HydrogenAudio

Hydrogenaudio Forum => Scientific Discussion => Topic started by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-11 14:10:39

Title: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-11 14:10:39
On another forum I frequent there is a thread where several members are discussing the improvement in sound quality they hear after replacing the SATA cables in their audio PC with ones costing 100x more:
https://www.highend-audiopc.com/shop/en/sata-cables/pachanko-sata-cable

I don't know whether the PC(s) in question is a player or server.

My first thought is that these people are just trying to sell something, but seriously I'd like to ask my learned friends here:

Is there any remotely plausible audio/electrical science (not psychological) that might explain this finding?


Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: saratoga on 2017-03-11 16:04:34
No. People are just really dumb.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Thad E Ginathom on 2017-03-11 16:06:02
On another forum I frequent there is a thread where several members are discussing the improvement in sound quality they hear after replacing the SATA cables in their audio PC with ones costing 100x more ... ... ...

The answer is not to go to such forums. One or two of them might have started as discussions about how to get better sound out of machines and operating systems that were designed to do everything else. There are still problems that can be had with PC audio: DPC Latency, for instance, is a killer. But those sites have become hotbeds of insanity.

Stay away from them. If you do not, you might, for instance,  find yourself wondering if SATA cables can affect the sound. And this is only the first such component that will rear its ugly head.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-11 16:37:27
The answer is not to go to such forums.
I agree, that is certainly an answer.  What I'm trying to understand here is whether I'm overlooking something that might matter.  I get that playing music from a computer is about data integrity and I have no problem understanding that if computers couldn't be counted upon for that then there would be no use for them.  But the argument that comes back is that playing music -- unlike opening a Word document -- is about data integrity and timing.  That because the playback of music is "real-time", it matters when the data gets to the player.  This is often put forth as the reason SATA cables, among other things, can influence the sound.

I'm not well-enough versed in this area to dismiss this argument.  Why is it that "timing" as thought of in this way does not matter?
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: saratoga on 2017-03-11 16:48:23
Music playback is not about timing any more than any other computer task. That is just something a dumb person made up to justify wasting money on a cable scam.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Case on 2017-03-11 16:49:59
All timing happens in the soundcard / DAC. If the computer is fast enough to provide data for the buffers there is no difference in quality.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Nick.C on 2017-03-11 16:51:29
I'm not well-enough versed in this area to dismiss this argument.  Why is it that "timing" as thought of in this way does not matter?

I'd be very surprised if a software (or hardware player for that matter) audio player did not have an audio data buffer.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Wombat on 2017-03-11 17:01:56
Just read/write benchmark different cables. If there is no difference everything is just right. The speed will be many, many times away from whatever you need to play some music files.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: [JAZ] on 2017-03-11 17:10:16
The only reason why a SATA cable could be an improvement over another (which I am not saying to be the case) is if the worse cable somehow produced much more electical radiation that the audio (hardware) components could capture them and amplify them enough to be on an audible level.

As for the argument of timing: There are some issues with timing that can affect audio playback, namely DPC Latency, as said by Thad E Ginathom, but which root cause is most of the time caused by software, not hardware.

But If we really want to test the hypothesis that a SATA cable can improve AUDIO timing: 

Code: [Select]
playback_loop is
  Has_the_soundcard_consumed_one_of_the_buffers_that_i_fed_to_it?
  Yes_it_did: Allright_do_part_two_described_below
  No_it_didnt: Fine_lets_wait_some_more
  continue_loop_if_we_are_not_finished
end loop

part_two_is
  read_another_fraction_of_audio (internet stream, mp3 from USB drive, WAV from SDD drive with a magical SATA cable...)
  if_needed_decode_it
  fill_the_audio_buffer_of_the_soundcard_that_became_free_above
end_part_two

The only way that timing could affect that scenario is that "part_two" didn't finish in time when the soundcard consumed the last buffer it had.  And that has a name: Buffer overrun (or underrun, depending if one sees it as a continuous line or as a container), and sounds as a skip, or momentary pause.
Again. DPC Latency has a major role in there, with other factors like decreasing the audio buffer sizes to latencies that the system, API, driver or hardware is not capable of reaching.


