Master Built-What are Owners Hearing That They Didn't Hear With Other Cables

[microstrip]

I have seen results of cables being tested. The corners of square waves were enlarged to extremes so that differences were easily identified between different brands. I don't know the first thing about testing cables, but the differences in these images left a big impression on me. All of the corners looks square and sharp under the standard magnification. But when enlarged to extremes, the differences were huge. Some were just rounded corners, others showed a lot of back and forth oscillation. Others showed overshoot. And one or two remained almost perfectly square and sharp. I could not interpret the results, and they were proprietary, but they were very interesting. I don't know if an oscilloscope was used.

The "corners" are just a result of the bandwidth, and naturally of the frequency of the square wave being displayed - not related with quality of sound, as soon as it is large enough. Easily manipulated by the output impedance's of the generator and the input of the receiving device. It is the same poor argument used by the anti-digital people concerning redbook - would you buy a system that does not distinguish a sinusoidal 20 kHz from square 20 kHz?

Network cables, such as our Transparents, usually result in very poor pictures in these images!

Sorry to disappoint your technical side.

 

[fas42]

Mullard88 - You got it! Really cool that you enjoyed the clarity way off axis. On a CD of Caverna Magica there are voices softly whispered deep in the background of a cave while foot steps and other things are happening in the foreground. As my system improved I could make them out, with further improvement I could tell it was in French, with Masterbuilt I could catch all the words enough to be able to translate into English. Also Bruce Springstien's mumblings all became easy to understand.

I'm highly amused! ... This disk used to spin almost daily decades ago, we were huge fans of Vollenweider - and back then all these little details made this album and others very pleasurable.

There are some amazing sound picture experiences in pop music, etc - when it becomes easy to unravel all the finer points one marvels at the creativity and imagination that went into the production - which nearly everyone completely misses hearing ... .

 

[fas42]

Also, I am personally unnerved by the hyperbolic assertions surrounding those new MB cables. Cables can make a difference, but I am highly skeptical that they make such a difference compared to already good cables. Other, active components in the chain can make drastic differences (cables are passive). In fact, all this hyperbole is a big turn-off for me. I intend to not audition those cables.

Al, the point is that where the truth lies, is what's on the recording. And anything that gets in the way of that being fully revealed is a problem child. Unfortunately, most systems for one reason or usually multiple reasons, have many problem children and fail to be "transparent" enough - so the goal should be to "fix" those gremlins. It appears these cables do a very good job of countering some key issues, and therefore are extremely useful for the individuals who are trying them.

As I have said many times, there are alternative means, for those who wish to experiment ...

 

[fas42]

Makes perfect sense.

Going completely OT for a second, what is this absolute C...R...A...P with Amy Winehouse recordings sticking fake vinyl noise into the mix. Don't have any recordings myself, but heard this on a friend's system ... this is the pits, sounds bloody awful!!

 

[NorthStar]

Frank, I quoted VSA - Damon Von Schweikert about not revealing the secret sauce of MasterBuilt audio cables and had much more in my post when I accidentally clicked the 'clear' (Ctrl) button.
I couldn't recoup it, it was gone. I was frustrated. I restarted with the quote again but this time only two lines of my own text instead of the roughly twenty I had previously.

The two music videos were part of it, so I reinstated them.
The first video was simply to emphasize the No No No secret sauce revelation, plus, the No No No mistake of falling for the advertising words like Mr. Swanson and few others mentioned previously; and I agree with them. All companies use some hyperbole words to sell their products, it is perfectly normal...I know it, you know it, we all know it.
So, the real stuff is indeed in the listening, like Steve said and Joe and few others. I agree with them. And Amir and someone else wanted to take the emphasis on some of the wordings when the true essence is in the music listening. So, No No No to how we make our cables (VSA - MasterBuilt), and No No No on getting anal on the phrasing and choice of words...super-conductivity, etc., of the manufacturer's advertising/promotion. They can use all the words they want as long as it is not misrepresentative, and indeed it is not, No No No. There is nothing there for anyone to argue; the real pudding is in the real sound of music with clear improvement. That I believe 100%.

The second video was simply because I like the groove. It don't matter the youtube music video quality; get a better system than your laptop, and with MasterBuilt audio speaker cables and your feet will be tapping. Simple as that; music grooves we love from more details retrieval when using a high quality system with all the components in place, including the cables.

See, very simple, and all well connected. Thanks for asking; now you know, No No No. And you also know that I'm no Good. I like the groove of that second video, so I just added it after the first one.

