Cable Break In for the Naysayers

@ozzy 

To avoid being perceived as being “irritably over-the-top” in my decidedly dim view of this entire discussion. 

Over the years, especially when suffering from severe cases of have FOMO, I tried well over a dozen high end interconnects costing in the low thousands per pair.

At the price points being discussed, I found no meaningful quantitative improvements. Ever. 

I sometimes thought that I may have perceived qualitative changes, but those perceptions could just as easily have been attributed to, in the immortal words of Ebenezer Scrooge, “An undigested piece of potato” that messed with the firing of any number of neurons between my cochlea and my auditory cortex.

One needs a cable that is thick enough, and shielded enough to do the job. Beyond that, the operative word, which you used, is “believe”. Meaning, faith, religion, occultism, voodoo.

Not for me. 

See my system on the about page of theaudioatticvinylsundays.com No mention of cables. 

unreceivedogma Thanks for your comments. I originally thought about cables as you do now. How can wire be different? It’s just wire, right?

My first experience into the great wire unknown was when a dealer years ago lent me a Synergistic Research Master coupler power cord to try. I was convinced that no way can a power cord do anything. It’s just thick wire? And the cost? 

But I tried it, and I couldn’t believe the difference. More bass, soundstage etc.

That one event sent me down the rabbit hole I am now in. 

By that I mean, I have found so many differences in the way cables sound and perform. That is, power cables, interconnects, speaker cables etc. And each piece of equipment may react differently with different cables.

But if your system, and ears are not up to it, you might let this pass you by.

Enjoy what you have and what you prefer.

ozzy 

WORD

@ozzy But if your system, and ears are not up to it, you might let this pass you by.

Exactly.  Enjoy reading George’s history and mastery of cabling, and his associated explanations. For those who can’t hear a difference, buy cheap cables, save your $ and enjoy listening whatever you’ve got.  Non-believers will likely never hear a difference, and whatever the case - only those who explore more will actually know and/or hear the difference. Some systems are not up to the task though... 

Starts here: https://www.cardas.com/deep-dive

With that, here’s what’s going on during cable break-in:

There are many factors that make cable break-in necessary and many reasons why the results vary. If you measure a new cable with a voltmeter you will see a standing voltage because good dielectrics make poor conductors. They hold a charge much like a rubbed cat’s fur on a dry day. It takes a while for this charge to equalize in the cable. Better cables often take longer to break-in. The best "air dielectric" techniques, such as PFA tube construction, have large non-conductive surfaces to hold charge, much like the cat on a dry day. ... 

So, I just purchased a used set of the AudioQuest Dragon bi-wire speaker cables. To help finance this purchase I just placed my AudioQuest Thunderbird speaker cables up for sale now on the Gon.

I know shameless plug, sorry, but the cables are really great. 

BTW, I also now have the AudioQuest Firebird XLR interconnects.

Getting back to the forum thread. 

This should get the Cable Naysayers nostrils flaring...

Has anyone experienced the need to break in used cables? I have. I guess it depends as to how long they have been used, usually it only takes a few days.

And I understand many people who have cable cookers often re-cook their cables periodically.

ozzy