I cannot even fathom the stupidity..

[Phillyphries]

So recently I watched a video on some audio product reviewer's channel, called "hifiguy" or whatever. I think he's kind of well-known as an audio-reviewer.. but anyways check out his video

 

 

And see all of those expensive cables that he bought that costs hundreds of dollars... He honestly believes buying an expensive USB cable makes a difference in audio

 

 

 

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

So recently I watched a video on some audio product reviewer's channel, called "hifiguy" or whatever. I think he's kind of well-known as an audio-reviewer.. but anyways check out his video

 

 

And see all of those expensive cables that he bought that costs hundreds of dollars... He honestly believes buying an expensive USB cable makes a difference in audio

Do you have any proof that it doesnt work, and that the cables are actually a rip off? Or are you just trying to mock him for spending money on stuff he enjoys?

[Shd0w2]

He's probably sponsored by them

[Guest Generallee]

Well .. buying an overpriced cable is stupid, but buying a crappy one is worse

[ShearMe]

Do you have any proof that it doesnt work, and that the cables are actually a rip off? Or are you just trying to mock him for spending money on stuff he enjoys?

 

The proof is so readily available that mockery is the only thing left to do.

[BonBon Scott]

On another note, that USB cable looks like it is made of salmon.

[Askew]

Do you have any proof that it doesnt work, and that the cables are actually a rip off? Or are you just trying to mock him for spending money on stuff he enjoys?

both, enjoying it is ridiculous.

[JAKEBAB]

$600 for a cable is he mentally ill? WTF!!! he doesn't even know what they do the only thing u get out of buying maybe like a $30 - $50 cable is it might last longer and feel a bit more "premium" u dont spend $600 what a complete f**king idiot!

 

Seriously i wouldnt care if the stupid cable gave me unicorn rainbow orgasms i would not spend $600 on a god damn cable!

[PopReference]

Paying close attention to the video, the box has Three thick foam layers on One side of the box and None on the other. Clearly the manufacturer knows the true value of these beautiful twist of copper. :rolleyes:

[creatip123]

Cables (analog use, not digital USB ones) are still a mystery to me. I personally have experienced that different materials yields a different result.

 

This happened in an audio store I use to hang out. I was using Ipad as the MP, plugged in to the ALO International head amp + HD800. I used 2 different mini to mini cables. The cables are both Oyaide, but the connectors were the standard gold plated, and the other, a silver + rhodium coated. They yield different sounds, the gold plated gave warmer denser sound, while the rhodium gave crispier highs. Not saying one is better than the other, just saying that it's different (like different EQ setup), and it's easily distinguishable, only took 2-5 seconds to hear the differences. There was a comment on a youtube video that say analog cables act as some kind of signal filter in the setup, which quite make sense in my experience. 

 

Got so curious that I ordered that Oyaide silver + rhodium mini to mini, to replicate the test myself. This time, the same silver + rhodium vs standard gold plated, doing it with Ipad + Fiio E07k + HE400, and I couldn't distinguish the sounds at all. Tried back and forth, with different songs, and still couldn't tell the difference. Sold the silver rhodium mini to mini, though, so it's not a total loss for me My conclusion so far is that different materials do yield different sounds (not necessarily better, but different), but I could only distinguish it with the right devices (my assumption is that the HD800 is very sensitive to signal changes)

 

But as far as digital cables go, I don't believe it would give that much of a performance change. Compared to crappy $1 USB cables, maybe, but a decent $10 USB cables should perform the same as $1000 USB cables, because the signal is digital, just 0 and 1. I could be wrong though, I'd like to keep an open mind

 

 

$600 for a cable is he mentally ill? WTF!!! he doesn't even know what they do the only thing u get out of buying maybe like a $30 - $50 cable is it might last longer and feel a bit more "premium" u dont spend $600 what a complete f**king idiot!

 

Seriously i wouldnt care if the stupid cable gave me unicorn rainbow orgasms i would not spend $600 on a god damn cable!

 

Go to http://www.pearcable.com/sub_products_anjou_sc.htm read the price on the right side of the screen, under the green logo, and let us know what you think....

 

On second thought, found this one that's better: http://gizmodo.com/303825/transparent-opus-speaker-cables-bring-you-audio-nirvana-for-43000-a-pair

 

Oh, and you guys remember James Randi? The guy giving 1 million dollar challenge to anybody who can prove supernatural phenomena? Well, he gave the same challenge if someone can proof with a double blind ABX test of the cables. It's in his swift at his website (must do a little keyword search)

[Valhallatier]

what's the point of this thread...

[mr moose]

Do you have any proof that it doesnt work, and that the cables are actually a rip off? Or are you just trying to mock him for spending money on stuff he enjoys?

 

As shearme said there is plenty of proof, in fact cables have been the snake oil bane of the audio world since con artists discovered cheap Chinese manufacturing.    There are bounties out for anyone who can pick a cable in a double blind test (the gold standard test for accuracy in human perception). to date no one has been able to claim the prize even though there are many who claim a huge difference.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

As shearme said there is plenty of proof, in fact cables have been the snake oil bane of the audio world since con artists discovered cheap Chinese manufacturing.    There are bounties out for anyone who can pick a cable in a double blind test (the gold standard test for accuracy in human perception). to date no one has been able to claim the prize even though there are many who claim a huge difference.

But which cables are they comparing?

 

To say that the make up of the cable makes no difference at all is nonsense.

[mr moose]

But which cables are they comparing?

 

To say that the make up of the cable makes no difference at all is nonsense.

