Hit me up.
Both feet firmly in both camps.I promise you I'm not the only EE Ph.D doing research here on DIYAudio (nor does that make me particularly special -- both in degree and in research), nor does your rant even make sense.
We have noticed, and it's a constant source of amusement amongst real scientists and engineers. In one thread recently, I found out that shinier metals "conduct sound better"!
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Hawksford’s enhanced VAS cascode is in my dac, preamp, and power amp - all jfet/fet direct coupled designs by Erno Borbely driving big full range ESL with JL audio subs. I hear silver speaker cables and interconnect wires as having the greatest resolution of the cables I have auditioned on them to date. I haven’t heard all of them and don’t care enough to try.
You can disagree and save your money, no worries, I won’t try to change your mind, the thread asked for opinions I gave mine, no one is right or wrong, I’m happy with my choice......... and I do like ELP and saw them perform Tarkus live , no silver cables then, just 4 channel sound in big arenas
You can disagree and save your money, no worries, I won’t try to change your mind, the thread asked for opinions I gave mine, no one is right or wrong, I’m happy with my choice......... and I do like ELP and saw them perform Tarkus live , no silver cables then, just 4 channel sound in big arenas
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I have. It was a long time ago, home made IC cable to be specific. The recommendation was to use smaller gauge wire since it's a better conductor (& more expensive) than copper so I did. Apparently it was too small of a gauge because it changed the sound. At first I thought it's an improvement because I was told it would be (power of suggestion). I ended up going back to standard copper coax cable because that silver cable didn't deliver the bass. What a waste of time and money it was.
On this side of the pond, I see similar results but since I am an EE, I can speak firsthand about the problem I witnessed.
In the E/M course I took, the rate of knowledge and concepts provided far exceeded the ability of almost all of the students to understand. I suspect it would have taken three semesters for most of them to learn it properly. When the second best grade in the final is under 30%, that tells me something needed to be addressed.
My guess is, your side of the pond is no different.
Jn
Wow, not sure where to start.
Never knew that "not being a scientist" was such a problem..
I work with several hundred scientists, in every scientific discipline there is. As to their knowledge, as a rule they are very good within their discipline. Outside of their expertise, it is a typical mix. Some cannot be trusted with scissors, others can hold technical discussions on home renovation, national electric code, e/m field theory, CV joint torque and velocity modulation, soldering theory..and that was one scientist.
Your paintbrush is far too wide.
As to music reproduction, you again use too wide a brush.
Jn
To bring the discussion back to its conception, we are really talking about perception i.e. the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
Who is more likely to perceive that a silver interconnect sounds better than a copper one - a non-scientist, a scientist or an electrical engineer?
Who is more likely to perceive that a silver interconnect sounds better than a copper one - a non-scientist, a scientist or an electrical engineer?
Being a scientific means doing scientific work, means using scientifc methodology (the toolbox that is considered as scientific at each time, evolving over time) .
It is my understanding (and experience) that profound education/training in/about doing scientific work is often missing even on universitiy level.
it seems that a lot of people think that, by attending and mastering a degree course, in a miraculous way kind of a "scienctifc gene" is triggered so that at the end (at latest) a student is automatically transformed into a scientist.
Obviously in many fields it doesn´t work as intended.......
@Galu,
part of the problem is to answer the question when "we" want to conclude that somebody did really perceive a difference in sound quality when comparing differentyl constructed cables with complex stimuli.....
It is my understanding (and experience) that profound education/training in/about doing scientific work is often missing even on universitiy level.
it seems that a lot of people think that, by attending and mastering a degree course, in a miraculous way kind of a "scienctifc gene" is triggered so that at the end (at latest) a student is automatically transformed into a scientist.
Obviously in many fields it doesn´t work as intended.......
@Galu,
part of the problem is to answer the question when "we" want to conclude that somebody did really perceive a difference in sound quality when comparing differentyl constructed cables with complex stimuli.....
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This leads to the possibility that scientists may be unconciously biased when it comes to matters of perception.
P.S. I class myself as a scientist who is often guilty of such bias!
What kind of a question is that???
It's like asking which tastes better, earthquakes or solar neutrinos.
Unless of course, you can provide such data that correlates level of education, type of education, to the ability to perceive aural cues.
As to your perception statement, what has been asserted is that conductors with conductivity 5% above copper has the ability to alter the sound produced by a stereo system.
Also that the metals have the ability to change over time at current densities 4 to 5 orders of magnitude below densities capable of electro migration.
Also that specific conductor design (ribbon, litz) will significantly alter the sound of the system.
The real discussion is, are the perceptions real?
The assertions that silver wire burns in, I have never seen any valid "science" as it were, which would bolster that assertion.
But what do I know, I'm just a simple country Doctor.
Jn
Ps. The shield resistances of a pair of RCA's HEAVILY impact the signal flow and integrity of shielding, noise intrusion, line haversine coupling and modulation, rf intrusion, PC susceptibility, lightning susceptibility..... In any sound system which has not been well engineered. Especially systems which either use chassis bonded 3 prong cords, or lots of neutral to chassis capacitance, or designer failure to control signal and return currents.
Look in the correct place for answers. Don't look beneath the streetlight simply because that is the only place you can see.
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I have. It was a long time ago, home made IC cable to be specific. The recommendation was to use smaller gauge wire since it's a better conductor (& more expensive) than copper so I did. Apparently it was too small of a gauge because it changed the sound. At first I thought it's an improvement because I was told it would be (power of suggestion). I ended up going back to standard copper coax cable because that silver cable didn't deliver the bass. What a waste of time and money it was.
Thanks for the feedback... like you... currently using copper cables...I tried silver some time back, using copper now. I'm think of trying out silver cables again.
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