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Where on earth does speculation about a cable changing sound stage and tonality and technicality even come from? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by IDE_IS_LIFE@alien.top to c/headphones@hi-fi.community

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I'm thinking of leaving a FB group called Chifi audio reviews because daily there's people asking the same unfounded questions about what cables sound the most transparent, or tame treble, or increase detail etc. Sometimes it's the same thing but about DACs which I almost understand (shitty outputs can make headphones and IEMs sound thin and lean but I think that's just a matter of bad designs). Burn in is another such culprit. Do just a couple of minutes of searching online and you'll be presented with facts and reasoning telling you it's bunk.

It drives me nuts, it's like having flat earthers and scientologists everywhere in the hobby everywhere I turn. It's slowly driving me nuts, lol.

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[–] iankost@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Our brain prioritises visual information over audio information, leading to things like the Mcgurk effect.

What we see can change what we hear, so people could see a copper cable and think 'this now sounds warmer' etc - the brain has been told that so it thinks that - just like how the same sound/word over a different video of a mouth moving makes people hear a different word.

Different to a placebo effect, and way more interesting if you ask me!

Other people want to try to justify the $$$ they spent on an expensive cable. Besides microphonics and looking pretty there's not much else a cable can do.