Would you pay $1000 for a 1-metre cable?
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Thursday May 25, 2023
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
Rhoda Borrocks: I think if you're going to buy one of these then you absolutely have to go for the Quantum Science audiophile mains fuses too, these sell for upwards of 4000 pounds each and are presented in little jewellery boxes so they have to be good, and if you manage to pop one it will be the most high fidelity bang you ever heard, your listening pleasure guaranteed.
Alan Baum: Betty looks ready to kill us all
Audio Masterclass replies to Alan Baum: She has friends too. DM
jj cale: I love expensive audio interconnects. But I hate Betty, please put her away!
Guido Werner: Nope
sides up: Re: Expensive cables. I have bought between 30 and 40 premium cables over the course of several decades. I think all but a few I've bought used to get better pricing. In addition to the ones I've I've actually bought, I've home auditioned several more including a top of the line cable from MIT whose retail price was about $5,000. The MIT was the best cable by far, but it had such an overwhelming warmth that except for brighter Columbia recordings, I was missing the sunshine. It was too dark sounding on most recordings. It was the thickest cable I've ever seen. Maybe it was 4 guage guageor something. Thick cables cables often do excel at bass reproduction. With that cable I actually remember that my bookshelf speakers no longer needed a subwoofer. They were in fairly bad need of one. The bass went deeper than you'd believe. I pictured a Krell power amp. Great control, the insstruments sounded about 50% bigger. Gone was the realism limiting small size of instruments. The sound was smooth as silk with great body. Warmth always enhances that. I thought of building a system of bright components around it. Maybe that's what I should have done. I couldn't picture any amp upgrade that would give that much of an improvement jump. In fact I had trouble picturing any speaker upgrade that would give that much improvement. But the warmth was just too much; after many weeks I reluctantly sent it back. I bought another set of speaker cables, and they were such a letdown in sound quality, that I had to take a month off to sort of forget how good the MIT cables were. After the sabbatical I went back to my my old cables. The ones before the MIT and the other cables I bought.
I have bought some cablesspeaker cables from the U.K. including Chord Epic. It did make my sound bigger, faster and more palpable. I went from that to another brand which had a little deeper tonal colors. At high price points, the perceived performance that a cable gives you has obviously become the pricing criteria. criteria.Not what the cable costs to make.Some manufacturers are more realistic than others in judging that. Some expensive cables are good deals and some are not. not. Manufacturers who make $$3,000 bookshelf speakers do the same thing; but they somehow get away with less critical scrutiny about it, as they obviously have more work put into them than a wire. wire.The main disappointment with cables I've bought sight unseen without auditioning is a dryness to the sound, inhibiting tonal colors. Dryness can actually give an illusion of the sound being more smooth than it really is. New cables or cables with very low hours seem to usually lack bass. You can actually hear the bass becoming more morea part of the mix as it hits the dozen hour mark and above. Paul from from the PS Audio channel recently did a video on component break in. Rolling cables and rolling tubes is a lot easier than rolling phono cartridges. Installing and aligning them is no fun. Back in the the late 1970s and 80s, us guys who were really into it, would have a new caerrige every few months.
Mikhail Kulkov: I recalled one story happened here in Moscow in Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics. They have an Department of Electroacoustics and they once invited head of the department of communication lines to bring two sets of his own cables with absolutely same measurements in which he is absolutely sure, to check if there will be listenable difference between them. He came, they listened his cables, after that he gets up and says: "I hear the difference, but it is impossible!" and gets out.
Terry Clark: I came here from the Medlife Crisis video on placebo. Interestingly he says expensive placebo drugs have a more noticeable effect for patients.
Terry Clark replies to Terry Clark: @Douglas Blake "Expectation bias" seems like a great definition of the placebo effect and it's precisely what happens with listening tests of cables in my view as an engineer. That's not to claim I'm immune, I've "heard" the effects of hifi tweaks in the past but now I doubt these would pass the ABX test.
Douglas Blake replies to Terry Clark: The term "Placebo" is being misused in the audiophile context. What's actually happening is more like "Expectation Bias" ... where you expect something to happen and then go about causing it.
Whatever you label it, it is almost certainly in the realm of psychology, not physics.
BILLY: I just squeeze connectors onto some old lamp cord (Tip:black lamp cord sounds much better than white or brown)
DaPhunkPhenomena: The problem is... most of the people who bought those expebsive cables cannot say afterwards that it makes no hearable difference, even to themselves, so they become the hardest defenders of a lost cause (especially on the internet and social media) because they won't admit the obvious...
Douglas Blake replies to DaPhunkPhenomena: A couple of years ago I ran into a perfect example of this...
Service Call: System humming and sounding bad.
When I got there I could hear the hum from the front door. The system was in a listening room in the basement. It was pretty bad.
The hum was at 60hz which usually indicates either a bad ground or a ground loop.
So I got behind the system, which was laid out like an audio show display, and started checking the cables. The whole system was wired with exotic cables.
As I started swapping the cables out one at a time the hum slowly reduced and finally vanished entirely when i replaced the final cable.
The end result? A grown man sitting in an expensive listening room with a lap full of expensive, but entirely faulty cables.... literally crying over the realization that he'd been duped for close to $3,000. Of course the system was working just fine.
I felt so bad for him that I waived my labour charge and only billed him for the ~$100.00 worth of Amzon Basics cables I had installed for him.
Indeed the common relutance to admit errors in today's younger adults is a big part of this problem.
Mr. Brown’s Basement: As many audiophiles will tell you, this particular audio frequency interconnect gives exceptional inverse reactive current on lateral phase detractors. It's small wonder that it can be sold for only £1000 and would still be a bargain at £2000. I will be ordering several sets — plus of course, the matching pseudo-mesmerizing perspirimeter which will ensure crisp optimal sonic clarity and accentuate the transient response across all frequencies. I don't understand how you missed this detail in your video.
Mikhail Kulkov: Yes. I listen the difference, unfortunately. I would like not to, but I do.
Douglas Blake replies to Mikhail Kulkov: @Mikhail Kulkov
Once again you need to ash "WHY?" .... There is always a reason why these things happen... you need to discover that.
Mikhail Kulkov replies to Mikhail Kulkov: @Douglas Blake Thanks, I read that. It's expectable. I know one story happened here in Moscow in Moscow Technical University
of Communications and Informatics. They have an Department of Electroacoustics and they once invited head of the department of communication lines to bring two sets of his own cables with absolutely same measurements in which he is absolutely sure, to check if there will be listenable difference between them. He came, they listened his cables, after that he gets up and says: "I hear the difference, but it is impossible!" and gets out.