Off topic? It depends...music with posts can be sometimes, or not. C.R.A.P.? It depends, of what kind of system and cables you use.
One person will dismiss another person's assertion/style. ...Or more. It's only one post, accidentally deleted, and recovered in its much shorter version, but trust me; it is still all very fine. No animals were hurt, no heart attack was submitted, brief no offense was committed.
_________

I have full faith in MasterBuilt speaker cables; I believe Steve, Joe, and MB distributor...Mr. Leif Swanson. ...Plus Albert Von Schweikert is not a newcomer to cable technology.

• http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?12512-Masterbuilt-Signature-Cables
{Exclusive Distributor (Philippines only) of Lamm, Von Schweikert ...}

• http://hub.audiogon.com/blog/2013/11/04/gammajo-reviews-vsa-cables/

• http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ti23og8rqk5lin54e38tv4fp31&topic=140706.0

• http://www.enjoythemusic.com/AXPONA_2016/VAC_Von_Schweikert_Audio/

• http://www.monoandstereo.com/2016/02/delphi-aerospace-masterbuilt-high-end.html

• http://www.vonschweikert.com/ultra-internal-wire-upgrade

 

[Al M.]

As I have said many times, there are alternative means, for those who wish to experiment ...

Which alternative means, Frank? I may agree with you, I am just curious about your opinion.

 

[Al M.]

I have full faith in MasterBuilt speaker cables; I believe Steve, Joe, and MB distributor...Mr. Leif Swanson. ...Plus Albert Von Schweikert is not a newcomer to cable technology.

I have full faith in my own ears, period. I have full faith in nobody else when it comes to high end, and I have no reason to think otherwise. Why would you?

 

[fas42]

Off topic? It depends...music with posts can be sometimes, or not. C.R.A.P.? It depends, of what kind of system and cables you use. One person will dismiss another person's assertion/style. ...Or more. It's only one post, accidentally deleted, and recovered in its much shorter version, but trust me; it is still all very fine. No animals were hurt, no heart attack was submitted, brief no offense was committed.

Bob, I listened to the 100% pure Amy track, and this studio production technique of artificial pops and crackles is horrible to listen to - because, it sounds so, well, fake!! Roughly equivalent to audio graffiti, it does a bit fat zero to enhance the sound - it's just a gimmick for people listening on low quality devices, who want to get a bit of "vinyl sauce" with their chips ... sorry, this is a dud idea !!

 

[NorthStar]

Al, do you mean you don't trust Steve's own set of ears in his own system? ...And Joe (gammajo) too?

I think you should ask for a loan like other members are doing right now. To be continued...

 

[PeterA]

The "corners" are just a result of the bandwidth, and naturally of the frequency of the square wave being displayed - not related with quality of sound, as soon as it is large enough. Easily manipulated by the output impedance's of the generator and the input of the receiving device. It is the same poor argument used by the anti-digital people concerning redbook - would you buy a system that does not distinguish a sinusoidal 20 kHz from square 20 kHz?

Network cables, such as our Transparents, usually result in very poor pictures in these images!

Sorry to disappoint your technical side.

No worries. I don't have a technical side. These were shown to me by a cable manufacturer and I thought they were interesting.

 

[fas42]

Is that your best side in the photo ... ?

 

[NorthStar]

Bob, I listened to the 100% pure Amy track, and this studio production technique of artificial pops and crackles is horrible to listen to - because, it sounds so, well, fake!! Roughly equivalent to audio graffiti, it does a bit fat zero to enhance the sound - it's just a gimmick for people listening on low quality devices, who want to get a bit of "vinyl sauce" with their chips ... sorry, this is a dud idea !!

Frank, when I accidentally deleted my post, the second time I didn't take the time to pick the best youtube music version, I'm sorry about that.
I agree with you; I have some CD recordings of her and couple Blu-ray music concert videos, and the sound quality is missing. The attraction for me is her style, her interpretations, her tonality, her vocals, her showmanship, her unique onstage presence, her addictions with booze and drugs, her demons and angels surrounding her...friends, lovers, family, money makers, pretenders, music business wizards.

I like her very much and it is sad, very. Others don't have the same vibes as I do towards her, and that's fine, I respect them too.

* I know what you mean Frank when they use the pops and clicks from an album spinning with the cartridge's stylus bumping and jumping around; just to make it more analog sounding, more "cool" as if it was a romantic fatal attraction impurity impunity virginity of our youth...years gone by...from the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s. Then Boom! The digital music revolution was on, and still to this day with Ultra High Resolution Audio files...X-DSD III and @ 64-bit/1536kHz space res.

To make a great sounding album (LP) today is very hard to do, it is also expensive. It requires care, time, dedication, love, maintenance, perfectly operating machines.
But the demand is there, so people will pay extra ($50 and more) for that double 45rpm LPs.