 

the challenge is for all cables. Feel free to try and find some actual evidence that there is a difference.

 

EDIT: turns out the randi challenge was only for pear cables ($7000 cables) against $80 cables, however pear pulled out of the challenge and forbid anyone from using their cables in that test. surprise surprise. Suffice to say the challenge was there and the net is still littered with tests and challenges all over that disprove the cable myth umpteen times over.

[Phillyphries]

I didn't even finish what I was going to say in the OP because I had to leave to run errands.

 

But this video did nothing but made me laugh. I actually thought this guy was a reliable reviewer. Now it doesn't seem so

[creatip123]

But which cables are they comparing?

 

To say that the make up of the cable makes no difference at all is nonsense.

 

Different cables do gives different stats, but that's when tested in a specialized lab, with super sensitive equipments and stuffs. They got different readings (things like conductivity, resistance, and such) out of different materials with different manufacturing processes.

 

Problem is, none of those stats numbers mean anything to consumers. In practical use, there are only 2 questions:

 

- Do they do the job?

- If yes, then how good do they do the job?

 

That's what the ABX cable tests are all about, to find out if there are really any perceivable difference in the result comparisons. 

 

Oh, and the challenge by James Randi, he offers 1 million dollar to anyone who pass the ABX tests between a Monster Cable, with any cable, any price range. People might think that the $80 Monster Cable is already good enough, that it's unfair to be set as the standard variable. Well, he offer the challenge to pit the Monster Cable with the Transparent Opus MM, supposedly priced $43.000 for a 25 foot cable, or $860/feet. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/92-swift-october-5-2007.html#i9

 

There were following stories after that. Just search for 'opus' in the search box.

[mr moose]

Different cables do gives different stats, but that's when tested in a specialized lab, with super sensitive equipments and stuffs. They got different readings (things like conductivity, resistance, and such) out of different materials with different manufacturing processes.

 

Problem is, none of those stats numbers mean anything to consumers. In practical use, there are only 2 questions:

 

- Do they do the job?

- If yes, then how good do they do the job?

 

That's what the ABX cable tests are all about, to find out if there are really any perceivable difference in the result comparisons. 

 

Oh, and the challenge by James Randi, he offers 1 million dollar to anyone who pass the ABX tests between a Monster Cable, with any cable, any price range. People might think that the $80 Monster Cable is already good enough, that it's unfair to be set as the standard variable. Well, he offer the challenge to pit the Monster Cable with the Transparent Opus MM, supposedly priced $43.000 for a 25 foot cable, or $860/feet. http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/92-swift-october-5-2007.html#i9

 

There were following stories after that. Just search for 'opus' in the search box.

 

Not only that, but's not just cables that fail blind tests,  even the complexities between a $700 behringer amp setup and a $12,000 purpose built audiophile wet dream has failed the blind test:

 

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

[creatip123]

Not only that, but's not just cables that fail blind tests,  even the complexities between a $700 behringer amp setup and a $12,000 purpose built audiophile wet dream has failed the blind test:

 

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

 

Well, at least the latter gave the owner wet dreams....

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

the challenge is for all cables. Feel free to try and find some actual evidence that there is a difference.

 

EDIT: turns out the randi challenge was only for pear cables ($7000 cables) against $80 cables, however pear pulled out of the challenge and forbid anyone from using their cables in that test. surprise surprise. Suffice to say the challenge was there and the net is still littered with tests and challenges all over that disprove the cable myth umpteen times over.

There is a huge difference between a cable that costs $80 and one that costs $1 (which is probably what 99% of people use).

[BoredErica]

Do you have any proof that it doesnt work, and that the cables are actually a rip off? Or are you just trying to mock him for spending money on stuff he enjoys?

You ever heard of the shifting of the burden of proof? You're looking at this all backwards and I already know your inclination.

 

Blind abx test them and then call it a day.

 

So recently I watched a video on some audio product reviewer's channel, called "hifiguy" or whatever. I think he's kind of well-known as an audio-reviewer.. but anyways check out his video

 

 

And see all of those expensive cables that he bought that costs hundreds of dollars... He honestly believes buying an expensive USB cable makes a difference in audio

Don't know why you're so surprised. From what I've seen on Youtube, every single headphone hi-fi channel believes cables makes a difference. This is equivalent to freaking out about how some people on Headfi think cables make a difference. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.

[xyza]

There is a huge difference between a cable that costs $80 and one that costs $1 (which is probably what 99% of people use).

Huge difference meaning the plain black cables and coloured cables and durability. People can't even tell the difference between coat hangers and cables.

 

Also is there a thread on head-fi about this video? I wonder what they think

[mr moose]

There is a huge difference between a cable that costs $80 and one that costs $1 (which is probably what 99% of people use).

 

$1 cables maybe, but not $1.50 cables.  Once you get to $1.49 the quality is usually high enough that the cables are indistinguishable.

[NannerBeans]

$1 cables maybe, but not $1.50 cables.  Once you get to $1.49 the quality is usually high enough that the cables are indistinguishable.

Awww man have I been buying the wrong cables this entire time?

[mr moose]

Awww man have I been buying the wrong cables this entire time?

 

lol, only if you believe in the arbitrary figures some people like to bandy about.

 

 

In reality A$5 RCA cables are just as good as any.  

[Michael McAllister]

lol, only if you believe in the arbitrary figures some people like to bandy about.

 

 

In reality A$5 RCA cables are just as good as any.  

 

Would you pay $5 over $1 USD if it meant the physical durability of the cable was much improved?  Sound being about equal.