Douglas Blake replies to Mikhail Kulkov: @Mikhail Kulkov
Here's the problem ... a lot of what people think and profess is based upon beliefs that aren't necessarily accurate. A lot of these companies will tell you that only their cables will do this or that, as part of the sales pitch. They feed you disinformation to get your money. But their products still have to obey the laws of physics...
Douglas Blake replies to Mikhail Kulkov: @Mikhail Kulkov
Check the exchange with Steve Barnes a bit further down the list. There you will find a link to proof that isn't true.
In fact, even the most dirt cheap cables are more than capable of perfect transmission at loads and frequencies way beyond what audio asks of them.
Mikhail Kulkov replies to Mikhail Kulkov: @Douglas Blake Because cable distorts signal.
Ovidiu Turcu: how about the 1000$ power chords? :)) that is even more hilarious!!!
Jon Thompson: The issue with your video is you are just talking about theory. It's like reviewing a restaurant by only looking at the ingredients. You need to taste the food to understand why it's either a good or a lousy restaurant. You need to have listened to the cable to judge its worth. I think everyone needs to listen to a cable before buying a high-end or low-end cable. If it does nothing for you, then you don't buy it. If your system comes to life and you have a spiritual moment of enjoyment, then its worth it. The main issue is most people need to learn how to hear; HiFi is a murky world of miss-matched equipment. I went to a very hifi end audio show in the UK last month and everything sounded shockingly bad. Only one room sound good and that's was some of the cheaper equipment. I have tested the cables you mention, yes they are very good and very transparent. Are they worth £1,000. Well I can guarantee it would sound cleaner than your Ally Express cable. The issue is the better the performance the more you pay and to get the extra % you pay a lot it seems. This is not always the case you need to find the right cable for your system. If you can afford it and to you it sounds good then its a good buy. Cable in a high end mixing desk is actually very high end cable that's been tested to sound good, they buy by the drum so get a much better deal. In a miillon pound plus SSL desk which I have used on a number of projects they sound amazing. The desk in studio 2 at AIR which is totally analogue people have offered millions for it as it sounds so good. despite it having a dent in it cos Liam Gallagher decided to dance on it while reviewing the mix of the album Definitely Maybe. My point here is don't knock what you have not tried! Its whats right for you. If you test it and cant hear any difference then you are wasting your money. To me listening is about heart and soul that makes you want to get up and dance if it doesn't do that regardless of how much its cost then its a failure. Music its all about enjoyment, maximum pleasure. Ive been in cafes and an old boom box has sounded amazing, its what makes you happy!
Jon Thompson replies to Jon Thompson: @Douglas Blake I still think potholing is a better vocation for you as you are an ignorant unpleasant person who is clueless. Get that gear on and straight down that hole. First thing you missed is a cable is actually a filter! Where do your learn this ignorance do they run course or something? If so you should get your money back.
Douglas Blake replies to Jon Thompson: @Jon Thompson
I trust my ears just fine. In fact every service call I've ever done (thousands of them) has begun with looking and listening.
What I don't trust is physically impossible results from things as simple as wire. I will look beyond "I heard that" (and like you, I do hear it) to find out WHY I heard it. We know either by experience or testing that it can't be the cable... so What was it?
Most often it turns out to be a matter of attention. You just put in a new cable, now you're listening with laser like focus and you hear something new... the natural tendency is to attribute it to the cable ... but we know cables can't do that... so most likely it's just a matter that you heard more detail simply because you were paying attention.
Knowing what can and can't happen brings a whole new level of clarity to the crap you guys spout.
Jon Thompson replies to Jon Thompson: @Douglas Blake What you are saying is you don't trust your ears! LoL Think you need to find another hobby. Ever thought of potholing?
Jon Thompson replies to Jon Thompson: @Douglas Blake Do you know what snake oil is? LoL using terms with out knowing the relevance. Ignorance and we wonder why the human race will die out.
Douglas Blake replies to Jon Thompson: @Jon Thompson
Nope ... just got no patience with snake oil and unfounded beliefs.
Len Imbery: Do one on speaker cable “lifters” that keep the cable from touching the floor
Audio Masterclass replies to Len Imbery: I would really have to brush up on my physics - Maxwell's equations, the cosmological constant problem, Einstein's hidden variable etc. Give me three years and a PhD and I might tackle it. DM
matt moran: I tried an experiment with replacing speaker cables with two core flex cables and hooked my amplifier to my speakers with it. Could I hear any difference? No is the answer. I think the answer is that because the mains flex cable has to conduct electrical current with as little resistance as possible then the copper conductors in said cable has to be a pure as possible. Same as OFC posh speaker cable IMO.
Douglas Blake replies to matt moran: Actually, because of the large amounts used in house wiring, most of it is actually pretty groddy copper ... some is even copper clad aluminum...
I've always found that simple 16ga lamp cord does the job for speakers just fine.
Manard H: I've always been able to hear differences in petty much ALL cables. One has to pick one that appeals to them, whatever the cost or availability. Many people who cannot hear the differences are LUCKY. The best cable today might just be a bare silver solid conductor wire it you don't have noise generation in the stereo room.
Laszlo Kun: I always get scared when that AI bitch shows up.
Roger Walter: 1K£ cable makes a difference of exactly -1K£ in an Audiophool's Bank statement and by +1K£ in the seller's account, it's measurable difference. An Audiophool and his money are easily parted
Bruce Nicoll: What’s wrong with 1 meter of cat 5
Audio Masterclass replies to Bruce Nicoll: Don't worry. Audiophile ethernet cables are available... https://www.audioquest.com/cables/digital-cables/rj-e-ethernet/diamond DM
Chill Joe: Cables are bling.
Mark Barden: There is a lot of snake oil in the high end hi-fi world.
poofygoof: Ignore the existence of balanced connections, more physically robust connectors, and just keep polishing that RCA turd.
Douglas Blake replies to poofygoof: Far and away the largest number of home systems are 100% unbalanced and rely entirely on RCA interconnects.
Pro gear is another matter ... but then we can reasonably expect people to be smart enough to know better.
