Gene, you make too much sense to be popular with most audiophiles. 🤣

I used to watch videos from PS Audio..... But then my wife complained that she could hear the BS from the kitchen!

I love how hard you crush people's hopes and dreams, no remorse. Some of this fantasy stuff is fun to believe and audio jewelry is beautiful, but it's so important to have someone like you bringing everyone back to reality. Let's make real improvements rather than spending so much time and resources on nonsense. Keep up the great work!

I learned my most important lesson about placebo effect when I adjusted a tone control on a console several times until it sounded perfect only to realize that I had it bypassed.

Stumbled on your channel researching cables after reading up the science behind the resistivity of different metals before I made a purchase and in your video you confirmed exactly what the figures I was reading seemed to suggest. Now I'm hooked on your other videos! Can't deny the science that is there👍

No, I don't get tired of these sorts of videos on what works, and what does a bit of difference, and benefit; and what factors don't do anything. Thumbs up easily. You tell it as it is in the real world.

I hear you get the best synergy when you put a Spock cutout in a Ferrari , it lifts a veil on the exhaust note!

I've seen a ton of videos about speaker cables and I think Mr. Gene Dellasala knows what he is saying. I bought recently audio cable KnuKonceptz 10 Gauge with Nakamichi screw lock banana plugs and I am quite happy with the sound. I hope I won't regret it after few years. Thank you Mr. Gene for sharing your knowlege.

Totally agree with this one. I have had this discussion at my hifi dealer several times. I tell them that in the circuit the goal should be that the cables do not contribute to the circuit for resistance or capacitance - in other words disappear in a thevenin equivalent circuit so that they do not influence the sound. As soon as the speaker cables begin to be a contributing part of the circuit you are now listening to something other than the way your speakers are designed to sound. I hate being told that there are some things we can hear but can't measure. We have been characterizing and measuring audio for longer than almost anything else. We know how to do it, and our instruments are much more sensitive, accurate, and repeatable than the human ear.

I remember a review of the Technics Reference Series System where the reviewer thought the system was not sounding great until he switched the Ethernet cables that send a digital signal from the preamp to the amp to some fancy cable ethernet cables. This reviewer "discovered" how these magic cables changed the data stream from the digital signal and made it sound like magic. I stop reading that magazine that day. It was The Absolute Sound BTW

Gene is one of the few people that review products and various claims made by the sales side of the audio business with an eye towards the consumers best interest so God bless him for that. In this case I'd love to see if Gene could get the owners at Blue Jean Cables to weigh in on this, not to bash their competition, but just to offer their opinions on various types of cables and how they manufacture and sell very reasonably priced interconnects.

Hi Gene Love your videos! I can`t se the problem in recommending cables. For the audiofiles that "believe" in cables strongly, Paul is making their life easier. When he says that the synergy is good with their produkts, that is what they will think, and relax, not having to chase for a "better" solution :) For people that don`t care about very expensive cables will not run buying those cables. My personal experience and belief is that cables are important. As I started building my hifi system I have had many different cables. It is very hard to say why and what changes in the sound, and I need to "listen to" a cable for a longer time in order to say if I like it or not. Quite early in my quest for a great hifi system I "upgraded" to some Van Den Hule cables. I was proud of my new cables!!! But after a few months I realized that I listened less and less to music. Then one night I changed back to the old 50NOK (5USD) cables and the joy and energy in the music came back:) But it was easy then to hear that those cables lacked control, and had bad phase control. The stereo perspective was "messy" So then I started looking for "good cables" that had It all. Good copper, seems to be the sound I like, and they don`t need to be very expensive. I don`t know why, but I have not had any cables with other metals for very long. Silver, gold and rhodium just not my cup of tea, and I can`t tell why......

Gene, have been listening to you for years. Thanks for all you do, but I wanted to make a comment. I LOVED your mention of Hitchens Razor!!! RIP Christopher.

Henry Ott's book has been one of my favorite reference books since decades! Thank you for keep sharing rationality and truth.

Great vid. I eagerly await the day when you can measure these cables and come back with results(test).

