2. cables
  3. 128927-305

Most Important, Unloved Cable...

Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 

jinjuku
@geoffkait

I know Mike Lavigne couldn’t tell his $30,000 Magnum Opus from Monster cable. Helpful hint: He has a $500,000 system.

You don’t say? Was that during the period when his system was out of phase? There are many reasons why some people don’t hear things. Not being able to put together a system that doesn’t have at least one mistake in it or be able to maintain that system are just two reasons. Could be the time of day. Cables not broken in. Yada, yada, yada. One test doesn’t prove anything. Getting negative results proves nothing. I would be the first to say even a very expensive system can sound bad. I’ve heard plenty that didn’t sound good. It’s not generally because of the equipment or the cables, though. It’s something else. Look within.

jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
@geoffkait

Well heck, according to posts in this thread it’s because my system wasn’t expensive enough to be highly resolving of a cable that is 2600% longer and 9100(yes 9 THOUSAND) percent less expensive per foot.

But yet the ADC tracks are some how well recorded. I’m just befuddled at how I could get the DAC=>ADC so close to the original in spite of generational loss. Gosh, how does that happen on a $250 playback machine?

At least you admit that the differences people talk about wrt to Ethernet cabling could actually just be the time of day and not that any difference exists. Did you ever consider that there’s no difference to be had?

Negative results certainly prove something: The lack of positive results.

Another interesting result: I can’t give away $2000.
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
You don’t say? Was that during the period when his system was out of phase?

Would this be the same phase where he was able to deduce all sorts of flowery prose about his Magnum Opus?

If you want to know at what point it's best to stop digging the hole you don't know you are standing in, well now's the time.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
The reason negative results don't mean anything is because too many things can go wrong. Blame it on the Stones. You do realize cables aren't the only thing in audio where this happens, don't you? It's the nature of the beast. 😩

jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
223 posts
 
Wait, so people can have positive results totally sighted, negative results when the answers are taken away before hand? Holy crumbs I better email institutions of higher learning and inform them of this epiphany of yours.

So you are saying sighted evaluation is the legitimate way to go about this and controlling for confirmation bias is not?

Ergo: sighted means everything goes ’correct’ and bias controlled evaluation means everything can go wrong.

In your setup, if you have a layer 3 managed switch, and I turn on link aggregation and supply a generic CAT6 cable that all bets are off because now everything is wrong?
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