Andy Wray: IMHO any audio interconnec that costs more than £100 is an absolute waste of money. My most expensive cable I ever bought was an 0.6m interconnect for £76. The only reason I spent that much was that it was my turntable interconnect and I had to get one that had a really low capacitance to match my cartridge. I'm sure I could have bought one for much less money that would have done the job.
Douglas Blake replies to Andy Wray: I would put that line at about $25.00 CDN ... (About 14 gb pounds)
Silver Surfer: 1000 pounds for a 1m RCA cable is complete BS and a rip-off. I fear that there are many "Audiophiles" around that would still buy this. And btw. : This is often "optimization" at the wrong spot. I know of such "Audiophiles" that have insanely expensive "interconnects" and even "optimized" power wires but play old LPs on their turntable that would not deliver the sound they want to improve on in the first place ....
theagg: Oh yep, the moment you described ARAY, I thought to myself, 'coaxial balun', which as you point out correctly, is something for RF not audio frequency. Ahh, the mysticism of audiophiles. Thinking back on some of the oddest I recall seeing described years ago. Was it in Stereophile magazine perhaps, hmm, memory hazy, in which Jimmy whathisname described attaching short, narrow strips of foil at right angles to the text on record labels, spines of books, vertical plant stems etc in the listening room, in order to cancel out disturbances that printed text and linear forms somehow caused to audio. I'm sure that was something really suggested. Never mind the open troughs of mercury, standing in as speak 'interconnects' that some loon once thought might be a good idea.
David Lowndes: Around 1979 I was working at Rists Wires & Cables, who at that time produced a lot of cable and car wiring harnesses. One of my colleagues spotted a review in a hi-fi magazine for speaker cables. The winner was something like Sony "oxygen free copper" cables costing an arm and a leg; second place came a homemade cable made with Rists household cable (just a few pence). The company were only geared up for producing miles of cable so couldn't get on the bandwagon.
Gemmy Lou: Do a search for analysis-plus-micro-golden-oval-interconnect. These are 5000GBP for a meter. Oh dear.
Audio Masterclass replies to Gemmy Lou: And speaker cables up to $23,999.99 ! DM
Ian Hansen: My new favorite comedy channel :)
Steve Barnes: I''d like to see you do a set of technical tests on the Ali cables to see how they actually measure. That way you can avoid buying the $1000 cable to test. If the cheap cable passes the tests, then there is no need to spend money on the "premier" cables.
Douglas Blake replies to Steve Barnes: @Abominable
Not only can I tell you what I will find, there are industrial and trade charts spelling it out for you...
"American Wire Gauge Chart and AWG Electrical Current" (do a search)
From that chart...
28ga ... 212 ohms per km... 0.32mm diameter
24ga ... 84ohms/km ... 0.51mm
18ga ... 20 ohms/km ... 1.02mm
16ga ... 13 ohms/km ... 1.29mm
12ga ... 5.2 ohms/km ... 2.05mm
As the wire gets bigger, it's resistance is reduced... Bigger wire is more conductive, just as bigger rope is stronger.
Most RCA and XLR cables are handling microwatts of power. 28ga wire is more than adequate to carry those signals ... upping that to 24 or even 18ga (as some of the cable charlatans do) gains you precisely nothing, just as using an oversized rope isn't going to make your car any easier to tow.
And FWIW ... Monster, woven copper speaker wires are equivalent to 18 ga zip cord.
Abominable replies to Steve Barnes: @Douglas Blake yes that’s why I said it. ;)
Abominable replies to Steve Barnes: @Douglas Blake Measured much lately? Go ahead, nothing about a rope is anything like electrons. If what you say is true, miniaturization of electronics would not be possible, and yet here we are in 2023 with more compact electronics using less power and doing their job better than ever before. Go measure a thick and and thin wire of equal length and see what you find.
Douglas Blake replies to Steve Barnes: @Abominable "My monsters have significantly higher impedance than off the shelf lamp cable of the same length. "
You do realize that is a bad thing... right?
Douglas Blake replies to Steve Barnes: @Abominable
Sorry ... but resistance/impedance reduces with larger size conductors.
Less resistance is a good thing, within reason.
It's like towing a car:
If it's too thin and the rope will break...
but, once you have a rope of adequate size to tow the car...
using bigger and bigger ropes does not make it any easier to tow.
Once you have a cable that is adequate to carry a signal, using bigger cables brings no further benefit.
And trying to compare patch cords to speaker leads is downright silly. It like trying to say that a blade of grass and a giant redwood tree are the same thing.
Rock And Roll: Same when vaccumcleaner bags is priced too low. It doesn't sell. An electro store raised its price to the double. Then it sold. Audiophiles.
AlexT: How can a cable weigh a thousand pounds?
manitoublack: No. 😂😂😂.
The 🐍 🛢 in high-end audio is out of control.
Douglas Blake replies to manitoublack: Has been for about 20 years, now.
Max Carola: I think that I would never buy one. A good cable yes. 10€ per meter would already be an enormity...
I don't think that matters in the autio frequencies. And if it changes in the audio frequencies, I would avoid it since there is something wrong with it anyway.
Douglas Blake: Something to think about ... In order to make the snake-oil-cable business fly, these charlatans had to convince tens of thousands of people to actively distrust both the very expensive equipment they own and the engineers who designed it... believing the sales pitch instead.
meilstone: I wish more veteran experts of advanced age would do such high quality videos on YT. There are so many twens who think they know everything (which is understandable, we've all been there), but I believe real wisdom only comes with age. Just a thought! 🤷♂️
meilstone replies to meilstone: @Douglas Blake agree, goes all the way back to Socrates...
Douglas Blake replies to meilstone: Look up the "Dunning-Kruger Effect" ... bad and getting worse all the time.
Al Pro: Unfortunately for most audiophiles with decent quality systems, differences between cables can be heard more easily than I personally would have liked. I wish they all sounded the same (since they essentially measure the same) and I could get away with spending insignificant amounts by ordering them online. But, from my experience in doing double-blind audio testing, the differences in quality (impact on the reproduction) are sometimes very obvious. Generally, audiophiles are NOT complete idiots on unlimited budgets...
Audio Masterclass replies to Al Pro: Indeed. In my video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA-_iVGtyrY I accept that some people seem genuinely to be able to hear things that others can't and physical explanations are lacking. DM
7189a: charlatans helping audiophools part from their money
Did you hear about the $1000 audiophile(phool) fuses?
you are supposed to replace your default ones with the "purples" or "the orange" and get superior sonics,
notice they have a direction (aka a diode?)
