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My Cable Journey

Posted by paul6001 (A) on September 15, 2021 at 17:54:08

I used to be president of the hard science, anti-cable club. And it made sense as a worldview, it gave me a solid footing in the world, it made me comfortable.

Then I bought a used amp. The seller was so knowledgeable and so persuasive and so passionate about cables, that I figured, what the hell, I'll get a decent pair of speaker cables. Besides, although I like science, an awful lot of seemingly smart, sincere people swear by quality cables. I can't wave my hand and dismiss them all.

So I went looking around. Not for anything fancy, just a step up from Blue Jeans. I found a used pair of Twisted Pair by AA's own Jon Risch for $60. (I had no idea who Jon Risch was at the time.) Low opportunity cost so, I jumped.

I hooked them up and immediately noticed that they sounded different from the old ones. That wasn't supposed to happen, according to the science crew. But there it was.

Different, but not necessarily better. I called my guru. Of course they don't sound good yet, he told me. They have to burn in.

Burn in? The other great audiophile myth? This was all getting to be a bit much. But sure enough, after running my iPhone on repeat for a couple of days, they sounded great.

Interconnects were next. I already had a decent pair so there wasn't much difference when I bought another pair. Finally, power cables. Even in my newfound pro-cable weltanschauung, these seemed like a reach. But I ordered two cheap Chinese models from eBay, one for the amp, one for the CD player.

The cables, when they arrived, were certainly impressive looking. At least an inch thick, they seemed like something Con Ed would use.

The amp cable made an immediate difference. More clarity, more bass. But as it burned in, that new sound seemed to retreat back to the factory standard.

Now, there's a million reasons for that to happen, the leading candidate being that I just got used to them. But now that I'm pro-cable, I'm not supposed to dismiss these differences with psychological phenomena. Anyway, they sound like the factory standard.

The CD cable was also industrial grade, although it was discongruous that this huge cable ended in a tiny little plug that fit into the CD player. The sound was off from the start. Cramped, stifled, no heartfelt base. I must have the only CD player in the world without a "repeat" button so it's not quite broken in. I'm hoping it'll loosen up or I'll go back to the factory model.

This cable journey has had it's bright spots but it's left me feeling quite unsettled. Being anti-cable made sense, it had logical and scientific underpinnings. Believing that cables are different seems just random and idiosyncratic.

Of course, that's no different than any other piece of audio kit. Who agrees on the way a pair of speakers sound? And if John Atkinson showed you a frequency response chart, even the most scientific guy in the world would just wave it away. But I still feel like I'm floating in space. I want to plant my feet firmly on something. I certainly don't trust my first-hand experience.

I dunno. Let's just hope this CD power cord burns iin.

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