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Power cord blind test
- Thread starter Dimitrov
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solderdude
Grand Contributor
The criticism is that it is obvious what A and B represent.
It isn't a blind test ... it is sighted test disguised as blind.
Also we do not know if some trickery is being used. We have to blindly trust the cable seller on his word.
It is obvious he will have financial gain from posting the video.
This clearly isn't a 'valuable' and trustworthy scientific test and can fully understand mains-cable believers think it is and it provides the definitive proof.
It isn't a blind test ... it is sighted test disguised as blind.
Also we do not know if some trickery is being used. We have to blindly trust the cable seller on his word.
It is obvious he will have financial gain from posting the video.
This clearly isn't a 'valuable' and trustworthy scientific test and can fully understand mains-cable believers think it is and it provides the definitive proof.
digicidal
Major Contributor
I would go so far as to simply say that any reviewer that uses retail price as a primary metric for quality is (at the very least) highly suspect in their motivations - and therefore conclusions as well. The fact that he recommends "a more expensive cable" without any other specification at all, as a means of improving performance in any component in the system should speak volumes.
It's one thing to mention the price of a component being reviewed. It's quite another to imply that all "$500" cords are better, and "$5000" ones even better than that. Under what criteria? Is a Ferrari better than an old truck? Sure if you're going to the track... what if you're going to Home Depot for fertilizer? OK that's probably a bad analogy.
Point is, even if the cost is justified - i.e. cryogenic treated unobtanium wires with fairy dust shielding - does it conduct power any better than the cheap one does - or do the extra 'improvements' actually inhibit it's performance?
It's one thing to mention the price of a component being reviewed. It's quite another to imply that all "$500" cords are better, and "$5000" ones even better than that. Under what criteria? Is a Ferrari better than an old truck? Sure if you're going to the track... what if you're going to Home Depot for fertilizer? OK that's probably a bad analogy.
Point is, even if the cost is justified - i.e. cryogenic treated unobtanium wires with fairy dust shielding - does it conduct power any better than the cheap one does - or do the extra 'improvements' actually inhibit it's performance?
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blackmetalboon
Active Member
It certainly does, it manages to move the bass trap/diffuser behind the right hand side speaker!
Personally I find it embarrassing to be from the same country as this fellow. Even if there was any in all this cable stuff does anybody seriously believe that swapping out a couple of cable will do anything when your home wiring is unchanged, the line from your home to the sub-station unchanged and the wiring within the component unchanged? I am almost surprised nobody has built an audiophile turbo-generator and started selling audiophile grade electricity at $1000 a KWhr as they would probably find lunatics to lap it up.
I watched and didn't know if A or B was the better cable because I skipped to about 3 minutes into the video. There is no doubt that B sounded significantly better.
Does that mean their wasn't a mild 'bass boost' done that the user doesn't know about? I can only speculate.
Here's the video I want him to make, assuming there isn't any sound editing going on. I want a $5,000 amp + $5,000 cable, versus a $15,000 amp with the supplied cable. But that raises yet another issue - if it makes such a huge difference, then why wouldn't the $15,000 amp manufacturer give you a quality cable. Why risk a $5k amp supplying a $5k cable (at their cost, in bulk, say $1,500), running circles around you (other than the fact that the $5k amp probably sounds as good anyway).
FooYatChong
Active Member
Considering diminishing returns, one would expect a big jump in SQ with a $50 or $75 cable, but no, apparently you have to spend thousands to enjoy the effect.
Hi
Back in the days (about 25 years ago) I was member of an audiophile club when AC power came forth in a discussion. Dan D'Agostino of Krell and now D'Agostino fame talked about the extent to which he ensured good power delivery to his house .. I believed he used 440 VAC Triphase or something of that nature, given that he, then was building amplifers that were electrical welders, perhaps that could be warranted ... A month later a few fellows had similar power systems .. A few insisted on their power company using copper rather than Aluminum cables because they "knew" that aluminum sounded bad ... I was waiting for one of them to ask the power company a direct feed in silver
Food for thought for Furutech, Audioquest, and others: Outside wire for audiophiles
invaderzim
Senior Member
Electrons know how much you paid and don't appreciate cheapness.
They get so happy going from a hundred feet of basic romex in the walls and ceiling to a high dollar 3 foot cable that they do magical dances that energize the amp through the small gauge wire inside it and the really small gauge wire inside the transformers and the thin traces on PCBs in ways it has never been energized before.
....Food for thought for Furutech, Audioquest, and others: Outside wire for audiophiles
https://gizmodo.com/obsessed-audiophiles-in-japan-are-installing-their-own-1785291714
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I was waiting for one of them to ask the power company a direct feed in silver
At least you should have your own utility pole
https://gizmodo.com/obsessed-audiophiles-in-japan-are-installing-their-own-1785291714
At least you should have your own utility pole
https://gizmodo.com/obsessed-audiophiles-in-japan-are-installing-their-own-1785291714
They definitely sounded different to me. So I downloaded the video and extracted the track in my audio edior. Here is the outcome:
As you see in the Left channel on top, the level suddenly drops with "the other cable." But nothing like that happens in the other channel. So either through mistake or on purpose, there is a problem with the capture of one channel. No way a power cord impacts one channel this way.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
This is what is the currents in the secondary of a power transformer looks like.
The primary is the same but of course lower in current.
No audio, just short pulses to replenish the smoothing caps.
Frequency spectrum of these pulses below.
The primary is the same but of course lower in current.
No audio, just short pulses to replenish the smoothing caps.
Frequency spectrum of these pulses below.
Track B bottom right looks more squashed.
Those frequencies are in prime audible range. Imagine the damage if they were to make it through to the output. Wouldn't it be better to increase the frequency to something well above the audible range? The transformer could also be much smaller then.This is what is the currents in the secondary of a power transformer looks like.
The primary is the same but of course lower in current.
No audio, just short pulses to replenish the smoothing caps.
Frequency spectrum of these pulses below.
Yeh, it does look that way. Very strange transformation. Hard to imagine it being due to simple mistakes like a loose jack and such.
Hypnotoad
Active Member
How about this video of the Furutech advanced power wall socket with Nano Crystal Formula? You can't plug an expensive power cable into a regular socket that would be heresy, wouldn't it?
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digicidal
Major Contributor
Maybe he knocked something loose while swapping power cords... like stepping on the L channel input cable just enough? Strange that the "better" cable is track B which is the one with the channel balance issue. Doesn't that seem like it shouldn't be "clearly better sounding" as indicated - at least from the looks of the graph @amirm pulled. Or am I missing something?
I bought one a while ago to test.....
I like the way he hooks up that fancy outlet to 50 cent construction back box and of course, ordinary drywall. Wonder why they don't sell the backbox and new drywall to go with it.
Shine your flashlight inside your amplifier and look at the size of the wires at you first solder point, then look at the size of the wire wrappings on your transformer... I’ll keep sipping my beer and wait for you to get back to me...
