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GR Research B24 AC Cable Review: Does it Make an Audible Difference?

tomtoo

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""""
To put some things straight: Your site is the best what happened to the world of HiFi-Reviews since Edison. But it is not connected to a trust. And I doubt you spent $300
for a boutique cable from your own pocket just to proof the enaviteable.
No criticism in my words!

"...
And I doubt you spent $300
for a boutique cable from your own pocket just to proof the enaviteable...."

Do you realy realy think a person that is passionated enough to spend 150k++ alone for measuring equipment to show whats going on, has a problem to spend 300$ more?
 

Herbert

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Again, no criticism and it does not matter to me, what is spent how and where. But very likely this site
does not lead the ones involved into bankruptcy.
According synchronization rights of music: Same happened with me: The musician gave them to me for free for cinematic release, streaming, trailer. But as a record label was involved, they it claimed copyright issues @youtube AFAIK this only means - if the copyright holder is content with the message - that monetarization goes to the musician and not the video creator…
 

Herbert

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""""

"...
And I doubt you spent $300
for a boutique cable from your own pocket just to proof the enaviteable...."

Do you realy realy think a person that is passionated enough to spend 150k++ alone for measuring equipment to show whats going on, has a problem to spend 300$ more?
AFAIK Amir offers paid measurements to other companies, so it is also an investment.
 

BDWoody

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And I doubt you spent $300
for a boutique cable from your own pocket just to proof the enaviteable.

Well, it wasn't sent by the manufacturer, and it wasn't sent by a member. So, whose pocket did the $$ come out of?

But very likely this site
does not lead the ones involved into bankruptcy.

Our host does not rely on income from this site/hobby to survive, unlike most others in the business. I'm not sure what your point is here...
 

Herbert

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Edited that, i forgot the gear for
loudspeakers and headphones.
But many here behave like
Amir was a religious leader instead
of acknowledging that ASR generates income and advertises Amirs abilities as as an engineer…
Again, nothing wrong about that.
 

BDWoody

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Edited that, i forgot the gear for
loudspeakers and headphones.
But many here behave like
Amir was a religious leader instead
of acknowledging that ASR generates income and advertises Amirs abilities as as an engineer…
Again, nothing wrong about that.

So, your point is to just knock Amir down a notch, so no one confuses him with Jesus?

Ok, that's enough. You are talking out of your sphincter now.
 

OctoEmu

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Video is not hosted here, and has no monetization. Youtube Content ID is performing an automated check which is fine. What is not so fine is the music distributer tagging this content to always require a license. The terms of the music clearly stipulate otherwise.

BTW, I don't make a living from this site. It would be an awfully poor way to live if I did! There is no commercialization of the site. No advertising, no sponsorships, no nothing. What people donate in general is up to them and is not in any way directly linked to any specific review.
That's why this site and what you do for it are such wonderful things!
 

AndreaT

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One benefit from your excellent review is the...Music you presented. I bought Radical Face "Missing Film" on Bandcamp, downloaded the FLAC format, transferred it to my MacBook Pro and then to my Weiss MAN301. It is now playing. For a fraction of the cost of a useless accessory I am now playing excellently recorded files of atmospheric music with chords similar to Ludovico Einaudi's oeuvre. Thank you Amir! My ears tell me the dynamic range of the recording is great and the background noise very low. Will you consider guiding us to the best recordings specifically analyzing what is good and what is not in the digital music downloads offers? You did a great video a while ago about some bad (and pricey) downloads promising higher than 16/44 quality...When the source is bad, no DAC/Amp can fix the problem.
 

Addicted to music

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That cable should not be sold or bought, the sleeve is a fire waiting to happen. At work, the products I work on have brackets to ensure that the mains connection is secured and do not fall out causing bad connections to heat up, but that’s on the other end where it plugs into the equipment. Typical IEC cables have female prongs where they naturally widen in actual use and can be worsened by physical stress that can naturally happen on site that’s unintentional or due to wear and tear. To have electrical prongs that’s physically non compliant and can effect the quality of the supporting connectors is a disaster in the making. Not sure what these people were thinking with decisions like this and then market it without certification, infact the way they cable is presented in that quality I doubt that it will pass any certification.

Again thank you Amir for such a entertaining detailed video, again you have literally covered all basis in the argument that AC power cords that make a difference, we all know that AC side of any device won’t effect the performance unless it’s severely damaged, and when I mean damage I mean physically broken. Just like to share for giggles when I got into an audio forum and read that someone bought a fancy cable and made the claim that there 55inch 1080 panel also improved in picture quality. If only they knew how things worked!
 

DSJR

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This whole cable thing is to me now, like joining a sub-sect in the audiophile 'club.' On a different but related tack so forgive this anecdote, my ancient stereo ain't bad, but I had the chance to acquire a Krell KSA50S power amp some years back. Beautifully made thing it was (and still is) with bent solid metal bus-bars inside for internal speaker terminal connection to the main board output (I can't remember now if it came with a heavier duty mains cable, but some of these amps do, often with the higher current IEC type connector - forgive my ignorant description). The thing with this amp was, it sounded really not different to my old prosumer types (it didn't have a 2 ohm load to drive which was it's main reason for being really) and in the place and system I needed to use it, the plateau-bias lamps came on quickly and the case-heat climbed alarmingly. I only used it a handful of times in this location, feared for its remaining life as regards thermal stress and subsequently passed it on to a grateful chap who loves it (and bought another I gather).

