Re: Expensive cable!

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"isw" <isw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:isw-

> > I was a MAJOR skeptic and came in expecting to not hear a difference and
> > didn't on the CDs I listened to regularly. Since I don't normally listen
> > to ambient jungle sounds the extra thousands of $$ would be wasted. Much
> > to his credit he didn't try to sell me anything. It was just a chance
> > for him to share his knowledge.
> >
> > But I did hear a difference.
>
> I have a strong suspicion that if the changes had been made without your
> knowledge and participation (or had not been made, but you were told
> they were), you would have found it considerably *more* difficult to
> hear any difference. Impossible, even.

While your point is well taken, it's very likely there was a difference.
Unless that SMF was pulling the old "Circuit City" trick of having much more
expensive speakers accidentally also be switched on when you ask to listen
to the sale price speakers, there's a very good chance that there was a
substantial, detectable difference in the ability to reproduce atypical
program material ( i.e. "non-musical" sounds).

Different codecs, amplifiers, speakers, power conditioners and even cables
can all have an effect on sound quality.   It's very possible, too, that the
subject matter has something to do with the perception of "audio quality."
Many audio components are designed to eliminate transients that are not part
of a normal *musical* performance.  Unfortunately, that also tends to
degrade the ability to reproduce sounds that would, in musical
circumstances, be thought of as noise.  Anyone who has a receiver with
different "sound fields" is already familiar with how different digital
signal processing techniques can substantially modify the "quality" of the
sound.   Using the sound field selector on my Sony AV receiver I can make
certain instruments virtually vanish or make others stand out.

All that said, I believe the *worst* place to start trying to improve your
sound quality is with horribly overpriced and overhyped Monster cables.

--
Bobby G.