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Opening a can of worms

Here is the can filled with opinions. It's been hashed and rehashed to infinity and beyond with no clear result. Since I am a seeker of truth I'll post my thoughts here for the yea and naysayers to debate over. Question is: Are expensive speaker or any other cable in a system worth the exorbitant cost over a reasonably priced cable loom? I thought I'd  experiment myself to find out. My comparison is between Transparent Ultra cable loom and Blue Jeans cable loom on a pure stereo system comprised of Proceed PAV,  Proceed PDSD,  Krell Kav 250, Musical Fidelity A3cd, Sony Ps4300 TT and B&W 803D2 speakers. All sources were used by this experiment using identical playback material. Cables had in excess of 200 hrs burn time and all were identical in lenght. The only variation were the connector manufacturers.
One change that occurred during this 4 week long endeavor was that I'm firmly seated on the sharpest picket on the fence.
My result is that I'm now a believer that there are audible differences in cables. I also believe that these differences are minute and one has to really listen carefully and for a long time to discern these differences.
Now to the crutch of the matter, $$$$$, As we all know Transparent Cables would reside in the upper tier of Audio Cable expense.  Blue Jeans Cable on the other hand falls into the lowest tier of expense (well maybe not lowest but low nontheless )
One would think then that the Transparent would be far superior to the BJs. Not really! Yes the highs were a little cleaner, mids a little tighter and lows a tad more pronounced but not by as much as one would expect. Soundstage was somewhat more open and airy and depth was somewhat more defined with the higher priced cable but again less than one would expect. 

Now for my personal opinion regarding the cable debate: expensive cable looms are slightly better than reasonable priced looms, if a dollar equals a penny to you then by all means opt for the higher priced loom, if a penny equals a penny don't be ashamed for opting for the best you can do. The differences are so minute that it's not worth going into debt over. BOTH looms sounded superb on my test system and I would be happy with either loom.

Now let the debate begin, just know I'm a fence sitter and not in one camp or the other
gillatgh
68pete
1,037 posts
 
For me Transparent did not pull away from the other less expensive cables until you get to Reference level or higher. Time Portal Reference cables was a less expensive cable that competed with Transparent at the Ultra level in XLR.
enjoyPete
pophaudio
75 posts
 
Hi guys krell b&w sony this equipment is not the equipment ready to perform any tests, just waste time, better jump on bike and go to park to enjoy natural sources of sound 😄
johnmarzy's avatar
johnmarzy
34 posts
 
The short answer is IF YOU CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE and you can afford the upgrade then go for it.   No specs needed.
kypete
1 posts
 
The first problem with your experiment is that the Transparent Ultra’s need a lot more time to break in than 200 hours. I just went through this with two pairs of Transparent Super’s. Had to burn them in for 300 hours before they finally settled in. I would bet the Ultra’s need 300-400 hours. That said, the difference in sound after break in was unbelievable! Almost like I bought a new component. I have no doubt that jumping to the Ultra would have improved the sound to an even higher level. If you can afford it, go for it. 
detroital
21 posts
 
I don't think I have ever seen the issue of old (older) age that we all are living, and how that affects what we hear, or think we hesr?  I have been in this game for a long time, back to the Sansui and Fisher days. I have had my hearing test done at work every year for 44 years.  There has been a gradual decline in my hearing.  I know some is from the loud music, cars, shooting guns, and of course the work environment.  The getting older is also a part of that, but I don't see anyone addressing that here when talking about what they hear from their systems.  I believe you reach a point where the differences that you think you hear, are pretty minute.  To each his own.  I don't know how cables can be truely tested, without have them on a true A/B test switch, where you flip from one cable to another.  Better audio shops used to alwsys have their better speakers set up so that you could sit and A/B them instantly on the same music.  That way always got me to the best sounding spesker, IMO, that I could afford at that time.  I did once have a shop loan me three speakers for a home two week demo in my own home, so that was good for me to do.  I just hope all of the people here don't get too old the hear these improvements in their systems.
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