Chord Company interconnects with Marantz PM6005

[davedotco]

Just checked out the price of this Chord interconnect. At £130 It costs more than the AKG550 headphones I bought. You have to be insane to pay that for a bit of screened wire that costs less than a tenner to manufacture.

I think it may be a bit more expensive than that.

Back in the day the Chord Company made decent hand made cables at sensible prices, all their wire, plugs etc came out of the RS catalogue.

Then they discovered how much people would pay for bling, especially in the far east. At first they thought it was funny and were, well, a bit apologetic about it, then the orders came rolling in.........*unknw*

 

[stefanom]

Unfortunately, shops in the UK are unable to ship Chord cables to Iceland. In the end I decided to go with Atlas Hyper Integra interconnects. They can be shipped to Iceland and they are less expensive than the Chords, about 90 pounds. Atlas cables do get great reviews so I am excited about them.

 

[Glacialpath]

It's quite amazing that Chord Company would recommend their expensive interconnects isn't it? *shok*

Stick with what you have, you'll hear absolutely no difference in sound between your QED cables and Chord Companies even more expensive ones, and spend the money saved on some good music instead.

They didn't recommend their expensive cables. The Cobra cables are only the second in their range and the Chameleons are the next level up. If they thought the most expensive ones would have been the best they would have said buy the Sarum range at over a grand a meter. There are 5 other lines below the Sarum range before you get down to the Chameleon.

 

[antskip]

Unfortunately, shops in the UK are unable to ship Chord cables to Iceland. In the end I decided to go with Atlas Hyper Integra interconnects. They can be shipped to Iceland and they are less expensive than the Chords, about 90 pounds. Atlas cables do get great reviews so I am excited about them.

stefanom, the Atlas Hyper Integra clearly is made (in Scotland) with a lot of thought and care. Look forward to hearing how you find them after you have had them installed for a week or so!

 

[lindsayt]

Glacialpath, expensive is all relative.

In this context, £80 to £120 (depending on length) for the Cobra cables is expensive, because it's more expensive than £2 cables. It's also expensive as a proportion of the amplifier cost (£250).

However the Cobras and Chameleons are much less expensive than Chord's hugely expensive Sarum cables.

 

[lindsayt]

You really are not getting this are you?

Of course I hear differences when I swap cables, pretty much everyone does. This is not about whether we can hear a difference, but what causes us to hear a difference.

We know, via hundreds and hundreds of experiments, that our senses are not reliable in all manner of ways, people, when tested see and hear things differently, this is the way we are.

In this particular instance the proposition is simple.

When comparing cables in a sighted test, the differences that we hear are far, far more likely to be due to psycological reasons than any changes in the cable itself. Despite all the evidence that supports this view, some people simply don't believe that they can be so easily mislead by their own senses.

I'm clearly not "pretty much everyone" then.

For the last interconnect cable bake-off / demo I could hear no difference between a £120 1.5 metre Atratus cable and a £20 0.5 metre Puresonic one.

The results of my bake-off bear no relevance to the OP's forthcoming bake-off between the Chord and QED interconnects. He might hear a difference in his system with his ears and his test tracks. He might not. If he does hear a difference he might decide they are swings and roundabouts equally good overall, or he might prefer the Chord, or he might prefer the QED.

It's one of those things, He might as well try the Chords on a sale or return basis. They might give him a nice little upgrade. They might not.

 

[Glacialpath]

Glacialpath, expensive is all relative.

However the Cobras and Chameleons are much less expensive than Chord's hugely expensive Sarum cables.

Exactly my point.

So Chord company didn't just recommend their expensive cables. You are rigt though, it is just that their cables are more expensive than say a Maplin cable.

 

[kmlav]

I have a interesting , well sort off depending on how dull your life is, experience with using wires more premium than a system deserved. Basically I got a load of chord signature speaker cable of ebay which was a bit more than I needed for the main set up so I got chord to cut it down and I put it into my office system. The office set up is a Mac to Cyrus 8 QX (integrated amp) with kef r100 speakers so kind of budget compared to many set ups. The cable that was on there was chord silverscreen which is cheap enough for most cable haters to approve and I would have never have put signature cable in had I not had my ebay bargain. Now in the interest of avoiding any stupid hifi terminology the inpact of the sound was huge and unexpected as one would have thought that I had the correct cable for the set up already and anything better would have been a waste. I'm certainly not saying go out and spend thousands on speaker cable for your budget systems I'm just saying I got a bargain on some posh cable and it is actually very good even in a modest setup

 

[davedotco]

You really are not getting this are you?

