Not hard to understand why since any impartial third party is going to find minimal benefit putting it kindly. Who wants to hear that a $10 generic 14awg IEC computer cable is at least as good as their expensive work of art? 
Of course in theory this is what all those unbiased audio reviewers are supposed to be doing... (Apparently not)
Of course in theory this is what all those unbiased audio reviewers are supposed to be doing... (Apparently not)
To me the "2db scam" is just very naive. Having attended many similar demos i am certain the audible differences cannot be emulated by simply boosting the volume, this is just childish. Otoh, any demo which is based on a file source controlled by a salesman is suspect. Too many opportunities for fraud exist, but volume boost... give me a break.
On Day Two of CES 2018 Proof That A.C. Cables Make a Big Sonic Difference | Analog Planet . This has level differences. The samples were analysed in the snake oil thread.
Here the link to the two US patent for the Thunder cable.
US7126055B1 - Apparatus and methods for dielectric bias system
- Google Patents
US9373439B2 - Dielectric biasing circuit for transformers and inductors
- Google Patents
JP
US7126055B1 - Apparatus and methods for dielectric bias system
- Google Patents
US9373439B2 - Dielectric biasing circuit for transformers and inductors
- Google Patents
JP
What's your reasoning there? It seems like a good trick. A 2dB increase should just be noticeable and louder has been shown as favored in listening tests. Seems like a good trick and easy to do.
What's your objection?
Patents are just an appeal to authority. "The USPTO agrees that our stuff is special. You should buy our stuff." It's the audiophile version of a white lab coat.
All you need to get a patent is an invention that is novel, non-obvious, and reproducible by someone skilled in the art. There is no requirement that the invention has to work or provide a benefit. Oh. And you also need money...
It's also a trick that's been studied scientifically (i.e. in a controlled experiment). Louder sounds better. The level change does not have to be all that dramatic. Somewhere around the minimum perceptible change threshold is often enough. This is why scientific experiments involving the perception of sound quality use level-matched sound samples.
Tom
How in God's green earth is a couple of meters of expensive power cord is able to filter out hash and voltage variations? The electricity has traveled through kilometers of power lines and into the home with indifferent wiring quality along with devices that generate hash and somehow an expensive power cord could make a difference.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer money could be better spent on a better power supply. Or money could be spent on power conditioning units. I guess the ultimate power conditioner would be a motor-generator set.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer money could be better spent on a better power supply. Or money could be spent on power conditioning units. I guess the ultimate power conditioner would be a motor-generator set.
The only difference I can possibly think of is that the expensive cords tend to use heavier gauge wire, hence, provide a better connection of the chassis grounds. In a single-ended system, this could reduce the error currents flowing in the RCA shields as this current would prefer the lower impedance of the power cable ground. It's a bit of a stretch, but still within the realm of physics.
There are a few ways to deal with this. One could use differential signalling. That's the most effective approach. Another approach would be to connect the grounds of the various pieces of equipment with a heavy gauge wire. AWG6 grounding wire is available at your local home hardware store for a lot less than the unicorn power cords.
Or one could use a circuit topology with high power supply rejection ratio.
Tom
Michael Fremer -- same writer who waxed eloquent on the SMc Audio Nexus $20,000 power conditioner in June 2018 Stereophile. (btw, the product doesn't seem to be on sale.)
"What the SMc Nexus AC Nexus did to the sound of my system was something that I easily heard but that probably also cna't be measured."
Good, bad or just different?
Fremer has an agenda, no doubt about it. The physicists at Fermi labs should start some experiments to figure out the sound of cables.
Not a stretch at all, I've run into this numerous times and it's easily measurable, sometimes heard as a buzzing sound, or the not-at-all-rare low level hum that comes and goes when different gear gets connected together. The thing is heavier gauge ground wire on a cable can make the interference lower or higher, depending on where the noise is getting injected into a chassis. The current across the shield/return might go up or down as it gets shunted around the cable returns and safety grounds.
No way it's going to cause a 2dB level difference (or any level difference in actual program).
The "slightly higher volume" trick isn't always intentional, either. Demo something that's supposed to make a difference to someone, first let them listen to the "before" (new magic stuff not in the system). Then let him listen to the "magic change", and let him control the volume knob himself -- he's likely to turn the second listen up a little more to try to hear into what the difference might be, not even aware he's doing it.
And here we share our wife walked into the room asking what we changed that made this improvement to the sound she is hearing.
The audiophile doctor replaces the wife for an anonymous person that happens to be using an app on a mobile that happens to show what he in a more doctorly manner calculated using proper equipment...
The audiophile doctor replaces the wife for an anonymous person that happens to be using an app on a mobile that happens to show what he in a more doctorly manner calculated using proper equipment...
- Status
- Not open for further replies.