Audiophiles with high end audio cables

[Asere]

How come if audio cables don't make a difference some audiophiles spend lots of money on them? There has to be some validation to the expense.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I would say cable differences are subjective based on the listener. Granted, you'd probably never find anyone that could differentiate between cables in blind AB testing, yet there are some that claim the blind testing is flawed and they can hear a difference. Hence, they buy the more expensive cables. Or... regardless of testing, they believe they hear a difference and buy the cable they believe makes their system sound better.

I personally have never been able to hear a difference, but I have still purchased some slightly more expensive cables from time to time. I don't think I'll ever bite on the uber-expensive cables, although I have to say, some of them do look pretty cool.

 

[3dbinCanada]

@Asere, Does the validation have to be sonic? It could be that they like the looks or heard about a cables reputation through the grape vine.

I'm an electrical engineer by schooling so my thrust in this is science based. I'm also part way through a book written by Dr. Floyd Toole called... never mind.. here's a cover of the book

In it, he describes the limits of human hearing, how the brain is the most powerful DSP chip and how it readily adapts to what we hear without us being even aware in most cases. Given this book and my educational background, I say with conviction that there is no audible difference in cables and interconnects. Audiophiles believe their hearing to be absolute. Dr Floyd Toole differs from that point of view.

But we all do what makes us happy.

 

[rattus]

The expense is the validation!

 

[MusicManLen]

While I never had the gift of A/B testing ability years ago when the COAX vs Optical Cable debate was in prime time I had a friend of mine that could pick the Optical Cable as his preference over COAX no matter how many times I tried to confuse him with blind testing or source selections. Finally I just accepted that he could hear nuances that I couldn't. I'm sure there are other audiophiles out there who possess the same talent and for them it's probably money well spent if they prefer one cable over another.

 

[ddude003]

When it comes to amplifier to speaker cables, there is that thing that happens when driving a load, and the feedback that an amplifier gets from the speaker... So if the speaker cables change that in any way it would be about how the amplifier responds... Consider feedback, impedance curve and damping factors... Materials, gauge and length...

 

[Sonnie Parker]

@Asere, Does the validation have to be sonic? It could be that they like the looks or heard about a cables reputation through the grape vine.

I'm an electrical engineer by schooling so my thrust in this is science based. I'm also part way through a book written by Dr. Floyd Toole called... never mind.. here's a cover of the book

View attachment 69801

In it, he describes the limits of human hearing, how the brain is the most powerful DSP chip and how it readily adapts to what we hear without us being even aware in most cases. Given this book and my educational background, I say with conviction that there is no audible difference in cables and interconnects. Audiophiles believe their hearing to be absolute. Dr Floyd Toole differs from that point of view.

But we all do what makes us happy.

It seems interesting that some reviewers and audiophiles are extremely supportive of Toole when it comes to something that supports their findings or beliefs (some going so far as to quote him), but then when it comes to something like cables, they dismiss him, believing they can hear a difference.