Edit: Just as an addenum:  The speed at which audio is consumed by the souncard versus the speed at which a typical hard drive can read data is so much worlds appart, that the only way to make them closer would be to save each single bit of a WAV file into a different file in a HDD disk and get a player to read that.  That would be reading more than 1 million files each second.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-11 17:19:20
The only reason why a SATA cable could be an improvement over another (which I am not saying to be the case) is if the worse cable somehow produced much more electical radiation that the audio (hardware) components could capture them and amplify them enough to be on an audible level.
Ok, at least that's plausible.  Presumably, with a networked server in a closet on the other side of the house this possibility goes to zero.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Porcus on 2017-03-11 17:33:37
Presumably, with a networked server in a closet on the other side of the house this possibility goes to zero.
And so will the audible difference between hard drives. (And in particular between rattling spinning drives, and no-moving-parts silent SSDs.)
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: o-l-a-v on 2017-03-11 17:40:15
Is the sale of this cable limited to a date? 1st of April maybe?
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-11 17:52:50
And so will the audible difference between hard drives. (And in particular between rattling spinning drives, and no-moving-parts silent SSDs.)
So, I'm going to try to be more tolerant of people who are making these claims.  Not that the sound is necessarily "better", but that there is a real possibility that it is "different" in a way which they may perceive as "better".  It doesn't pertain to me as my client/server configuration would seem to avoid these issues, but if someone has a computer in their audio rack I can see the possibility that it could interfere with the overall performance of their system.  Swapping out various internal components could lessen or change the character of that interference.

Of course, the simpler solution may be to get the computer out of the room but that's another matter altogether.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: ajinfla on 2017-03-11 18:06:12
So, I'm going to try to be more tolerant of people who are making these claims.
Not that the sound is necessarily "better", but that there is a real possibility that it is "different" in a way which they may perceive as "better".
Words have meanings. You may want to look up "sound".
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Glenn Gundlach on 2017-03-11 18:28:55

The answer is not to go to such forums. One or two of them might have started as discussions about how to get better sound out of machines and operating systems that were designed to do everything else. There are still problems that can be had with PC audio: DPC Latency, for instance, is a killer. But those sites have become hotbeds of insanity.

I believe you'd be hard pressed to find a PC still working slow enough to have audio problems. I routinely work on audio files while the machine is recording 2 and sometimes 3 hi def video feeds. Processor activity 10-20% This machine is nothing special. Its main claim is 8TB of storage. I'd like to double that.


Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: dhromed on 2017-03-11 19:22:02
Both my previous machines would sometimes make certain hardware processes audible, as if every video frame update would produce a very short, very quiet tick, so mouse movement or rotating a 3D object would produce a tiny buzz, and CPU activity would cause high-frequency sqeaks.

These things were definitely audible under quiet circumstances, but they're definitely not audible when listening to music, and they're also definitely not caused by ignorant nonsense like timing or data integrity, and can defnitely not be fixed by $100 SATA cables.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: saratoga on 2017-03-11 19:29:36

The answer is not to go to such forums. One or two of them might have started as discussions about how to get better sound out of machines and operating systems that were designed to do everything else. There are still problems that can be had with PC audio: DPC Latency, for instance, is a killer. But those sites have become hotbeds of insanity.

I believe you'd be hard pressed to find a PC still working slow enough to have audio problems.

Rockbox can do real-time FLAC playback on an iPod Video with a 30 MHz ARM7TDMI.  Hard drive, decode, buffering and DAC on a processor from the early 1990s with an 8 bit multiplier and a single shared bus for instructions and data (on each cycle you can load an instruction OR load data!).  Most people vastly overestimate how complex audio decoding is, and just how low the requirements for "real-time" operation are, particularly when talking about things like audio where "real-time" actually means "plus or minus a couple seconds worth of buffer".
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: greynol on 2017-03-11 19:59:21
save for a few apologists and those willing to convulse deep into left field in order to extend the benefit of doubt
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Chibisteven on 2017-03-12 06:15:16
I be a lot more worried about what a bad SATA could do to the data stored on the hard drive or the stability and reliability of the system being compromised rather than this nonsense about replacing a SATA cable to improve sound.  A good SATA cable doesn't cost $100.  It's a simple $10 part.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: StephenPG on 2017-03-12 08:42:29
I blame this idiot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEztALnHhQg&feature=youtu.be
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: [JAZ] on 2017-03-12 10:27:30
save for a few apologists and those willing to convulse deep into left field in order to extend the benefit of doubt