Douglas Blake replies to 7189a: I'll see your crazy fuses and raise you a set of cable lifters.
There's a lot of really crazy stuff out there.
StopAndGetGas: I am a fan. But not of 1m $1,250 'interconnects' of course, but rather, a fan of yours and this terrific channel. My two (2) 1m pairs of £13.5 RCA connect (unbalanced) 'audio cables' will arrive next week from...'the east'. I remain a bit excited about that, with anticipation. ;)
Paul Izz: THANKYOU As an electronics Engineer and Music fan The HiFi Snake oil bullshit infuriates me. Read up about the null test which categorically and scientifically 100% demonstrates that these cables are complete bullshite
Douglas Blake replies to Paul Izz: Don't expect much ... these guys actively reject science, measurement and reality in favour of their favorite reviewer and various sales pitches. It's almost like a religion to them.
Victims of rampant consumerism.
steverobertsbbc: A few years back, some French chaps visited BBC Archives to take a copy of a concert we held on 16mm sepmag film. They brought with them a very expensive Devialet ADC and some phono leads that were as thick as hosepipes and cost over 5000 Euros (Absolue TIM Signature). Not only were they directional, but they also stipulated which was the right and which the left. Le sigh. Only thing is... in the professional audio world we are balanced and phono is of course unbalanced. This totally threw them, as they hadn't brought a balancing box with them. Evil BBC engineer wot I am, I went down to my store and brought back the crustiest, rustiest Alice MatchPak I could find... :P
Stephen Wise: If I plug it in, it sounds good, and I never have to fiddle with it again, I'm a happy man!
Dean: Be-careful not to bend your £1000 interconnect/cable because it'll stop the flow of music coming out!! 🙄
Lerssi Larsson: Made of pure Unobtainium - Why not? The BMW owners pay $100 for a short rubber hose.
Audio Masterclass replies to Lerssi Larsson: I had a BMW once. No, twice. I think I'm done with that foolishness now. DM
Proud Canadian: Instead of spending $1000 on a cable for your audio system, wait until the end of the month, unplug everything and plug it back in. Then exactly at midnight you begin burning the money one dollar bill at a time while saying, "Begone evil audio spirits, you have no home here." When you are finished, turn your system on and you will enjoy the sound you were seeking to achieve.
Douglas Blake replies to Proud Canadian: LOL... Yep!
Or perhaps unplug all your cables, dip the plugs in isopropyl alcohol and plug them all back in while still wet (to clean the connections) and then take your family out for dinner and a movie once a week...
Barry Smith: Why would anyone imagine that music recorded through $15 guitar and microphone cables is going to get any benefit from a $1,000 hi-fi cable?
Michael Bean: Anyone who thinks that spending that kind of cash on a short length of cable is going to buy them audio nirvana is delusional. In my opinion, if changing an interconnect makes a huge difference in the sound of a system, either the original cable was bad, the system has other problems, or the listener is hearing things that aren't there.
Douglas Blake replies to Michael Bean: OR ... all of that.
Peter S: Digital audio & video design guru John Watkinson stated in one of his “Slaying Dragons” articles, sadly I forget the pro audio magazine they were published in.
“if changing the interconnect cable, changes the sound. The audio interfaces have not been designed properly”.
In my 40 years in the Pro Audio industry, as long as the cable was well constructed & used non tarnishing connectors (brass PO & Bantam jacks needed regular cleaning), they all sounded the same; ie did not affect sound quality.
And don’t get me started on gold plated Toslink (optical fibre) connectors, yes they do exist!
Remember the old saying about a fool and his money………
Audio Masterclass replies to Peter S: The mag was 'Resolution'. Some of the Slaying Dragons articles are available freely at https://ips.org.uk/category/slaying-dragons/, others behind a paywall. DM
Mikexception replies to Peter S: That is exactly what I was hoping to explain here but Iv'e got no success because it takes serious knowledge - it is rare to find in YT. . Cables do not harm the current but they make unstability to audio interfaces.
Really Nice Audio: Hilarious video!!! And for anyone interested in the 'truth' about expensive power cables I recommend this video https://youtu.be/H-8bXR-nXC0
Peter Moss: Over 10 years ago I paid (for work purposes) over £3000 for a pair of half-metre interconnects. For a 40GHz network analyser!
Nico Ras: I love your analogies, as a transmission engineer of more than 50 years, I had a good chuckle. Strange that us old folks know so much more than expected.
Douglas Blake replies to Nico Ras: When a grade 3 arithmetic assignment asks "4 + 4 =" and follows up with "How do you feel about that?" you have to know the whole freaking planet is in trouble. I've met teenagers who can't solve: "13 x 7 =" or make a sandwich for lunch or do a load of laundry... and don't even get me started on 30 year old millennials living in near darkness rather than learning how to replace a light bulb.
Then add to that this growing compulsion to reinvent everything in sight... out of nothing better than spite for the old ways ...
It's not a pretty picture.
Richard Ball: If you're connecting a preamp to an amp sitting on top of it, why do you need a cable 1m long? About 20cm would be just as good.
Zibi Konti: I fully agree that most of expensive cables are marketing tricks to make you buy them. However, I would be careful with poorly selected cables for a wrong function. Few years ago, I needed cable extension for my Sennheiser headphones. I just happen to have nicely looking curly (coiled) extension cable so I tried it. The result was a disaster. I almost completely lost certain instruments ( like guitar) in all recordings. This cable worked like a filter for some frequencies. It probably had high inductance. Now I am trying short (40 cm) cheap cable extension with other headphones and I think I can hear the difference. My bottom line - I think selecting good quality cables for the right purpose and price matters. At the same time there is a great selection of con and voodoo cables at very high prices.
john shaw: Van Den Hul D-102 MKIII, and I'm done, been using it since the 90s, influenced by them also making some top-rated phono cartridges. Better than stock cable, for sure.
Julian Morrisco: Thank you for this. And you are a lot more gentle than I’d ever be. I’ve come across several kids with a certificate from SAE spouting stuff like ‘interconnect’ and similar words from the world of audiophile ‘woo’ (I believe the term is) and it saddens me. Although nowhere near as successful as Mr Masterclass, I probably came up the same way. Teaboy, tape-op, assistant engineer, freelance engineer (but effectively a poorly paid house engineer) then house engineer. And once again, but for real this time, freelance engineer-producer. Because everyone is a producer nowadays. Anyway, i haven’t worked at the coal face for a decade or so. Maybe the schools have improved ? I was always relieved when I heard a new engineer or assistant had done the Audio Masterclass course. In fact, I did it myself many moons ago when I wanted to fill in gaps and get back up to date. Highly recommended.
