Power Cable Question

Well you know what...this can be debated till we're all blue in the face...if you can't hear a difference, don't spend the money....the take I have on it..I've spend £8k on the kit....what is another £300...only if I hear the difference mind.....it won't make it sound any worse.....o dear....let me guess....it could ??!!??!!

 

The problem is that there is no evidence at all for an electrically similar cable to make a difference, there is plenty of evidence against.

 

There is no evidence that God exists....you won't struggle to find the deluded !

 

Lol, that's not going to offend anyone!

 

You have things completely arse about face Pete.

The people you refer to tend to favour unsighted listening tests.
There is no hiding place with those - judgement is based solely on what is heard.
Anyone arranging such a test risks looking extremely stupid if they make bold claims which are then demonstrated to be false by the listeners.
Reputations and ideas are firmly on the line.

It is the other lot - those in complete denial of the many influences that can easily skew a listening test, who cannot tolerate the idea that they might be wrong. It is for this very reason that they choose a listening environment where results can be so easily manipulated.

Cue the dancing stand demo, or the Tune Dem.

 

Well if you want an intelligent analysis of that, here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_of_Assent

But I don't think Newman's tour de force can legitimately be applied to the objective versus subjective approaches to audio.

Cables are not God, or are they?

 

Ok....I splashed the cash and got 2 Chord Company power cables and a cheapo power conditioning unit from amazon....I absolutely hear a difference...would be happy to take a blind test....it was not immediately apparant but after some days with the new cables, I do hear differences for the better.

 

it's the conditioning unit you can hear.

 

Be sensible please. It matters less what cable used than the connectors on each end, preferably Furutech carbon jobbies. Obviously the idea is catching - naim use some floating sockets too!!

 

I love the idea that the plugs make a difference but the cable less so. Oh we don't want to let any vibration enter via that power cable do we? yeh cos those wall sockets are notorious for shaking loose from the walls.

But let's isolate the cable from the wall to the power supply, after all it's connected directly to a massive humming, vibrating lump of f-in copper called a transformer we wouldn't want to upset the huge vibrating lump of metal by letting any none existant vibrations into the box.

 

Lol.

To be honest though, external power conditioners don't have much rational to them either. Pretty much every piece of equipment has filtration and or regulation in it. Adding some filtration (and uncommonly regulation) on the mains side is likely to do very little. It seems comparable to sticking two 317 regulators in series, the result is practically nill over a single regulator.

That's if it's anything like the power condition I use in my system, haha! It is just some LC filters.

 

...around and around it goes and still there is astonishingly little thirst for actual testing and hard evidence.

The effects of mains and PSUs in general is very easy to test.

All that matters is what exits the audio output sockets of the equipment under test.
Doesn't matter what that equipment is - amp, dac, cd player, tuner etc.
You measure the output, you tinker with the supply cabling, sockets and perhaps psu and you measure again. If there is no difference then any changes you've made will make no audible difference. If you measure a difference, investigate further.

When looking at a power supply - and i include the mains cabling, connections, and the internal PSU components including regulation - all that matters is how the following circuit responds to any changes. If the circuit performance remains the same, you are throwing money down the drain.

 

There's little thirst for testing because most people are unable to perform any meaningful measurement, and those that can likely believe the measurements aren't a useful indicator of what we hear anyway.


While i think all that Acquity research with Nordost et al is just so much bollocks, i'd like to see if a null test of their before and after actually shows anything audible or not.

You up for a cable challenge this weekend Rob?

 

I don't find cables at all challenging

The testing should be perfomed by the manufacturer and perhaps also those reviewing the product. Down to them to provide the evidence to back up the claims.

Having said that, null tests, distortion and noise testing can be done at home.
I managed to get lathed and non lathed CDs to completely null with little difficulty.

 

Which seriously is rather odd as your the only person who has been unable to hear the difference ....that is of course who have recieved discs from me ...

the reasons may not be as prosaic as one might at first think ...... the lathe effect is a cd trasport issue ...this is easily proved as two cd's one lathed and one not ...when ripped to flac have no sonic diffrence even at the highest resolution I can manage ...whilst when played in any of my current cd players ..

quad 99cdp2
arcam alpha 5
arcam alph 5 plus
arcam alpha5 plus modded [beyond avondale !]
denon 960[?]
two cheap dvd players
an early sony
philipe 473
marantz 63
marantz 63 heavily modded
marantz 6001

...is quite obvious.

I'd estimate that I've heard upward of hundred other cd players in other peoples system ...show the effect clearly, even sq's ......modded azure 840[?]

I can't remember which player rob uses ...so I can't say if I've tried a lathed disc in one , but my guess is that its one of a few that appear to un effected .

I have heard anecdotaly that other cdrom based players are aslo uneffect ....
don't ask me why I have no idea ..

The point is that this may not be the best example to use .....in this instance

Let me give an example that might fit ...the beldini de magnetiser I've never heard one of these have the slightest effect on the final sound ......
or maybe the statmat foil thingy that sat on a cd .....

but as always in other peoples experince things can be very different.

 

Zanash,

Are yopu as gullible & daft as your posts? Or is your vested interest inn promoting witchcraft caculated? If the latter, it is not working.

Chris

 

whats a yopu ? or can't you spell ? [I can't either !] [that's humour ...if you didn't get it]

prey tell what vested interest is that which you ellude to ?

or is that just one of your snide insinuations?

what precisely has your ignorant bullying " I can shout louder than you " comment contributed to the thread ?

even you are allowed to have an opinion ..why do you think I don't ...?


just because you have a closed mind ...does not mean everyone has

 

Open Mind ∴ Open Wallet, lol

 

More supposition bollocks.

 

Is it possible to use your devining to see what cdp will be good with a lathed disc?