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Who thinks $5K speaker cable really better than generic 14AWG cable?

I recently ordered high end speaker, power amp, and preamp to be installed in couple more weeks. So the next search are interconnect and speaker cable. After challenging the dealer and 3 of my so called audiophile friends, I think the only reason I would buy expensive cable is for its appearance to match with the high end gears but not for sound performance. I personally found out that $5K cable vs $10 cable are no difference, at least not to our ears. Prior to this, I was totally believe that cable makes a difference but not after this and reading few articles online.

Here is how I found out.

After the purchase of my system, I went to another dealer to ask for cable opinion (because the original dealer doesn't carry the brand I want) and once I told him my gears, he suggested me the high end expensive cable ranging from $5 - 10K pair, depending on length. He also suggested the minimum length must be 8-12ft. If longer than 12ft, I should upgrade to even more expensive series. So I challenged him that if he can show me the difference, I would purchase all 7 AQ Redwood cables from him.

It's a blind test and I would connect 3 different cables - 1 is the Audioquest Redwood, 1 is Cardas Audio Clear, and 1 my own generic 14AWG about 7ft. Same gears, same source, same song..... he started saying the first cable sound much better, wide, deep, bla...bla...bla......and second is decently good...bla...bla...bla.. and the last one sounded crappy and bla...bla...bla... BUT THE REALITY, I NEVER CHANGED THE CABLE, its the same 14AWG cable. I didn't disclosed and move on to second test. I told him I connected audioquest redwood but actually 14AWG and he started to praise the sound quality and next one I am connected the 14awg but actually is Redwood and he started to give negative comment. WOW!!!! Just blew me right off.

I did the same test with 3 of my audiophile friends and they all have difference inputs but no one really got it right. Especially the part where I use same generic 14awg cable and they all start to give different feedback!!!

SO WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK? OR I AM THE LAST PERSON TO FIND OUT THAT EXPENSIVE CABLE JUST A RIP OFF?
sautan904
teo_audio
932 posts
 
Hearing varies from person to person as much as intelligence and mental orientation and conditioning.

Smart in one way does not specifically relate back to smart ears. Cognitive capacity in the mind can also express itself in cognitive capacity of hearing in ears and mind as a pair. This cognitive variance in speed and precision (as a pair) from person to person (Human IQ of 100 vs 200)... can be as high as a million to one. It’s a non-linear equation.

This definitely DOES encompass human HEARING function as it is a ear/brain function, tied to neural functionality and interconnectedness, tied to it as much as vision, motor drive, intelligence, and so on.


To clarify.. what is that ratio? It is: every increase in 5 ’IQ’ points is roughly equivalent to a required rumination time to reach a functional conclusion with said problem..this requisite time ---is halved. Roughly, and overall, in humanity. Each 5 iq points higher - half the time to figure a thing out.

Thus, the average person, IQ 100, working on a problem, may take lets say..114 years of 24/7 work to reach a satisfactory conclusion in a given problem scenario. the 200 IQ person can reach successful conclusion with the same problem, in one hour. All things being equal, which they are not.

Then comes hearing function, which is wholly integrated with this neural system, and thus suffers similar (not exact but similar) ratios and considerations.

You might have a person who in this lifetime will never hear a given thing.... when someone with really good and well trained ears and connected neural function....might hear it in 30 seconds or less.

No mystery.

Thankfully the brain is plastic so ignorance is a matter of will, in some ways, and it is not truly a native state.

Unless one forces it.

Audiophile, fix thyself.
wgutz
85 posts
 
TEO - That was some great info on the mind, intelligence and hearing relationships. I have a more technical question for which you may have some insight. I have been thinking about why vinyl and some Ethernet cables can have relatively lousy stats, but sound better than the more technically (verifiable test data) correct. Could it be that more cross-talk is beneficial? Or are there multiple issues that have yet to be measured that result in improved sound quality?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
We had a guy in high school whose IQ couldn't be measured. It was over 200. He was able to memorize long lists of words even when the words were in a foreign language unfamiliar to him. No one ever heard from him again after we graduated. He just disappeared into the cosmos. 

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
While we’re off the subject, when you play an LP, the Time Coordinates from when the recording was made - and that is preserved on the recording - interfere with the listener’s own "internal clock" (local time) and confuses his brain. The human brain relies on a single time source to be able to perceive sound correctly. The human brain is not pleisiochronous. It’s as if the two time coordinate sources produce jitter in the brain.

wgutz
85 posts
 
Wow, that's great to know.

And I thought it was  DELIRIUM TREMENS.
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