PS - you won’t find my name in the records, I don’t use my real name for casual/personal public facing internet stuff. This is a nom de guerre. :D.
Christopher Ward: You should borrow it and see if it’s got any merit.
I think in professional equipment the interfaces are built to the same specifications. So the cables change the sound less than with domestic equipment where impedances and capacitances at either end of the cable depend on how fastidious about technical standards each equipment manufacturer is. Cables that stray from technical norms connecting equipment that strays from rechnical norms will change the sound. The trip is to choose something that excites your ear if you are an audiophile. In the studio cables will affect the outcome but probably less noticeably or significantly. Balanced feeds and impedance matched interfaces combined with correctly used cables level the playing field in professional use. However some professionals stray to the dark side and buy audiophile wires to spice things up…
Marco de la Peña: It does make a difference but I wouldn’t pay more than $150 tops.
DeltaJazzUK: Don't forget to give Jack a ring when the instructions say 'insert connector and phone jack'.
Improves your sound no end.
Cpt Adama: Cable manufacturers, the modern day snake oil salesman. Like they said theirs a sucker born every minute. None of these “audiophiles” could ever pass a true a-b-c blind test with a standard 12g cable at $1/meter. No matter how many adjectives you throw at describing it’s sound there is no true science that can prove those cables provide any better sound.
Snake Oil Audio: Measuring cables is pretty much pointless, not because you can't measure any differences, of course you can but compared to the capacity and resistance of your speakers or amplifiers they are lower than the usual deviation within speakers or amps, so talking about these micro differences in cables is pretty much pointless.
However there are certain ways how to construct a cable and since people are lazy by nature obviously everyone copies the ideas of the competitors (no not only the Chinese). The interesting thing is that people describe certain differences in constructions the same way. I.e. a cable with a silver surface is usually described as brighter or more detailed high frequencies, a cable with a larger surface (than a circle) is also usually described as more detailed but without being bright and solid core cables are usually described as faster or more controlled.
So if we perform a cable test and the sound descriptions would be all over the place, we could assume that this whole cable thing is just bonkers, but since they are repetitive claiming that you can't really measure it therefore it is all bonkers is just not enough.
The topic of what is a resonable price for a cable is a whole different story.
Douglas Blake replies to Snake Oil Audio: @Mikexception
My point? Whether you know it or not, you are spreading disinformation.
Mikexception replies to Snake Oil Audio: @Douglas Blake "So what's your point?" 'You do not like to be answered for your questions and that is deeper problem .
Douglas Blake replies to Snake Oil Audio: @Mikexception
Bullsmut ...
Modern pre-amp outputs are typically 75 ohms or less.
I've never see a 1.5 meter interconnect with more than about 5pf of capacitive reactance.
... go troll somewhere else.
Mikexception replies to Snake Oil Audio: @Douglas Blake That is not true. Most interconnects 1,5 meter long have 300pf -1000pf. I measuereall my "average" brand made economy interconnects with different meters . That is my most impostant reason of degradation for which I take care since many years usualy by using thicker ones and using not originaly intended outputs from devices but only those with low output impedance . . .
Interconnects are no able to interact with audio input - they affect only and exclusively outputs.
My question was just about what you eventualy may know.
Loading Impedance of such interconnect for 33 Hz is about 200 kOhm and may be ommitted while for 10000 Hz it is only 6,5kOhm usual output impedance of preamp is from 47k but for recording from tubes may be 220k or even 470 kOhm.
Then in case of even 47 kOhm you receive only 6,5 k/47k - 15% of sopranos input value. Brainless people do not hear sopranos and buy better tweeters and cables. People like those informed by You. That is my point.
Douglas Blake replies to Snake Oil Audio: @Mikexception
Most interconnects run 2 to 5 pf of capacitive reactance per foot, depending on diameter and dialectric material.
The input impedance of an amplifier by standard Impedance Bridging practices is specified to be "greater than 10,000" ohms. Most solid state devices run 20k to 50k, tubes can get up to a 1 Megaohm.
So what's your point?
Seiskid: Thank you for exposing the pure snake oil that are interconnects. All any normal interconnect needs to be, is shielded and have low capacitance. And the capacitance only matters if the source driving it is high impedance. Shout out to Amir at the excellent Audio Science Review channel who takes the time to test many of these audiophool products with proper high quality test gear and has never yet found a reason to waste your money on them.
Mikexception replies to Seiskid: It all is a mattter of how much is low interconnect capacitance and how much is high source impedance. In Pioneer SX34 tube amplituner output source impedance is 470 kOhm Is it realy disaster when comes to interconnect capacitance. In my ITT stero radio output impedance is 220k Ohm - interconnect makes disaster. In my Bang Olufsen output impedance is 100kOhm - it makes sometnhing to think about. Of course it is not about price and High End tag - it is all about technic.
Oscar Lopez: Well...1k is kind of outside my self indulgence zone for a good cable
Jacey Chan: Even if the cable does what it says it’s just from point A to point B and who knows what type of cable are used inside of the components used in your system so to me a cable is a cable and for short runs especially in situations where the cables are stationary and not getting stepped on I say save some money and get more bang for your bucks
David Campbell: An excellent example of the application of just the right amount of knowledge to deliver common sense analysis and a breath of fresh air. Well done. I forgot to add: yes, I'd watch a part II, but it would be a challenge indeed to improve upon part I !!
Christopher Boman: Solid Gold!
sides up: Editing Secrets Revealed wrote me that people shouldn't point fingers at the bad logic of people like him and HIS CLAIMED absence of proof of cables making differences. There is no documented proof of all kind of things of things, that are so totally obvious. Because there isn't any reason to prove the obvious. You won't find any scientific papers saying that midgets are smaller than elephants because they aren't necessary. Those who can't make out any improvement with well chosen audiophile cables versus average cables, are no less ridiculous in their perception than someone who can't judge that a midget is not as big as an elephant. Also since the 1950s the most respected audio equipment reviewers have all been saying that the way something measures often is totally contradictory to the way it sounds. You can measure everything about a cake except the only important thing; how good it tastes. The person going by the name Editing Secrets Revealed knows that all 14 of my points are right on, and hard to argue with. I feel sorry for a guy that tries to reduce this beautiful world to numbers and measurements.
