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
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
@hifiman5

Thank you but I am actually the one who has no worries about dielectric burn-in. I don’t worry about the fact that the dielectric air around cables is constantly changing and therefore for a fact that the cable can never ever fully burn-in.

(I know that these effects are totally negligible and of the order of a butterfly flapping its wings half way across the otherside of the globe and somehow affecting my subwoofer response)
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
No, no, no, @hifiman5 . Unlike your cable break-in myth, my statements about cap break-in are supposed by actual science. Go over to ELNA's website and look up their white paper on their silk cap paper. If your break-in myth had any truth to it then there would be audible microphonic effects and cables just don't do that. You're just lying to yourself. 
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5
1,611 posts
 
@kosst_amojan   You mean my 👂👂lied to me. I hate when that happens!

BTW your statement above "Unlike your cable break-in myth, my statements about cap break-in are supposed by actual science." is not very convincing. Do you even believe what you're saying?
kosst_amojan
2,095 posts
 
@hifiman5 
Considering you're clearly lifting a statement out of context and ignoring where I told you to look, uh.... You're pretty stupid. 

Let me know when you get those ears calibrated. I'm not sure they're the problem though. Again, you didn't read what I said. I never said your ears lie to you. I said you like to yourself. That suggests your brain itself is faulty, as does your very poor reading comprehension. 

Now go get butt-hurt and report this. 
greg22lz
176 posts
 
@kosst_amojan   you are completely out of line with your comments sir!
More to discover