@kennyc ...Caveat- one must have a transparent enough system to hear differences.
Exactly. And no point in spending good money $ on upgrading cables if it’s not.
TESTING 3 sets:
Just for grins, today and tonight I re-tested 3 different pairs of ICs - Monoblock Tube amps, tube preamp, custom electrostatic speakers. Same 4 audio tracks. Sharing my own results and how these pairs resulted in my tube system. All 1.0M long RCA interconnects.
Connection: non-oversampling DAC > Tube Preamp:
1. Amazon > Worlds Best Cables, Ultimate VI, copper conductor, silver ends - RCA:
-slightly airy, not colored, sorta dry, boosted low freq bass, some upper detail, recessed midrange body/not boosted, midrange weight not as present as other pairs
2. Accusound / Apapature JJ, Silver-over-Copper conductor, copper ends - RCA
-larger sound stage, nicer extended detail in high frequency, added texture to strings-glistening, mid-body and mid body weight less present but nice
3. Cardas Clear Refection, pure copper, copper ends - RCA
-sound stage slightly more focused in, more noticeable body / weight, low bass is there, midrange is fuller, upper midrange tone and texture is there, some upper detail still there, yet not as uber detail glistening like the Aparture cables
None of these cables sound close to the same. Each set yields it own results in how they present themselves. This same baseline test has been repeated many times in the past. There is nothing special about the music tracks used.