I hope you don't mean that it's better to end a thread with this, rather than with facts:
You're a self-described placebophile with no apparent understanding of electronics and computer science,
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: greynol on 2017-03-12 16:21:15
On the contrary, presenting facts is far better than instilling hope to the naive by offering baseless speculation for a problem that doesn't exist.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: [JAZ] on 2017-03-12 16:43:30
In some way, I tried to apply this, but I can only do that if i'm not tired after a day of work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Wombat on 2017-03-12 17:12:54
Speculation is not a good thing around this topic.
To every computer based change/improvement you can argue it changes something, measurable on some ground plane, with some measuring tool, on some sunny day, impossible to measure on any output, easy to hear...
Many computeraudio preachers like J.S. did this reasoning often enough.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: splice on 2017-03-13 01:16:30
Both my previous machines would sometimes make certain hardware processes audible, as if every video frame update would produce a very short, very quiet tick, so mouse movement or rotating a 3D object would produce a tiny buzz, and CPU activity would cause high-frequency sqeaks.

These things were definitely audible under quiet circumstances, but they're definitely not audible when listening to music, and they're also definitely not caused by ignorant nonsense like timing or data integrity, and can defnitely not be fixed by $100 SATA cables.

(You likely already know this, but for the peanut gallery: )
There's a sound technical reason why many PCs did that. Before actual DAC chips were included on motherboards, the sounds were created by a single logic switch, switching the internal speaker to either ground or the 5 volt rail. Each change made a "click" sound. Do it fast enough, and you got a "beep". If the last time the switch was used left it switched to the 5v rail, any noise on the rail caused by CPU or I/O activity would be fed into the speaker.  It wasn't a problem when the speaker was tiny and mounted in the case, but when DAC chips arrived, the output of the "beep" circuit was fed via mixer and amplifier into the audio output to the external speakers.  Poor noise rejection in the audio card or onboard audio could also cause the noise to be heard.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Palladium on 2017-03-13 06:31:48
I be a lot more worried about what a bad SATA could do to the data stored on the hard drive or the stability and reliability of the system being compromised rather than this nonsense about replacing a SATA cable to improve sound.  A good SATA cable doesn't cost $100.  It's a simple $10 part.

I doubt they even cost 10 cents each to the manufacturer when they come bundled with the motherboard.

Why even stop at SATA cables? Why not claim different PSUs, color of PCIE slots, L3 cache sizes and other more assorted "a teapot exists at the edge of the solar system now but you can't prove it right" arguments affecting sound quality.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-13 14:18:02
Why not claim different PSUs, color of PCIE slots, L3 cache sizes and other more assorted "a teapot exists at the edge of the solar system now but you can't prove it right" arguments affecting sound quality.
Some people do, but that wasn't the point of this thread.  I read commentary elsewhere about SATA cables changing the audio character of a computer playback system and wondered how at all could that be possible.  I learned here that in fact circumstances can exist that would cause this to happen.  Those circumstances have nothing to do with digital music playback but with the presence of an RF radiation source near other components whose performance is influenced by that radiation.  I am satisfied that someone claiming to hear a difference in the audio character of their system after installing a $100 SATA cable is not necessarily a lunatic, just a bit of a fool for solving a problem he didn't know existed in the first place and then ascribing "mystic" qualities to his expensive new toy.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: saratoga on 2017-03-13 14:24:02
I don't think any circumstances exist where one of those cables is going to make a difference.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: greynol on 2017-03-13 14:58:51
I am satisfied that someone claiming to hear a difference in the audio character of their system after installing a $100 SATA cable is not necessarily a lunatic
You "learned" the wrong thing and this is because of the nature of some irresponsible posts that caused me to quote myself from another believer-centric discussion.  As a long time member of this forum you should have already "learned" something about burdon of proof.

