On one article I read. Even changing our position slightly changes our perception of sound. This was proved with instruments BTW.
A fascinating rabbit hole!
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So I have a couple of Shunyata Sigma-X power cables and that along with their Everest 8000 power distributor that I all got recently has provided me with one of the biggest fundamental sonic upgrades I have ever experienced. So much so that it made me re-assess upgrade prioritisation in that sorting out ones power is critical in getting the most out of ones system. I was actually dumbfounded because I was secretly not expecting to hear much of a difference.
I wish cables didn’t matter but too many times over my life I have heard uplifts that have near-rivaled component changes in impact.
This is just my experience with my own ears. Maybe my house being built in 1895 has ancient wiring and needs all the help it can get, power-wise. Who knows.
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Placing an open hand behind one of your ears or changing to a high backed listening chair will alter the sound dramatically. Also air pressure, mood, temperature, lighting, dopamine, expectation bias, upgraditis, justification bias, herd mentality bias, community identity bias etc etc. The list goes on and on as does the arguments. What I do know is the ones who spend the most are normally the ones that protest the loudest. I’ve done enough of my own research to realise that, for me, I hear little or no difference between good quality cables and boutique ones. Even my dealer doesn’t push power cables because he is of the same opinion as me.
To each their own though and if one gets satisfaction from an exotic cable then that’s just about all one should care about.
Indeed it is!
Of possible significance of course is that many people like spending money, and in some cases believe that the more they spend the better something will be, and the psychological effect is that many of those people will “hear” positive differences where other people might not. And, vitally, if they are happy in doing that, then it is not a bad thing for either them or the product sellers.
I have learnt that some cables can make some differences to sound in some systems, depending on the differences in electrical characteristics of the cables compared, and on the things that they are connecting. How much difference in sound that may be depends among other things on the person’s scale of difference description: even with the same system in the same room, one person’s night and day difference can be another’s clearly audible but minor difference. I suspect that different people have different scales of perception of difference (mathematically they might be linear or logarithmic or exponential or whatever), or different criteria when comparing tweaks vs comparing major system changes etc.
If you can afford ‘em, try ‘em and if you like ‘em, buy ‘em - simples 
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ATB, J
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This summarises things very well. I gave up reading the above and skipped to your comment 
I appreciate this is still off topic, so my apologies to the OP but in answer to your question; I worked in a recording studio for two years, so I’m well aware of what equipment, cabling and recording techniques are used, especially with CD’s. However, you are forgetting that the 24/48 track tapes (master copies) are still normally available and they are generally stunning. Immeasurably better than anything you could lay down on CD. In fact if I have a reference today it’s to get my streamer to sound as good as master tapes.
I, like you, have heard hundreds of live bands, been to numerous concerts and West End shows and I can assure you that with my equipment I can get very close to producing the sound that I hear at these events. With regards to your question about the ‘characteristics of sound I’m looking for’, there aren’t really any specific characteristics that I’m looking for, just (as I’ve already said) that it sounds like live music. As simple as that! Obviously your mileage might vary.
Exactly ..
This is exactly what I experienced as well, while some power upgrades may not change things much, others can be transformational. Most consider power just a “tweak” (& I previously was in that camp), I now too consider it a fundamental (along with room treatment & isolation).
My house was built in the 70’s, ~80% of the electrical has since been replaced in the last 7 years including a new panel. My dedicated listening room also has a new dedicated, cyro treated line running to it.
Somebody wrote recently “that everything in hifi is affected by everything”. Seems to me to be sage words!
I think people mix up the term live music. It’s likely not live as a Wembley concert. But if you have played in a band or been close to a band hearing instruments next to you and not coming through a PA system then that is live music to me. Hearing the snare of a drum kit 2m away. That is massively different from most recordings you’ll ever hear through a hifi system. I can still remember my then 2x12” MATCHLESS guitar amp when cranked. The vibrancy. The attack. The emotions. The breathing. The directness. It never sounded anything like that on the other end of the studio. It’s hard reproducing live instruments. Maybe it would have sounded better if the recording engineer cared like I do about the full signal chain and every single component.
That feeling is what I’m looking for.
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I think JV had a very good point in this famous answer in an interview :
” the particular thing of soundstage, detail, and depth and imagery, i.e. the presentation being more important than the content, I think is totally wrong. There’s no point in having great presentation unless you have the content. I’d far rather talk to Einstein on the telephone than talk face to face to a doorman in a hotel. One may be ‘live’ and ‘there’ and visual and all the rest, with perfect presentation and fidelity but it’s the content of the conversation that’s important.”
True, but. I would have preferred to meet Einstein face to face 
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Hi @Geko ,
Thanks for sharing more details. I do like the simplicity and clarity of your assessment metric, i.e. ‘does it sound like live music’. That is effectively the same approach that I use, however I can see that even that (apparently simple) question has been further debated in this thread.
Regarding my earlier comment of the general description of the assessments conducted at your HiFi retailer. I find it encouraging that HiFi retailers are attempting to put some objectivity into such equipment assessments. Unfortunately what one needs is tests where (as a starter):
a) the listeners do not know (a priori) what is going to be tested.
b) the candidate listeners are not in the room together at the same time.
c) compete consistency (no potential bias) in how each listener is asked to form an opinion.
Very soon (this weekend), I hope to present some results on one of my threads which will attempt to explore some of the limitations of ‘use you ears’ listening by using practical examples from ‘masked’ testing undertaken during the last four weeks. Nothing too controversial (I hope) but I would be pleased if you took a look at what I post and join in any debates.
Thanks for your consideration.
E of E
Hi EofE, happy to help in any way I can, although I suspect it’ll be a bit of a minefield. The trouble with hifi sound reproduction is that it falls into the same category as trying to describe a good whiskey, a good wine or a piece of artwork. It’s always going to be very subjective with the real beauty being in the eye of the beholder. I’m not sure, even with a very stringent scientific approach, that you’ll make much headway with those less convinced but let’s see.
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