Reality Check - Does this reviewer make any sense at all?

[ADU]

Stereophile as usual has some rather meaningless information: The electrical resistance of the unusual cable D was not measured, and cables B and C did not have a significant difference from cable A.

Objectivists often claim that cabling makes no difference in sound quality.

Maybe there are some better studies than the one above that illustrate this?

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

FWIW I've seen people said multiple times that Hifiman stock cables are dirt cheap and low in quality, so maybe it could have been degraded a fair bit? Especially since we question Hifiman's QC all the time.

about cables, dacs and so on I guess you will only have the same answer here. Subjectively I do hear differences sometimes but I am aware it might be my own mind playing tricks with me. I once tested several expensive DACs together and even though the test was not blinded nor volume-matched at all me and my pals found no noticeable differences (hegel, topping, schiit, cambridge...)

 

[Audiofire]

Maybe there are some better studies than the one above that illustrate this?

Absolutely; there are studies of both speaker cables and line level interconnects on ASR and Audioholics.

 

[spacessound]

He used his ears as the measurement instrument.

it’s called ‘urwissenschaft’ - the one true source

 

[oppie]

Im pretty sure for cables with typical impedances there is no difference until around 100khz. This guy is a joke btw, claims to have a phd and spent three videos on how audio cables matter but just explained 1st year physics concepts....

 

[MrBlitzpunk]

What i still don't get about the cable debacle is that... doesn't headphones/IEM/Speaker/whatever have internal wirings that connects the connector to the driver itself? Even if the interconnect cable does have something to do with sound improvement, wouldn't the internal wiring still be the biggest bottleneck that undo any benefits expensive cable give?

I don't think i've seen this topic discussed

 

[sq225917]

Headphone cables can without a doubt affect the frequency response of the headphones they are used with in some circumstances.

In 99.9% of cases though the amount will be pretty much as shown in the Stereophile speaker graph, ie a fraction of a dB and utterly inaudible.

 

[Geert]

Objectivists often claim that cabling makes no difference in sound quality.

It's not a claim when it's the current state of affairs (what's generally accepted in electronic engineering). Especially when there's no reliable evidence that shows otherwise.

 

[mhardy6647]

it’s called ‘urwissenschaft’ - the one true source View attachment 221610

Did Schroedinger have something to do with this? Is there a cat in that box, too?

 

[tomtoo]

Objectivists often claim that cabling makes no difference in sound quality.

Maybe there are some better studies than the one above that illustrate this?

Thats not exactly right. Objectivists tread a cable as lcr element that can change sound thru frequence response changes(not fairys or witches). But in a proper cabling this changes are so minimal that you can ignore them.

 

[JayGilb]

He has affiliate links in the video, which means it's a 30 minute commercial.

 

[fpitas]

He has affiliate links in the video, which means it's a 30 minute commercial.

I just assume that random YouTube "reviews" are like that.

 

[ADU]

Absolutely; there are studies of both speaker cables and line level interconnects on ASR and Audioholics.

Thank you for the reply, Audiofire.

I really meant scholarly studies. But found a couple ASR videos where Amir compares the response of more expensive audio cables to some generic cables. The first video is for headphone cables. 2nd is an RCA interconnect (I think ). And third is speaker cable.

 

[ADU]

Thats not exactly right. Objectivists tread a cable as lcr element that can change sound thru frequence response changes(not fairys or witches). But in a proper cabling this changes are so minimal that you can ignore them.

Thank you for the reply, tomtoo.

By "lcr element", are you referring to an RLC circuit?...

RLC circuit - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

But in a proper cabling this changes are so minimal that you can ignore them.

I'd generally agree with this, fwiw.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I can't answer this. But here's a graph from a 2012 Stereophile article that compared the FR of some different speaker cables, fwiw.

Stereophile is a publication that is geared towards audiophiles btw. The least expensive cable was not the worst performer in this test though.

That because there is ALWAYS a linear relationship between price and perceived sound quality in Stereophile.

 

[ADU]

What i still don't get about the cable debacle is that... doesn't headphones/IEM/Speaker/whatever have internal wirings that connects the connector to the driver itself? Even if the interconnect cable does have something to do with sound improvement, wouldn't the internal wiring still be the biggest bottleneck that undo any benefits expensive cable give?

I don't think i've seen this topic discussed

Not sure about this. But it is an interesting question.

 

[Barry_G]

Thanks for posting the link to the headphone cable comparison test. What a breath of fresh air!!!! NO measurable/audible/imagined difference, at all!!!

 

[nyxnyxnyx]

What i still don't get about the cable debacle is that... doesn't headphones/IEM/Speaker/whatever have internal wirings that connects the connector to the driver itself? Even if the interconnect cable does have something to do with sound improvement, wouldn't the internal wiring still be the biggest bottleneck that undo any benefits expensive cable give?

I don't think i've seen this topic discussed

It's not widely discussed but there have been attempts to make IEMs with "premium" internal wirings. The supposed claims are that it can affect the sound quality, but then again it will come back to the endless argument "can cables make a difference?". It's kinda pointless for people who don't believe in cables anyway since they don't believe in it it shouldn't matter where the cable is in the system.

 

[ADU]

Some videos by Audioholics on speaker cables. These are in chronological order, beginning with the oldest video.

January 2019

February 2020

June 2020

March 2021

 

[Jimbob54]

It's kinda pointless for people who don't believe in cables anyway

Cable is either fit for purpose or not. The belief of the maker /buyer /listener doesn't really come into this does it?