That said, there is another glaring problem with your comment: people who believe they hear something that they didn't hear should not be classified as lunatics.  This is either highly ignorant or entirely reckless if only said in jest.  Rather, it is an absolutely normal phenomenon that can experienced by people with perfectly normal brain and sensory function.  This is well understood by experts and should be well understood by anyone interested in participating in the subforum dedicated to scientific discussion.

If you missed the first glaring problem: you should not be "satisfied" with unsubstantiated claims of differences in sound quality and then waste time masturbating over a possible reason.  That is not science.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-13 16:26:18
@greynol, I understand expectation bias is not lunacy and regret labeling it such.  "Lunacy" only enters into the picture when otherwise reasonable people argue about such things.  I enjoyed the conversation and it opened my eyes to additional ways of thinking about, challenging, and testing these types of claims.  I don't consider that to be masturbation though I grant you the freedom to label it whatever you find relatable.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: ajinfla on 2017-03-13 16:38:50
I read commentary elsewhere about SATA cables changing the audio character of a computer playback system and wondered how at all could that be possible.  I learned here that in fact circumstances can exist that would cause this to happen.
That's two words now, you don't know the meaning of. Try looking them up. Along with "evidence".
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: ajinfla on 2017-03-13 16:41:17
testing these types of claims.
Where?
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: greynol on 2017-03-13 17:37:31
Coming up with reasons for non-existent problems is definitely masturbation, of the mental variety.

If you aren't nerdy enough to come up with EMR on your own, then maybe you're not nerdy enough to know that an SATA cable isn't the only thing in a computer that produces it; however, you should seriously consider why this single item is at the center of attention.

Hopefully you'll be "satisfied" that my take on the topic is far more tempered with reason than being "satisfied" with the possibility that people have actually been cured with snake oil.

As for testing, [JAZ] already bent over backwards and is now apparently too fatigued to contort himself and a wiki article in order to point out exactly how demanding proof is tantamount to erecting a scarecrow.  You might first have to wait for him to devise a test to find that microscopic pink elephant sipping tea at the far reaches of the solar system, which is no less pointless than the one at hand.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Thad E Ginathom on 2017-03-13 19:04:16
... ... ... Most people vastly overestimate how complex audio decoding is, and just how low the requirements for "real-time" operation are, particularly when talking about things like audio where "real-time" actually means "plus or minus a couple seconds worth of buffer".
They have to overestimate it: that justifies their audiophilia, and their inflation of ego from having made the machine, which had no problem in the first place, do something it could do anyway. Playing music has to be difficult! That is the foundation stone of audiophoolery.

So, I'm going to try to be more tolerant of people who are making these claims.  Not that the sound is necessarily "better", but that there is a real possibility that it is "different" in a way which they may perceive as "better".  It doesn't pertain to me as my client/server configuration would seem to avoid these issues, but if someone has a computer in their audio rack I can see the possibility that it could interfere with the overall performance of their system.  Swapping out various internal components could lessen or change the character of that interference.

Of course, the simpler solution may be to get the computer out of the room but that's another matter altogether.
Tolerance for such people is just pandering to their lunacy. There is zero "real possibility" that these things can make a difference, better or worse, unless they are broken --- in which case there will be more problems with the machine than playing music.

No, timing is not an issue. The only timing requirement is that the [music] data arrives in the right place (buffers have been explained above) in time. If it does not: snap crackle and pop. Or moments of silence. Ask those of us who have sufferred the DPC latency thing! If your system decides to stop processing the audio stuff because it has something else it considers more important, and that something else takes too long... Then you have a timing problem, with very audible results.

The amount of time it takes to read data from a disk? Ha Ha... your computer can play music from a CD drive.

Noise radiating inside the case? Nope. If it could change your music data it could change other data too. Machine would be horrible and very unreliable. Guess where PC components are designed to operate? And that includes internal sound cards!

