exactly how many YEARS do you think I will be waiting for one to show up used? Twenty years? Thirty?              
If you just want 'any' fancy cable and are willing to go for it, then yeah you can find good deals on cables. Aside from the chance it is a fake...

The used high end cable market is pretty stable, so if used cables don’t work out for any reason you should have no trouble recovering your money. If you pay full price for the latest and greatest, however, it’s kind if like buying a new car. It depreciates as soon as it leaves the dealer parking lot. Besides when you buy used the cables are already broken in. 😃 it’s kind of the same philosophy that has shut down many mom and pop high end stores, such as $30,000 amps. In bad economic times like these the savvy audiophile buys used. It’s not rocket science. 🚀

If you go with 'Big Name' used, the likelihood of buying way overpriced fakes goes up exponentially. Particularly big name brands and well known cables.I haven't bought a used cable in years. Just too likely to be burned. Plus the cable I really want, never seemed to be for sale anyway. If you have a local dealer who can loan you something to try, that would be ideal. Or "The Cable Company" has cables they loan out. You do pay a fee, but if you eventually buy something/anything, you get that money back as a credit toward any purchase. that way you actually get to TRY the exact cable you are interested in, or several. You can listen and decide with  actual experience of the cable in your own system.

@d2girls 

And theres the other half of me that says to just stick with what I've got...

Look at it this way, if you don't "save" $2,500 by spending $2,500 on $5,000 speaker cables, what would you spend the $2,500 on?  My guess, probably something cooler than wire.

I have even less of an idea what to do after reading through your guys' responses :(
I think I'll try out some nice cables in the near future. Some cheap used nordost, and audioquest. I will do diligent research in the used models I find online. I would feel really bad about spending $5,000 for a 6 foot pair of audioquest redwood speaker cables. Id rather pay half that for a used pair.
And theres the other half of me that says to just stick with what I've got...

It’s like I explained to my daughter, everything is a matter of choice. Like Dynaquest4, her sister’s boyfriend bought an expensive convertible sports car. I bought a normal car and an expensive stereo. Life’s choices are based on one’s priorities.

dynaquest4
"Do your research and DO NOT take recommendations from people who have already..."

It doesn't take much "research" to plainly, decisively, and emphatically reveal that you're comments, directions, and protestations are biased, uninformed, and propagandistic when people actually do the research that you suggest they will see this for them selfs.

the good news is that it is free or cheap to audition cables in your own system and decide for yourself...

I have found very few speaker or electronics manufacturers who will recommend any particular cable, brand or model - probably cannot afford to offend any of their dealers that do not carry that brand. And it certainly would make sales tougher if customers were told they also had to buy expensive cables. Though most manufacturers seem to use expensive cables to demonstrate their gear at shows.

Dynaquest14 sounds reasonable and has probably found himself content within his own means, meager as they may or may not be.  My recommendations are based upon over 40 years of owning a very large portion of the gear many people talk about but have not owned.  Many cables have entered my various systems over the years and although there may be some good values available, none have provided the startlingly dramatic improvements that MIT cables have provided....even the lower cost offerings are quite amazing at allowing your listening sessions to transport you to the actual event!  I have put my money where my mouth is and have found that wire definitely is wire...MIT offers a musical experience far beyond just wire.

Do your research and DO NOT take recommendations from people who have already been swayed into spending too much money on exotic, overpriced, ineffective cables.  Accessory interconnects can only, if at all, provide very subtle improvements to audio listening and they are certainly NOT worth the ridiculous premium prices.  

Try to find, for example, any high end speaker manufacturer, who does not also manufacture interconnects, who will suggest that exotic, expensive are needed to enhance their speakers' performance.

