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Scientific reasons why cables matter for audio

The review section is quite telling in how these people think:



It’s all about authority with these people. That is basically all they have. It makes it easy to dismiss any argument, simply because they don’t like what it says :facepalm:

On “our side” is the opposite: we dismiss any argument because of who you are, but not because of what you have to say.
Perhaps the word "their perceived authority" but that person is absolutely perceiving himself as THE expert (which that person is certainly not, at least not in this case).
Of course. for many: EXPERT is just another name for who wins their own popularity contest.
 
Of course cables matter, my speakers never worked without them. ;)
Even the wireless ones still want a power cable at some point.
 
Briefly, whenever you make a change to your system, even if the waveforms are still identical, you will *perceive* a difference. Why? Because your brain acts differently. It focuses more, hears more detail, more air, etc. because it is paying attention. For this reason, almost always, you think everything sounds better.
Yessss!
With that bias set in now, if you go back to the old cable, it will sound "bad."
Sometimes (it has happened in my presence), by reverting back to the original wire -- especially after a reasonably long listening period (say 15-30mins) -- the original cable ends up sounding "better".
Perhaps the same bias effect: the change sharpens the the brain's attention.
(p.s. I didn't watch the vid -- apologies)
 
Started watching the video but then realised it's that bloke. Seen some of his videos before. Quite ironic that he starts by accusing some people of not knowing what they're taking about since he's up there quite high on that list.

If you're reading this mate, try doing some blind testing first, then look for technical explanations if you still think you need to.
 
Poor electronic design can result into poor stability near unity gain, which is reached at several MHz.
Someone with "poor electronics" needs better electronics. Not an expensive cable.
 
Started watching the video but then realised it's that bloke. Seen some of his videos before. Quite ironic that he starts by accusing some people of not knowing what they're taking about since he's up there quite high on that list.
I too got a kick out of him having no experience in technical matters. But then complains about people like me not knowing things!
 
Someone with "poor electronics" needs better electronics. Not an expensive cable.
It’s a non sequitur or paradox that strikes in high end audio . Some of it is ”poor electronics” :) so this could be self fulfilling in some way .

Another example is over designing power supplies because your circuit has no feedback ( due to audio religious reasons) and has no pssr and is very sensitive to this .

But the overwhelming cause is the usual sighted biases ofcourse.
 
About stability and phase margin, see pages 19 and 20.
Of course, life would be easier if audio manufacturers published complete freq + phase response open-circuit + likewise complete source impedance...
This is year1 electronic engineering degree material. Anyone with an EE degree will have answered exam questions on this. Anyone designing any circuit with gain (including at audio AND radio frequencies) has had to deal this. This is not some esoteric knowledge known only to the audiophile "wizards".
 
This is year1 electronic engineering degree material. Anyone with an EE degree will have answered exam questions on this. Anyone designing any circuit with gain (including at audio AND radio frequencies) has had to deal this. This is not some esoteric knowledge known only to the audiophile "wizards".

Cynical as I I’m assuming some of the audiophile wizards don’t know this stuff , or don’t understand it properly ?
 
Here's what a French magazine published on the subject of speaker cables a few years ago, provoking outrage in audiophile circles...
 

Attachments

1 hour! TLDR?

Of course cables matter. They need to be made to spec, serve the purpose well, not break easily, have good hardware to work with, .. quality is no snake oil and a bit more money over amazon basics is worth it for many. Last but not least they have to have a competetive, reasonable price. Because who needs just one cable, right?

The makers of totally overpriced fancy cables have a nice thing going for them. The ones needing reality checks are the buyers of these things. Every time I see a Kimber, Audioquest or whatever I think: wow, this could be another amp. Or pickup. Or I could just send it to artists on bandcamp.
 
This is year1 electronic engineering degree material. Anyone with an EE degree will have answered exam questions on this. Anyone designing any circuit with gain (including at audio AND radio frequencies) has had to deal this. This is not some esoteric knowledge known only to the audiophile "wizards".
Are you suggesting indirectly that some audio professionals may have commercialized some stuff with "1 year EE" design discrepancies? Or that audio standards are still not framing such points? Noooo, in no way pages 69-70 could relate to any real-life high-end $$$$$ amp, or some common "DAC", couldn't it? ;)
 
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Good reply. Something good to think about here.

Stereophile posts frequency response measurements of speakers, as well as straight-faced reviews of how cables sound. A rare combination.

Have you EVER seen them re-test a speaker's frequency response with different cables to show the difference? Since supposedly they make a big difference? In all the years they've been testing speakers, they just forgot that cables play a big role in how speakers sound?

Assuming cables materially affected frequency response, not ONCE did a manufacturer demand they re-test with a certain cable? EVER?

And, as a publication that obviously has the ability to measure frequency response and correlate it to subjective listening, they just never thought to do this with cables? In how many years, this never occurred to them?

As a publication that backs the controversial view that cables materially affect sound, they just never bothered to show us instead of telling us? Not ONCE?

And furthermore, in all the tests of all the speakers on the market, among all the reviewers to point a mic at a speaker, we've somehow never seen a discrepancy in frequency response (or any other metric) that was found to be caused by choice of cable? EVER?

Could it be... cables make no difference in practice at all? Nahhhhh...
I let me Stereophile sub expire. Couldn't take the nonsense anymore.
 
The review section is quite telling in how these people think:



It’s all about authority with these people. That is basically all they have. It makes it easy to dismiss any argument, simply because they don’t like what it says :facepalm:

On “our side” is the opposite: we dismiss any argument because of who you are, but not because of what you have to say.
We also don't hesitate to criticise our "cult leader" and point out any mistakes. Which he makes like any other human, and is happy to be corrected. As it should be.

It's always amusing what kind of reputation ASR has in certain circles and how often it's just projection. "Flat earthers" who believe in scepticism and hard data... :D
 
Foreword : "The article on valve amp then on IGBT amp, in which we introduced the problem of links to speakers, occasioned abundant audiophile readers letters, asking us to make a status on cables recommended in HiFi."

Then core of the article implicitly supposes "perfect electronics and speakers" having infinite bandwidth (or alternately brickwall-limited bandwidth) and unconditionnaly stable and perfectly linear.
As such, the article provides and illustrates several calculations about cable resistance, parasitic inductance and capacitance, focusing on cable attenuation vs. frequency, giving some figures as recommendation to qualify cables from "poor" to "special"

"Conclusion : even if theory shows data that seem to confirm parasitic capacitance can impact LF signal, it can be verified that, in practice, this is not perceptible in audio frequencies.
Only parasitic inductance has influence, and seldom influence only, above 15kHz, hence not perceptible to human ear.
Skin effect theory was not introduced in this article because it produces only a decrease of ohmic resistance about 0.0005R. So, willing to take into account such futile change without considering resistances of the speaker crossover filters, which are considerably higher values, would be like counting sand grains on a beach.
No spectacular property is to be expected from those supercable, except their price".

Then they advertise a couple of recipe to make low-inductive cables hence as good or even better in their eyes as supercables.

IMHO : 12 pages in a book called "new electronic" to discuss R, RC, RL attenuation/cut-off w.r.t. ideal source + ideal load? After a couple of article on valve amp and IGBT amp? Wow, it reminds me when I was teenage soldering things that I understand only very vaguely. Less did I measured/characterized :-D
 
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