Stuff inside the computer could affect stuff outside the computer? OK, maybe, I don't know. There are some electronic devices that need some space between them. That, if it is the case, just requires a little common sense, not audiophoolery.

So, please... no tolerance. For the sake of your own sanity.



Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Chibisteven on 2017-03-13 19:04:31
I be a lot more worried about what a bad SATA could do to the data stored on the hard drive or the stability and reliability of the system being compromised rather than this nonsense about replacing a SATA cable to improve sound.  A good SATA cable doesn't cost $100.  It's a simple $10 part.

I doubt they even cost 10 cents each to the manufacturer when they come bundled with the motherboard.

Why even stop at SATA cables? Why not claim different PSUs, color of PCIE slots, L3 cache sizes and other more assorted "a teapot exists at the edge of the solar system now but you can't prove it right" arguments affecting sound quality.

When they come bundled is always nice but when you have to buy it because it's not included or need a longer one and just want something that works for what seems like a decent price.  It may cost $5 online for example but that may not include shipping costs and sometimes you just aren't in the mood to look at a hundred different cables.  I'm not doubting it costs them literally nothing to make.

Color coding is meant to make something easier to assemble or hook up correctly the first time.  I can see where some people can get the idea that this affects sound quality when in reality it has no such effect at all.  Other times those colors are just purely cosmetic.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Thad E Ginathom on 2017-03-13 19:12:51
Quote from: Palladium
Why even stop at SATA cables?  ... ... ...

They don't. It is all out there, and has probably been discussed here already. For instance, different-sounding network-attached storage? Not to mention network cables. And definitely not to mention to SD cards.

The lunacy is rife, and the only sensible thing to do is to stay away from it.

Edit: sorry I messed up up the quote
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: [JAZ] on 2017-03-13 20:02:47
@splice Hehe.. I doubt dhromed meant 386 or 486 PCs... I still remember one soundblaster card I had where I could connect the speaker out of the PC, so that it "played" through the soundcard.
He most probably was talking about Pentium 4 or intel core motherboards with integrated soundcards on the motherboards. You got all type of noises due to bad shielding. Nothing to do with that "beeping" speaker. ( hard drive readings,  cpu throttling, mouse movement on the screen...).
Actually, in my older laptop, i have a weird problem where after playing some sounds (like clicks or pops of Windows) it might produce some high frequency noises when it finishes (which i can hear with headphones. I am guessing some looped buffer might be causing it). If i click on the mixer volume several times, so that it reproduces more sounds, it changes the noises and I might get at a point that i don't hear any noise.

And then, there are also bad designs: I've got an old DJ controller that, If i operate it with AC power (i.e. connected to a desktop, or to the laptop with the power connected), it can produce noises, which also change in strength and frequency depending on which leds are on in the controller.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: greynol on 2017-03-13 21:48:26
You got all type of noises due to bad shielding.
an SATA cable isn't the only thing in a computer that produces it; however, you should seriously consider why this single item is at the center of attention.
We'll be waiting for the results of a test showing that an audiophile grade SATA cable fixed a system that employs audio functionality which was poorly designed.

Let's also not pretend as if there haven't been non-audiophile-priced options for adequately designed functionality for the last 20+ years which don't have the already mentioned issues and these options can and should be exercised long before paying $100 for an SATA cable that won't solve the problem.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Porcus on 2017-03-14 08:06:00
non-audiophile-priced

If there is anything that totally ruins the placebo effect ...
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: saratoga on 2017-03-14 15:10:48
Shielding is a conductive barrier that blocks EM fields from a region. While you can put foil around a sata cable, you can't actually shield it because both ends of the cable open. The foil you add is like putting on a raincoat before jumping in the ocean. It makes a little sense to assume the rain coat will keep you dry, but it won't work if you try it.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: ajinfla on 2017-03-14 15:57:09
Apesbrain is going to post the controlled listening test results of "audio character" sound, without and with the bling SATA cable, any minute now. So that we too can be more tolerant of peeps making such claims.
Stay tuned....
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on 2017-03-19 19:28:24
The only reason why a SATA cable could be an improvement over another (which I am not saying to be the case) is if the worse cable somehow produced much more electical radiation that the audio (hardware) components could capture them and amplify them enough to be on an audible level.

