High-end audio cables myth trolls need to be booted off the island. Now. And preferably with a BIG honking boot.

Why?

Because they are not audiophiles and all of us treating them as if they were is hurting the hobby.

Trolls, not Audiophiles

People who antagonize real audiophiles, insisting that running a signal through different kinds of wire does not affect the sound differently [violating the first or second laws of thermodynamics by the way], are just trolls.

Sometimes this is easier to see just how ridiculous our acceptance of these trolls are if we think of this happening in a more well-known hobby, like autos.

Saying that different cables all sound the same is like someone saying that different tires make no noticeable difference when driving a car.

Typically [continuing our analogy] these kinds of people would own a basic commuter car [modest stereo cobbled together from good, bad and terrible gear, typically wildly unbalanced sonically]. They put on some modestly nice Michelin V-rated tires [cheap cables one step above Monster] on it, and noticed no difference when using their car [stereo] the way they usually do – just plunking around [playing 3- and 4-piece jazz]  .

These are people with minimal experience, minimal qualifications, minimal equipment, minimal skills at listening, and tragic inability to understand science.

So what is the problem? The problem is that they then go on the forums and loudly bash real audiophiles, shouting that in their ‘expert opinion’, cables have no affect on any stereo and it is all just hokum

These people declare themselves ‘experts’ though they do not ever think about [going back to our tire analogy]  WHY they do or do not like the handling, about how it responds in emergency and under hostile weather conditions; how it could be better, worse or different; how it performs in the extremes of acceleration; and what parts of the design contributes to this or that behavior and subjective enjoyment or lack thereof. Etc.

These people are just trying to rile others and get attention by acting extraordinarily stupid. 

Let’s not give it to them. In fact, let’s take ALL our attention away from them.

Hurting the Hobby

This is serious.

‘High-end audio cables myth’ is one of the first suggestions Google gives when typing in ‘high-end audio cables’.

When noobs visit one of the forums, and they see people accepting as valid another’s opinion that cables have no affect on the sound, that it is just our imagination, they draw the reasonable conclusion that ALL improvements in sound may also just be the wild imaginings of us audiophools.

To a lesser degree there are also those who believe all solid-state amps sound the same, that all CD players sound the same, and that all computer DACs sound the same. These people are also trolls.

We have become a playground for trolls. People who get off on being a**holes and jerks.

I’m Against the Death Penalty in this Case

I’ve thought about it but…. no.

So, not proposing anything too radical here 🙂

I just think we need to censure and, if necessary, kick these people off the reputable forums. If these forums are for Audiophiles, then let’s keep out the Audiophile-haters.

Face it, they hate us and yet they infest our forums.

Why are we putting up with this?

[Featured photo of big boot from Freshness Magazine]

It doesn’t matter if you are looking to buy something.

It doesn’t matter if your system could use a little jump-start in this or that area.

It doesn’t matter if you know the names of a lot of gear or hardly any at all.

There is a inherent THRILL of plodding around, clicking through things, and finding really good deals on used audio equipment …. and wondering … “What if I got THAT? Maybe I SHOULD get that? It would be SO awesome to get to play with that.”

The thrill of letting ourselves be tempted. Kind of like the old Audiogon ‘New Today’ page.

I remember going there several times per day. Over the years, after we became members of the ‘industry’, this turned from…

‘Wow, that is EXPENSIVE, but what a deal! Maybe we should get it… ”

…to…

“Wow! That awesome old gear is hardly ever on the market – and look at the price! That guy is nuts to sell it for that. Maybe we should get it so people could hear it here… and get more people wanting to visit the store [and, winking at each other, we get to play with it to our hearts content :-)]”

See?

The T-E-M-P-T-A-T-I-O-N! [in my head this is said with the same fear and awe and fascination as the phrase: ‘the horror’ from Apocalypse Now]

It [and the sometime joy of falling for the temptation] is so much apart of our hobby. It is gear lust cross pollinated with hi-fi system design.

And a wonderful way to while away the hours for people who get bored. 🙂

You too can experience the Thrill of The Hunt.

We revived our old Audiophile’s Guide to the Galaxy Used and Demo Audio page.

This page links to several dozen ‘specials’ pages put up by dealers all over the U.S and Canada.

You can hunt by clicking through them, seeing 1000s of demo and used gear being sold by reputable dealers [all of whom, at least, we either know personally or have had an active specials page for over 10 years].

Of course, our very own specials page of Used and Demo Audio equipment is also on the list [more about our experiences with our specials page, and how did we manage to fit all that gear in the house anyway? … in the next post].