WHF S&V hits rock bottom: now claiming USB cables have an effect on sound quality

[bigboss]

I don't really understand........a couple of forum members are continuously mocking the magazine & the forum. What's the agenda? I myself don't agree with certain reviews, but that's my opinion. If the reviewers can see a difference, so be it. Where does all this "stakeholder in a multimillion pound company by just buying a mag worth less than 5 quid" come into?

 

[Sliced Bread]

bigboss:I don't really understand........a couple of forum members are continuously mocking the magazine & the forum. What's the agenda? I myself don't agree with certain reviews, but that's my opinion. If the reviewers can see a difference, so be it. Where does all this "stakeholder in a multimillion pound company by just buying a mag worth less than 5 quid" come into?

Agreed.

To me it is logical that there are differences in digital leads, however I'm happy to be proven wrong. It's not right to slate the mag / forum because it doesn't support your own (ahem) agenda.

 

[bigboss]

axman:
I am a total noob with these things, but if the argument against expensive cables is simply that "it is all 1s and 0s so if the signal meets the minimum requirement therefore you can't see the difference, and if it doesn't than it gets corrected anyway", so I have to conclude that:

- there is no point buying an expensive CD player because it is all 1s and 0s anyway.

- better to buy the cheapest CD player and spend money on a good DAC

- in fact, no wories about playing non-lossless music from my ipod, because of the above argument.

The ideal system setup for me would therefore be - cheapest ipod playing the most compressed music formats, connected via the cheapest toslink to a good DAC which is connected via expensive analogue cables to a good amp/speakers.

Btw, I find it hard to believe that it is all 1s and 0s anyway because when I watch DVDs that I ... err.. imported from Bangkok... I see pixelation. I am no expert but as a hobbyist, if I can see pixelation from bad data, I therefore find it hard to accept the "only 1s and 0s" argument.

the_lhc, I think axman was just being sarcastic here.

 

[The_Lhc]

bigboss:axman:
I am a total noob with these things, but if the argument against expensive cables is simply that "it is all 1s and 0s so if the signal meets the minimum requirement therefore you can't see the difference, and if it doesn't than it gets corrected anyway", so I have to conclude that:

- there is no point buying an expensive CD player because it is all 1s and 0s anyway.

- better to buy the cheapest CD player and spend money on a good DAC

- in fact, no wories about playing non-lossless music from my ipod, because of the above argument.

The ideal system setup for me would therefore be - cheapest ipod playing the most compressed music formats, connected via the cheapest toslink to a good DAC which is connected via expensive analogue cables to a good amp/speakers.

Btw, I find it hard to believe that it is all 1s and 0s anyway because when I watch DVDs that I ... err.. imported from Bangkok... I see pixelation. I am no expert but as a hobbyist, if I can see pixelation from bad data, I therefore find it hard to accept the "only 1s and 0s" argument.

the_lhc, I think axman was just being sarcastic here.

Possibly but he was missing his targets in that case.

 

[bigboss]

the_lhc:
Possibly but he was missing his targets in that case.

 

[hammill]

shadiest.tripod:

UGH!

Don't you just hate computer morons who bang on about "digital is digital" and "it's just 1's and 0's"!

I must admit that I loathe to back the WHF magazine on most occasions, but in real-time audio replay, what starts as being 1's and 0's in the original file is going to be affected by so many things! All cables are microphonic to a degree so vibration has a critical affect on timing (errors which result in a percentage of those bits not getting to the other end at all or, just as importantly, not at PRECISELY the right moment in time).

As soon as you are outside of a computer and are dealing with a real-time stream (where you can no longer re-read the data for accuracy) errors are incredibly easy to accumulate.

Arguments about digital cameras/printers don't hold as they are in effect governed and controlled by the host computer to ensure data is re-check and verified to compensate for errors etc.

Plus anyone who has compared cheap cables and "specialist" such as QED, Belkin, Monster, IXOS are not going to hear much of a difference, they're all chinese mass produced dross!!!! Any cable manufacturer who sells via Currys/Comet etc is NOT a specialist brand!!!

At least give something like a Wireworld a try (I would ordinarily say Chord as well but considering they're HDMI's are shipped in from China I'd guess if they did/do a USB that would be too)

Don't you just hate racists who say if something is made in China, it must be rubbish

 

[Anonymous]

My first acoustic guitar was made in China and it was fantastic value for money.

 

[AndrewH13]

hammill:[Don't you just hate racists who say if something is made in China, it must be rubbish

And this racist in a hifi store!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCBe7-6rw4M

 

[Andrew Everard]

Not that thing again...

Anyway, I think we're now far enough off-topic, and with some posts of dubious provenance, to put this one to bed now.