I'm really glad you called Paul out on his bs. Lying about your product is a fast way to sink your company. I watched Paul's videos until he made the one about Audioquest cables and how they made his system soooo much better. The problem was that he was talking about power cables going into his own Power Stream power conditioners that cost $10,000 each! Shouldn't a $10k power conditioner already have amazing power cables on it? And if the $7k cables fix everything then why do I need a $10k power conditioner? I was really interested in his products until he lied. I'll be looking elsewhere for my new DAC when I buy it!

I am myself an electrical engineer by profession...and the audiophil for some 40+ Years... Great observation...and the previous one about speaker cables as well. Congretulation!

Gene you're awesome, and I'm stoked to have stumbled on your channel. The answer to the question you proposed is..............Engineering grade cables may sound good to engineers, but since they don't look very cool they lose sound quality when they enter a consumer's home.

I love this channel and Paul's as well - and, I think that Paul might even secretly agree with you to an extent. But he's a manufacture that has to "play nice" with other manufactures in the space. As long as cable manufactures spend huge money advertising in stereo related print and internet ads, I doubt manufacturers and even many reviewers, will call them out for being snake oil. It's one of many issues in the industry on a whole.

Thanks for the video. They were talking business synergy and how both companies can make more money. Please do a video on conditioners (types), regenerators and if they matter and measurements.

The synergy here is a business contract to align the two companies marketing machines together to promote snake oil products.

As someone who seeks the best from both Home and Car audio, I must agree with you Gene! Car audio has its own unique obstacles to overcome. Years ago when I first started, I learned early on about cable quality in cars. I've been using RG6 as interconnects and ALL the noise is gone. A dear friend of mine loves his AudioQuest junk. I swapped in a pair to test with just for shits and giggles in my last build and all the issues of using cheap Walmart interconnects came back, alternator whine, spark noise, etc. Now I only use RG6 in my house as well. If it's good enough for automotive use, it's good enough for my home!

Glad to see you healthy and back!

Glad you’re calling them out, you’re the only one to do so.

Thanks Gene, you certainly tell it how it is, which is always appreciated.

Thank you so much for explaining this crystal clear. I've been watching a few videos and reading forums lately, as I want to buy some audio equipment.... and I felt like this hole industry is full of myths and marketing BS. But it seems like the consumers defend the BS, and are proud buyers, instead of searching for the truth. Thank god I found your videos!! Great job!!

Hi Gene, which Mogami cable would you recommend for XLR interconnects (between pre/pro and amp) 2549, 2534, 2791, or other? Thanks in advance.

Very useful information here. Agree cable specs/ measurements should be available for consumers to consider and evaluate.

Never get tired of the truth. Excellent job, as always, Gene. Love your channel.

Keep the great information coming Gene

The owner of Audioquest lives in a 5 million dollar condo IN a Newport Beach shopping center. Lots of markup in Chinese-made cables.

Love these informative videos, I can't comment on power cables for now but I definitely can contest that my experiences with audio interconnects (both rca and xlr) has been a mixed bag. Also the headphone replacement cable market has grown beyond belief thanks to rise in higher performance higher costing audiophile headphones. One slick move that most audiophile headphones manufacturers pull is to use proprietary connectors on their higher costing lines to keep d.i.yers from making adequate enough quality cables for pennies on the dollar. Cables for the Abyss 1266TC and Focal Utopia can cost over two thousand dollars but both still can use 3-4 wires total.

You are the Boss! Love your down to earth videos. Be happy, be safe

The simple answer is: The Audioquest CEO is the PS Audio CEO’s friend. He has said so.

Paul must be referring to the synergy with his bank account.

Gene, you're so passionate and knowledgeable about this. That begs the question, have you ever considered creating, marketing and selling Audioholics brand cables? I think many people would be interested in buying something that you'd be willing to put your name on.

What analog XLR interconnect balanced cables do you recommend? I don't see Mogami offering these, unless you are using their microphone cables. Is that what you use and show in this video?

great video Gene!!!! I agree! I use Mogami and Canare cables nothing fancy just great quality cables with good shielding and no fancy crap, reasonable price and studio grade performance! same cables used at the studio I had labs in at college haha go figure haha cant believe what people believe

I agree :) but how about copper vs silver ? does it change some measurement ?