Of course I hear differences when I swap cables, pretty much everyone does. This is not about whether we can hear a difference, but what causes us to hear a difference.

We know, via hundreds and hundreds of experiments, that our senses are not reliable in all manner of ways, people, when tested see and hear things differently, this is the way we are.

In this particular instance the proposition is simple.

When comparing cables in a sighted test, the differences that we hear are far, far more likely to be due to psycological reasons than any changes in the cable itself. Despite all the evidence that supports this view, some people simply don't believe that they can be so easily mislead by their own senses.

I'm clearly not "pretty much everyone" then.

For the last interconnect cable bake-off / demo I could hear no difference between a £120 1.5 metre Atratus cable and a £20 0.5 metre Puresonic one.

The results of my bake-off bear no relevance to the OP's forthcoming bake-off between the Chord and QED interconnects. He might hear a difference in his system with his ears and his test tracks. He might not. If he does hear a difference he might decide they are swings and roundabouts equally good overall, or he might prefer the Chord, or he might prefer the QED.

It's one of those things, He might as well try the Chords on a sale or return basis. They might give him a nice little upgrade. They might not.

That has been obvious for a while.

It is generally the case that most enthusiasts hear a difference, this board is a very good indicator of this.

My posts are not anti cable, but an attempt to persuade those who hear differences to think about what they are really hearing and why. If a cable works for one person, and does so consistently, peehaps it is worth the money, the power of suggestion, is very strong, as indeed is pride of ownership.

I have detailed elsewhere that I have to 'know' that my speaker cables are the same length, even 'knowing' that it makes no difference doesn't help. If I don't know that the lengths are different, I don't hear the problem......*unknw*

 

[ID.]

My posts are not anti cable, but an attempt to persuade those who hear differences to think about what they are really hearing and why. If a cable works for one person, and does so consistently, peehaps it is worth the money, the power of suggestion, is very strong, as indeed is pride of ownership.

I have detailed elsewhere that I have to 'know' that my speaker cables are the same length, even 'knowing' that it makes no difference doesn't help. If I don't know that the lengths are different, I don't hear the problem......*unknw*

+1

I have that problem with headphones that have the cable just going the left side. I swear that the soundstage isn't centered and is just slightly to the left of centre. I think I would still hear this even if I could be shown that in fact there are equal lengths of cable attached to each earpiece, just hidden within the frame of the headphone. Or maybe I need to get my ears thoroughly checked...

 

[davedotco]

My posts are not anti cable, but an attempt to persuade those who hear differences to think about what they are really hearing and why. If a cable works for one person, and does so consistently, peehaps it is worth the money, the power of suggestion, is very strong, as indeed is pride of ownership.

I have detailed elsewhere that I have to 'know' that my speaker cables are the same length, even 'knowing' that it makes no difference doesn't help. If I don't know that the lengths are different, I don't hear the problem......*unknw*

+1

I have that problem with headphones that have the cable just going the left side. I swear that the soundstage isn't centered and is just slightly to the left of centre. I think I would still hear this even if I could be shown that in fact there are equal lengths of cable attached to each earpiece, just hidden within the frame of the headphone. Or maybe I need to get my ears thoroughly checked...

Our own perceptions tend to rule our preferences. Years ago I erroniously purchased an Audiolab 8000a amplifier, which after the usual period of 'new product' excitement, I found to be awful. Everytime I hear an Audiolab product, I hear that old 8000a, so simply can't listen to them.

Listening is essential for the enthusiast to make the right choice, but the more that is understood about the listening process, the more useful the demonstrations become. Sure, not every music lover wants to go into this amount of detail when choosing a setup but for the enthusiast, it just adds to the fun.

 

[TrevC]

My posts are not anti cable, but an attempt to persuade those who hear differences to think about what they are really hearing and why. If a cable works for one person, and does so consistently, peehaps it is worth the money, the power of suggestion, is very strong, as indeed is pride of ownership.

