OSG,
You've made the biggest error in all of science.
You made a conclusion based on absolutely zero data.
Your inferred conclusion is that we 'naysayers' apparently believe there is no difference in sound with different cables but you based this on your assumption that none of us have even tried different (or more expensive or more elaborate or biwirable) cable when in fact many of us have.
If you had asked some people here first you would have had the knowledge that we are not spouting untested opinion.
I have heard other cable brands (at least 2 beyond what most ppl term generic) and i have biwired my system before. Was there a sound difference?
None that i could detect. My friend thought he heard a difference until i switched the cables a couple more times and all of a sudden he was picking out the cables at near a 50:50 split. He couldn't tell either. HOWEVER, our test was BIASED as are most home 'tests' that people do to attempt to distinguish sound differences.
Does it come down to each individual having different hearing? Although its true some people hear better than others, the majority of people all fall into a population average. My friend and I certainly form a small sample of two but so far the results are consistent.
Is it possible that all these music audiophiles just have more amazing ears than the rest of the human population?
Highly unlikely. That would make for alot of 'special' people and hence the average should then be shifted higher in compensation.
What is likely then?
That these 'audiophiles' are actually deceiving themselves into hearing differences because such is the way of human nature. Ego alone makes one person believe they can do something better than the next guy such as hear finite electronic differences between two cables of the same gauge and same conductive material. Especially for the male sex, you throw in the 'competition' factor and there is no end to what one person can apparently hear/do better than the next guy.
So how do you remove the human emotion as a variable?
One method, and a pretty decent one at that, is through blind tests run by an uninterested third party under controlled conditions.
I read sometime several months ago about a blind test at a home electronics expo where people such as the 'yaysayers' to biwiring were invited to test their apparent ability to hear a difference between cable types using a sound system and a closed sound booth (a relatively unbiased method assuming the ppl running the booth did not have an alternative motive). Formal studies have also been done and you can find info in scientific journals and perhaps some online reprints.
The results of such tests?
The yaysayers became enlightened first hand that they could not tell any differences between cable types as they picked out the normal and biwired cable sets approximately 50:50 regardless of which cable was being used. This is to say, 50% of the time they would pick out the biwired cable when regular cables were used and vice versa.
"Wow" they would say. "Those 12 cent a foot regular cables were up against 5 dollar a foot biwired cables and i couldn't tell the difference?"
"That's correct." said the scientist.
Have i made my point clear now?
The science i am referring to is not fiction. It can be found, read and understood by most any man/woman. If you EVER get the opportunity to enter a blind test and try this out for yourself, then perhaps finally YOU will be the one to 'see the light' so to speak. But until you move your 'tests' out of your home and into the lab, i have very little faith in the subjective data you provide to the discussion. Unless of course you can provide me with some valid data to the contrary. The scientific mind should not be a closed mind but definitely a scrutinzing one.
All that aside, i do like the look of some of the expensive cables. They would fit my room decor much better than the light grey coated ones i have now.
