Al’s response is much more technical than anything I could offer you, but the ’loom theory’ is also based, to a degree, on the ’house sound’ of particular cable brands.
To me, the only way to know is to live with it in your system. Thus, The Cable Co. loaner program may make sense. I don’t know if they are price competitive, I do know they also have a ’Used Cable" business but don’t know if you can home trial some cables then try to buy them used from The Cable Co. My dealings with them were confined to the Audio Desk record cleaning machine and Robert Stein was a good guy.
I think it is impossible to figure this out without listening unless you just decide to go for some tried and true combo- there are known synergies that people seem to prefer for some products, but again, that may not replicate your system in your room with your ears.
For my vintage second system, I bought very inexpensive cable and it's fine. For my main system, I home trialed (by owning and by loan from manufacturer) several different cables and have not changed them in a decade, other than to upgrade one IC.
Good luck, it’s a bit maddening since you can begin to question what you are hearing which only reinforces the negative view of cable changes. I’m not a naysayer, but sometimes, a change in a system will improve one thing and negatively affect something else. That’s why longer term listening is the route I prefer for evaluating things.
To me, the only way to know is to live with it in your system. Thus, The Cable Co. loaner program may make sense. I don’t know if they are price competitive, I do know they also have a ’Used Cable" business but don’t know if you can home trial some cables then try to buy them used from The Cable Co. My dealings with them were confined to the Audio Desk record cleaning machine and Robert Stein was a good guy.
I think it is impossible to figure this out without listening unless you just decide to go for some tried and true combo- there are known synergies that people seem to prefer for some products, but again, that may not replicate your system in your room with your ears.
For my vintage second system, I bought very inexpensive cable and it's fine. For my main system, I home trialed (by owning and by loan from manufacturer) several different cables and have not changed them in a decade, other than to upgrade one IC.
Good luck, it’s a bit maddening since you can begin to question what you are hearing which only reinforces the negative view of cable changes. I’m not a naysayer, but sometimes, a change in a system will improve one thing and negatively affect something else. That’s why longer term listening is the route I prefer for evaluating things.