Cables CAN make a difference, but should you care?

[Dawnshine Wonder 279]

Even if they do not make an audible difference for headphones, their build quality can be different in terms of durability.

I'm indifferent on this one, it's up to people what they spend their money on, if they want an aftermarket cable, they had their reasons and I do not call them foolish for doing it. However let it be known that the minor differences in copper and silver conductivity are not worth losing sleep over. If people on ASR forum did not find any measurable differences in sound quality when comparing two different audio cables for the same purpose, it's most likely undetectable to any human ear. However I would say oxygen free copper is worth the money and this isn't just to do with sound quality, it is to do with oxidization, braiding is another thing I would look for which offers both shielding and toughness to the cable itself. Sometimes the more expensive cables are a scam, but the caveat is, it depends.

 

 

 

[Pentium100 2,179]

With cables the law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quickly. I do not buy the cheapest cables though, the jacket is made from some crap that hardens and breaks over time (and not a long time either). So, I buy the lightly more expensive cables and, so far, have not had problems with their durability.

Regarding the effect on sound quality - if there is a lot of interference, then a better shielded cable would help, but maybe you should think about balanced equipment and cables in that case. It would help even more, especially with ground loops and stuff like that. 

It also depends on the equipment. For example, connecting a record player to an external preamp, the capacitance of the cable matters, but connecting a line output (that's reasonably low impedance) to line input it does not matter as much. For speakers it would not matter at all.

I probably would not notice the difference between a normal cable and a super expensive one. Some people notice the difference, whether it's that their equipment is better, their ears are better or its a placebo effect probably varies from person to person.