A fresh approach to cable analysis

@bruce19 

...and carefully dissect them and expose how they are constructed and with what.

That will not tell us the purity of the metals used, nor how the metals are conditioned.

Do they go through a super-annealing process?

Are they oxygen free?

Are they mono-crystal?

Are they frequency tuned, via an extruding process for specific, physical, geometrical measurements?

Are the cables designed to minimize skin effect?  Different frequencies travel along the metal in different paths.  Ideally, you want the entire signal (all of its frequencies) to arrive with perfect timing (not even picofarads apart).  Low frequencies are attracted to the perimeter of the metal.  Better signal cables conduct the voltage with better linearity.

Better cables have better dielectrics.

And the cable's terminations is yet another engineering and construction topic for discussion.

Dissecting cables will not reveal the above engineering properties.  And all of the above contribute to how good your revealing stereo will sound.

In the past, we have been through all the arguments about measurements and subjective evaluation, and that gets us nowhere.

I respectfully disagree.

Just because cable deniers refuse to acknowledge reality, and keep digging themselves deeper holes, does not mean that we get nowhere.

Allowing the propagandists to go unchallenged, and not expose them for being propagandists, would be a win for the propagandists.  So these discussions serve an important purpose.

The cable deniers are, virtually without exception, those who never demoed the cables that they are bashing.  Shining sunlight on that deception is key to ensuring that people looking to learn do not get conned by the cable deniers that never listened to what they claim is snake oil.

@seymour-krelborn 

Just because cable deniers refuse to acknowledge reality

What 'reality' are you talking about? I haven't seen anyone provide ANY factual reality that verfies the claims made. Wouldn't you think the manufacturers of these expensive cables be proud enough to back their grandious claims with something real? Maybe they could show how they test them and why they sound better. They don't. That's reality.

It will be like dissecting frogs, not too much difference unless a absolute anomalies is found. 

Wire, especially signal wire, only show real difference when electron microscope images are compared

A platform like YouTube is not need to discover grain structure belonging to a formed wire. 

Haven't posted in a long time. Hope I don't step on any toes :)

First high end cable I bought was a Cardas Hexlink. This was about the same time I started opening up and modifying my power amps.

My power amps where Counterpoint sa12's. I was able to talk to Mr. Elliot and we somehow got on the subject of interconnects. Boy did he laugh.

The vast majority of capacitors in EVERY piece of audio equipment is wound with tin foil. Let me repeat that. Hundreds if not thousand of feet of tin foil. But it is zero crystal.:)

The fun part of this hobby is trial and error. We all suffer with a need. Our systems allow us to satiate that need.

I miss Audiogon. Decades ago I had a lot of fun here, or is that hear?

@gdaddy1 

Just because cable deniers refuse to acknowledge reality

What 'reality' are you talking about? I haven't seen anyone provide ANY factual reality that verfies the claims made. Wouldn't you think the manufacturers of these expensive cables be proud enough to back their grandious claims with something real? Maybe they could show how they test them and why they sound better. They don't. That's reality.

Berkeley Audio Design makes a model "Alpha DAC Series 3" reference DAC.  It competes with DACs that are quadruple its price.

Reputable reviewers have sung its praises.

Where is the "provided factual reality that verfies the claims made" for that reference DAC?

How about the Aesthetix Metis pre-amp, and the Aesthetix IO Eclipse phono amp.

Where is the scientific proof of those product's reference level sound quality.

How about Vandersteen's M7-HPA reference level amps?  Where is verifiable proof of those amp's stellar sound quality?

The proof is in the ears of the people that have listened to those products with their ears.

If you wired up your stereo with Shunyata Research, Omega-X signal cables, your ears would give you the proof that you are seeking.

But, instead, you are denouncing cables you never demoed.

Dealers lend out those cables to reputable customers.  Shunyata Research also has review samples that they lend out.  The same goes for Audioquest and others.

I never demoed those cables.  But I have demoed others that are of similar quality, and the stereo system's sound quality improved, demonstrably.  I will not ask for proof of each model release.  My local high-end store would get me loaners, if I asked.  But I will not waste their time when I am not intending to buy them.

Apply the same "proof" standards to all audio gear, that you do to cables.  And when you put together a system based on lab reports, I will lay odds that that stereo will have so-so, or perhaps pretty good, sound quality.  But it will not have outstanding sound quality.

When I purchased my stereo, I never asked for proof of anything.  That was over a decade ago, and I still have no clue about 90% of my stereo's specifications.  I do not care, because my stereo sounds fantastic, and no specifications are going to convince me differently than what my ears hear.