D2girls...might I suggest a veteran source for free advice who also handles MIT cables online.  Call Joe Abrams at Equus Audio.  He has been in the high end industry for his entire life and can offer exceptional savings on all MIT cables.  He has cables for sale on Audiogon as well.  Enjoy

I still use two Cardas Parsec XLR in my system. $360 meter pair.I bought them when they came out. and like what they do. One clear feature is an interesting pearl like edge to the notes. Really just a tiny touch, but lovely. Since I bought all of those (like 7 pair 2 XLR 5 RCA) I jumped up the $1000 a pair Kimber KS 1016, mainly due to needing a really good 7 meter IC and I liked the sound of the 7m KS1116 XLR, I bought a few more RCA Kimber for the rest. But I do keep the two Cardas XLR in the system (The Cardas is slightly more veiled than the Kimber, But cost a lot less. So for a step up, I would suggest the Cardas Parsec XLR.     

thank you for the suggestions but from what I can see these hardly seem to be much different than my current cabling. i was thinking of trying out something more 'audiophile' like nordost, etc. i was looking to get balanced interconnects in the 1.5 feet variety, do those exist? my amp, preamp, and dac are all right above and below each other on my vertical rack.

d2girls, for balanced analog interconnects I and more than a few others here have had excellent results with Mogami Gold Studio, which btw is arguably the de facto cable of choice in pro applications.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?sts=ma&fct=fct_brand_name%7cmogami&N=0&Ntt=mogami%...

For other cables and power cords, many here (including me) have been very pleased with Signal Cable products:

http://signalcable.com/

All of the above are very modestly priced, but offer excellent value. Also, keep in mind that balanced interconnections in many cases tend to be less sensitive to cable differences than unbalanced interconnections.


Best of luck.
-- Al

Edit:  I composed this post before seeing Dave's just above.  Great minds think alike :-)

Consider Signal Cable d2girls!  Very good stuff and extremely inexpensive for the quality.

Hey guys what are some good brand name cables, that look nice that I can get to elevate my system to the next level? I currently use stock power cords, blue jeans speaker cables, and $5 interconnects (ugreen off amazon, $10/pair) the only slightly "audiophile" cable I have is a $40 coax cable I purchased from dysonaudio.com 

i was looking at nordost and Coincident for speaker cables, furutech for power cords however I don't want to spend more than $2k total. I was thinking I could save a massive buck by buying used but I'm scared of getting ripped off by buying fakes. 

My system is all balanced, pass labs amp/pre, balanced dac, mostly listen to music over USB and coax on my pc / CD player.  Speakers are Harbeth 30.2. 

As ive never seriously put much thought into this until now I'm at a bit of a loss.

also for the record I did not enjoy audioquest rocket 44, I thought it actually sounded worse than my blue jeans cables, I think something to do with the use of silver in the conductive path?

Thanks gdhal I get so tired of folks acting like it’s just our imagination 

+1

@calvinj

IMO, your 04-19-2018 6:41am post is well stated.

kosst_amojan
"It’s audio if it sounds good to you buy it! Ah duh!"

That's pretty much why Bose has sold tons of junk.

I used to draw nude women. I'm pretty good at it. One of the things drawing lifelike nude women teaches you is how to study shapes and proportions. I realized the more nude women I drew, the less I liked what's typically called a sexy woman. I also realized that the interactions between light, curve, and proportion are where the beauty lies. It's a proven fact that people who practice creating visual art consume it in very different ways that those who don't. I find listening to be a similar practice. The more I listen, the more my tastes diversify and the more I listen to what my stereo is really doing. "Sounding good" isn't a standard I find myself ever using. "Sounding good" is an abstract conclusion drawn from the assessment of many factors. Are the hips wide enough, or not enough? Is the bass too round or too punchy? Are the breasts set wide enough apart, or too close? Is the soundstage too etched, or just hazy enough to be more convincing? Just like "sexy" is emergent quality of many factors, "sounding good" is as well.

That's my take on it.

>>>>>Wow.

Whoa! What?! A taters OP thread on expensive cables is going in circles? Or any thread on cables. The way it’s been going, any topic that’s more than 2 Sigma off the average knowledge of the Standard Audiophile Model. 😳

”Build it and they will come.” ⚾️

Ok now I’m through watching this thread go in circles. Now carry on! I’m out! Peace! MIC DROP! 