Even digital is expensive...$40-50 and more for some WAV, FLAC hi-res music downloads. And more often than not we have zero idea of what master they use!
It's a music business, a money industry, it's no more music love like when we were kids in the 60s and 70s and purchasing our music albums @ Woolworth and other stores for $3.99 and $4.99 and $5.99 brand new smelling a piece. ...Frank Zappa, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Cat Stevens, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Pepper, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, John Lee Hooker, ...

Some super hi-res music they want hundreds of dollars for. Some lossless LPs they want the same. R2R tapes they cost between $150 and $600 a piece!
Some crystal discs in Japan sell for $2,000 a piece!

Some speaker cables (8-foot pair) cost $60,000! A SOTA turntable with tonearm and cart (without the platform) sells for $850,000!
A car sells for $12 millions! ...Some.
A home...$168 millions!
A submarine...$$$$$$$!
A president....

 

[fas42]

Which alternative means, Frank? I may agree with you, I am just curious about your opinion.

Al, as I pointed out earlier, a big one, is simplify. This got me the first dose of Steve's current sound, without fancy cables - trouble was, the cables were still a problem, but I didn't realise it at the time; static from the carpet the speaker cables were lying on was causing me headaches - but I didn't know enough at the time to be aware of the issue.

My current project, based on NAD gear, is using the same basic means. Everything is hard wired, the whole system is a single circuit, all connectors are thrown out or bypassed; the internals of the NAD amplifier were a nightmare of over-complexity, switches and unnecessary circuits everywhere. All bypassed or shut down - which is now giving me something near what I'm looking for in quality ...

 

[Al M.]

Al, as I pointed out earlier, a big one, is simplify. This got me the first dose of Steve's current sound, without fancy cables - trouble was, the cables were still a problem, but I didn't realise it at the time; static from the carpet the speaker cables were lying on was causing me headaches - but I didn't know enough at the time to be aware of the issue.

My speaker cables are on Shunyata cable lifters.

My current project, based on NAD gear, is using the same basic means. Everything is hard wired, the whole system is a single circuit, all connectors are thrown out or bypassed; the internals of the NAD amplifier were a nightmare of over-complexity, switches and unnecessary circuits everywhere. All bypassed or shut down - which is now giving me something near what I'm looking for in quality ...

Simplicity works for me too, Frank. I have just one source, CD playback, and the circuits of my parallel push-pull triode amps are very simple, with no feedback, neither local nor global (not just marketing speak from the manufacturer, this was checked by an expert who couldn't believe it). My speakers have no cross-over; the mid-woofer is directly coupled to the amps, and there is just a capacitor between amp and tweeter to protect the latter. The subwoofer runs in parallel, no cross-over from the main speakers either.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Al, do you mean you don't trust Steve's own set of ears in his own system?

it's not a matter of whether we trust Steve's set of ears, that is the wrong question. it's what the implications of Steve's sincere perceptions might be.

if another listener raved about how new cables sounded compared to his now 15 year old cables, we would adjust the rave to the out of date reference. but since it's Steve, we ignore the context and go nuts about degree of rave.

how could our beloved Steve be wrong?

he's not wrong, but what is he right about? he's right about the change in his personal system reference for cables......whatever that might mean.

Steve should not have to defend his listening perception, but maybe we need to allow him to get carried away a little and give him space to get perspective.

 

[Al M.]

if another listener raved about how new cables sounded compared to his now 15 year old cables, we would adjust the rave to the out of date reference. but since it's Steve, we ignore the context and go nuts about degree of rave.

Oh, mine are 23 years old, and I don't plan to change them any time soon.

 

[NorthStar]

it's not a matter of whether we trust Steve's set of ears, that is the wrong question. it's what the implications of Steve's sincere perceptions might be.

if another listener raved about how new cables sounded compared to his now 15 year old cables, we would adjust the rave to the out of date reference. but since it's Steve, we ignore the context and go nuts about degree of rave.

how could our beloved Steve be wrong?

he's not wrong, but what is he right about? he's right about the change in his personal system reference for cables......whatever that might mean.

Steve should not have to defend his listening perception, but maybe we need to allow him to get carried away a little and give him space to get perspective.

But I was serious.

 

[beaur]

Jack,

You making a fence? Double posting takes longer but can lead to a beautiful and strong fence.
Barbed wire or mesh? Is it to keep the audiophile our or in?

Beau

double post

 

[Al M.]

I think you should ask for a loan like other members are doing right now. To be continued...

A loan? How much are those cables? $ 10 K per foot? (Just asking.)

 

[RBFC]

He means a loan of a cable set to audition.....

Lee