AudioQuest NRG-X3 Review (AC Power Cord)

[GXAlan]

appreciate everyones advice! it's tough to know where to spend and where to not spend....i am in the middle of auditioning 6 amps with my Utopia 2022's. there are DEF differences but nowhere near how big i thought there would be. And definitely not 7-9k worth of value. still fun to test everything out though!

Go for ergonomics and appearance. I have Geshelli Archel 2.5 which is super transparent and the Sony TA-ZH1ES which doesn’t measure well, but the actual to-your-ears difference is small and I really like the ergonomics of the Sony.

If you live in the U.S., consider drop shipping the next headphone amp you try to him to measure. I am really curious about the Yamaha. It will sound different because they have exotic DSP modes like:

Yamaha HA-L7A

Desktop headphone amplifier with built-in DAC

www.crutchfield.com

 

[AudioTK]

I must say, I didn't see this coming. It is these sobering moments that teach one what the reality is.

I do wonder if amirm has measurements with these cables, or any cables (power or interconnects or speaker wire) using wood blocks to raise the cables off the floor compared to no blocks. Is cedar better or Lincoln Logs?

 

[antcollinet]

I do wonder if amirm has measurements with these cables, or any cables (power or interconnects or speaker wire) using wood blocks to raise the cables off the floor compared to no blocks. Is cedar better or Lincoln Logs?

If you want to make a parody post - then emoticons will help with Poe's law.

Otherwise there is a danger someone will think you are serious, or in this case trolling.

 

[BDWoody]

Is cedar better or Lincoln Logs?

Cedar Lincoln logs.

 

[AudioTK]

Cedar Lincoln logs.

Ahh... Of course! And rubbed with the finest snake oil...

 

[AudioTK]

If you want to make a parody post - then emoticons will help with Poe's law.

Otherwise there is a danger someone will think you are serious, or in this case trolling.

Makes sense. I am half serious if anyone does have measurements to compare riser blocks and no riser blocks, debunking it.

 

[SIY]

Makes sense. I am half serious if anyone does have measurements to compare riser blocks and no riser blocks, debunking it.

Why would anyone bother? To try to convince idiots who wouldn't care about the measurements?

 

[AudioTK]

Why would anyone bother? To try to convince idiots who wouldn't care about the measurements?

I know it would be a worthless exercise.

 

[GXAlan]

Makes sense. I am half serious if anyone does have measurements to compare riser blocks and no riser blocks, debunking it.

Not quite riser blocks, but my measurements show the effect of putting components near each other.

Measured effect of cable routing/component placement

In DIY amplifier kits, there is often talk of cable routing and effects on measured performance. Here I would like to show the difference with real, premium electronics using worst case topologies. Test Setup Topping D90 MQA Belden 8423 0.8m XLR balanced cable Marantz PM-10 integrated amp...

www.audiosciencereview.com

It’s good to show that we can measure differences but that those differences are inaudible.

 

[DonR]

One of the ideas put forth to explain riser blocks is that the floor acts like a ground plane and thus rising the cable lifts the signal away from this ground. Of course, a listening room floor is likely to have very low conductance to ground and at the same time, the signal is usually accompanied by a ground wire in much closer proximity to it anyway. Audio frequencies are too low to be affected by the effect of the ensuing capacitance.

 

[SIY]

One of the ideas put forth to explain riser blocks is that the floor acts like a ground plane and thus rising the cable lifts the signal away from this ground. Of course, a listening room floor is likely to have very low conductance to ground and at the same time, the signal is usually accompanied by a ground wire in much closer proximity to it anyway. Audio frequencies are too low to be affected by the effect of the ensuing capacitance.

...relative impedances...

 

[AudioTK]

Not quite riser blocks, but my measurements show the effect of putting components near each other.

Measured effect of cable routing/component placement

In DIY amplifier kits, there is often talk of cable routing and effects on measured performance. Here I would like to show the difference with real, premium electronics using worst case topologies. Test Setup Topping D90 MQA Belden 8423 0.8m XLR balanced cable Marantz PM-10 integrated amp...

www.audiosciencereview.com

It’s good to show that we can measure differences but that those differences are inaudible.

I can understand that certain components can affect others. I recently restored my Marantz 2265 (old school!!), but while I was doing it, there were times some noise would come and go. Turns out, it had been picking up my cell phone (just in my pocket, not being used for call, screen off), and it caused interference when it was near certain areas of the receiver. It was worse when I had the metal cover off, and it's just old equipment, not designed to completely filter out all RF signals. The metal covers do help act as Faraday cages, but noise can get through, sometimes.

 

[DonR]

I can understand that certain components can affect others. I recently restored my Marantz 2265 (old school!!), but while I was doing it, there were times some noise would come and go. Turns out, it had been picking up my cell phone (just in my pocket, not being used for call, screen off), and it caused interference when it was near certain areas of the receiver. It was worse when I had the metal cover off, and it's just old equipment, not designed to completely filter out all RF signals. The metal covers do help act as Faraday cages, but noise can get through, sometimes.

We live in a much richer RF environment these days.