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Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1
almarg's avatar
almarg
8,673 posts
 
My opinion was stated in my post dated 3-15-2016 near the bottom of page 9 of this thread.

Regards,
-- Al
 
dracule1 OP
1,043 posts
 
Ricred1, I have auditioned cables in the $10k+ range.  They make a difference in sound, but not necessarily for the better.  Having speakers that are $40k+, I thought expensive cables should make a whole lot of improvement for that kind of money.  Even if it did make a improvement in sound, I rather go buy better room treatment or amplifier, which I know have made much bigger difference IME.  What I'm opposed to is the tremendous mark up in price and very little engineering involved, as compared to producing a speaker, amplifier, DAC, etc.  And cable manufacturers having the balls to ask ridiculous price and us audiophiles believing these cables are worth the asking price.  Of course, there are very credible cable manufacturers out there who ask reasonable prices, not rivaling price of an entry level car or more.  But you're right, there are people who can crap money and not care about how much they spend on cables.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Dracule1 wrote,

"Ricred1, I have auditioned cables in the $10k+ range. They make a difference in sound, but not necessarily for the better. Having speakers that are $40k+, I thought expensive cables should make a whole lot of improvement for that kind of money."

It’s not too difficult to imagine a scenario where someone auditions fresh new expensive cables without giving them the customary break in period of what at least 100 hours and having them lose out to cheaper cables that have been broken in. That wouldn’t surprise me at all. Any cable that's new or nearly new can sound miserable. Like anything else. $100K speakers can sound thin, lifeless and objectionable if they, the cables and/or the electronics are not broken in. Geez, cut me some slack.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 

Even if the really expensive wires really do sound the best by far and the buyer has peace of mind as a result, that does not mean the audiophile who bought it is still not out of their mind in the minds of others.

Most might think that of anyone spending 5 or 6 figures total happily on most any audio gear, much less just expensive wires.

Its all mostly whatever people think. Life is but a dream.

dracule1 OP
1,043 posts
 
Jond, almost everything is subjective in high end, including the price of cables.  $375 for cables is IMO reasonable.  Now is your cable really worth the original asking price of $2000?  May be or may be not, given you never saved up to buy them for the original price. Now, if the cable manufacturer decided to charge $10k for them, what would you say even with the improvement it made to your system?
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