I have detailed elsewhere that I have to 'know' that my speaker cables are the same length, even 'knowing' that it makes no difference doesn't help. If I don't know that the lengths are different, I don't hear the problem......*unknw*

+1

I have that problem with headphones that have the cable just going the left side. I swear that the soundstage isn't centered and is just slightly to the left of centre. I think I would still hear this even if I could be shown that in fact there are equal lengths of cable attached to each earpiece, just hidden within the frame of the headphone. Or maybe I need to get my ears thoroughly checked...

See if you can work out how to tell if it's the phones or your ears.

 

[ID.]

My posts are not anti cable, but an attempt to persuade those who hear differences to think about what they are really hearing and why. If a cable works for one person, and does so consistently, peehaps it is worth the money, the power of suggestion, is very strong, as indeed is pride of ownership.

I have detailed elsewhere that I have to 'know' that my speaker cables are the same length, even 'knowing' that it makes no difference doesn't help. If I don't know that the lengths are different, I don't hear the problem......*unknw*

+1

I have that problem with headphones that have the cable just going the left side. I swear that the soundstage isn't centered and is just slightly to the left of centre. I think I would still hear this even if I could be shown that in fact there are equal lengths of cable attached to each earpiece, just hidden within the frame of the headphone. Or maybe I need to get my ears thoroughly checked...

See if you can work out how to tell if it's the phones or your ears.

Doesn't seem to happen with my Grados which have a cable running to each earpiece. It happens in my living room because of how one speaker is close to a wall and the other is open. It swings the opposite way in my other room where room placement affects the sound. Switching the headphones around on my head swings it just slightly to the right.

My eyesight, on the other hand, is far worse in my right eye.

 

[ellisdj]

Pride of ownership is not always a factor at all.

Recently did a mine vs yours cable test - I really wanted mine to be as good as the other cables I was testing against but they wasnt by miles unfortunately. No matter how much I wanted them to be they just wasnt.

The difference was not small either - however the system was all wired with the other manufacturers cable - so I was introducing one different cable as interconnects (or 2 as speaker wires) into a chain of all the same - not all the same but from the same company. Not that this should make a difference but just explaining.

Now the difference as I said was not small - the largest difference was in the speaker cable test but there was still a big difference in interconnects test as well.

I do now know the other cables are some of the very best you can buy and I want them now whole heartidly

 

[davedotco]

Why does that reply not surprise me one bit?

 

[ellisdj]

I have not said it just to be controversial.

While my system was down for renovations from Sept it was the perfect opportunity to do this test.

I Wanted to see how the 2 compared - its another forum member friends system

We did it together and the result was conclusive to both of us.

I agree there is buyer ownership influence at times, other times you have to hold your hands up and say while these are good they are much better fair cop

 

[BenLaw]

Who's the other member and what were the cables?

 

[davedotco]

I have not said it just to be controversial.

While my system was down for renovations from Sept it was the perfect opportunity to do this test.

I Wanted to see how the 2 compared - its another forum member friends system

We did it together and the result was conclusive to both of us.

I agree there is buyer ownership influence at times, other times you have to hold your hands up and say while these are good they are much better fair cop

I genuinely never thought you did.

You buy into this whole cable thing, it's classic behaviour. You 100% believe what you hear.

Of course I have no idea what that is and that is of course the point, subjective evaluations may well tell you something, we simply disagree on what that "something" is.

 

[ellisdj]

Who's the other member and what were the cables?

I will say in the future when i have got mine.
I dont want any competition if any come up used.

This may seem pety and stupid but their rare and expensive enough without that . I will share the love at a later date, their not new just very very good clever design but simple nothing fancy the opposite really

Ihav

 

[ID.]

ellisdj - I don't think you understand the meaning of pride of ownership. Your use of it is certainly not correct.

 

[Myers]

It's not difficult if you have a friend who can swap cables/hardware without you knowing its not overly scientific but it does work & you really have no idea which one is in use - if you notice difference between sessions then go for the sound you prefer, works rather well esp. if you have a couple of sober friends listening along with you, why there are these continued threads I don't understand as they are all the same. I test drove a few cars last week & noticed differences though I'm sure it's my imagination so I'm going for a Dacia as they are all the same & differences are just caused by the badge on the wheel.

 

[ellisdj]

ellisdj - I don't think you understand the meaning of pride of ownership. Your use of it is certainly not correct.

Sorry - why was my meaning of pride of ownership not used correctly?

 

[JoelSim]

In my experience cables can tweak sound slightly, but it is slight. I have nice cables for the record but as said the differences are small in comparison to upgrading a piece of kit.