Curious, did you experiment using different types of insulation? How about different types of cable construction geometry?
And finally the termination ends become part of the cable assembly. Did your experiments include different types/manufacture ends?
Did you hear differences? Not just frequency response.... Everybody knows that's easy to measure.... Who buys audio equipment based solely on frequency response measurements? Did you listen for fullness, body, of a well recorded solo female vocal? Same for a solo passage of a grand piano being played? Did you listen for openness of what you were hearing while experimenting.
If our ears can hear differences in fullness, body, openness, air, height of the soundstage, can these qualities be measured with test equipment that exists today?
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My goal was to look for differences in conductors, not complicate things with the insulation. The diff scope test is sensitive to see differences between end terminations, mostly because they use different insulation materials. I'm reasonably sensitive to body, openness and all that good stuff, but no doubt not as much as somebody younger. Though I did listen carefully, I could not hear repeatable differences, though I could always measure differences. It's not so much the equipment, but knowing how to use it to make uncommon measurements.
Assuming that a competent conjurer is present and establishes the controls. Otherwise, no.
I love the inexplicable, but the supply of poltergeists is near zero. When I was a kid I found a paperback, The Search for Bridey Murphy, and was fascinated. We didn't have Snopes back then, so for a long time I believed it. Alas, turned out to be snake oil.
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Not S.O?
Possibly using the term snake oil was a mistake. If anyone can hear a cable that sounds better when 'burnt in' fair enough, I will continue to wait until I can hear a clear change, or find actual physical evidence.
Maybe one of the manufactures or magazines will demonstrate with double blind tests.
In years of listening to HiFi the only thing that has seemed to alter sound
has been woven speaker cable against straight cable.
I recently found a fault on a pair of interconnects (good quality ) between pre and power amps and had a pair of really cheap interconnects (less than £3.00 ) to hand, put them in to check nothing else wrong, and could not hear any difference, nor could anyone else.
Possibly using the term snake oil was a mistake. If anyone can hear a cable that sounds better when 'burnt in' fair enough, I will continue to wait until I can hear a clear change, or find actual physical evidence.
Maybe one of the manufactures or magazines will demonstrate with double blind tests.
In years of listening to HiFi the only thing that has seemed to alter sound
has been woven speaker cable against straight cable.
I recently found a fault on a pair of interconnects (good quality ) between pre and power amps and had a pair of really cheap interconnects (less than £3.00 ) to hand, put them in to check nothing else wrong, and could not hear any difference, nor could anyone else.
Conrad,
I applaud you for taking the time to experiment with different types of wire, listening for differences and measuring the differences. You would be surprised how many naysayers when asked if they ever actually took the time to see if they could hear differences in audio cables or aftermarket power cords will respond no it would be a waste of their time. They already know the answer.
"My goal was to look for differences in conductors, not complicate things with the insulation."
That's fine for what you wanted to focus on, but for a fair real world testing/listening evaluation of ICs, and speaker cables, the type of insulation covering over the wire as well as the physical construction geometry of the cable is equally important. In the case of aftermarket power cords the construction geometry of the cable conductors can have an effect on the power supply of the audio equipment it is connected to. Add to that the plug and IEC connectors that are used on the PC. Can the differences in PCs construction geometry and ends used in the final cable assembly be measured with test equipment? (I am not referring to the resistance of the wire or wire gauge of the conductors.)
Best regards,
Jim
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Are you kidding??? They have shows about this stuff and electronic equipment to measure such sightings!
I've seen it with my own eyes on the reality ghost channel. I can almost feel the cool breeze down my neck thinking there's someone/something lurking about.... Oh wait, that's the air-conditioning. Seriously, the sooner we all move to critical thinking and away from voodoo and alchemy based reasoning, life will be better and music will be more enjoyable!
There's no problem measuring just about every aspect of power cords or anything else. Heck, I can probably show you sample to sample differences between two identical cords that came off the production line side by side. The big problem is connecting the measurements to what somebody can or can't hear. That takes a lot more work and is far beyond my time and means. I only know what I think I hear (or don't) and so far most of the useful system improvement has been transducers, room related stuff and program material, not subtleties of wires or factors beyond response, THD and stability.
Are you kidding??? They have shows about this stuff and electronic equipment to measure such sightings!
Seriously, the sooner we all move to critical thinking and away from voodoo and alchemy based reasoning, life will be better and music will be more enjoyable!
Forget sensors and meters, I use a simpler method to measure poltergeist activity. It's called 'number of books thrown'.
If he can't do that then he is just another ghost. Sure we can infer if he may be able to throw books via semi-related convoluted measurements and pseudologic, but when I'm hiring a new poltergeist I demand he show his ability to throw books rather than show me a graph of how he affects graviton readings.
I have noted many times one curious effect in amplifiers after servicing and major/blanket resoldering.
My usual procedure is once the servicing is complete, is to power the amp with no signal and allow thermals to stabilise whilst periodically fine adjusting bias currents and over several hours.
Once this process is complete I then run subjective listening test.
I start at low levels and listen whilst slowly advancing volume level in stages.
Typically such rebuilt amplifiers initially sound subtly 'distorted' and all wrong.
As volume is advanced this distortion sounds even worse until momentary clip occurs and then something changes and the amp 'relaxes' for want of a better term.
This behaviour occurs only once, and thereafter the amp subjective performance remains clean and stable at all output levels.
Soldering heat demagnetising component leads which then get remagnetised due to high peak currents ?....I don't know the exact cause but I have consistently observed this effect in rebuilt amplifiers.
Dan.
My usual procedure is once the servicing is complete, is to power the amp with no signal and allow thermals to stabilise whilst periodically fine adjusting bias currents and over several hours.
Once this process is complete I then run subjective listening test.
I start at low levels and listen whilst slowly advancing volume level in stages.
Typically such rebuilt amplifiers initially sound subtly 'distorted' and all wrong.
As volume is advanced this distortion sounds even worse until momentary clip occurs and then something changes and the amp 'relaxes' for want of a better term.
This behaviour occurs only once, and thereafter the amp subjective performance remains clean and stable at all output levels.
Soldering heat demagnetising component leads which then get remagnetised due to high peak currents ?....I don't know the exact cause but I have consistently observed this effect in rebuilt amplifiers.
Dan.
Cable break in, another Audiophile joke.... No explanation of what is happening and only mentioned used in Audio circles...
Magnetising component leads, add that to the mix as well....
And while we are at it don't forget your crystal, they have healing power n the noise.
Why does this stuff only exist in audiophile circles, why has mainstream or high end electronics caught on to all these things, why cant we have MAGIC in real world electronics instead of boring physics and engineering!!!!!
Magnetising component leads, add that to the mix as well....
And while we are at it don't forget your crystal, they have healing power n the noise.
Why does this stuff only exist in audiophile circles, why has mainstream or high end electronics caught on to all these things, why cant we have MAGIC in real world electronics instead of boring physics and engineering!!!!!
That is good question. I have been reading vintage online 'AUDIO' magazines of 70s (Link here Alert : big file sizes) strangely there is not a single product like some in modern times. All pages are technical details and related stuff but none which can't be explained.
Regards.
I stopped reading HiFi mags after I moved to the UK in the '80s and couldn't find one that did blind group tests (groups of similar priced items rated by a group of listeners in a typical living room) like the ones in Germany did. The guy who did the testing and eventual write up was not part of the listeners.
I have no idea if the german mags still do those today though.
All that new-agey hippie crap so prevalent in current audio circles is seriously off putting.
I have no idea if the german mags still do those today though.
All that new-agey hippie crap so prevalent in current audio circles is seriously off putting.