Paul McGowan makes a short story long

Well… at least the initial thread itself is a direct link to their web site, only a click away from their own webshop where they sell exactly that kind of products promoted in the audio contribution…

So I only own PS Audio power components (not the regenerators) so will not comment on the company components themselves but know people who do own the whole line of products and swear by them. That’s them, I have lesser gear!

Anyway, as to my comment, it relates to cables in general. I was reading “Sound & Vision” the other day and the editor made a comment about cables, and why that particular publication does not review cables or connectors of most any kind. The editor response was that the staff at the publication 100% feels that quality cables of varying types of construction can make a difference, HOWEVER, that difference can only be heard in systems so highly resolving that 99.x% of the general public will never own a system that would allow them to hear the difference, and an even lesser percentage of that magazine’s readers. So, in a nutshell, to review such items would not be beneficial to the readership of that magazine.

I actually thought that comment had merit and could employ some truth. I don’t hear differences in cables and connectors on my system, which is not low-end but certainly not up to the standards of the reference systems that the reviewers or owners of the manufacturing companies have. Of course, I don’t hear any difference worth noting with most file types either ha ha.

Any thoughts from the gallery on this?

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Not only does one need a golden system to hear any difference, but probably golden ears also.

The union of these two occurrences is so small as to make most high end cables ‘snake oil’ for all, but the unlucky few. In spite of how some people can convince themselves otherwise.

If your “golden system” is sensible for differences in a DIGITAL cable, bring it back to your dealer and retract your money.

I’m afraid I have to agree with Paul. I have been working with HIFI for 26 years now, and almost everything he mentions in his posts, is what my own experience also tells me. If you start climbing the “hifi ladder”, you will soon experience things you maybe didn’t believe in from the beginning. One rule of thumb I follow is: Believe in what YOU hear, not what other says. This simple rule has led me to that nothing is just black or white. Try to shift your AC phase to your cd/dac or amplifier, and you will be surprised what will happen to the sound. Try different cables (AC, analog, digital), and then reverse them and try again. Be curious, listen and I promise you that suddenly you will hear something you didn’t expect!

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“Believe in what YOU hear” is exactly the fundament for this business. Try it, test it - but do it right. Otherwise your brain is fooled by its own expectation :wink:.
In the end such cables may give you a good feeling. So you spend money for happiness, and that’s ok. No discussion needed at all :wink:.
With my own experience I’d rather spend my money on something that actually changes the signal, may it be analog or digital. There are some very interesting audio DSP units that allow very effective “improvements” of the audio signal. Not cheap but very effective. But that’s OT here.

I tried a borrowed Curious USB cable…it got returned and never missed it to be totally honest. Like I have said many times in this community…trust your own ears - everyone hears differently, everyones rooms are different and everything else too for that matter. Enjoy the music.

You either need new ears or better equipment if you couldn’t hear a difference. His dacs are rated at the top for good reason. But it sounds like you can’t hear a difference between cables either so it really doesn’t matter what equipment you buy, you won’t hear any difference

@maximasr
Please dont insult others hearing - what they hear or not hear is just that. Incidentally others have also not heard difference in their systems…so maybe a system is not resolving enough or I’m not the only one with suspect hearing.

I still enjoy the music. And that is what “I” bought and built my system to do.

Hearing is ALSO a matter of belief and expectations.
REGARDLESS of physical facts.
That‘s a fact :wink:.
Happiness is in our brains - ONLY in our brains :point_up:t3:.

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Hope you haven’t been holding your breath up there Slim? Eeep. I’ll let you know my impressions around December :grin:

I guess too bad for early adopters.:face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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‘Hearing things’ in all of its meanings is the foundation the HiFi industry is built on.

In digital, anything that claime to magically improve ‘the signal’ is suspect. Anything that changes your perception of that signal, whether it relates to technology, design, ergonomics, pride of ownership or whatever keeps your boat afloat is fine with me.

Choose wisely. :smiley:

Very wisely said :+1:t3:.
There‘s an old TV commercial with the ending „Advertising, the right to choose“. No matter what nonsense is available - you are free to buy and enjoy it :wink:.
Ending with the beginning… Selling such ”special“ (digital) cables is selling a good feeling - nothing more, nothing less. It has nothing to do with the idea of high fidelity - sorry :wink:.
There are no magic cables because there IS no magic. But there‘s a cable industry, and a business, and… customers :wink:.

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Hehe of all people I didn’t expect you to jump into, or hint at, a ‘bits are bits’ discussion Rene :grin:

Sticking to the digital cable related to the OP, earlier I shared the manufacturers description on the construction and their emphasis on reducing RF - it’s not really about ‘improving the signal’ at all. Does their cable actually help with RF? Who knows but that’s their claim and in terms of potential technical mechanisms, a valid thing to try and tackle.

A stock standard USB cable and a Toslink cable (both are digital cables :hushed:) can both transmit signal bit perfectly but can also sound very different, depending on the system. One is essentially RF immune and one may not be.

To paraphrase Rob Watts (Chord DAC designer) - RF is like a fungus that gets in everywhere.

I predicted this too :grin:

That‘s what I‘ve been waiting for… the dangerous and pervasive "fungus“ :scream:. Make people fear and offer exceptional help :roll_eyes:.

Power "cleaning“ devices, cables as thick as an arm, ceramic shoes, bad-RF sensors, acoustic CD fluids… I LOVE them all :wink:. And ALL, for sure, for exceptional prices :roll_eyes:.
They all reveal a painful abuse of the term and the fundamental idea of hifi, IMHO.

All these offers play with the idea that the human sense of hearing had no limits. And this idea is truly false since it ignores human nature.

If your inhouse electrics changes the bitstream of a 2$ USB cable, then you should be really worried about it - the electrics, not the cable :wink:.

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One could just as easily use the argument that a system is so unresolving that any decent cable would make a night and day improvement, not that ones system is so resolving that you can change a cable and hear a difference…but why is it so often always a better sound than just different sound.

At first, the whole thread is about COMPARING. But there’s not a single word about HOW comparison is done :point_up:t3:.

I’m not gonna discuss the principles of blind, double-blind or false testing. But, you can easily imagine that the worst scenario is if you knew which cable is used while listening. At no time the listener should know “through” what cable he/she is listening, nor how much it costs.
As simple as this is the real world is often different. But as long as the comparing listener knows what cable is used all doors are open for some sort of delusion.
How many cable enthusiasts are doing it this way…?

I had the Curious USB Regen Link connecting my Sonore MicroRendu to my DAC. It sounded great. I changed a few things in my system and I ended up with a £40 USB cable as I needed a longer run. A few other changes later on and I was able to plumb the microRendu/Curious USB back into the system. No difference. At all. I was expecting something and I got nothing. I then spent an entire weekend listening to my favourite tracks with the stock USB cable and then the Curious USB. I honestly could not distinguish any difference. I think on first purchasing the Curious I had unconcscious bias that it would be better. The second and third time around I realised that this probably wasn’t the case.

I now run a £15 3m cable from my NUC running rOCK directly into my Mytek Brooklyn.

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I think that when people get a new cable they are intent on listening and therefore are more focused and in the moment than they normally would be. Living in the Now makes everything better, not just listening to music.

Couple that with the fact that all but professionals have poor auditory memory and you get people swearing by $400 cables.

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