Oh NO! Cables again!!

[twinkletoes]

I'll never understand why people think it's worth 'sharing' videos of their setups - others will only hear sound as good as the kit they are using themselves - in my case the cheap speakers built into my laptop. Similar to those who post videos of the records they are listening to - both are very definitely not 'all about the music' to my mind. All rather self-congratulatory.

i mentioned this once under YouTube video got told where go by a few people, all rather amusing really. Seems to be how people base there purchasing decisions these days.

 

[Gray]

...mind you, I have heard differences between cartridges, when listening on headphones to YT videos.

But, then there was the video that used a microphone to record cartridge differences through his system.
I had to (diplomatically) point out that his video was useless.... his reply informed me that it was because his recorder had no line input 🤪

 

[Jasonovich]

Apologies for reactivating this old thread but I just want to share this with those, who see the value in cables.

Humans have veins, without them, we simply can't exist. Same with HiFi, if you don't plug your speaker wires it doesn't function. So never under estimate the importance of cabling!

Pfffthud.....Oooook...just got an arrow in my back

Anyway if you're not a believer, Amazon speaker cables are really good and costs about £15 a meter.
OK, check out these bad boys below, AliExpress, credit to them for selling these top notch cables, and I am more than 100% pleased with the purchase.

 

[podknocker]

You're right Jason, £15/m is enough to get the electricity from your amp to your speakers etc. The Valhalla pictured above is totally overkill and there's no need for it, but as we all know, there are many HIFI magpies out there who love the expensive shiny bling.

 

[nopiano]

You're right Jason, £15/m is enough to get the electricity from your amp to your speakers etc. The Valhalla pictured above is totally overkill and there's no need for it, but as we all know, there are many HIFI magpies out there who love the expensive shiny bling.

And it’s obviously a Chinese rip-off of the similar looking Nordost. Not that I think genuine Nordost is much more than jewellery foo, but then I’m a bit cynical these days.

 

[Jasonovich]

You're right Jason, £15/m is enough to get the electricity from your amp to your speakers etc. The Valhalla pictured above is totally overkill and there's no need for it, but as we all know, there are many HIFI magpies out there who love the expensive shiny bling.

That's me Pod!

 

[Jasonovich]

And it’s obviously a Chinese rip-off of the similar looking Nordost. Not that I think genuine Nordost is much more than jewellery foo, but then I’m a bit cynical these days.

Genuine Nordost is about £10K a meter! There's no comparison to the kosher product but I will say, it really is well made and excellent throughout. You're paying £95-£100 for meter and a half for these, there's no way you can mistake it for the real thing.

The real Valhalla 2's are pure silver wiring, these have silver plating. I recall making my pure silver cables. I got the naked wiring and inserted the special sheathing made from Teflon, I still have them. I was getting the desired results, really clean sound but were bright sounding. In the end I replaced them with 16 AWG OFC copper wiring, I lost some detail but were more agreeable with the speakers, these gave a better balance.

The simple copper wiring costs me I think less than ten pounds and the pure silver wiring, including the material and reel of 4% silver soldering, I better not say, but it was a lesson learnt, not everything that's expensive is necessarily better.
I think those bright sounding silver cables would be better match for speakers that are more laid back in their presentation.

I didn't purchase these faux cables because of the magic Nordost branding, I genuinely wanted flat speaker wire to manage better my cabling. The old python like cabling was sticking out from the sides and nervous it would get knocked and send everything tumbling down.

In all honesty, I would rather they call it by another name or kept to their generic branding because it distracts from the integrity of the product. It isn't genuine but it is quality speaker cable. I was surprised by the quality both in terms of construction and sound quality - ooops I said that dirty word

The Ataudio interconnect cable on the other hand, closely resemble the Nordost Odin but they did the smart thing, they labelled it as their own brand, and I think that was the right approach.

View: https://youtu.be/Uh_0QP9oanw?si=_bohPIp_NY7-3x1w

 

[jjbomber]

Apologies for reactivating this old thread but I just want to share this with those, who see the value in cables.

Humans have veins, without them, we simply can't exist.

I need to upgrade my veins! I am confident that I will see an immediate improvement!

 

[Jasonovich]

I need to upgrade my veins! I am confident that I will see an immediate improvement!

Vascular reconstruction can be done, I know just the man

 

[podknocker]

I would still love to know how exotic speaker leads change the sound, when amplifier terminals, speaker terminals and internal speaker crossover and voice coil windings are made from much cheaper materials, such as brass and normal industrial copper. People need to stop deluding themselves. If you believe you hear an improvement, that's fine, but you need to prove these things to non believers, such as myself, via blind listening tests, which can be repeated without error. Never gonna happen.

 

[Friesiansam]

I need to upgrade my veins! I am confident that I will see an immediate improvement!

i need to upgrade my knees and ankles. Add a cap with a go-faster stripe on the top and, nobody will ever catch me...

 

[Jasonovich]

I would still love to know how exotic speaker leads change the sound, when amplifier terminals, speaker terminals and internal speaker crossover and voice coil windings are made from much cheaper materials, such as brass and normal industrial copper. People need to stop deluding themselves. If you believe you hear an improvement, that's fine, but you need to prove these things to non believers, such as myself, via blind listening tests, which can be repeated without error. Never gonna happen.

I don't think it's my place to convince you.
It's our personal journal into Hifi, real or imagined
Essentially you find your best spot and if it makes you happy, well that's terrific.
😊
Hifi has so many facets and no one should be racing to the moon to prove a point.
I don't care for the science, I don't care if it is the placebo effect. If my ears like it, it's good enough for me.
But yeah always good to have a discussion and I respect your opinions Pod. Nice one 👍

 

[Jasonovich]

i need to upgrade my knees and ankles. Add a cap with a go-faster stripe on the top and, nobody will ever catch me...

