Synergistic Research vs ASR
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Um, electric and magnetic fields in a conductor are capacitance and inductance. The last I heard, electricity in a conductor is carried by electrons. Synergistic is confusing radio waves with electrons. I worked in superconductivity research with one of the greats in the field. All the references to superconductivity in the above are gibberish.
ASR should be proud it is threatening charlatans! We are doomed as AI trains on nonsense.
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: TED DENNEY IS NOT RELATED TO RICK DENNEY. There, that made me feel better.
The statement posted above states that JA's
measurements showed "jaw-dropping bass extension". I looked up that article, and JA includes no measurements at all. Read it for yourself:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/synergistic-research-cables-john-atkinson. Even then, JA's jaw didn't drop because of the quantity of bass extension. His jaw dropped because he (at least thought he) detected increased bass extension in the first place. There was no a-b comparison, even sighted, and no measurements. Again, read it for yourself. JA knows better, of course, and I have certainly been unsparing in my disparagement of
Stereophile for dancing around the obvious or even allowing themselves to repeat the the B.S. they hear from power-cord companies.
What effect does EMI have on audio frequencies? I have test equipment that uses EMI filters on the incoming power to filter out noise at RF frequencies, orders of magnitude higher than audio frequencies. For example, my HP5334B is a frequency counter that measures up to 100 MHz (with the option to measure higher than that installed). It uses X and Y-class capacitors on incoming power to reduce EMI, and it is able to measure frequencies accurately in the sub-1-parts-per-billion range, where noise would add enough jitter to ruin the measurement. And the power connector I just installed on a curve tracer I'm building has a built-in EMI filter that cascades a common-mode filter with a differential-mode filter. According to the manufacturer, it attenuates common-mode noise by a whopping 5 dB at 10KHz (50 dB at 1 MHz), and differential-mode filters somewhat less across that spectrum. It cost twenty bucks on Amazon. I have this feeling that the big storage capacitors in any of the power supplies of any audio equipment would do better than that at frequencies of value to audio applications. I also have this feeling (actually, it's far more than a feeling) that if there is any problem related to RF noise in audio equipment, it comes from poor management or shielding of its own internal power supply and grounding, not from service power. My mains power's sine wave is visibly distorted, yet noise levels in the audio equipment I've measured have frequently been near the limits of noise measuring I can provide with my broad-banded test equipment. (Which is -100 dB relative to signal.)
Organizing the room's EM field? Chassis vibrations? On solid-state equipment with no moving parts? What are micro-details? Eliminating ground loops is a good thing. It can be done using appropriate grounding distribution strategies that cost cents rather than kilobucks, and that can't be affected by power cords in any case except by disconnecting earth grounds that are required for safety. High-frequency transducers to damp room modes? Are the room modes people can actually hear related at all to high frequencies? I rather thought they were resonances of sound with wavelengths measured in feet.
"Robert Harley called SRX cables a 'revelation' in blind A/B tests against $20,000 competitors"? The only reference to blind testing I can find in half an hour of Googling with any relationship to Harley is his complete rejection of it. But I note the willingness of Synergistic's statement to conflate an opinion with an outcome as described above with reference to JA. So, I have no doubt that Harley called it a revelation. I seriously doubt that opinion is backed up by properly constructed subjective testing, let alone measurements. I would say: Show me the data that without any knowledge of what is being tested, listeners can tell the difference between AC power cords that are sufficiently sized for the equipment. In the writeups I have read about their products, mostly in friendly (to them) publications like TAS, I see claims made of features that can absolutely be measured. Some are mentioned above but not shown. Where are the measurements?
Rick "knows gas-lighting when he sees it" Denney