This has nothing to do with Bose. Bose sounds like crap! There you make an assumption that I and others can’t get past the marketing crap. Most of us can! Look there are some of us that have never been exposed to truly high end systems that pull the last amount of depth, detail, soundstage and musicality out of music being played in a system. It’s called SYSTEM FOR A REASON! Each of our systems have been put together and tweaked to the last minute details. We have different rooms, acoustic enviorments, power cables, speakers, amps, pre amps, sources, interconnects, speaker cables, music, quality of recording of music we listen to etc, etc. it all plays a part in your ending sound. You will never hear my system in your enviorment! So I tell people if you can hear the difference and you like it go with it. IF IT SOUNDS GOOD THEN BUY IT! THIS IS NOT A LOW BAR. ITS THE ONLY BAR! AUDIO IS TO BE HEARD BY YOUR EAR. I DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT MARKETING OR HOW IT MEASURES ON SOME DAMN GRAPH. DOES IT SOUND  GOOD TO YOU? THEN THE REST DOESNT MATTER. Now I have said my piece. If that Bose demo tricked you in the past I hope you can get over it. If you like chicken wire then keep it but don’t tell me I’m crazy cause I have a system that doesn’t like Chicken! Lol. Enjoy your electrodynamic spectrometer that Marvin the Martian used to shoot at bugs bunny! I will keep enjoying my modestly priced cables playing the music through my resolving system that I can actually hear!

melbguy1 - The usual reason audiophiles dismiss more expensive cables in a-b comparisons is because to be blunt, their systems aren’t capable of clearly revealing the differences.

IMO, the quoted statement is to generic in that there are different types of cables. Interconnects being one, speaker wire another. In the case of speaker wire, I have reason to believe honest (to themselves) audiophiles dismiss more expensive cables in a-b comparisons because, to be blunt, there is no audible difference that can reliably be detected, and therefore money that would otherwise have been spent can be saved.

Just wanted to add my 2 pence to this discussion. I must admit I have always been on the fence with this argument, believing, as most other do, that after a certain price point most cables are equal and that we just buy the look after said certain pric point. I attended the Bristol Audio show in the UK this year (have been a few years now) and purposely sat in on a speaker/interconnect demo being run by the Chord company, just to confirm my thoughts on my cables.

i wouldn’t  say I was shocked but I would say I was surprised. There was most certainly ‘differences’ in how the cables sounded, with some providing more depth and detail in the music. (Things you couldn’t hear with one cable, but could hear in another). 

Id say the demo lasted over 1 hr, the format was piece of music played for say 15 seconds with one cable. Then switched out with an ‘upgraded’ cable, then same piece played again. Totally open setup, all in view, with connectors showing (rear facing) . Very simple setup and no smoke or mirrors at play.

The main thing I picked up on was that most of the differencesi personaly heard we’re minor. I wouldn’t even  they sound better or worse, just different, some I like some I didn’t. I think that is more the point, they just sounded different, to some they may say they sounded better, others worse.

The only major thing I took away from it all, and the only thing that in my opinion DID improve the sound reproduction/detail etc for the better was the use of shielded cables. That for me was the only thing I would now make sure my cables had as this and only this made a big enough difference to the sound that I could 1) actually hear it and 2) say it was a definite improvement.

they also demo’d new silver banana plugs and £3k meter cables all of which I couldn’t say made anything sound better or worse, just ‘different’,  but hey, one mans different is another mans better. 

"It’s audio if it sounds good to you buy it! Ah duh!"

That's pretty much why Bose has sold tons of junk. 

I used to draw nude women. I'm pretty good at it. One of the things drawing lifelike nude women teaches you is how to study shapes and proportions. I realized the more nude women I drew, the less I liked what's typically called a sexy woman. I also realized that the interactions between light, curve, and proportion are where the beauty lies. It's a proven fact that people who practice creating visual art consume it in very different ways that those who don't. I find listening to be a similar practice. The more I listen, the more my tastes diversify and the more I listen to what my stereo is really doing. "Sounding good" isn't a standard I find myself ever using. "Sounding good" is an abstract conclusion drawn from the assessment of many factors. Are the hips wide enough, or not enough? Is the bass too round or too punchy? Are the breasts set wide enough apart, or too close? Is the soundstage too etched, or just hazy enough to be more convincing? Just like "sexy" is emergent quality of many factors, "sounding good" is as well. 

