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Help!!! I'm confused now... do cables really sound different?!?

Hello!

I recently upgraded my system and I decided to upgrade the cables too.

First, I did a lot of reading on the Internet.

I learned that thick conductors can sound dull due to skin effect and my DIY solid core 20AWG ICs were dull indeed.

I also learned that silver ICs can sound harsh.
Even after some 400hrs burn-in, my new silver ICs did sound metallic...

I also tried few other cables and every one sounded different.

Then I decided to try something that I saw on the Internet.

Using a RCA splitter, I put between my CDP and amp two pairs of ICs that previously sounded distinctively different.

One cable was connected to CD input; other was connected to Tape input.

I masked LEDs on my amp so that I can't see which input was activated.

On my amp remote if I press "Tape" it activates Tape input. If I press it again, Tape monitoring is deactivated and previously selected input (CD in this case) is active again.
This way, only by pressing "Tape" I can switch between two inputs.
So I quickly pressed it few times so that I can't be sure any more which input is active.

This way I could perform a blind test on my own.

First I did a rapid switching between two cables during one song.
I listened to each cable for 5-10 seconds.
There was no difference in sound!

Then I listened with each cable for longer periods, repeating 30 second selections. Again no differences...

Then I repeatedly listened to whole tracks and failed to hear any difference.

You might say that this RCA splitter could induce some "pollution", but this would be the same for both cables and they might sound worse but should still sound different.

After that, I went back to using one cable at a time, no splitter.
This time, I'm not sure that I can hear ANY difference with cables that only few days ago had almost a night and day difference...

Was my mind previously playing tricks with me, was I hearing things that I was "supposed" to hear after reading stuff on the net?!?

When I first listened to my "thick" solid core cables they sounded good. I was not aware of the existence of skin effect. But when I've read about it, I felt that those ICs are somewhat lifeless and dull.

After that, I compared even more cables and they all sounded the same...

I'm both confused and happy - I'm happy that it seems that I don't have to spend a fortune on cables :)

I hope that this thread won't cause flames here...
I'm just wondering if somebody here can repeat this experiment and report back the results?

Cables I've compared so far:

Siltech MXT NewYork
Van den Hul D102 MkIII Hybrid
Oehlbach NF1
Profigold PGA4021
DIY solid core 20AWG silver with Eichmann Bullet Plugs
DIY stranded 22AWG silver

My system:

Rotel RCD-1072 CDP
Cyrus III amp with external PSX-R power supply
Restored vintage Acoustic Research AR-98LSi speakers
(http://www.kujucev.com/ar98ls/ar98.htm)




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Topic - Help!!! I'm confused now... do cables really sound different?!? - Kuja 08:32:21 04/02/06 (432)


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