Robin Pratt Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 The number of audiophiles who seem to think upgrading their CD transport from a £2k one to a £4k one will make a difference to the sound is incredible. Let's see if you can hear the difference between a 'high-end' transport and a basic CD player with a digital output. A few years ago in a previous job, me and a colleague ended up taking apart a very expensive british made (£5k+) CD player, only to find that inside the highly polished aluminium case with its wooden end cheeks was...... A small custom control PCB, an off the shelf Astec SMPSU, and a £15 Samsung IDE CD Drive!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sound Juice Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 http://www.linnstore.co.uk/product-silver-interconnect.aspx £206 for a phono cable... I'm positive I can tell the difference from a £0.10 one :s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 206GBP* is pretty cheap if you look back in the thread... A few years ago in a previous job, me and a colleague ended up taking apart a very expensive british made (£5k+) CD player..... Tut... ..... * = No pound symbol on this keyboard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillwave Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 This IEC mains cable is now £3,350! http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?loo...&pf_id=1549 Don't be silly, if you order it with one of those plugs those over the pond (USA) use you'll save yourself £55!!!!! ... then just lop the end off & put a BS plug on Regards, Ben Wainwright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazHS Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Only £12,300 for 3m of speaker cable? Positively cheap! http://www.russandrews.com/product.asp?loo...VRZUWHHZLJYQWHW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savage1 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Every time I walk past Russ Andrews shop I'm always tempted to see if he fancies blind testing his fancy kettle cables and XLRs against stuff I've made in the living room whilst watching tv. The only piece of audiophool kit I like are these:http://www.neutrik.com/fl/en/audio/210_199...B_2_detail.aspx just because they are well made, tough connectors that don't randomly fall off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Good ole russ andrews, Have had one or 2 discussions with the company regarding there claims,the first was when a sales catalog of theres claimed to have discovered measurable directionality in conductor, the answer to my question is below,and im still waiting for kimbers reply 7 years laterDear Mad Hippy Unfortunately we do not have any further information on this subject, onlywhat we have in the Booklet. I would suggest contacting Kimber in the US formore detailed information on the equipment and the way they are able tomeasure and set directionality. Yours in Music Peter BevirSales Advisor Russ Andrews Accessories Ltd. Then there was the discussion at a hifi show were the great man himself was explaining how simply reversing the live and neutral supply to equipment could improve the sound,he got rather upset and went of in a huff when I questioned the electrical safety of this advice, at least the ASA have got him to calm some of his claims down a bit http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudications/Pu...F_ADJ_44177.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 However, he says with his tounge in his cheek, have you ever heard a cable that sounds better than one of those sixteen hundred quid XLRs? Like all the pain killer ads say, "nothing sounds better than a Kimber Select XLR cable" :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 .... at least the ASA have got him to calm some of his claims down a bit But then he got Ben Duncan to (apparently) validate his claims. In fact, the tests seem to show that if you use fairly standard noise suppression techniques, you can reduce the level of noise in a circuit. No suprises there then. Whether this makes a material difference to the listener is another matter, and is dependent upon the subjective response of the listener - a difficult area to legislate for, and the touchstone of the extreme hifi brigade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillwave Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 .... at least the ASA have got him to calm some of his claims down a bit But then he got Ben Duncan to (apparently) validate his claims. In fact, the tests seem to show that if you use fairly standard noise suppression techniques, you can reduce the level of noise in a circuit. No suprises there then... ...Mains spikes coming from sources such as domestic equipment, lightning and industrial equipment can cause fast transients of up to 10,000V on the mains supply. They cause audible degradation of Hi-Fi sound... ...Now how many people are listening to their High Fidelity Sound System (& can hear these frequencies?) during a thunderstorm & (industrial equipment... ) operating a Lathe! and can still hear the superior difference these cables make? Regards, Ben Wainwright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peternewman Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 I was just about to try and be clever and say no you coudln't use it on your kettle as the IEC will be in cold condition, but then I looked and noticed it wasn't. For whatever reason.Insert some kind of joke about the cryogenic treatment of the connector and its ability to deal with heat. The only piece of audiophool kit I like are these:http://www.neutrik.com/fl/en/audio/210_199...B_2_detail.aspx just because they are well made, tough connectors that don't randomly fall off.But that's the point Savage, they offer an obvious and probably testable benefit, compared to a cheap Chinese one they will last longer and won't bend as easily. Quite apart from the additional feature of making ground before signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyP1955 Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I've listened to lots of cables. They all sound different. Plain old 12 gauge stranded sounds better than 90% of them. The cable in my PA is standard Coleman 12-4 SJ. The cable in my hi-fi is 4mm2 (13 gauge) 56 strand = nothing special at all. The only difference between it and hardware store wire is that the conductors are twisted, and the pairs (it's a tri-amp system) are separated by a big-ass jacket. On the single-amp cable, the conductors are separated - it looks like 13 gauge antenna twin lead. Both are a lot more than hardware store cable, but not stupidly so (unless you have really long triamp runs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidRay Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Let me start by saying I have never performed any ABX listening tests, (I did replace a cheap phono cable in my hi-fi with an expensive one with no noticeable difference, but I am a drummer and have some slight high frequency hearing loss). Theoretically there are differences in the transmission properties of cables due to the propagation and interaction of electromagnetic waves (see the paper by Malcom Hawksford for details), my physics degree was a very long time ago, but I can just about get my head round the principles. Listening to a good hi-fi in an anechoic chamber it may be possible to hear those differences, but which is better? Given that you will get a much bigger difference by using a different amplifier, speakers or source, which one is "right"? You can make differences to the sound by repositioning the speakers or randomly moving objects in the listening room which will be much more noticeable than that caused by using a different cable. These differences are introduced all the way through the process of music reproduction, from the choice of recording microphone and recording space onwards. In the real world there are so many variables that arguments over extremely slight "smearing" of transients or "transparency" (whatever that might be) are fairly pointless (as I type this the washing machine is just finishing its spin cycle, my daughter is watching TV in the other room, several Old English Game Bantams are clucking away; any transients are lucky if they get heard at all!) My advice?Don't buy expensive cables, spend your money on going to see some live music, chances are it'll sound better, and it may just keep some of us in a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 On the other side of this coin, some speaker cables are terrible; Tandy used to sell some specialist speaker cable which had enormously high capacitance, and any amplifier that didn't have a well sorted output stage soundy really quite nasty when you used this cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted November 26, 2009 Share Posted November 26, 2009 Here's one I've not seen before - a means to "greatly enhance your audio playback experience by addressing the interaction of your audio gear's circuitry with ambient electromagnetic phenomena". Only $959, but three are recommended. I'm tempted to buy one so I can "feel the muscle power in the bow arm and sense the smile's quality in the voice of the lead singer". Just the thing you need to make your expensive cables sound even better.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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