1. Home
  2. cables
  3. 132249-75518

Opening a can of worms

Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
gillatgh
jea48
2,944 posts
 
Will a new $12,000 ARC power amp sound 600% better than a well known new $2000 tube power amp?
How about a $12000 Pass Labs power amp. Will it sound 600% better than, say, a $2000 Marantz power amp? 

What percentage ratio can be expected for the differences in SQ of the equipment?
 50% better sounding?
20% better sounding?
 15% better sounding?
 10% better sounding?
5% better sounding?
3% better sounding?
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
@jea48 
 
Will a new $12,000 ARC power amp sound 600% better than a well known new $2000 tube power amp?
How about a $12000 Pass Labs power amp. Will it sound 600% better than, say, a $2000 Marantz power amp?  

The only right answer to that is to make sure that if you're paying 600% more that it will do job exactly 600% more or better and that's exactly what I do otherwise no deal at least from me. Make sense?
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,611 posts
 
@czarivey   That must be tough to quantify. 😋
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Huh? A Ferarri is not 10 times faster than a Honda. And a Lamborgini is not (rpt not) twice as fast as a Ferarri. And a Koeniggseg is not 10 Faster than a Ferrari. Different strokes for different folks. There’s something for everyone. All you can eat, Baby!
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
@hifiman5 
Tough to quantify for most agree. You can profit on fool only if you're smarter and only if you can quantify. That's the core principle of economy to be smart in order to profit on fool and that's where mega-priced home stereo components including overly debated wires fit in. 

@geoffkait 
Thanks for showing how to 'quantify' out why Honda is best.
More to discover