AudioQuest NRG-X3 Review (AC Power Cord)

[kencreten]

I've been an audiophile for decades, so I know all about it, just because you maybe can't hear subtle differences, like most audiophiles can, doesn't mean you're right. You're in the minority, actually.

That's your opinion.
If you're into hifi, you're an audiophile by default. So if it's not liked, on here, it's probably just you and a few other people.

I'm not "into Hi-Fi." I'm interested in audio in general. Not just "Hi-Fi." Right, audiophool is a word that is subjective term used by a small number of people. So what? At least I'm not making audio claims with no data, and a religious belief in the power of my demonstrably flawed human hearing system that apparently I have no answer for and do not understand. Do you understand the following and it's implications for - you?

Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Russell]

Is that a polite way of declining to do a controlled (double-blind) comparison?

No.

 

[kencreten]

I'm not "into Hi-Fi." I'm interested in audio in general. Not just "Hi-Fi." Right, audiophool is a word that is subjective term used by a small number of people. So what? At least I'm not making audio claims with no data, and a religious belief in the power of my demonstrably flawed human hearing system that apparently I have no answer for and do not understand. Do you understand the following and it's implications for - you? It communicates to you that for every sound you hear at a slightly different volume, your hearing frequency response changes dramatically, and we haven't even talked yet about the mess that comb filtering causes in a space.

Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[JSmith]

Childish.

The only childish act is you coming into a science and evidence based forum with your silly postings. Usually I am much more welcoming to new members, however they come here asking to learn and for advice. They don't come in with a post like you have posted, the kind of rubbish I have been reading for 25+ years. Stop wasting everyone's time with your trolling.


JSmith

 

[voodooless]

could be influenced by bias

You are so generous

 

[kencreten]

Doesn't it just amaze that nowhere in all of the "audiophile" world has anyone ever read an anecdote about someone deciding to plug in a pair of 16 gauge lamp cord and being blown away by how much better they sound than the more expensive speaker wires? For that matter nobody anywhere ever in the "audiophile" universe ever says that a particular manufacturer's $500 speaker cables sound better than the same manufacturer's $900 cables, not even on different systems. Hmmm....I wonder why.

It's... it's a mystery! heheh. I got rid of all those $10,000 Nordost RCA cables and replaced them with cheap cables from Joe's Electronics, and everything sounds so much BETTER! heheh Always an improvement with expense....

 

[Russell]

What about... cedar overtones? heheh

Which you wouldn't know if they bit you on the @£se, right?!

I'm not "into Hi-Fi." I'm interested in audio in general. Not just "Hi-Fi." Right, audiophool is a word that is subjective term used by a small number of people. So what? At least I'm not making audio claims with no data, and a religious belief in the power of my demonstrably flawed human hearing system that apparently I have no answer for and do not understand. Do you understand the following and it's implications for - you?

Equal-loudness contour - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Oh god, anyone who is interested in 'audio in general' can be deemed 'into hifi' and what's wrong with that? Lighten up!

 

[DonR]

You are so generous

I didn't realize I was in the presence of a golden ear, honest to goodness, multi decade audiophile. We have not seen the like of him before, most certainly not.

 

[kencreten]

Which you wouldn't know if they bit you on the @£se, right?!

Oh god, anyone who is interested in 'audio in general' can be deemed 'into hifi' and what's wrong with that? Lighten up!

Wrong? You're not addressing what's wrong in what you say, and I already agreed with you on that word. What's wrong with what you say about audio, is that you have presented arguments for which you have no evidence. If you want to argue with my positions, argue with demonstrable data based on science and physics. I don't defend audio performance, because of my personal opinions. This doesn't mean I do not care about subjective experience. Subjective experience in audio is not helpful in defining audio performance because we scientifically understand the problems with human hearing and perception. Do you?

Stop attacking people.

 

[Hayabusa]

Well, I wouldn't really be an audiophile if I didn't already know about blind listening tests, for Christ sake!

So do the test!

 

[kencreten]

Lighten up Mr Angry, my comment is hardly nasty.

That all you got? Do you have anything relevant to the discussion? Or are you just a troll?

 

[voodooless]

Jeez, I don't think I've suddenly got a 'magical' cable. I'm familiar with many cables over the years, and have ended up with the ones I have and love, the nrg, being the latest one.

