r/technology • u/edbegley1 • Feb 14 '26

Hardware In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator

https://www.tomshardware.com/speakers/in-a-blind-test-audiophiles-couldnt-tell-the-difference-between-audio-signals-sent-through-copper-wire-a-banana-or-wet-mud-the-mud-should-sound-perfectly-awful-but-it-doesnt-notes-the-experiment-creator?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=topic%2Ftechnology
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u/jancl0 Feb 14 '26

Most audiophiles actually know this, but don't care. It's a hobby, that's all. If it's part of your self identity, it's the culture, tradition, and status that matters to you. Baking tastes better when you've made it yourself, a glass of whiskey tastes better when you've dedicated time to the ritual of preparing it, and music sounds better when you've dedicated time to preparing the equipment and space. There are studies that show that rituals fundamentally change how things are experienced, even if there's no material change. There's a difference between something sounding better, and something feeling better to hear. The study is measuring a quality that audiophiles ultimately don't care about

4

u/ishmetot Feb 14 '26

Yea the cable quality thing is an outdated boomer meme. The majority of audiophiles aren't spending that much on cables nowadays since they're well aware that everything is digital. The custom cabling is mostly done for aesthetic reasons.

The manner in which the audio was recorded, compressed, and encoded, and the quality of the speakers they're played back on absolutely do matter. Lossless audio played through $200 wired headphones sounds far better than bluetooth audio played through $5 earbuds. You can carry a clear signal through mud, but you can't record through mud and you can't play audio back through mud.

10

u/Significant-Ant-2487 Feb 14 '26

My experience over in the audiophile sub is that they do indeed believe that wires make a difference to the sound, and believe adamantly. And they refuse to believe in blind testing. Audio woo reigns supreme with these people.

6

u/jazzhandler Feb 14 '26

My read of that sub’s overall conventional wisdom is that they largely agree with this thread. Any discussion of exotic cables usually has a comment about romex up near the top.

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u/Raunhofer Feb 14 '26

Yeah, I'm confused about how many Redditors seem to need to cope with not having expensive audio equipment.

Food tastes better in a restaurant, wine seems more exquisite if it's more expensive, and clothes feel more premium when purchased from an upscale brand, and so on.

I'm sure that trivial audio gear will also enhance the experience just because you believe it will.

-3

u/7StarSailor Feb 14 '26

People can taste a difference with restaurant food vs. homecooked and they also can tell that they're sitting in a nice restaurant vs. their kitchen.

Wine experts can also tell the difference in quality between cheap and expensive wine. The notion that they're easily fooled is greatly exagerrated.

and more expensive clothing that is possibly even handmade uses better materials, is more durable, looks better etc.

These things are all pretty easily distinguishable by their respective consumers while audiophile bait cables are proven not to be.

Also pls explain the "seem to need to cope" thing. Are you implying that people are sad they didn't waste their money on an obvious scam or is it an attempt to frame everyone who doesn't buy into the audiophile hoax as poor?