The Myth of the "Best Ever" Cable

August 31, 2007 by David Kay


- The most expensive cables ever at $22,000 per 1m pair of interconnects.

Has a review for high-end cables ever seemed suspiciously positive to you? A Google search for "best cables ever" returns more than 4,000 results. While not all of them were written by professional reviewers gushing over the latest $10,000/m cables made from hand-squeezed pixie dust and the power of dreams, that phrase or some variation of it is found more often than not at the tail end of a high-end cable review, particularly with online reviews. On the other hand, reviews that are in any way negative are rarer than a four leaf clover.

Winners of the "Best Ever" award usually do not get to enjoy their title for long, especially when the same cable maker sends their higher-end model. The formerly flawless $1000 cables always seem to develop previously hidden imperfections just when the $2000 cables arrive. So what is the real story? Is all of it just wheel greasing for cable company ad dollars? Should you ignore cable reviews entirely? Yes.
A cable is a simple device that transports electrons from A-to-B. That isn't very exciting, so high-end cable companies try to grab your attention by claiming that their roundrectangularoval, strandedsolid corelitz, coppersilvergoldpalladium wires are the "right" way to do it, and everybody else's method is the "wrong" way, and the cable reviewers will usually present this marketing speak as fact.

As with any other audio component, there is no such thing as a "right" way or a "wrong" way, and any performance benefits (or degradations) that a cable upgrade may bring will depend greatly on the components they are connected to. There is also absolutely no correlation between price and performance.

My personal feeling on high-end cables is that they are a garnish for high-end systems; they can subtly improve and enhance the sound of an already great system. Some may tell you that any cable simply cannot make any difference to the sound, while others may claim that a cable upgrade can make as big of a difference as a new amplifier or pair of speakers. That may be their experience, but it may not be yours. The only way to know is to audition the cables yourself.

Source: Google search for "best cables ever"
Comments (2)
ccdoggy 12 months and 3 days ago

I part time work for a high end audio install group, i wouldn't quite call it a company as it is pretty small. anyways i had the pleasure of A/B some low, medium, and high end ($1,500) cables and i must say that if you are going to spend the money on the high end cables definetly have a very high end system with very good acoustics as without that you will notice very little.

The high end cables are made by Intuitive design (i think they were the Medusas). and on my boss's system it was like night and day between the high end and the medium (XLO reference) cables. To tell ya the truth the difference between the xlo and the low end (viperAV cables) was not that great.

Some say that it dosent matter what it is it will sound the same if its lamp cord or xlo reference and i absolutely cannot agree. I dont know what Dale at intuitive has done to the cables but it is pretty amazing in how it can change what the speakers are receiving but it works.

But i agree that if you have a great system it can improve it, maybe not like night and day (depending on setup) but it can improve on the system. Again i must say that acoustics of the room is half the battle. you could have a 100k+ setup and not be as good as a 15K system in a properly treated room.
davidkay 12 months and 3 days ago

Interesting observations, ccdoggy. I have Audioquest Hawkeye, Cheetah, and Bedrock cables in my current system, but the cables that have made the biggest improvements to my system by far are my power cords - Electra Glide Epiphany Xs and a Black Sand Silver Reference connected to a PS Audio Power Plant Premier.

Like many audiophiles, I've noticed that my system always sounds its best between around 1am to 6am when plugged directly into the wall. This is when power usage by the neighbors is at its lowest level, and most businesses are closed. None of this is supposed to matter of course, power cords and power conditioners aren't supposed to do anything, but they do. When plugged directly into the wall during the day, the system sounds weak and constrained. There isn't one specific aspect of the sound that I can really put my finger on, the system just doesn't "gel" in that way that gets your toes tapping and your head nodding, and isn't really worth listening to. Not a great feeling when you've spent thousands and thousands of dollars on a sound system.

When my system is running off of the PPP's regenerated AC with perfect 60hz waveforms and a steady 120V, it always has that "middle of the night" performance. The power cords take things several steps further. A simple 14/3 stock power cord is supposed to be able to pull every last watt out of a 15A socket, but high-end cords capable of pulling more than 30A and 600V always seem to sound better. It's just one of those unexplainable cable mysteries.
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