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The Science of Cables

It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why cables sound the way they do. When I see discussions on cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like shielding, gauge, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things like resistance, impedance, inductance, capacitance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t cables discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivist” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in cables. 

I know cables are often system dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
128x128mkgus
cd318
2,636 posts
 
@kalali, yes me too. I've become quite fond of those transparent high grade OFC speaker cables recently.

I shudder to recall those days of the ridiculously thick and unwieldy Naim NAC5 cables which they insisted were designed for their amps.

I loved the impressive construction and reliability of their amplifiers but shame on Naim for that particular piece of opportunism. Not even stylish or pretty, just thick and crude.
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 

Looks?

HEA sold a bag of tricks about looks. Pretty funny when you think about it. Here's a hobby based on looking at the recorded soundstage and the magazines sold massive looking things actually robbing the soundstage from appearing. Pretty strange hobby we had there for a while. I'm glad to see listeners using their space for space again.

Michael Green

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
@boxer12   Some of us have been hearing cable differences for more than half a century. We then used science and numbers to determine how that could be, given the prevailing wisdom that everything sounds the same. cf Stereo Review

@chrissain  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Regardless of the cable, it is quite possible to assemble systems where Brand X beats the pants off the Gold Standard. There is no universal best and COST DOES NOT CORRELATE TO SOUND QUALITY

@taras22  Film?!?!?! go away! <vbg> Z-curve? Bleccchhh. I effing hated doing music for films and TV! Great music buried for a door slam or tire squeal. What a waste!

@kalali Exactly. So much of the attraction is bling. And the names!! If it keeps up there will be Chocolate fudge, Caramel swirl...

@cd318  Perhaps it would be instructive to model the Naim output, the cable and their loudspeakers. While Ivor could often be off the beam, often he was spot on.
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