Quote Originally Posted by hermanv
Most recordings will never sound like live music. They are recordered with as many microphones (or more) are there are musicians, the instrumens are recorded close miked (have you listened to a saxaphone with your ear inside the bell?) and then mixed, blended and panned into position on the final cut. Even ambience mikes are mixed into the end result to give dimension to the music but it's not real.

This isn't necessarily bad, but it isn't live music either. The comparison is not really germaine.

I have listened to a great number of cables, on some it is easy to identify a given signature, they have a sound or coloration. Others are just plain better but it is very difficult to express what exacty it is that is better about them. The whole process of listening to an artist or a system is largely a subjective one.

For me, fine cables help the experience, I encourange others to test cables in their system to see if they will help. If a given cable doesn't help their system, that is not evidence that it doesn't help mine.

Many audiophiles recognize that carefully designed equipment using exotic components sounds better than the mass market equipment, we pay dearly for the difference. After all the difference beteween the exotic, expensive, name brand, audiophile amplifier and that mass market substitute is mostly details and materials quality. Why is it that hard to believe that details and materials quality in a cable can affect the sound quality?

A Chinese mass market resistor (about $0.003 in volume, made with some deposited carbon on a ceramic substrate) and a Vishay S102 ($11.95 for one, made with ultra pure aluminum foil on a glass substrate) measure the same on my Ohmmeter. My ears disagree with my Ohmmeter, they say that they are not the same, when used in an electronic circuit, the Vishay sounds better.

If there is a difference, and you cannot measure it, then you are using the wrong instrument to test it.

In the case of the resistors, an ohmmeter can only tell you part of the story. Resistors are often constructed in a circular wound pattern. This forms an inductor of low value. This inductance must be taken into account. Another factor is the current capacity of the resistor (power rating). If it gets hot then the ohmage may change with temperature. Another test to try might be to try passing varying audio frequencies through the resistor at the level they will be working with and compare input signal to output signal (distortion) on an accurate oscilloscope. If all these factors were comparable, then there would be absolutely no way that there could be a discernable difference. (for those that disagree, could I sell you some sound improving crystals or a prayer book - you will here an important improvent in the 'humidity' of the sound. (just jokes)).

I'll say it again, if there is a genuine difference, and you are not able to measure it, you are simply using the wrong test instrument.