Monster Cable vs. Coat Hanger: a stunning upset!!!

[SunDummy]

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audiophiles-cant-tell-the-difference-between-monster-cable-and/

Apparently audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable speaker wires and coat hangers. The coat hangers sounded excellent.

Funny comments after the article, too.  So, who's shelled out for oxygen-free pure-gold half-inch-thick speaker wire, hand-woven by Tibetan virgins high in the Himilayas?   

Is cable quality an issue when using digital signals?  Speakers are still (mostly) analog; does cheap wire make THAT much of a difference?  Or, as in the article, none at all?

[mgriffin]

Funny, I read the same article in a different place today.

I'm a believer in some aspects of audiophile stuff, but I also think some of it is complete crap.  I've had big arguments with friends of mine who have spent hundreds on interconnects (the cables that connect the DVD player to the amp, for example), or hundreds on rubber "isolation feet" that your components sit on to isolate them from cosmic vibrations or something... that sort of thing.

I do believe that good audiophile gear sounds better than cheap consumer gear, but unfortunately this whole thing is muddied by all the nonsensical ideas that audiophiles insist on putting out there.  I think the placebo effect is very strong with subjective judgments like audio gear comparison, wine comparison, etc.

[Mark Mushet]

I do believe that good audiophile gear sounds better than cheap consumer gear, but unfortunately this whole thing is muddied by all the nonsensical ideas that audiophiles insist on putting out there.

Of course, in the 70s and 80s (when this fetish really started gaining traction in the audiophile market) it was all so the salesman could play you Fleetwood Mac's Rumours or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

[LNerell]

Is cable quality an issue when using digital signals?

Yes cable can make a difference with digital signals but in a different way then what this article is talking about.

Speakers are still (mostly) analog; does cheap wire make THAT much of a difference?  Or, as in the article, none at all?

I believe it can make a difference to a point. A local dealer gave me a demo which switched between a cheap generic speaker cable and a high end brands cheapest cable, price difference was around $100 between the two. When switching back and forth between them I could hear a difference. I have also heard major differences when I upgraded my studio cables a few years ago, but that mostly had to do with moving up to balanced cables from running mostly unbalanced cables before. The difference was their was much less noise in the signal chain.  Of course this kind of difference is not what this article is referring to.

So yes, cables can make a big difference. Having said that some of the mega expensive cables to me carry more voodoo then objective differences.

[Seren]

It can make a difference, though you do need to be aware of 'snake oil'....

When I upgraded my speaker cables on one occasion - Only done it twice and not very expensive yet - I had to keep changing them back for a few days to get used to the difference, it was so different it surprised me. There has been some dispute for some time about woven Vs solid cable - in effect hardwiring the amp to the speakers.

But like anything audiophile you have to try it and hear. Something I learnt when i was interested in such things was that classical musicians tend to stand in between the speakers and look into the demo room rather than sit and look at the stereo - that's how they hear the music, all around them and going away from them.

I'd love to have the money to afford a £50,000 turntable etc but unless lucky on the lottery it isn't going to happen (better start doing it!!) and it would get spent on studio gear first even if I did win anything....

[jblock]

And then there's the people who pay thousands for esoteric power cables.

[uhurit]

IMHO, power cables do make a huge difference up to a point, then they become just different flavors. In my case, replacing a cheap generic power cable that came with a $3k CD player tightened the bass significantly, created a truly holographic sound effect with three-dimensional depth...etc. Naturally, the rest of the system must be up to it, otherwise, it's a waste of money. BTW, I do have "tin ears", so to speak, and in no way aspire to be an audiophile.

To hear the difference, the recording must be of good quality too. Ironically, I purchased some CD-r's from a certain ambient artist a few years back. They were full of clicks and cuts, lousy recording quality altogether; his response to my complaint was that the problem was with my sound system because it was way too resolving . Go figure...