Archimago;685191 Wrote: > Nice response MCP. I like how you eloquently described your position > and I certainly respect anyone's decision around something as > insignificant as cable preference (compared to all the major decisions > we make in life). > > However, I do differ from your opinion though. As a wine drinker > myself, I know that merlot has a different flavour from cab sauvignon. > I also know that different wineries from different parts of the world > will titillate the taste buds in different ways. Something as simple as > a pH measurement will easily show the difference - small perhaps but > within the sensory threshold of a wine drinker. > > As for cables, I have done some blind & ABX testing over the years and > have yet to significantly tell a difference (mainly with interconnects > and USB cables). Sure, maybe my equipment is not good enough or my > ears are getting old... But for the money, I certainly have no reason > to buy one brand over another based on the sound I get. 12-guage OFC > cables for the speakers, $20 TOSLINK/coaxial/USB are good enough in > build and esthetically acceptable. In my view, expensive cables are > like buying a $10,000 1950 Chateau Pétrus because it said so on the > bottle but the liquid inside tastes *exactly* the same as a decent $100 > Bordeaux (at least unprovably differentiable). Maybe as a > collector/investor who likes to see the bottle sitting in my display > case this would be cool to show off to friends. However, if it's about > the *taste* itself, surely I would rather buy the $100 bottle and enjoy > a nice family vacation in the Bahamas :-) > > About the original topic of 'audio truths' or things that could make a > positive impact, I would recommend considering a good EQ unit! Recently > got a DEQ2496 to play with through the Transporter's digital loop. Wow! > Made a world of difference in my audio room taming those bass peaks, > some of which were +15dB. The sonic difference at my listening sweet > spot has improved beyond any cables I've ever tried. (Not that I've > ever noticed any changes with cables as noted above...)
Point well taken. I'll say this: same as there are people who cannot, for the life of them, tell a difference in sonic signature between the el cheapo shitty power cable and a well-built 'audiophile' grade power cable, there are many people I personally know who can't, for the life of them, tell any difference between Merlot from Sauvignon etc. To these people, all red wines taste the same, what's the big whoop all about, right? But just because we have ample evidence that there are plenty of people who cannot pass the blindfold wine tasting tests, it does not triumphantly prove that all wines taste the same, does it? Or are we now to lobby with the wine makers that they must provide statistically valid results of blindfold wine tasting tests on the label in order to qualify for selling them in the open market? That's such a fascist approach to life. On to the measurable entities and metrics: only stiff upper lip people who spend their lives experiencing it from the neck up would demand that life experiences be measurable and neatly represented in an Excel spreadsheet. Such people utterly lack finesse, as they are incapable of fathoming even basic aesthetics. And aesthetics is the only thing that matters when it comes to enjoying music reproduction. Ergo, what we have here is apparently a huge army of 'scientists' and 'engineers' who are completely clueless and completely lost in this world of fine tuning one's enjoyment of music reproduction. Consider speaker purchases: the last thing a discerning audiophile would consider when making a speaker purchasing decision is the measurable metrics. There are so many speakers on the market that measure pretty much the same, whilst at the same time offering wildly different sonic signatures. Going solely by the measured data when purchasing a pair of speakers would be absolutely idiotic. I'm sure a lot of people on this forum are going to vehemently disagree, as they've probably bought their speakers after only reading specs off a sheet of paper, but at the end of the day, the joke is on them. -- magiccarpetride ------------------------------------------------------------------------ magiccarpetride's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=37863 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93111
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