Dear Gene....you made my day. These snake oil guru's must hate you! Thank you for standing up!!! Incidently, I have an E.A.R 518 amp that was designed and built by Tim de Paravicini himself.

I've done a/b blind testing with expensive and cheap cables and really nobody could consistently tell a difference. Even had spliced together speaker wire at times. Cables and wire are the biggest crock of b/s in the consumer market.

“Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.”

Great video, I agree 100 percent with your reasoning. Now can you do an expose on Mpingo wood Shunmook discs? I hear the finest audio systems employ these devices....

I've heard a little about using silver cables vs copper cables, I'd be interested to hear your opinions on that. I'm by no means tech savvy, my home theater is a basic 5.1 running only on my avr, so anything I could learn would be great, thanks!

Not sure if you've touched on this, but recently I saw a PS Audio video about a braided power cable making a night and day difference. Building amps myself, I understand how twisted pairs can be a benefit in certain parts of an amp, but I'm not sure the last few feet of power cable before you plug into an amp will matter? The cable running from your breaker box to all of your lights, receptacles, and so on are parallel conductors; not twisted. Thoughts?

Does it make sense to buy expensive headphone cables ? I have spent thousands of $$$ on "pure silver" headphone cables but I haven't noticed any sound difference from stock cables. How are they supposed to sound different?

Gene great video, this topic is never tiring, i have a question, under what circumstances can a cable be made to act like a tone control ? If we add more capacitance or inductance to a cable on purpose will that change the tone or sound in any way ? Also do different materials used to make a cable make any difference in measurements silver vs ofc copper ?

Have you gone down that path and done a video on Speaker cable and interconnect impedence characteristics? Great video by the way. Awesome channel!

What are your thoughts on the enclave cinehub pro

havent seen you for so long....always like your video...hits hard on snake man. i believe everyone will appreciate and send you donation if you actually take the cable and do details test on it, then publish it. save ppl tonnes of money.

Your take on PS audio re: magical cable synergy with that brand of cables was an interesting one. Many moons ago I decided to compare my "WirePlanet" speakers cables with a 6 foot pair of "Monstrous" 12 gauge zip cable and BINGO, the whole sound stage collapsed, pin point imaging became a muddled mess of instruments and the speaker coherency (Thiels) disappeared. At the same time, my other set of cables - "Bardas" - had a sweeter treble and a wee bit fuller lower mid-range than the "WirePlanet" cable (tone control), but both were very coherent. There is something going on that yet cannot be measured. Similarly measuring power-amps can sound very different in tone, staging, imaging, slam, clean top end or grainy, etc. Things that to this day cannot be empirically measured. On the other hand, mega thousand dollar cables are pure foolishness. Best and cheers!

Thank you for making this up peoples need to get refreshed about this Snake Oil cables markets! I was tricked with sale man swear by the Audioquest im glad i found your post on this years ago, but i see allot of people still get tricked and buy thoses 1k$ speaker cables non sense,

I would like you to talk about network switches for audio, things like jitter, and how buffers are useless

Gene, I watch your channel when I want to learn something. I watch Paul's channel when I am eating food and want to be briefly entertained. And I complete agree, PS Audio makes some products that I too would be interested in playing with. However, I think Paul is 100% batshit crazy when he's talking about synergy in cables. I posted in his channel a long time ago, a sarcastic comment stating that I use my cables as tone controls. And here we are in 2020 and you made this video! Glad to see you are feeling better. Keep doing what you do, we appreciate it!

AudioQuest does make some nice looking cables! I can't say that I would spend the money on them, but they are pretty!

Sup Godfather of Home Theater, Gene Corleone aka Don Dellasala. I think you were fair in this one. Constructive in your criticism. Tough to argue with science. I could sell a $#!∆ ton of high end cables just by saying they look awesome, they feel awesome, they're expensive and therefore exclusive. No unproven claims there. And throw a hot chick in for good measure. $$$$!

A sane man in an insane world of audiophiles with more money then sense

This is an excellent argument about cables. Thanks! Never got sucked into the exotic nutz cables. I like 10 gauge multi-stranded copper cable that I picked up from Lowes, works great! And shielded interconnects with good ends.

