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Olek
92
Apr 2, 2016
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Wow, this thread really became so caustic that it is unreasonable to expect intelligent debate on the merits of THOSE cables. Nevertheless, let me add a splash of my acid here :)
I am one of the suckah that bought those cables during last drop (mind you, price was a little bit lower that time). And I am the one that complained that included banana plugs are an ill fit for those cables and still hold that opinion - it is a pain to ensure proper contact of plugs with the cables, since plugs opening is too oversized for the cable size.
And at that time I promised that after getting used to centrance cables I will switch them back to my plain-jane 12 gauge speaker cable, which was not bad at all.
Well, today is THE day to fulfil that promise.
Just swapped back 12-guage cables in.
Listening to dsd128 recording of 10th anniversary concert hosted by Blue Coast Records, part 2 - Alex de Grassi on primeseat.net .... and I have 2 comments 1. It does not sound BAD. Still the best recording of acoustic guitar I have ever heard. 2. The thrill is gone. Right. Those extra details of string plucking that were making that dsd128 recording stand so far from dsd64, now are gone. Extra air, depth and realism, gone. Now it sounds like a good recording, where before it was making me look up number of times in disbelief - WTF is that guitar player doing in my office? Ovations lose that hard edge on the beginning of hand clapping, and again, sound like recording of ovations instead of near-life experience.
So... I think that if your speakers/amp/source/interconnects are up to the task, those cables do provide a lot of difference and are well worth the cost. But if one of the components is a bigger bottleneck, than maybe cables will not make much difference.
Also a lot depends on what music is listened to. A lot of music recorded with early digital equipment in 80s is recorded so badly, that cables will not make a difference. Same goes for a lot of modern music that is mostly noise-based. But if you listen to well recorded classical/jazz, it is a different story.
... Just swapped back centrance cables. Difference is amazing. I can hear again the sound reflected off the walls, I forgot that it was even there when listening to plain 12-gauge cables. Plucking of those guitar strings feels so real, so alive.
If those cables were a little bit longer, I would love to buy one more pair for my secondary system. Alas, not going to happen since amp is quite far away from one of the speakers.
In my opinion, those cables are worth every cent of their price - for ME, with my musical tastes and equipment. For YOU, that may be different.
But saying that they are snake oil is akin to color-blind person declaring that difference between green and red is non-existing simply because they can not see it and are not willing to believe in it.
For your reference, difference in those cables can be easily heard with equipment that solidly fits 'mid-fi' definition of audioholics. My setup: KEF LS50 speakers, Hafler 915/9300 preamp/amp, Denon DA-300USB DAC with some very inexpensive but very good interconnects that I am not going to disclose here :) It is not a hi-end system by any means. Good enough for me though.
Hope my post will help some people considering this drop to make their decision, one way or another.
Apr 2, 2016
an25trm
2
Apr 3, 2016
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OlekI'm not sure why the spec lists ".75 in (6.3 mm) to RCA". Does this mean both ends of the cables in the stereo pair do not have the banana plug connectors?
Apr 3, 2016
Olek
92
Apr 3, 2016
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an25trmAll 4 ends of each cable have banana connectors, 8 banana connectors total.
Apr 3, 2016
SodaAnt
80
Apr 6, 2016
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OlekI've always wondered if someone has done oscilloscope traces for cables like this. It should be pretty simple to just put an oscilloscope on the end of the cable and compare the traces. Since even cheaper oscilloscopes can easily have plenty of accuracy to look at the details of waveforms well beyond our human ears, you should then be able to see a noticeable difference between the cables and quantify them.
The placebo effect is a real thing. Nothing wrong with buying cables as long as you think they improve the sound, as long as you claim they don't objectively improve the sound for someone who does not believe in the snake oil. Because your beliefs are likely the only reason it sounds better.
Apr 6, 2016
j-tech
93
Jun 1, 2016
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OlekI agree on the banana connectors though. It would be ideal with spades IMHO.
Jun 1, 2016
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