The colour of wire

摘要

If I may paraphrase the late, great Peter Walker of Quad fame, the ideal amplifier should have all the neutrality of 'a straight wire with gain'. Nevertheless, as our group test illustrates this month [p39], even straight pieces of wire are prone to alter the perceived balance and colour of a revealing hi-fi system. I've been conducting cable tests over a three- decade period so you'll forgive me if I'm not terribly sympathetic towards crusty engineers who still insist that 'cable sound' is impossible or that the audiophile community is generally bonkers and suffering some form of coordinated hallucination.