Douglas Blake replies to sides up: @sides up
Seriously man ... GET HELP ...
sides up replies to sides up: Re: Douglas Blake. A few more thoughts and then I hope this is done with. He credits me with spending thousands on speakers and then another thousand on cables, and being led from one advertising con artist to another. A doofuses right hand man is always these things;
1.Bad inferences
2. Presumed assumptions
3. Overgeneralizations
Blake has never been in the same room with either myself or great cables. He doesn't know what great cables sound like, since has no real experience with them, and he has no knowledge whatsoever of how much money I spend on cables (or anything). Bad inferences and presumed assumptions. Those were #1 and #2. For the record, I never spent thousands on a speaker or anywhere near $1,000 on a cable. Blake's conjecture is imbecilic because he simply isn't privy to that that kind of info about me. So we see the tools (bad inferences, presumed assumptions etc.) that his neurosis puts into use in his dead wrong assertions. Audio reviewers are not my hero (or opposite either) and I don't buy anything based on what they say. What they say may lead me to finding a store where I can audition something, and decide for myself it's merits, but once again Blake uses deception by pretending to somehow know what peoples buying process are, in order to portray someone as a fool. A fool is really someone who absolutist- ically speaks out about things he knows nothing about. In this case MYSELF, OTHERS and what GREAT CABLES sound like. He is totally ignorant on all these things in truth, so what he says is based on nothing. He just wants to pretend that people like me are fools and as soon as we read a reviewers favorable review; we're all of a sudden sending money to someone to someone before you can say D**B. Those are his initials ironically..... He calls the audio industry out on being a con artist, be we can see the tools and method of how a real con artist works, and tries to weave mass belief based on deception and private info that he has absolutely no knowledge of. So a con artist and his tools of trickery have been exposed. A con artist trying to make the audio industry out to be a con artist. Of course the most insane thing here is; it isn't any business or concern of him, D**B of how anyone spends their money. Painting everyone a gullible fool is just part of his bag of tricks. It really doesn't work that way at all. The way he would like people to believe it works.
Douglas Blake replies to sides up: @sides up
OMG ... are you for real?
I know you hear differences ... as I've told you before, I hear them too.
But, unlike you, I am not so dull minded as to claim that's the end of the story... the operative question is "WHY?" ... Why do I hear a difference? I am unafraid to examine that and happy to accept the answers I find.
You sir, are the consummate victim of runaway consumerism. Igorant of the real world and happy with your fantasies.
I'll be more than happy to ignore you... just as soon as you stop bad mouthing people who want to know how the world really works.
sides up replies to sides up: Douglas Blake is at it again. Many of us astute enough, recognize an improvement in sound as soon as we hear it. And we hear it in spades with the right cables. He's the kind of annoying dufus that would try to convince you that you don't recognize your own mother. Because there's no proof. No company is going to spend one cent of their money pandering to some Doubting Thomas nobody like you Douglas Blake, because there is no problem.These companies are doing just fine, without doubting Thomases like you buying their product. People use their eyes to see, their nose to smell, their ears to hear and they don't need to go to the extremes of bringing in spectrum analyzers to tell them what they're seeing looks good, that a flower smells nice and something sounds better. The companies don't care what you think, so there's no need to spend a penny to prove anything to you; or ones like you. When I hear something I know it. You must not be able to hear worth beans, or to be able to afford anything but beans. Do me a favor, I'm getting tired of this. Go have an argument with someone else; or better yet with yourself. That the cable industry doesn't feel compelled to prove anything to anybody; BECAUSE THERE'S NO PROBLEM, does not mean that big differences aren't there. I hear them; and I buy cables. If you doubt; then don't buy cables and leave us alone already.
Douglas Blake replies to sides up: @sides up
" Putting yourself on a pedestal again and putting down audio reviewers and what they have to say, because they are influential and you are not. You do realize that you not only attack their perceptual abilities but their morality and ethical standards, each time you claim they are puppets for advertising. "
Oh yes. I am totally aware of that ... and it is deliberate.
AND the reason I do it is that people like yourself, who actually worship these subjective reviewers and their babbling nonsense, exist. If I can help a few people avoid the degree of dissatisfaction and deception you live with day to day, it will be well worth the effort.
Seriously... one group of advertisers convince you to spend $10,000 on a pair of bookshelf speakers... then the next group turn right around and tell you they're no good unless you have their $1,000 cables ... and you go right along with the whole thing?? In fact you are so sucked in by them, you take it one step further... you advocate tor these shysters and attack those who know the truth.
"There are cables I can think of which have obviously double the bass of others, where if a stereo was brought into the courtroom, even a non audiophile judge could easily hear something like that with no problem. "
IF those cables actually did produce twice as much bass (or the others were lacking in bass) that would show up in a simple spectrum analysis... it could be proven, easily ... BUT... where is this proof? Why, in over 40 years, have none of these companies produced proof of their product's capabilities?
Of course the engineering world -- you know, the guys who designed your beloved stereo -- keeps coming up with proof that they do not. It's all over the internet and YouTube... no end of rants and articles about these cable companies and their phoney claims... all nicely backed with objective proof and plenty of data.
These phoney baloney reviewers are not going to come after us... Filing that lawsuit would first require them to objectively prove that their cables do what they say ... and they know they can't do that. Even more importantly... they know the actual science and data would go totally against them.
Take careful note of that. I just said these people are lying to you... and they know they are lying to you... You owe them no loyalty. In fact only a fool would support them.
Yet, here you are ...
Andy Dent: It's not a balanced cable so it could have noise issues. For such a short length of interconnect I suggest maybe the price is not a good return on promised performance. Yes I have noticed the difference with improved interconnects but then switch cleaner on the inter connects can make a big improvement and is less costly. In a perfect world the interconnect would not change the signal that it carries. Sadly it's not a perfect world but we can try to get to a level which is acceptable to our ears.
Trevor Bartram: All good points. A fool & his money is soon parted. One important point, the dielectric or method of cable construction should not introduce microphonics. You mentioned directional cables, they are a real thing. I use inexpensive unidirectional Monster cables. What makes them unidirectional is: the audio signal & ground are heavy gauge twisted pair wire but the outer (interference) shield is connected to ground at one end only, the destination, where interference is sunk to a common ground point. A twisted pair, by its nature, also has interference rejection properties.
