The Better The Equipment, The More Sensitive It Is To Cables?

When I first started with my first entry hi-fi system I could barely notice ANY difference between various cables. As my system level continued to grow I started believing that both ICs and speaker cables change the sound a bit. Now with my current system (Sony XA9000ES, Mcintosh MHT100 and Sonus Fabers Home to name a few components) the difference is radical. It can either sing or sounds horrible! Anyone had the same experience over the years of upgrading?

 

Yes, it is one of the challenges for the audiophile as the resolving power of your system improves, along with room effects and software issues.

 

I am right with you brother, the better the system the more $$$ gotta spend on the cable but at least now, it really does make a difference

 

Is determining a systems "resolving power" a subjective judgement or is it based on technical specifications? Like HDTV vs standard broadcast.

WVK

 

Very true. Extra resolution = more "small" things can have an impact: cables, power line conditioning, jitter, gear isolation, polarity, etc.

 

I think part of this is also a learning curve of what your ear hears. What I once thought was a good system a few years ago is now substandard because I have learned more about what I am hearing. Raised the bar.
For example, if I went back to my system of a few years ago and only change the cables I bet that I could hear the difference now that I know what I'm listening for.
Where a few years ago I just didn't notice such things.

 

I think this statement is true. I also believe that when building a system components should be of comparable quality.

 

So true. Critical listening is very important as well.

 

I agree, it's hard to separate your learning/experience level that's gained from the time involved in the hobby and the improvements you make to your system along the way. Resolving power is a subjective term for me. Technical specifications are nice to know and sometimes helpful (impedence, etc.), but it comes down to the listening and how well the component works with the others in your system.

 

First, I completely agree that the better the system the more every little thing makes a difference. Second, I wrote a post about this a year or two ago. Some time ago (???) there was an excellent article in Stereophile that point out that if there were an industry standard that required every type of gear (amp, CD player, speakers etc.) to adhere to a specific input and output impedance for that type of gear (imagine trying to get all speaker manufactures to have the same input impedance) then interconnect and cable design would be so much easier and there would not be such wide variation. Because this is not the case an interconnect that sounds great between a given pre-amp and amp might be total crap between a different pre-amp and amp that have different impedance characteristics.