Thanks for this video !!

Looking good Gene. Looking healthy as well. Keep up the good fight against audiofoolery.

I agree, my A-S801 tone controls have never been anything other than flat, pure direct and using Blue Jeans Cable 10AWG.

This is a very well composed answer. Great job Gene!

I've been buying cables for years from mit and audio quest and I'm happy thanks gene,I respect your opinion.

Don't stop doing these videos please Gene, I keep an open mind and an eye on my wallet Thanks

28/03/2024.Have enjoyed your information very much.I do use the Kimber 8tc and the cables that came with my Hegel H390/Hegel Viking.

Great video, been a Bluejeans fan for years. I do have some Audioquest interconnects in my system but I like being able to order the exact size and color I want from Bluejeans. I marvel at some of the prices of these premium cables, and find myself laughing out loud at times, who buys his shit.

I have a audio quest subwoofer cable that was given to me with some speakers. Cant tell a difference between that and the rg6 subwoofer cable I had been using forever. 150 vs like 30...

can you put banana plugs on belden 1694A? Maybe do a tutorial on how to convert it into a speaker cable

I hope AudioQuest is watching this too. Definitely keep trying to measure them!

having started in this wonderful hobby in the fifies, loved reading about exotica.then with techcnical education came vast amounts of skepticism and later disdain of all things snake oil.my safe place was with julian hirsch and later john atkinson. thank you gene, for calling bs in a calm civilised logical manner.this will never go away because to quote a wannabee politician,its all about the benjamins ,baby.

What about a shout-out between the belden 5t00up and the super expensive blue jeans cable iconoclast?

I agree with you about the “filter effect” cables have on gear. I’ve seen audiophiles claim that they liked a $2k cable better than a particular $10k cable. And I can’t explain that. The placebo effect would naturally push the $10k cable to the top of the list. I asked you a question on your “power cable debunking” video about if we know what to test for when it comes to things like cables. It was a really good question I won’t repeat the whole question here (it was eloquently written) . I hope you read that question and give it some thought. But you own that kimber cable and it measures better than your 10g. Can you actually hear any difference between the two? It seems silly that such a small difference would be audible. Just curious if you can hear a difference?

Hey Gene, I just watched an old video of Dillons audio in California. Did you ever take him up on his challenge? Is so what did you find? Thanks for your time.

Great video. 2 different speakers can measure the same in most ways, but sound completely different. Even though we have the measurements to verify it that still doesn't tell what they actually sound like. Many amplifiers can measure the same but sound completely different. I am not excusing the cable industry for not supplying specs. I am just pointing out why measurements can't tell the whole story. I am not sure we know the "whys" of everything yet. I think not long ago Gene didn't like turntables until someone set it up correctly:) Anyway, Thanks for all you do to educate us.

thanks, Paul! keep up the good work!

I too use high end cables mainly for aesthetic reasons, but also because they're decent quality cable relative to the free ones that come with the equipment .. my brand of choice is Gutwire from Canada, and for about $500-$1000 you get a VERY top notch cable, but I don't trust when PS Audio says they're seeing a synergy, its just marketing which is something Paul is very good at I've learned.

Absolutely true Gene . Paul also claims that we can't measure everything we hear in cables. As you said cables should not act as a tone control.

Excellent video. Anything to discourage snake oil is a worth supporting.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Great video.

I say keep it up!! All this Money spent on Snake Oil Cables could be spent on better Speakers or Amps. Keep up the good work!!!

Thank you. Excellent content!

before you did this vid i already owned the audioquest " water" cable.ive now removed the batteries from the 2 sets i have in my system. i think the word " synergy " is the wrong word to use in hifi. i agree with you ,i dont look at purchasing cables to have " synergy " personally for me its to make it look good and not to pick up interference etc. it would be great Gene if you would please measure the bhk appliances just to see exactly what ive purchased according to your side of the this past time.. also in cables from a hifi angle,i dont think it really matters how they measure ,its all to do with how they sound. if i had the worst cable in the world according to measurements but sounded the best cable ever ,then id buy it. i wouldnt buy a cable just because it measures well. it comes down to the fact that theres 2 ways of looking at all of this. no side is wrong. you guys are all correct in your arguments.

