All I can say is, I’m glad I drink the Kool-Aid.
Audiophiles and Our Chase for Perfection
I'd like to solicit some thoughts and responses regarding some of our idiosyncrasies, taboo's and philosophies as audiophiles, specifically with regards to cabling.
Even if there was some magical fairy dust material that could coax protons and electrons into behaving differently or better; your signal is still going to be subject to the limitations of the “weakest component” in the signal path.
A perfect example of this is speaker cable. You can spend $50 to $100K or more on them, but as soon as they hit the next connection, junction or conductor, for example, the speaker terminal, you’ve fundamentally nullified any “perceived” benefit from those cables. Not to mention the soldering materials and their impact.
And the cycle goes on through the entirety of the circuit; including the connector/lug, back of the lug terminal, more soldering, wiring from the internal lug to the next component, to the next component and so on until you finally come to the wire or cable connecting to the driver, and even then you hit another junction at the terminal at the speaker itself as well as the subsequent wire from the terminal connecting to the voice coil, then the voice coil wire itself.
The bottom line is, there are so many contributors in the path that, unless you tear the entire speaker apart and replace them all with your idea of the “gold standard” or perfect material/component, you're still only going to be as good as the weakest component in the path. At the end of the day, just get some reasonably good 14 to 8 Gauge cables that are made of sound conducting material (e.g. 99.99% copper, or Silver if you prefer) because that same logic can be applied to ALL of the materials in the signal path.
The scenario above doesn’t even consider the influence or impact of all of the predecessor components in the signal path coming from the Amp, CD transport, DAC or any and all upstream components, as they all influence the integrity of the signal.
It should also be noted that the length the signal travels in that speaker cable (perhaps 6’ to 15’ or so) is a very short path in comparison to the rest of the system both pre and post cable connection.
The following is used with permission from Eric Alexander, Founder & Lead Designer, Tekton Design, LLC
"I truly believe audiophiles are chasing illusions, constantly attempting to fill an acoustic void that standard high-end audio simply cannot satisfy. When a flashy new component or wire comes along, the industry reacts with predictable, superficial hype. My 'In Real Life' (IRL) technology directly proves this theory—it delivers the authentic sound and visceral connection that audiophiles have been destitute and desperate for.
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- 35 posts total
Most audio isn’t objective. Your example of listening consecutively to two components to decide which sounds better is not objective. What if you have two experienced audiophiles who disagree on which sounds better? Who is “objectively “ right? Measurements are objective, but I will be the first to tell you that measurements are not adequate to describe how something sounds. Subjectivity rules the day in audio, as it does in many areas-Art,Cinema, Oenophilia, Literature-and on it goes. |
@mahler123 - I agree, and that is why, along with other constraints (economic, environmental, personal preference, and more), in this hobby “perfection” is a moving target. Satisfaction is a better goal (regardless of what Mick says). |
@jijoh123 The $30K–$150K figure you cite is more appropriate for professional studio construction or dedicated home theater builds — acoustically isolated, purpose-built rooms. That’s not what most of us (I don’t think) mean by room treatment. Effective acoustic treatment — absorption panels, diffusers, bass traps — can be done for, say, $1,500 in materials, or less if you DIY. GIK Acoustics and similar vendors have made this accessible for years. The improvement that treatment delivers in a typical live room almost always exceeds what a comparably priced equipment upgrade would produce. What’s more, if your room presents a bottleneck making gear changes inaudible, you’re simply throwing money away and indulging in wishful thinking. Sorry if that sounds blunt, but it happens all the time. |
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