That is the problem, you think they are all magical (some more than others). You ascribe properties to cables that are physically impossible, therefore the only other alternatives are that magic exist, or that physics is wrong… at least in your world…

 

[antcollinet]

Well, how do you explain this:

Cognitive/expectation bias.

We know both from engineering/physics/material science, and from numerous measurements, that power cables have no audible impact on the signals reaching the speakers - therefore cannot impact the soundwaves emitted from the speakers in any audible way.

So no matter how differently we all hear - there is no difference to hear.

Yet on the other hand we know that our hearing is subject to confirmation bias (call it placebo effect, or expectation bias if you like). What we hear is impacted by what we know, what we believe, how we feel, our life experiences, what we see etc etc. No-one is immune to this if they are human - it is how we are built. In fact we would be unable to function if our senses were not filtered by our subconscious brain. Everyone is subject to this, it happens at the subconcious level, and it is not possible to avoid it - even when we are aware it is happening.

So when we see someone state that they hear differences between cables where the engineering, science and measurements all tell us that is impossible - do we just take the statement at face value - or do we attribute it to the fact that the listener is being fooled by his (humanities) very fallible auditory system?

 

[dlaloum]

Doesn't it just amaze that nowhere in all of the "audiophile" world has anyone ever read an anecdote about someone deciding to plug in a pair of 16 gauge lamp cord and being blown away by how much better they sound than the more expensive speaker wires? For that matter nobody anywhere ever in the "audiophile" universe ever says that a particular manufacturer's $500 speaker cables sound better than the same manufacturer's $900 cables, not even on different systems. Hmmm....I wonder why.

Yep - white lightning moonshine speaker cable...

6moons audio reviews: DIY Cables - The White Lightning Moonshine

 

[TheBatsEar]

Well, we'll agree to disagree.

You'll come around, as we all did. Just lurk more. I believe you are a sweet dude, but you stepped into this realm of hardened realists, without knowing how often we have had this exact discussion. All the arguments are known, the physical reality is hard, cold, brutally honest and without room for interpretation.
You are wrong, we are right. There really is no disagreeing in how reality works, as it works the same, regardless of the observer. That makes it real. That is the litmus test for reality. We can not agree to disagree on physics and reality.

I have no solution to the therapy that happens to you right now, it has to be done, for as long as you need to deprogram. It's harsh and we may seem like a bunch of bullies, but it has to be done. Most of us have been where you are, confident we could hear things that can't be there. Programmed by hifi magazines, advertisement, Youtube experts and hifi salesmen.

I leave you this video, may it hasten your way to enlightenment, may it smoothen the road to accepting that your brain is good at detecting a predator in the bush on the tiniest amount of data, but it's shyte at making repeatable measurements:

TLDR: ,, ... what we see, overrides what we hear ...''

Also, this thread is now subtitled as:
Everything in the matter of Russell has been said, but not yet by everyone.

 

[Sal1950]

Yep - white lightning moonshine speaker cable...

6moons audio reviews: DIY Cables - The White Lightning Moonshine

LOL
They do require some burn-in time though

"Give both about a 100 hours to settle down and sound their best and then enjoy your music!"

 

[egellings]

Geeeeech! That does not bode well for Stereophile or AudioQuest. A load of malarky. So much for improving the hundreds of feet of lowly AC mains wire coming into the building this gets used in.

Yes, but the 6 feet of cord closest to the amp matters most, hey? Hork! About hork: a shout of derision from a grandpa bullfrog.

 

[fpitas]

Look, the electrons want to feel like you value their input. Like you feel they're worth a proper boutique cord. But, what does an off-the-shelf Belden cord from DigiKey tell them? That's right!

 

[egellings]

Look, the electrons want to feel like you value their input. Like you feel they're worth a proper boutique cord. But, what does an off-the-shelf Belden cord from DigiKey tell them? That's right!

Nothing's too good for my little Fi-fi. D-Do you understand? N-n-n-n-nothing!

 

[pkane]

Look, the electrons want to feel like you value their input. Like you feel they're worth a proper boutique cord. But, what does an off-the-shelf Belden cord from DigiKey tell them? That's right!

My electrons are kept fat and happy. I feed them only pure organic, non-GMO electricity. Happy electrons sound so much better!