Great shooting location!

It seems every few years Gene has to discuss the snake oil market of the audio industry.

I think there is good synergy between my Luxman integrated amplifier and Alpha hook up wire :) And even more so with my wallet. I am not a great believer of expensive cables. I had an issue with hum on my TT and it ended up being the cables but the solution in my case was to use Thermocouple extension cable (Which is Cu / Cu) which is reasonably priced despite the Teflon Dielectric which is there purely for temperature resistance purposes. I do believe synergy between some components, like turntables and cartridges for instance but that is a logical one if you look at needle compliance versus tonearm designs.

Brilliant review. Being an engineer, I would say this is is reasonable review, based on reality.

When did we start talking about bicycles? Is there a Schwinn cable?

If i send you my cable, that i designed, will you skip measurements and go straight to sound validation? If you hear a decent difference, will you advertice it on your channel and become a dealer? It will be a 50-50 after cost...

Awesome video I agree 100% with you: above a certain price point audiophile cable are totally snake oil. I did a blind test once for speaker cables with very good equipment at an audiophile store many years ago: I could tell the difference between a 1€/m cable and a 50€/m cable but not between a 50€/m and a 1000€/m cable. The equipment for testing was not at the very top high end but very good, with Rogers LS3/5a speakers and I think an Acoustic Research pre with 2 high end monoblocks I don't remember which... Nobody in the room except for the store owner could tell the difference between the 50€/m cable and the fancy 1000€/m cable

Heh, I have been putting the money I didn't spend on snake oil cables back into components and speakers for years! I can certainly say my system does not suffer from loss even though I only use 10gage braided copper wires. I do believe that braided speaker cables help keep stray noises out of speakers, but that's about the furthest it goes.

Have you ever listen to MIT Magnum or Oracle speaker cables?

The crux of the mater is do you like the sound?

I bought high quality bulk cable and terminations and made my own speaker cables. They are excellent. At my age, I'd bet they sound the same to me as lamp cord, though. Thanks for cutting through the BS, Gene!

I found this out over 30 years ago when SIGNET was selling higher end cables. Nice cables but when I hooked them up and did A-B for my wife because of the placebo effect knowing which one that I had to have someone that didn’t and she has better hearing than I do and so much better today. She couldn’t hear any difference between the cables and this was on a Tandberg 3018 preamp and my Sony CDP-705esD back then. I came away with yes they are nicer built and look good! 😁

Tho to a small degree I do use some interconnects for tone. After all is said and done with my gear it gives just a slight tweek to put it a little more to my liking. I don't use hi end cables, just a touch above entry Transparent. I found the networked cable sounded a touch smoother on the top end than the same level of say a Tara cable, but really almost imperceivable.

about vibration how to effect sound, or just sneak oil, some hi end cable brand said vibration bad for sound,even very very little vibration.

Gene, you are my kind of engineer. Thank you.

I would love to see a similar feature video about audiophile capacitors. I can believe more easily that those components will make an improvement. I also wonder how many people have bespoke speaker cables AND electrolytes in the cross over network of their speakers. I think that before you buy expensive cables you should upgrade the cross overs in your speakers. (I want to do that with my speakers, but I am satisfied with the sound I have as is. Is that bad? Sometimes I get the impression that you have to be unhappy with something to be taken seriously)

Gene I have Kimber cable 8tc just for the fun of it and comparing it to regular 10 gauge i only notice a slight change in sound listening around 0db on the receiver which is really loud. I am wondering on Chinese cables from eBay and Ali Express they sell the very same exact that looks like Kimber cable using 16-24 threads for much cheaper.

thx for the video. I myself can not tell the difference on cable and I don’t spend big money on them. But! Just because I can’t hear it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. I think MAY BE These people like Paul can tell the difference. All my life I want to see these people (ie. Audiophile experts, Audio Magazine writers) put into a blind test. If they can pass the blind test every time we swich the cable like 20/20 times then we know that the cable matters for some. But ,again, that won’t change the fact that I can’t and that won’t me spend big on them anyway. I just want Paul to be right, he looks like a very nice guy.