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Dang it… cables do matter (at least in my system)

I really didn’t want to write this post.

Like many of you, I am not a cable guy. I would much rather believe that a well-made, sensibly priced cable gets you 99% of the way there and that anything beyond that is mostly jewelry for audiophiles. In fact, that belief is exactly why I started this experiment in the first place.

I recently picked up a higher-end phono cable (Nordost Heimdall 2) to compare against a Blue Jeans Cable I already owned and respected. My intention—honestly—was to scratch the curiosity itch, confirm that the cheaper cable sounded just as good in my system, and then send the expensive one back with my wallet intact and my worldview reinforced.

That… did not happen.

In my system, the pricier cable consistently sounded better. Not “night and day,” not “jaw on the floor,” but unmistakably better: wider and more coherent soundstage, stronger and more articulate bass, better placement of instruments, more air around them, and a more resolved top end that wasn’t brighter or etched. Just clearer. More sorted. More believable.

Still, I was fully prepared to chalk some of that up to expectation bias. After all, I knew which cable was which, and $1,200 has a way of whispering sweet nothings into your ears.

So tonight, during a dinner party, I did something unplanned. I had four people listen—my brother (a dyed-in-the-wool non-audiophile), my daughter (a budding audiophile), my sister-in-law (a musician), and my wife. I didn’t tell them which cable was which, only that they were two different phono cables at very different price points and that I was trying to decide between them.

All four, independently and without hesitation, preferred the same cable. Not subtly. Not with hedging. My brother—who could not care less about hi-fi and would happily listen through a Bluetooth speaker—said there was “no question” which one he liked and that he wouldn’t use the other if given the choice.

Cue my quiet sigh.

So yes, to my chagrin and to the detriment of my wallet, the more expensive cable outperformed the cheaper one in my system. I wish the Blue Jeans had won. I truly do. This would have been a much cheaper and more philosophically satisfying outcome.

I’m not claiming cables transform systems, nor that everyone needs to run out and spend real money on them. I’m also not suggesting this will translate universally. But in this case—same system, same music, multiple listeners—the difference was real enough that even the skeptics in the room heard it.

I remain annoyed.
But apparently… cables do matter. Somewhat.

Dang it

brighamdoc
seymour-krelborn
121 posts
 

@jafant 

Your ears did not deceive. The Audioquest Sky still hold up well in 2026.

Back then, I knew only the basics of audio.  I knew that I wanted a great sounding stereo.  But I never even heard about speakers disappearing, and soundstagng, etc.

So when the store loaned me those cables, I had no concept of which brand was good or bad, or was good for this or that.  I just had a box of cables.

The Audioquest cables were the most expensive.  But when I demoed them, I did not know anything about the pricing of any of the cables.

I ended up purchasing Audoquest's Wild Blue Yonder cables (one level up from the Sky cables, and just below the WEL Signature cables, which were double the price of the Wild Blue Yonder cables).  I took a risk, because I never heard the WBY cables.  But it stood to reason that they would be better than the Sky cables, with the same flavor as the Sky cables.

The store's owner held a conference call with two Audioquest representatives and me.  I asked about the amount of improvement over the Sky cables.  They told me that the WBY is a noticeable upgrade, but the WEL Signature is not as much as an upgrade over the WBY cables.  So I would have paid a small fortune to get very little improvement.  But I still wonder -- I would have liked to demo those WEL Signature cables.

Since I was in good with the store's owner, I got the cables at close to his cost, which was approximately half of the retail price.  It was still expensive, but too good to pass up.

jafant's avatar
jafant
21,601 posts
 

seymour-krelborn

Outstanding! Selecting the Sky interconnect is not a bad place to start. During my auditions, I found Sky, to match very nicely with Volcano speaker cables. Yes, these are older AQ models that still hold up well today.  

What other cables/cords and gear is in your System?

Happy Listening!

bolong
962 posts
 

In sound everything matters. Magnitude of change is not really that important with most human beings. We are still animals in that the slightest change in our sound environment immediately gets our attention. Sometimes it's the faintest difference that most gets our attention.

parkergetdean
1,044 posts
 

very expensive cables are made for folks who can hear the difference: the wealthy

wink

seymour-krelborn
121 posts
 

@parkergetdean 

very expensive cables are made for folks who can hear the difference: the wealthy

Price does not dictate quality.  There is no shortage of expensive gear that does not sound very good.

If I purchase a Home Depot cable for $10, and I manage to sell it on eBay for $1,000, that does not make that expensive cable any better.

Better equipment / higher quality equipment will generally be more expensive.  That goes for just about any products under the sun.  But the price, alone, does not dictate quality.

laugh

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