I don't believe cables make a difference, any input?

[gareth]

But still the fact remains that burn-in of a cable cannot be scientifically described. Surely in the day and age where manufacturers routinely parade accurate measurements there seems to be none in this area, apart from cable resistance (usually measured in ohms per kilometre/10kilometre) and capacitance (picofarads)...

Gareth

Edit..also the output stages of amplifiers are inherently tolerant of impedance changes so the effects of cable as seen by the ouptut stage would (i would have thought) be less than negligible,

[Alan Hope]

Originally posted by Andre Visser


Alan, I'm not so sure that you will measure a difference in FR, with my amplifiers, I've experienced large differences in perceived bass without changing the FR.

So how does that work then? Sincerely - after a day with my current ICs the bass was way down relative to the treble. It was horrible, I hated it, I didn't want to hear it - I really wanted my new shiny ICs to sound good but they didn't. And now they do.

For me - I'm now curious to see the FR at each point. OK, they may be exactly the same - but if so why is the sound so rubbish at one point and not at another? And if it is purely psychological why am I so irritatingly susceptible to it? Yeah, fine, perhaps the entire explanation is contained in my "really wanted" and I have psychologically granted myself that wish.

I am trying to be open minded here. If I had equivalent unburned ICs I would A/B them (blinded) but I haven't.

[gareth]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

[Robert F]

Originally posted by Alan Hope
So how does that work then? Sincerely - after a day with my current ICs the bass was way down relative to the treble. It was horrible, I hated it, I didn't want to hear it - I really wanted my new shiny ICs to sound good but they didn't. And now they do.

Alan ,

Only speculation on my part but since frequency response is measured with steady state tones maybe what we are hearing is a dynamic effect very audible with music? An analogy is witha CD payer modified to improve jitter performance.This always IME changes the bass performance of the player but it wont show up as a change in frequency response.

Regards,
Rob.

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by Alan Hope

So how does that work then? Sincerely - after a day with my current ICs the bass was way down relative to the treble. It was horrible, I hated it, I didn't want to hear it - I really wanted my new shiny ICs to sound good but they didn't. And now they do.

For me - I'm now curious to see the FR at each point. OK, they may be exactly the same - but if so why is the sound so rubbish at one point and not at another? And if it is purely psychological why am I so irritatingly susceptible to it? Yeah, fine, perhaps the entire explanation is contained in my "really wanted" and I have psychologically granted myself that wish.

I am trying to be open minded here. If I had equivalent unburned ICs I would A/B them (blinded) but I haven't.

Alan, I experience the same changes, unfortunately I don't have the answers to explain what happen because "logically" it should not be that way.

Regarding the psychological theory, it is possible but at the same time, I have free access to experiment with a variety of cables, so I have no preconceived preference to a specific cable, (in fact I would love it if the cheapest one sound best) I'm only interested in what sound good to me.

Don't let me stop you from measuring, I only stated that somehow we can perceive sound differently without changing the FR, I was hoping we could find an explanation because it wasn't my imagination, other people heard the same differences without me telling them anything. How do one measure the difference between loose bass and more controlled punchy bass?

[tinitus]

Dont you think pseudo balanced cables sound different ?... it does, and it also matters at which end you connect the shield/screen(?)

[Coulomb]

Is that the Phone I hear ringing? :-)

[Salas]

Allen Wright is a highly esteemed member here and he has done some research on cable sound and DIY cable construction. Maybe he can tell us a few things if he will be so kind.

From Allen's Vacuum State website

[agent.5]

Originally posted by salas
Allen Wright is a highly esteemed member here and he has done some research on cable sound and DIY cable construction. Maybe he can tell us a few things if he will be so kind.

From Allen's Vacuum State website

Yes. And based on his recommendations, I am using Lemo plugs instead of RCA in the amp that I am building.

[Andre Visser]

Originally posted by tinitus
Dont you think pseudo balanced cables sound different ?... it does, and it also matters at which end you connect the shield/screen(?)

The cable I like most is a shielded, twisted pair with the shield connected at the source side. Hope it answer your question.