Trevor Bartram replies to Trevor Bartram: For good twisted pair interference rejection, the geometry of the cable has to be balanced. In a single ended system, such as RCA/phono, grounding the shield at both ends creates imbalance (one hot conductor, two ground conductors). In a balanced system, the shield may or may not be connected to ground at both ends without causing imbalance. In large multi-cable multi-unit AC powered systems, one reason for disconnecting a shield is the presence of a ground loop causing audible hum.
Dushko Kantardjiev: Witty!
Audio is like religion, or politics - no amount of rational, scientific argument will convince the "believers".
And as the saying goes: arguing with "audiophiles" is like playing chess with a pigeon...no matter how god you are, the bird is going to shit on the board and strut around like it won anyway 😂
Mikexception replies to Dushko Kantardjiev: Your response reminds in politics. Instead of solving problems shifting them all in one side by generalization and then 100% kick .
I fought with interconnects to my amplituner because of degradation which was unacceptable also for biggest enemy of so called BS. Interconnect was cuting sopranos to 2,5 kHz Thing is once interconnect is too bad you can do nothing with it - even 1 milion $ for 1 meter will not change it. Beacuese it is not a matter of materials and shine but diameter which should be say 0,5meter And if it does no harm (which actualy depends on audio interface not the cable ) it will not be sense to pay thousands of $ hoping for better when faults are 99% in other gear
Douglas Blake replies to Dushko Kantardjiev: Now ain't that the truth!
Stephen Matura: Stuff like this is aimed at people who have absolutely bucketloads of money where buying a £1000 cable is like your average person spending £10.
Harmonic Molecules: all hogwash, the equipment you are interconnecting has inferior wiring inside, circuit boards with solder traces to pass along audio, pots of suspect quality, that all matter more than any cabling. No one, and i mean no one, can hear the difference between a good set of cables $25 and anything costing $10,000, if they can they are lying.
Harmonic Molecules: i'd pay $3000 even $4000 for 1 foot, heck even 1 inch
UCS0608: No.....!!! 😊
Paul Stubbs: The most I've ever had was to make some leads using RG58 coax, I had bought some nice gold plated RCA plugs, trouble was the cable hole was too big for my ordinary shielded wire, which looked kind of lost in that hole, so
I used some coax I had handy, worked well, although I'm not sure if the audio is any different
Paul Stubbs replies to Paul Stubbs: @Editing SECRETS revealed! That's why I tried those connectors, as the normal cheap ones would only accept a rather thin cable & the outer grounding fingers often made poor contact.
Editing SECRETS revealed! replies to Paul Stubbs: Your poor audio signals, crammed into that tight connector without room to spread out in those spacious big cable holes
Maids and Muses: I made a lot of my own interconnects over the years. Always used a decent quality cable and connectors, but nothing that would even remotely break the bank. Never had any issues with the sound quality being affected.
You have to start scratching your head if the cost of interconnects means you can't afford to stack your components in a more convenient order 😁
Also, after travelling through this $1000 signal superhighway, the signal may go through 20cm, $0.20 worth of cabling to the volume control inside the amp...
Andre Jensen: I make my own linesource planar ribbons. The midrange got 4 meter aluminium wire in the midrange tweeter , why not use 3k on speaker wires 😂.
Keith Broughton: In RF world, there is the "skin effect" where higher frequencies tend to run on the outside of the connector.
I have seen audio cables that have different multi conductor wire wrapping pitches to allow low, mids and highs to travel in different parts of the wire.
I just don't know what to say other than...are you FN kidding me!?!?!
Audio Masterclass replies to Keith Broughton: The next step might be to split the signal into bands of frequencies and run each through its own cable, optimised of course to that band. That £1000 cable might suddenly become £3000. DM
Andrew Brazier: Even if £1000 was loose change to myself I wouldn't spend it on an exotic Interconnect.
That amount buys a decent amp or pair of speakers.
If I could afford to give £1000 for a cable I would rather give it to a good local charity.
Aubury: I fear l would not trust my own ears least a placebo effect draw me on.
Thiemo K: Thank you for this informative video. After hearing this convincing stuff, i must have these cables...sorry...connectors in all my home. Learning what they can do for audio, the effects for power supply must be unbelievable! 😳😍
Nico Ras replies to Thiemo K: be careful what you say, dielectric strength is hardly suitable for 1000V. All I can say about these overly expensive audiophile stuff is that they look nice and are expensive, that is why they should sound nice.
Aural Fixation: When cost is no object, a person’s budget can always seem absurd regarding what they’re able to spend on hobbies and special interests. We could also ask. Is a $50 steak that much more tender than a $5 steak? Is a Bentley ten times the automobile a Toyota Camry is? I have some interests I’d spare no expense on, had I the budget.
Armando Camorra: Do the maths
CHRIS LJ: I wouldn't pay $1,000 for a mile of that stuff. It's funny when I remember the days we used zip cord wire on screw terminals for our speakers and were perfectly satisfied if not thrilled with the results. It's all marketing voodoo for the rich and gullible.
Somebloke: English proverb; a fool and his money are soon parted. Hifi cables are just copper wire carrying an electrical signal.
robert sills: Any chance of you running single shieled power cable through Audiophile grade plugs sockets and fusess ?
Rene Kamphuis: Faith in humanity is dropping fast. A one-meter-middlefinger to common sense
Crazy prayingmantis: Nup
Lee Hawkins: Shouldn't that be £1 per centimetre. £1 per millimetre would be a £10K cable. Of course, I am being pedantic :-)
Lee Hawkins replies to Lee Hawkins: @Audio Masterclass Hmmph. Well, don't I look foolish! I can't bring myself to tell you what I do for a living but suffice it to say I have clearly become over-reliant on XL spreadsheets and other number-based computer programs to the point I can no longer correctly work with the number 1. Yours in humility...
Editing SECRETS revealed! replies to Lee Hawkins: @Audio Masterclass The original slide rule the Beatles used to calculate reverb time might still be in the closet at Abbey Road Two!
Audio Masterclass replies to Lee Hawkins: According to my rather ancient and dirt-encrusted calculator 1000 GBP divided by 1000 millimetres in a metre comes to £1/millimetre. I could try a different calculator... DM
Thomas Lutro: I just spent around $1000 on wiring for my stereo. For that I got a one metre pair, four ten metre pairs, all terminated with XLR's, and a 0.6 metre spdif, and 25 metres of 4mm2 speaker cables.
