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Calling Shenanigans On Super SATA's Claimed Audio Qualities

Posted by timothy on from the 0s-are-rounder-1s-more-linear dept.

nk497 writes "Veteran Hi-Fi journalist Malcolm Steward has pushed newfangled Super SATA cables via his blog as a way to improve the sound quality of music, saying: 'My only guess is that the Super SATAs reject interference significantly better than the standard cables and in so doing lower the noise floor revealing greater low-level musical detail and presentational improvements in the soundstage and the "air" around instruments.' If that doesn't sound right to you, you're not alone. As PC Pro blogger Sasha Muller argues: 'How on earth can a SATA cable delivering 0s and 1s to their respective destination have any effect on those 0s and 1s? The answer is, it can't. Unless it's a magical one made of pixie shoes.' So maybe don't invest in Super SATA cables unless you have proof they're magical first."

4 of 827 comments (clear)

  1. In response to his comment about comments by aitikin · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I have disabled Comments on this post so that respectable visitors do not have to read the remarks made by a small number of extremely ignorant, rude, malicious and disingenuous individuals who cannot tolerate people expressing opinions that do not concur with their own.

    So expressing opinions on a blog is only okay if it's your blog. Got it.

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
  2. Comments Disabled by bradgoodman · · Score: 0, Redundant
    He disabled the comments on his blog, too bad - I wanted to post!

    I have disabled Comments on this post so that respectable visitors do not have to read the remarks made by a small number of extremely ignorant, rude, malicious and disingenuous individuals who cannot tolerate people expressing opinions that do not concur with their own.

  3. Re:Ah.. he has not reached audio nirvana yet! by Capt.DrumkenBum · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Whale Semen!!??!?!? Who got to you? Everyone knows that ground unicorn horn is the only thermal paste worth using.

    --
    If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
  4. Re:Maybe, just maybe by vux984 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    What the hell are you talking about? What terminations and EMI?? The cable connects the hard disk to the hard disk controller, it either does successfuly (like any $1 sata cable that is not broken) or does not (the broken cable), and from then on the audio data has to go get processed/decoded/whatever and at some point passed on the the Digital to Analog converter. ONLY FROM THEN ON does quality of electronics/cables etc matter.
    There are some things that are simple as 1-2-3 that you can certainly write off.

    Not quite. Have you considered the possibility that moving data through the sata cable creates an electromagnetic field that might interfere with a nearby analog component? I didn't think so.

    No one is disputing that the data going through the cable will not be affected by installing a 'premium' cable. If the cheap cable wasn't actually broken, it will get the same data as the premium cable. But differences in the cable shielding, construction, and routing may well impact interference it CAUSES in other nearby components... including components which might be on the other side of the DA converter.