And now...I believe in cable...

[tfarney]

I never really have. I'm a bit skeptical by nature, and I figured decent quality cable with good connectors was what was required and the rest was voodoo. Then, because I'm such a cheap bastard, a couple of weeks ago I tried the internet/Walmart/White Lightning/DIY cable scheme on speaker cables. See it here, if you have any interest:

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/whitelightning/moonshine.html

I can't say I really heard anything, but my speakers aren't that good and I don't listen to them much. I spend a lot more time with my headphones. Yesterday, I finally got around to making the interconnects described above and putting them between my DAC and the amp I use for my headphones.

This, I can hear. It's not a monumental change in my listening experience, but I can definitely hear it. First of all, it just seems to deliver more signal -- higher volume at the same settings. But once I adjust down to my normal listening volumes (or any listening volumes, for that matter) I swear I still hear more -- more clarity, more depth, more breadth.

So, with a power cord from Walmart, some decent RCA jacks and a bit of silver solder, my feet have dropped from beneath me at the top of a very slippery slope. Thank God nothing I own is resolving enough to reveal the benefits of any really expensive wire.

Tim

[Steve Toy]

Scepticism is good. It only becomes destructive when it becomes cynicism.

Your system must be fairly resolving else you'd hear no difference and this leads me to believe that cable cynics often own pretty shit systems....

[lurcher]

So I have to ask the question, as you are in a situation most of us have found ourself in. Do you think you could detect that difference in a ABX, I would put money on the fact you could not. Then the next question is, do you think its a significant change?

[tfarney]

So I have to ask the question, as you are in a situation most of us have found ourself in. Do you think you could detect that difference in a ABX, I would put money on the fact you could not. Then the next question is, do you think its a significant change?

I wouldn't bet more than pocket change that I could detect it in an ABX. It's pretty subtle. Is it significant? Now we're talking semantics, not audio. My semantics would say no, it's not significant; it's small but real. But that's probably because I've spent a bit too much time over on Head-fi lately, where every minor upgrade is touted as a life-changing experience (now I'm exaggerating, but not that much).

Tim

[tfarney]

Scepticism is good. It only becomes destructive when it becomes cynicism.

Your system must be fairly resolving else you'd hear no difference and this leads me to believe that cable cynics often own pretty shit systems....

I'm listening to apple lossless files through a Trends UD-10 digital transport with a cheap 16-bit Burr Brown DAC in it, through the DIY cables, into a 30-something year-old Harman Kardon integrated amplifier (recently serviced and up to specs for its day, but still...) and finally a pair of Senheiser HD580s. Hardly high end, with the possible exception of the Senns.

Tim

[Marco]

So I have to ask the question, as you are in a situation most of us have found ourself in. Do you think you could detect that difference in a ABX, I would put money on the fact you could not. Then the next question is, do you think its a significant change?


Nicky baby, can I ask you the same thing about the Transparent cables you heard which Ian and I brought round to your 'boudoir'? ;)

Marco.

[lurcher]

Nicky baby, can I ask you the same thing about the Transparent cables you heard which Ian and I brought round to your 'boudoir'? ;)

Marco.

Of course. No I don't think a ABX would show the difference, as I believe ABX will always show negatives for these sort of comparisons. Was it significant? yes.

Thats not to say that I will be rushing out to spend the money that the cables cost, far from it. But I do have a tag in my mind, that I need to see just what is different between them and the cheap shark I was using, and how I can get back to the same place.

[tfarney]

I suspect what I hear in the DIY cables was just the weight of the wire and the quality of the ends I used, not metalurgic magic.

Tim