I seldom get involved in Cable debates, for obvious reasons.
It is my personal belief that they make differences, having listened to cables at all prices, from manufacturers like TCI, Vertere, Atlas, Cardas, Telurium Q, Chord, Linn, QED, Clearer Audio, Furutech...and probably more.....and expensive didn't always sound better (or should I say, preferable to me).
I have one anecdote which is totally true, doesn't conclusively prove anything but IMO is interesting nonetheless....and I have mentioned it here before:
Back in about 2011, I bought an Atlas Voyager from Ebay. I didn't like it, as it seemed to make the treble rather harsh and sibilent, so traded it in with my local dealer.
In 2013 (I think), I was interested in buying either the R100 or LS50.....I really wanted to save the money and go for the R100s, but decided to test them both. I had 2 long sessions with a system that consisted of a Linn Sneaky + Arcam AVR600. The LS50s were so much better, that I decided to go for them....but before I pulled the pin, I wanted Mrs. Cno to hear the difference as well.
So back I went, with herself in tow, to listen again.
First up was the R100s.
The sound had a hard glassy bite to it that was unpleasant, but I put it down to the equipment being cold. Half an hour later it was no better. We then put in the LS50s which were more natural, but still there was a hardness there. This was puzzling, as none of this kit should have sounded like this.and hadn't done so on the other two occasions (on the end of the same system). Mrs C was not impressed and wondered what all the fuss was about....as I'd raved about the LS50s.
Over an hour later, there was not much improvement, so I asked the dealer what s/c was being used......he replied that it was the good install (copper) bi-wire that I have used before, so not the problem.
Anyway, Michael (the owner) was called away to see to a customer....so I decided to have a poke about behind the system...and there to my amazement, was an Atlas Voyager. I had not expected this, as he always uses Linn Blacks or Silver, and isn't an Atlas dealer.
When Michael became freed up, I asked him why he had used the Atlas cable. He said that a few days ago, he had a customer who asked for a cable that was less smooth than the Linn Blacks and he dug out this one (which was mine from all that time ago). Since it was kicking about the dem room, he used it to connect the system.
I then had him exchange it for some Linn Blacks (which had been used for the other 2 dems) and the sound returned to what it had been like before.....we both agreed the LS50s were well worth the extra and so that is what I bought.
You can't get more blind than not knowing (or expecting) that there had been a change of i/c. ....and my expectation bias was that Linn Blacks were being used....as it never crossed my mind that he would have dug out a cable from a year or two back (that I didn't even know he still had).
So people can make of that what they will.
It is my personal belief that they make differences, having listened to cables at all prices, from manufacturers like TCI, Vertere, Atlas, Cardas, Telurium Q, Chord, Linn, QED, Clearer Audio, Furutech...and probably more.....and expensive didn't always sound better (or should I say, preferable to me).
I have one anecdote which is totally true, doesn't conclusively prove anything but IMO is interesting nonetheless....and I have mentioned it here before:
Back in about 2011, I bought an Atlas Voyager from Ebay. I didn't like it, as it seemed to make the treble rather harsh and sibilent, so traded it in with my local dealer.
In 2013 (I think), I was interested in buying either the R100 or LS50.....I really wanted to save the money and go for the R100s, but decided to test them both. I had 2 long sessions with a system that consisted of a Linn Sneaky + Arcam AVR600. The LS50s were so much better, that I decided to go for them....but before I pulled the pin, I wanted Mrs. Cno to hear the difference as well.
So back I went, with herself in tow, to listen again.
First up was the R100s.
The sound had a hard glassy bite to it that was unpleasant, but I put it down to the equipment being cold. Half an hour later it was no better. We then put in the LS50s which were more natural, but still there was a hardness there. This was puzzling, as none of this kit should have sounded like this.and hadn't done so on the other two occasions (on the end of the same system). Mrs C was not impressed and wondered what all the fuss was about....as I'd raved about the LS50s.
Over an hour later, there was not much improvement, so I asked the dealer what s/c was being used......he replied that it was the good install (copper) bi-wire that I have used before, so not the problem.
Anyway, Michael (the owner) was called away to see to a customer....so I decided to have a poke about behind the system...and there to my amazement, was an Atlas Voyager. I had not expected this, as he always uses Linn Blacks or Silver, and isn't an Atlas dealer.
When Michael became freed up, I asked him why he had used the Atlas cable. He said that a few days ago, he had a customer who asked for a cable that was less smooth than the Linn Blacks and he dug out this one (which was mine from all that time ago). Since it was kicking about the dem room, he used it to connect the system.
I then had him exchange it for some Linn Blacks (which had been used for the other 2 dems) and the sound returned to what it had been like before.....we both agreed the LS50s were well worth the extra and so that is what I bought.
You can't get more blind than not knowing (or expecting) that there had been a change of i/c. ....and my expectation bias was that Linn Blacks were being used....as it never crossed my mind that he would have dug out a cable from a year or two back (that I didn't even know he still had).
So people can make of that what they will.
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