Not a chance. Modern cables are sophisticated to the point where they have to fit into a fairly tight technical straight jacket, or they will break things.

Here's an example of the myth: Shield-your-sata-cables - the myth. (http://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/shield-your-sata-cables.95373/)

Some relevant measurements and discussion: Measurements shielding-sata-cables (https://hardforum.com/threads/shielding-sata-cables.743051/)

Bottom line, This is a placbophile twaddle.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on 2017-03-19 19:33:33
Shielding is a conductive barrier that blocks EM fields from a region. While you can put foil around a sata cable, you can't actually shield it because both ends of the cable open. The foil you add is like putting on a raincoat before jumping in the ocean. It makes a little sense to assume the rain coat will keep you dry, but it won't work if you try it.

Not only that, but the cable is twisted pair, with a lot of inherent interference rejection.

Referencing SATA Interface specs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA) the SATA interfaces is composed of two balanced, twisted pair lines markeed A+ and A- going one way, and B+ and B- minus going the other way.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Apesbrain on 2017-03-19 21:24:58
First, let me say thank you for bringing this thread I've been trying to forget back to the front page.
Apesbrain is going to post the controlled listening test results of "audio character" sound, without and with the bling SATA cable, any minute now. So that we too can be more tolerant of peeps making such claims.
Stay tuned....
You got me.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: punkrockdude on 2017-03-20 12:48:52
I blame this idiot.
G*d d*mn it! That fellow is a weasel!
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on 2017-03-20 13:00:08
non-audiophile-priced

If there is anything that totally ruins the placebo effect ...

Just wait. Audiophile-priced SATA cables will shortly be announced if they haven't already been announced.  . If you want to see the news break as it happens, let me recommend the Computer Audiophile web site. It seems to be Placebo Central.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Porcus on 2017-03-20 18:26:04
Just wait. Audiophile-priced SATA cables will shortly be announced if they haven't already been announced.  . If you want to see the news break as it happens, let me recommend the Computer Audiophile web site. It seems to be Placebo Central.
Google and ye shall find:
https://www.avforums.com/threads/surprisingly-sata-cables-do-sound-different.1310560/
https://ppaproduct.blogspot.no/2013/08/sata-cable.html
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w1rJeUBs9u4J:www.computeraudiophile.com/f7-disk-storage-music-library-storage/high-grade-sata-cables-sound-19181/+&cd=2&hl=no&ct=clnk&gl=no
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ELuVHslfFYsJ:www.computeraudiophile.com/f7-disk-storage-music-library-storage/sata-2-sounds-better-sata-3-a-19339/+&cd=3&hl=no&ct=clnk&gl=no

So SATA 2 sounds better than SATA 3. Ohwell, I bet that SATAn 666 will sound just godawful.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Wombat on 2017-03-20 18:40:41
The first time i stumbled across this nonsense was at diyaudio and silver SATA. Silver cable is the best choice... (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/202369-hand-made-sata-cable-cat.html)
The typical suspects add their knowledge. Must be the last time i was reading and posting there.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: judd on 2017-03-21 00:08:03
The first time i stumbled across this nonsense was at diyaudio and silver SATA. Silver cable is the best choice... (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/202369-hand-made-sata-cable-cat.html)
The typical suspects add their knowledge. Must be the last time i was reading and posting there.

Wow - what an entertaining thread !! To be fair, though, the majority of posters were mocking the guy peddling his hand-made silver SATA cables.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: Woodinville on 2017-03-23 03:38:20
Simple answer: If it does, something is woefully, tragically, terrifically, reprehensibly, ridiculously broken, and your computer wouldn't boot with that cable in place.
Title: Re: SATA cables improve sound?
Post by: BearcatSandor on 2017-03-30 20:37:12
I can easily see a situation where these cables would make a difference! If you have a custom modded computer and the cable colors match everything else through your case window.  Still not worth $100 though.