All XLR's are Starquad from Klotz, it even says "High end" on the cables, and all terminated with beautifil Neutriks.
I'm good for wires, thank you.
Rock And Roll replies to Thomas Lutro: @Thomas Lutro Only problem with Speakon is if you run into the cable, you'll cary everything with you and/or damage the cable, or should I say interconnect. Since they are screwed on, they are too rigid. 😂
Rock And Roll replies to Thomas Lutro: @Thomas Lutro Ah, you have passive speakers. But do you need Speakon? They were mostly made to be rigid in PA setup on the road. At home it really isn't necessary. But if you solder them yourself, it cost nothing to change. Neutrik also makes Speakon connectors female/male both for cable connectors and chassis.
Thomas Lutro replies to Thomas Lutro: Why XLR on the speaker wires? The amps are currently banana only, therefore banana. I'm building speakers, they will have Speakon, therefore Speakon in the other end. I will convert to amp and amp end speaker wire to Speakon because it's just the nicest, most reliable speaker connectors out there.
Rock And Roll replies to Thomas Lutro: @Thomas Lutro Why do you need Speakon, just stick with XLR. No need to make it more complicated than needed.
Thomas Lutro replies to Thomas Lutro: @Rock And Roll I see your point, though there is a total of 20 Neutrik XLR connectors and two Canare (I believe) RCA connectors. I think the RCA's are crimp/screw on. Having somebody else do this job is expensive, I know, but for the starquad there is a total of 20 times stripping the outer jackets, 80 single conductors to carefully strip, twist in pairs and tin, and 60 joints to solder in total. In the end having somebody else do this a luxury I can afford.
All in all there is 82 metres of starquad cable in the bundle, 0.6 metres of coax, and 25 metres of 4mm2 speaker cable.
I will be soldering the speaker cables myself though, with some very nice Deltron bananas I found for around 40p a piece. At least until I get my amps modified with Speakon.
An indulgence, sure. But not wastefully splashing out on something like NordOst Odin 2 at around 40000€ for a 2 metre pair....🤣
Michel Vondenhoff: Probably the least affecting yor sound are the cables. Not saying that it doesn't but there are far more important and often simple things that matter. Positioning of your speakers (1st reflection point...), audio rack or furniture, the floor where to put everything upon and the power supplies. Cables matter but from my own experience by far the least of all the above. Tip: spend the money on a good MC cartridge 😊
Rock And Roll replies to Michel Vondenhoff: Cables only need to have good contact, made properly, and have enough strands (thickness) for doing its job for its purpose of choice. A good cable per metre shouldn't cost more than £1, which you can find from e.g. Klotz or others. Solder yourself.
Simon Gills: No.
But I know people who would.
But they might lend me money so I keep my mouth shut about what I think of their purchase.
pennfootball: £1000 for a 1 meter cable is bottom of the barrel and entry level hifi. That means the cable was only £150-200 to make by hand and the lion share of that is labor cost. So in material maybe £50 is left. If you had a £5000 cable then you would have £250 in material costs! That will give you at least an idea on why 1000 is really labor + junk parts.
Rock And Roll replies to pennfootball: @pennfootball Snake-oil-manufacturers dream customer. 🤣
Douglas Blake replies to pennfootball: @pennfootball
(Yawn)
pennfootball replies to pennfootball: @Douglas Blake no but I did buy a better brand of cables that were more expensive and sound waaaaaay better from Kubala Sosna
Douglas Blake replies to pennfootball: @pennfootball
So you would spend that kind of money on something that won't make the first bit of difference in your system?
WOW.... Just WOW!
pennfootball replies to pennfootball: @Douglas Blake I am not! You take the price of the cable and divide it by 5 to figure out manufacturing cost. Most of the money is the hand built labor costs. An Ansuz DT-C power cable takes 1 man 1 week to make 1 cable for example.
Ronan Zann: Back in 1980 or thereabouts, I was working with a country band. One day we were setting up at a random bar nightclub when the bass player suddenly came unglued ! Apparently he couldn't find his special cord, (from his bass to his amplifier). I had picked it up thinking it was one of mine. I had already finished connecting my system and was noodling around on my guitar when the bass player noticed what had happened. I had not heard of (audiophiles, or audio extremists at that time), so I thought he was making some kind of joke. He said I had ruined his cable by sending a guitar signal through it, and now I owed him 100 bucks. The guy went completely nuts as the situation escalated into a total brawl. I left that band that night. It's next to impossible to reason with delusional people !!!
Jack Evans replies to Ronan Zann: @Ronin Zanan - I'm a bass player and EE and would be pissed off if someone had stolen my bass lead, but a mistake would not have been a problem. The dude was obviously nuts.
Bob T: I was brought up to understand that signal currents move along the wire surface and not within. Hence a multi-core cable will be better than a solid core one, especially at higher frequencies (it's why Litz wire is sometimes used in radio coils at LW/MW for those who remember AM radio). Thus ordinary 13A mains rated multi-core wiring will work well for speaker connections. I regularly used 50m and greater lengths of such cable in theatre work without obvious problems. For example, reactance at about 150pF per metre is like putting a 6.8 nF capacitor across the amplifier output or a 2.5K resistor - something any respectable PA will take into its stride having a typical output impedance of some milliohms!! But then, my hearing is defective due to the effects of rather loud music.
Rock And Roll replies to Bob T: @Bob T Yes. The same cable they use in the studio for recording doesn't cost much. They use standard pro-audio cables and neutrik plugs. Do you think they use those zillion dollar cables? 😂
Bob T replies to Bob T: @Rock And Roll So you really agree that ordinary cable can do the job without resorting to special (costly) alternatives. Have a nice day.
Rock And Roll replies to Bob T: @Bob T What do you mean? I solder my own cables.
Bob T replies to Bob T: @Rock And Roll You would obviously prefer to spend the $1000 in perfect ignorance.
Douglas Blake replies to Bob T: @Rock And Roll
Woah... don't be chasing people off... Use the chance to educate and inform.
This whole business about RF measurements and transmission lines comes from the cable maker's websites. It's pseudo-science and spin intended to rope in the untrained and gullible... It needs to be challenged and shown up for the bullsmut it is.
Eric de Redelijkheid: …let’s not mention expensive power cables. Also, I hear a lot of people talk about how their audio components sound. Apart from my speakers, all my other audio equipment is perfectly silent.
Martin Cook: Loving the delivery, content and punch ! Entertainingly informative, or is it informative entertainment. :)