Don't be too worried, I'd only focus on the last 20 pages or so, where the testing ideas started to formulate. I'm pretty sure I can speak for the others in saying that we are all open to the idea that there are audible differences. It's just that thus far, there isn't a shred of objective proof anywhere to support the claims.
If burn-in and the extreme priced cable nonsense were true, I'd be the first to apply it in my systems where I've already invested enough $ that a few extra bucks on boutique cables wouldn't be a big deal.
Yours do look very nice, and like they are well made. I don't think $40 is asking too much for some well designed connectors and supple jackets with good conductor inside - which look really cool too. For my pro audio and musical instrument gear, I make all my own as well. By the time I get done with neutrik's, the cable, and the labor, it isn't like I save a bundle. But I do know they're made right, and don't have cold solder joints, etc..
Outstanding!
The only thing we might want to check first is whether the cables need to be burned in using someone's special burn in device or whatever needs to happen to get them burned in 'correctly'. I'm sure there's a very specific way it needs to be done...
Originally we talked about 2 initial sets and then ten sets for the test, doesn't matter to me though.
Thanks Isaac, it would be interesting to try your cables also.
May I suggest a burn in period of at least 200hrs for the test, that is normally the minimum time I use and for silver even longer.
Thanks for the contribution Isaac!
I think you might be right about this and expectation. I suspect it's not true across the board for everyone that price can effect perception in this way. I tend to think that I am some nonconformist so that if anything is expensive I have this underline suspicion that I am being scammed or suckered. Anyway has this study ever been brought up?
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/emplibrary/jobmarket_paper_plassmann_final.pdf
I think you might be right about this and expectation. I suspect it's not true across the board for everyone that price can effect perception in this way. I tend to think that I am some nonconformist so that if anything is expensive I have this underline suspicion that I am being scammed or suckered. Anyway has this study ever been brought up?
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/emplibrary/jobmarket_paper_plassmann_final.pdf
I'd say that first you have to know in your heart that there really are people out there making a $50 cable, and selling it for $3,500 knowing full well it does nothing any differently than a set from Radio Shack.
"There's a sucker born every minute" - P.T. Barnum
Yes, but I don't think in this thread. I've seen the wine study once or twice before. It's good reading.
Well I think there are some factors for me as to why I lean this way. Part of it I think is generational and has to do with what was common in the stores from 1980s - 1990s. Say if you wanted something really simple like a mic pre-amp in the 90s and wanted to just go to a store and pick one up. It seemed like in the everyday retail store the more expensive you get the more knobs and features were available. I had this exact scenario happen to me where I told the salesman that I just wanted a mic pre with phantom power and NOTHING more. As simple as you can get. Of course he didn't listen and was trying to push this pre-amp on me that could "emulate" 1,000s of other pre-amps digitally and had an infinite amount of tweekability. There is a lot of gear like this in the musicians market where the simple design with 1 or 2 knobs sounds great in every setting you put it in but the device with a seemingly infinite amount of options leaves you searching for a good setting in a virtual hay stack of bad ones. I know there are high priced esoteric devices that are simple but I really didn't have exposure to them when I was growing up. So I tend to equate simplicity with quality I think.
Another factor might be class or my upbringing. Around the time a person gets to middle school I think you start getting really self conscious about self image and the need to be "cool". This is around the time for me that you started seeing kids wearing 100 dollar t shirts and 100 dollar sneakers which the only thing justifying the huge markup on the clothing is the name brand. My parents absolutely refused to buy clothing marked up that much. Actually not totally true one time I convinced my parents to get me some $75 skateboard shoes. And well skateboarders tend to wear holes in the shoes they use very fast - so as soon as I wore a hole into the shoes I never heard the end of it haha.
A slight concern: do the YACCo cables stay burned-in after being moved?
OK, I'm on the skeptical side of neutral regarding burn-in, but assuming that the burn-in phenomenon is real, then I expect it would be due to either:
a) A change in the silver wire or
b) A change in the teflon insulation or
c) A change in something else e.g. the connectors
The second one in particular bothers me.
Bearing in mind that the silver wire lies loosely inside of a larger diameter teflon "pipe" and that the individual wires are only loosely braided, I would expect that any possible effect on the teflon would be limited to those areas where it is touching the silver and/or where the separate wires are close or touching. (i.e. where the field strength is greatest)
After the wires have been bundled for shipping, straightened out again etc, the points of contact will no longer be the same and any effect would largely be lost.
Perhaps bending, twisting etc could have an "un-burning-in" effect on the silver as well?
Has anybody who does hear the effects of burn-in noticed whether cables stay burned-in after being bundled e.g. to move house or being lent to a friend?
OK, I'm on the skeptical side of neutral regarding burn-in, but assuming that the burn-in phenomenon is real, then I expect it would be due to either:
a) A change in the silver wire or
b) A change in the teflon insulation or
c) A change in something else e.g. the connectors
The second one in particular bothers me.
Bearing in mind that the silver wire lies loosely inside of a larger diameter teflon "pipe" and that the individual wires are only loosely braided, I would expect that any possible effect on the teflon would be limited to those areas where it is touching the silver and/or where the separate wires are close or touching. (i.e. where the field strength is greatest)
After the wires have been bundled for shipping, straightened out again etc, the points of contact will no longer be the same and any effect would largely be lost.
Perhaps bending, twisting etc could have an "un-burning-in" effect on the silver as well?
Has anybody who does hear the effects of burn-in noticed whether cables stay burned-in after being bundled e.g. to move house or being lent to a friend?
I assume the cables willl be laid out straight for the burning in process, then loosely coiled for transport and then straightened out again for the listening tests.
To me that seems like a fair bit of handling.
Would that have a significant effect on the 'burn-in'?
Maybe the burn-in process should be done with the cables in their 'packed' position (if that's even possible...) so there is only one significant change of positioning?
Cheers,
Alex
Thanks Andre, I got your deets. So, you want me to put 200hrs on it? Not a problem, but it'll take some time to do that, oh... I don't know... like 200hrs or soI'll have it out to you shortly.
Yes please, unless you use 'single crystal' (or whatever they are called) silver, then I would prefer two to three weeks burn-in.
Just mark them A and B, let me see if I can tell which set is burned in.
Thanks, can't wait to hear them.
I don't think it would be a problem as long as they are handled carefully.
I thought the idea was to initially have two sets that were marked burnt in and not burnt in. If you can hear a difference with those then the rest of the cables are sent to you which are not identified and you then have to sort them into two groups. I thought the idea was to find out if you can you hear a difference, not to correctly identify which was burnt in?- Status
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