Now we're talking!

 

[jjbomber]

If you believe you hear an improvement, that's fine, but you need to prove these things to non believers, such as myself, via blind listening tests, which can be repeated without error. Never gonna happen.

They only have to prove it to themselves.

 

[abacus]

They only have to prove it to themselves.

So long as they don't claim it to be a fact instead of an opinion, then yes, you are spot on.

Bill

 

[abacus]

Have fun

Bill

 

[Jasonovich]

Have fun

Bill

Just to add some balance;

Scientific Study Claims to Prove That Expensive Cables Do Matter in Sound Quality

But the cable debate still isn't over.

www.headphonesty.com

I wasn't hearing anything from my HiFi and then I connected all the cables, WoW...Eureka.

It is a controversial subject and we know it's human nature that arguments from either side won't settle the debate. So, why stress? It is ultimately the freedom of choice, it's your dough, you decide.

Disclaimer:
I'm not advocating you buy expensive cables. There are a lot of reasonable priced cables that do the job just fine.

 

[twinkletoes]

They only have to prove it to themselves.

The very differnition of irony in his statement though! just sayin

 

[jjbomber]

The very differnition of irony in his statement though! just sayin

Indeed, as if they'll ever prove people can't hear a difference.

On a similar theme, this is from Nuno Bettencourt, guitarist with Extreme:
''When we heard 'Eruption', we were just, like, 'Wait a second. Wait a second.' Go back. Listen to it again. Listen to it again. It was just a different level of technicality, but also creativity, and it was just so innovative. And you know what? For me, that stuff, 'Eruption', was one thing. I'm talking more about the rhythm playing. Edward was doing something where all the guys before him, while they were playing their rhythm tracks, if a change to a section happened, it was always the drummer who did a fill, who did something to make a change. Edward was now — we were hearing a guitar player and going, 'Wait a second. We can also have fun with rhythm playing?' He's doing fills, almost like drum fills, going into sections, having fun and putting a smile on your face and really being creative and playing little vignettes of solos for — I don't know — a bar or two in between sections. That was something really fresh and new. It made you go, 'I can be creative with rhythm playing.' That was wild."

Now he is clearly hearing things that very few people can hear. I would guess that 99% of die hard Van Halen fans aren't hearing this. They can follow the lead guitar easy enough, but the rhythm overdubs? I doubt it. I am believe the same will be true with cables. Some will hear a difference, some won't. I'm guessing Nuno will be able to!

 

[twinkletoes]

Indeed, as if they'll ever prove people can't hear a difference.

On a similar theme, this is from Nuno Bettencourt, guitarist with Extreme:
''When we heard 'Eruption', we were just, like, 'Wait a second. Wait a second.' Go back. Listen to it again. Listen to it again. It was just a different level of technicality, but also creativity, and it was just so innovative. And you know what? For me, that stuff, 'Eruption', was one thing. I'm talking more about the rhythm playing. Edward was doing something where all the guys before him, while they were playing their rhythm tracks, if a change to a section happened, it was always the drummer who did a fill, who did something to make a change. Edward was now — we were hearing a guitar player and going, 'Wait a second. We can also have fun with rhythm playing?' He's doing fills, almost like drum fills, going into sections, having fun and putting a smile on your face and really being creative and playing little vignettes of solos for — I don't know — a bar or two in between sections. That was something really fresh and new. It made you go, 'I can be creative with rhythm playing.' That was wild."

Now he is clearly hearing things that very few people can hear. I would guess that 99% of die hard Van Halen fans aren't hearing this. They can follow the lead guitar easy enough, but the rhythm overdubs? I doubt it. I am believe the same will be true with cables. Some will hear a difference, some won't. I'm guessing Nuno will be able to!

Well Im industrial designer by trade and have a very good eye for colour with quite an extreme eye for tone within the colours eg 2 pinks that sit very very close together in tone I can see while many can't see it and will call the colour the same.

This will be much the same Nuno, just with sound I suspect.

He probably gets very offended if the sound is off as I do if a printed colour is off.

 

[podknocker]

They only have to prove it to themselves.

Not if they're suggesting these improvements on a global forum. If you think it sounds better, then tell everyone, but if people ask you how and why it sounds better, you need to explain or even prove it. I could say I can fly to the moon and back every night. Would you believe me?

IF these fancy speaker cables made a difference, you would need every part of the signal path to be made of the same material, but this is never the case. Surely, 'inferior' materials would negate the benefits of any expensive speaker cables? I don't think buyers of overpriced speaker cabling have actually sat down and thought this through in a calm and rational way. Instead it's merely boasting about buying expensive nonsense, with the expectation of anyone being impressed.

I defy anyone to prove there is a change in sound quality with speaker cables costing thousands of pounds.

 

[Jasonovich]

Have fun

Bill

I love that woman's rendition of somewhere over the rainbow. I love it, whose the artist?

 

[jjbomber]

with quite an extreme eye

Love the pun! Nuno and the rest of Extreme will approve!

 

[Revolutions]

Isn’t eruption 99% solo? Your man from Extreme really must be a cable believer, it seems.

 

[Rodolfo]

I love that woman's rendition of somewhere over the rainbow. I love it, whose the artist?

It's Melody Gardot. Her Over the Rainbow is on her excellent My One and Only Thrill album, and sounds great with my relatively cheap cables and wirelessly.