External DAC with Connect

But Less isn't sexy! Any pleb can do "less". Less is for the masses. How is an audiophile supposed to laud it over the "ordinary people".
Yes...and no.
I love the look on audiophile faces when they hear the sound out of my Harbeths with a just a Connect Amp tucked away almost out of sight:). One reaches a stage when less is sexy - it can be very Zen! I have now moved the Amp to the bedroom where I can better use its line in to improve the TV sound while doing music duty too, but even now the main system has just a Connect wired to analog inputs of a small Denon all in one box that delivers the same sound as before. And as it was when the main system had a SACD player, and Quad pre/power boxes in it, with the Connect wired to the digital input of the SACD player.
And the wife is thrilled to bits because she has the now redundant component rack entirely for her use. I have to admit it looks a lot better for that.

If this is the case, then why can't trained listeners in ABX testing hear a difference between cables when everything else in the system remains constant? Meaning that your "tuned circuit which will change the audio performance" remains exactly the same, except for the cables. Surely, even with "subtle" differences, these so-called "golden eared" audiophiles should be able to discern the differences without knowing which cable they are listening to, right?

Because many times there's an X-Y Comparator (switch) that will impart it's own signature to the system.

Hey, you don't have to use good cables or even mediocre cables. This is the Sonos forum where a little box is playing back compressed music from compressed sources. When you get back to the analog world there's a bigger difference.

Because many times there's an X-Y Comparator (switch) that will impart it's own signature to the system.

Hey, you don't have to use good cables or even mediocre cables. This is the Sonos forum where a little box is playing back compressed music from compressed sources. When you get back to the analog world there's a bigger difference.

Sonos need not play "compressed music from compressed sources", it can play FLAC, which is completely transparent to the source. It can also play WAV, which is the source, as proven by both the Nyquist/Shannon sampling theorem and physical experimentation. But thanks (again) for the condescension. :rolleyes:

As to your claims that the switch "that will impart it's own signature to the system", if a switch can impart that much of a "signature", why spend thousands on a cable? Certainly the temperature of the room, the carpets on the floor, the accoustical treatments on the walls, the postioning of your head, etc. etc. (all things which have been proven to actually affect sound) are far and away more important than spending thousands on an effect that is so easily masked by a little ol' switch, hmmm?

Also, does the fact that the effect is so easily masked not lay waste to the claims that the difference between lamp cord and $7000 cables is "night and day" as claimed by the flowery prose in the decidedly biased audiophile press? So which is it? Is it a "night and day" difference that one can justify spending thousands and thousands of dollars on, or is it so subtle as to be masked by any and all testing methodology, no matter how carefully constructed?

Or is it just the fact that some people have more money than brains, and like to flaunt it in the face of others when measuring the "size" of their system?

When you get back to the analog world there's a bigger difference.
I assume that by analog you mean vinyl - if so, there isn't any argument to offer against a belief that this stone age tech provides for better SQ than digital once it is jazzed up with NASA engineering appearance.

Docmark.. this is not an audiophile forum.. There are 3 basic types here: Sonos fanboys, that believe that Sonos can do no wrong. Those that need help with their Sonos setups of one sort or another. And those that believe if it can't be measured, or DBT'ed or ABX'ed then it doesn't exist or it's the placebo effect..

I agree.

Or is it just the fact that some people have more money than brains, and like to flaunt it in the face of others when measuring the "size" of their system?

Yep, this one! 😃

Am quite happy to leave you with your Connect and lamp cable. I'm sure that you have just a beautiful system.

Am quite happy to leave you with your Connect and lamp cable. I'm sure that you have just a beautiful system.

And we are quite happy to leave you paying extreme amounts of money for something which adds nothing to the sound you are able to hear. So I guess that leaves us with a bunch of happy people . . . and some of those people have a lot more money left in their pockets. 😃

And we are quite happy to leave you paying extreme amounts of money for something which adds nothing to the sound you are able to hear. So I guess that leaves us with a bunch of happy people . . . and some of those people have a lot more money left in their pockets. :D
Lots of happy people, Xmas is early this year:).
To be fair though, it is quite possible that listening pleasure is enhanced for some people when the kit looks good, and one knows that it is well built/ engineered even if one knows it may be over engineered - psychoacoustics is a well researched and acknowledged subject of study. And those of us with money in our pockets usually tend to spend it something else that may be non essential too - I know I am guilty of that often. Others reading such threads can decide the way they want to go based on what floats their individual boats.

Lots of happy people, Xmas is early this year:).
To be fair though, it is quite possible that listening pleasure is enhanced for some people when the kit looks good, and one knows that it is well built/ engineered even if one knows it may be over engineered - psychoacoustics is a well researched and acknowledged subject of study. And those of us with money in our pockets usually tend to spend it something else that may be non essential too - I know I am guilty of that often. Others reading such threads can decide the way they want to go based on what floats their individual boats.

It is absolutely true that the psycho-accoustic effect may be at work here. Which is fine, if that is your thing. If it sounds better because psychologically you assume sound quality increases with the amount of money you spend, fine. Just don't tell me that it is actually better outside of your own psychological biases.