Moral from this above and pertinent here, is that looking at the thing and expecting so much, I started to wonder if my cables were 'good enough' for it (I was 'only' using RCA types with the 'looking-down-the-nose attitude' wire link in the XLR sockets), was my vintage and sonically transparent preamp 'good enough' (maybe I should save for a Krell preamp or do what the audiophile sheeple did and buy an ARC, both with balanced outs driving 1m of cable tops to 'open the sound up.' Was my mains distribution block putting a bottleneck in the mains supply and were the speaker wires good enough (7m of 2.5mm gauge into speakers with minimum impedance drop to 6 ohms)? Going to heavier gauge speaker wires, or better, VDH 'The Wind' which was recommended with Krells not so long ago, was not a possibility on cost grounds (the cables need to be tucked around the edges of a carpet/skirting board). I really started to worry that I wasn't giving the amp 'what it needed to sound better!' and had to have a total re-think about it all... (you all know the snooty dealer attitude to peeps like me trying to justify the expense of a high end cable or expensive gear - I was one myself... - not good enough hearing, this isn't good enough, that's not right either, mains is shit, speakers not 'resolving' enough, just spend a few grand on wires and matching gear and you'll be lifted to a higher plane..........).

Once I'd sold the amp on and returned to my geriatric power amp and hopefully sensible wiring, the 'sound' didn't change (until my ears pegged out in more recent times) and all these audiophool-questions disappeared. I was content again and remain so, especially as I've had a great 'NHS Upgrade' to my hearing and no longer give a sh*t about most audiophile stuff (famous last words but it's really not as important now)...

I think cable lovers in this hobby are constantly searching for aspects of reproduced sound that can never really be found as they either don't exist in the first place, or aren't really there in the recording to start with. The 'tweaks' I've done in my past audiophool life have *subjectively* favoured one thing seemingly at the expense of something else - or they've been proved to be nothing at all (some of the Peter Belt stuff in the 80's with foils and other mad stuff, which made a difference in the company of the main proponent in the mags but nothng whatsoever at home).

So - If this cable can't be shown to do any filtering of mains harmonics (not all audiophile gear does it well I still believe), then it's just the appearance and cost which dictates how 'good' it is really.....

Next up, Synergistic fuses :D
 

CapMan

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I think cable lovers in this hobby are constantly searching for aspects of reproduced sound that can never really be found as they either don't exist in the first place, or aren't really there in the recording to start with.
I’ve recently done some clearing out at home - sold my turntable and simplified everything around Roon streaming. It sounds great, but there always a little imp on my shoulder whispering - what if you tried this …. There was a post earlier today on a speaker manufacturer’s forum - a guy had model A for many years and was very happy, but but had the chance to buy model B at a discount (used). He wanted to know what difference he might hear. The obvious question was if you’re happy for so long why change - is it just to scratch an itch?

I recognise that I have a restless mind -
I’m thinking about dinner before I’ve finished breakfast !

I wonder if other audiophiles are the same ?
 

DSJR

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Is that on the speaker maker's site I also frequent I wonder? Model B is larger and the replacements for Model A are more neutral in balance.... best not foul this thread though which I'm prone to do when I go off on tangents ;)
 

CapMan

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Is that on the speaker maker's site I also frequent I wonder? Model B is larger and the replacements for Model A are more neutral in balance.... best not foul this thread though which I'm prone to do when I go off on tangents ;)
Hi - it most likely is :) I dare not post this in the other site, but I got an itch to swap my standard mini monitors for the new flavour and regretted it. I lost what I’d enjoyed and ended up returning the new and going back to the old. So my expensive lesson is that if you are happy, you’re happy - leave well alone :)
 
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Dial

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Krell was A. Salvatore's pet peeve. He prefers coated and not dry sounds... To come back to the thread, this power cord could be dangerous.
 

DSJR

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Hi - it most likely is :) I dare not post this in the other site, but I got an itch to swap my standard mini monitors for the new flavour and regretted it. I lost what I’d enjoyed and ended up returning the new and going back to the old. So my expensive lesson is that if you are happy, you’re happy - leave well alone :)
Got to say I love the new versions as they sound more like the ATC monitors I love so much... ;) (I mean that as a compliment). best get me coat and run for the hills :D
 
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voodooless

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Do you realy realy think a person that is passionated enough to spend 150k++ alone for measuring equipment to show whats going on, has a problem to spend 300$ more?
Person A spends 60k on a power cable.
Person B spends 60k on gear to prove the cable is no better than a €£$ 2,- one.
 

CapMan

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Got to say I love the new versions as they sound more like the ATC monitors I love so much... ;) (I mean that as a compliment). best get me coat and run for the hills :D
We all love what we love :)

I have learnt through this forum and ‘the other place’ that

1) I’ve wasted 000s on expensive gear that has limited bearing on what I hear vs cheaper alternatives

2) I didn’t pay enough attention to my room acoustics early enough

3) It is easy to fall into the ‘my cables are constraining by system ‘ trap unless we are educated.

Kudos to Amir and the ASR crew for helping the next generation to enjoy their music without breaking the bank :)
 
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