This whole cable thing is to me now, like joining a sub-sect in the audiophile 'club.' On a different but related tack so forgive this anecdote, my ancient stereo ain't bad, but I had the chance to acquire a Krell KSA50S power amp some years back. Beautifully made thing it was (and still is) with bent solid metal bus-bars inside for internal speaker terminal connection to the main board output (I can't remember now if it came with a heavier duty mains cable, but some of these amps do, often with the higher current IEC type connector - forgive my ignorant description). The thing with this amp was, it sounded really not different to my old prosumer types (it didn't have a 2 ohm load to drive which was it's main reason for being really) and in the place and system I needed to use it, the plateau-bias lamps came on quickly and the case-heat climbed alarmingly. I only used it a handful of times in this location, feared for its remaining life as regards thermal stress and subsequently passed it on to a grateful chap who loves it (and bought another I gather).
Moral from this above and pertinent here, is that looking at the thing and expecting so much, I started to wonder if my cables were 'good enough' for it (I was 'only' using RCA types with the 'looking-down-the-nose attitude' wire link in the XLR sockets), was my vintage and sonically transparent preamp 'good enough' (maybe I should save for a Krell preamp or do what the audiophile sheeple did and buy an ARC, both with balanced outs driving 1m of cable tops to 'open the sound up.' Was my mains distribution block putting a bottleneck in the mains supply and were the speaker wires good enough (7m of 2.5mm gauge into speakers with minimum impedance drop to 6 ohms)? Going to heavier gauge speaker wires, or better, VDH 'The Wind' which was recommended with Krells not so long ago, was not a possibility on cost grounds (the cables need to be tucked around the edges of a carpet/skirting board). I really started to worry that I wasn't giving the amp 'what it needed to sound better!' and had to have a total re-think about it all... (you all know the snooty dealer attitude to peeps like me trying to justify the expense of a high end cable or expensive gear - I was one myself... - not good enough hearing, this isn't good enough, that's not right either, mains is shit, speakers not 'resolving' enough, just spend a few grand on wires and matching gear and you'll be lifted to a higher plane..........).
Once I'd sold the amp on and returned to my geriatric power amp and hopefully sensible wiring, the 'sound' didn't change (until my ears pegged out in more recent times) and all these audiophool-questions disappeared. I was content again and remain so, especially as I've had a great 'NHS Upgrade' to my hearing and no longer give a sh*t about most audiophile stuff (famous last words but it's really not as important now)...
I think cable lovers in this hobby are constantly searching for aspects of reproduced sound that can never really be found as they either don't exist in the first place, or aren't really there in the recording to start with. The 'tweaks' I've done in my past audiophool life have *subjectively* favoured one thing seemingly at the expense of something else - or they've been proved to be nothing at all (some of the Peter Belt stuff in the 80's with foils and other mad stuff, which made a difference in the company of the main proponent in the mags but nothng whatsoever at home).
So - If this cable can't be shown to do any filtering of mains harmonics (not all audiophile gear does it well I still believe), then it's just the appearance and cost which dictates how 'good' it is really.....
Next up, Synergistic fuses
