I started the placebo suggestion, and where I was going with it is, not to say there is no effect on sound. If you have noise in your system and replace the power cord and it cleans it up, a 5 year old can distinguish between the two. It's the claims of "
so obvious that it cannot be missed". Just like picking out a Magnepan from a JBL speaker. At that level of difference, you would not have to live with a system for days, it would very easy to blind test, a casual listener would prefer 1 over the other every time. If there is a marked difference between cables and advanced audiophiles can perceive it, don't worry about blind testing. I mean it's "obvious". Just like spending $10,000 on speakers instead of $500. It makes a big difference.
Why Power Cables Affect Sound
I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical.
This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:
I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe.
That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter.
If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please.
This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:
I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe.
That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter.
If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please.
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The reason I never replied to @prof was that I went to sleep after my last post. The urgent and provocative nature of his reply belies what seems to be a basic need to argue, however skillfully, to no apparent end. The man loves to hear himself talk. Waking up to the provocations and like was entertaining, to say the (really) least. His analogies are tangential at best, as they are off the subject and designed to lull lessor discerning folk into conflating an obvious conclusion with one not really relatable. Nice tactic. It's like listening to a broken record. Take placebo. This has been hashed to death and yet it rears it's stupid head. When it comes to audio, anyone can be fooled by a cheap parlor trick, as it's done in the short term. Myriad variables are introduced in a A/B test that are simply not present when listening as a pleasure. After being fooled in a A/B test, one simply goes back to their system and in short order, they can recognize the differences that fooled them after immersing themselves in a listening session. The placebo excuse assumes that we all go on listening the wrong way. A simply silly notion. To assume that we are so fallible, broken and easily fooled all day, every day, and we are not to trust our senses, begs the notion as to why we're all still alive, having not blown up, shocked, or killed ourselves in some silly manner due to placebo, or some other phenomenon. All the best, Nonoise |
My feeling of the flaw with A/B testing is the test is exercising a totally different part of the brain than the part that can notice fine differences in music. In A/B the part being called in to use is the conscious judgemental rational frontal lobes. When we listen to music, relaxed and not under stress to ’choose’ different areas of the brain are most active. I would think some people could ’LEARN’ how to be able to do it well, in an A/B test situation. but not everyone. I would bet Professional Classical music conductors would naturally excel at it. |
nonoise4,189 posts12-19-2018 11:36am And that is the reason many members no longer post on threads like this one anymore. They are tired of hearing the same naysayers BS. The OP last sentence of his posted message. If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please.The OP was clear he could hear differences. He was just asking why? He wasn’t asking for an intervention to change his mind.... Do any of you non believers think you have changed the minds of the believers? Have you changed the mind of the OP? I wish Agon would adopt a mission statement similar to that of the Cable Asylum. The Cable Asylum is for those who have decided that audio cables make a sonic difference. If you do not feel that audio cables do sound different, then do not post here. Posts that state that audio cables sound the same, or that all one needs is zip cord and/or dimestore coax, may be deleted, re-directed or other actions taken at the sole discretion of the moderators or the Bored. If you post more than one such post, you may be banned from the Cable Asylum. For you non believes start your own thread about cables in another Agon forum. Heck, maybe Agon could give you a forum with a mission state for non believers only. If you believe cables can sound different post elsewhere on an Agon forum. Example, The Cable Forum. . |
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