That's my take on it. 

Lak you are so right.  I look at these type of threads and it goes in circles.  Look if you have a decent system give it decent cables. Use them to tweak or enhance and enjoy.  If you don’t believe then stick with your chicken wire 

Not everything in audio or life can be scientifically proven.
I'm with calvinj if it sounds good to you, and you like it, buy it.
There are many threads that debate this very issue and there are no winners just debaters.

It’s audio if it sounds good to you buy it! Ah duh! I don’t give a damn if it does good in some measuring lab or some blind test. This ain’t a math test. You are trying to please your ear not figure out square root! 

That's a pretty low standard. 

Hearing is believing. If it pleases your ear buy it!

There is no purity in just believing things! What kind of idiot just believes in things with no basis in reality? Even the religious have a truthful basis for their faith. 

clearthink - It looks like gdhal has become sensitive today that is ok I think costco is funny even though I did not originate that nickname I researched it and found it is the name of a major "warehouse" type store in the US ....

Oh, seeing that you researched I understand much better now.  Sorta like if someone were to refer to you as "Everclear", right? Thanks for the explanation.

Well you can’t tell people what they do and don’t hear. It’s that simple. If you don’t believe in cables don’t buy them. If you do hear the difference buy them and enjoy the difference you hear. Some people don’t have a trained ear!

kosst_amojan"you’re confusing truth and faith as being the same in some way. They’re polar opposite concepts. Truth is the trust in things seen. Faith is trust in things unseen...That’s the difference between your opinion and mine. Mine is rooted in things seen and is therefore truth..."

Yes that is exactly the sort of response I would expect from someone consumed by faith, belief or what many call religious fervor it is the absolute conviction that the facts support their faith and a overriding discomfort with being able to express faith in a pure way by simply stating plainly "this is what I believe" and must instead insist that they're belief is based on some "fact" or set of facts such as a religious tenet. There is tremendous comfort for some people in embracing faith and as I have previously stated we must in this group accept that other's here will have "faith" that we do not agree with that is fine! However what is not quite right is for you to continually pound this group with your insistence that your "faith" is the "true faith" based on your interpretation of "truth" while at the same time denying overabundant evidence that indicates your "faith" does not have all of the "answers" or any exclusivity of the "truth" it is like people who insist on the "science" of "intelligent design" while at the same time sweeping aside overwhelming research, evidence and documentation that shows it to be simply inconsistent with the record of facts. But make no mistake here I absolutely support your right to pretty much practice your faith as you see fit.

The important thing is you can measure it!

I cant see oxygen but Im pretty sure thats what Im breathing....or so i’ve been told.

Clearthink, you’re confusing truth and faith as being the same in some way. They’re polar opposite concepts. Truth is the trust in things seen. Faith is trust in things unseen. Anybody can go look up the specs for an HDMI cable. Anybody can realize that as long as the cable meets those specs it will do the job. That’s the whole point if the specification. That’s the difference between your opinion and mine. Mine is rooted in things seen and is therefore truth. Yours is rooted in things unseeable and is therefore pure faith. But really, the best faith is the faith rooted in truth. It’s not given to personal opinions or emotional whimsy.

gdhal"If you understand his position, why are you intentionally misspelling his user id"

It looks like gdhal has become sensitive today that is ok I think costco is funny even though I did not originate that nickname I researched it and found it is the name of a major "warehouse" type store in the US I also think your "Bob>Amy>Bob>Amy" refrain is also very funny because absurdity can be an element of humor kind of like the Brits with Monty Python in fact whenever I see you're  "Bob>Amy>Bob>Amy"  I picture John Cleese doing his funny walk I do not know if you have that in the US you might want to look at Youtube it is probably there.

clearthink - I understand exactly you’re position costco your faith is the TRUTH and any one who’s beliefs in any way......

....blah, blah, blah

If you understand his position, why are you intentionally misspelling his user id? Maybe you have no respect for it? Or maybe that is part of your *faith*, *religion* or music that interests you?