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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
dracule1 OP
1,043 posts
 
Mapman, I agree with you.  We're expressing our opinions, no harm in that.  But I draw the line at back seat third rate psychoanalysis! 😁
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geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
dracule1 wrote,

"All jokes aside, from what I recall there have been several published blinded AB tests to test differences in sound between cables and even between amps. But as we know, the results are always the same and not in the favor of cable manufacturers. But that’s another whole can of worms."

Surprise, surprise. I figured it wouldn’t be too long before blind testing raised its ugly head. If you recall several published blinded AB tests that showed there are no differences among cables would it be asking too much to provide links to those published tests? I'm not exactly sure why but naysayers frequently claim there are some blind tests out there somewhere, who knows where, that prove that such and such controversial audiophile product is a scam. :-)

Dracule1 also wrote,

"Einstein and his refusal to accept quantum mechanics. You have a point there, but he was right about so many other things like gravity waves, space-time, black holes, photo-electric effect, etc. Who knows in the future some genius will turn quantum mechanics upside down and prove Einstein was right. 😏"

Exactly! Einstein was right about many things but not everything. And because some legendary audio designers made outstanding electronics or speakers doesn’t mean they’re correct on every subject. So using them as proof or even evidence that cables are a scam is an illogical argument.

From a logic standpoint, even if quantum mechanics is turned on it’s head at some far distant time, which is rather unlikely, you know, given that it has survived scrutiny for a hundred years, that would not be evidence or proof that cables are a scam.

cheere,

geoff kait
machina dynamica


jl35
2,244 posts
 
to get back to your original question. I think the people who buy $10k cables are the people who buy $100k amps, $100k digital gear, $100k analog, $100k speakers. my guess is very few $100k cables systems are ever sold. little time to worry about the expenditures of the ultra wealthy...
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
jl35
1,015 posts
06-12-2016 7:45am
"to get back to your original question. I think the people who buy $10k cables are the people who buy $100k amps, $100k digital gear, $100k analog, $100k speakers. my guess is very few $100k cables systems are ever sold. little time to worry about the expenditures of the ultra wealthy..."

Actually, that’s probably true. Dracule1 just happens to be an exception to the rule since he has, according to him, some very expensive equipment. It’s just expensive cables he has heartburn with.

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