a/b interconnect cable comparison single ended

Using rapid A/B comparisons I get some info, but not a complete data set.

With the theory that difference is not always better (or worse) I find I obtain more useful info by putting a given cable into the system and living with it for a while (days). Then take it out and put in the comparator and listen over a couple of days. I keep doing this until the one I want to live with emerges. If you feel a need to do this blind get a buddy or a kindly spouse to help. (Just don't peek!)

Sometimes a difference is initially disconcerting; sometimes the unfamilar is initally attractive. Long term satisfaction is what you really want.

On the other hand, to the extent you have a 'gold standard' as a comparitor, rapid testing can help find DUTs that are simliar in sound. Otherwise your comparisons lack a control. John's method (using cable 'c') does account for this. I also agree with Sean... any change you introduce, other than the variable you want to test, may confound your results.

So I keep it simple. Out with one, in with the other. Reverse, repeat. Works well for me.

Mr. T: you note you'd like to find

'which of the two cables seems to alter the signal to a greater degree'

How do you know what the signal is suppose to be?

If we take our time and listen carefully for the sound of live music in our audio rooms (creating the illusion of sound/space) we will select out increasingly 'accurate' components where accuracy means accuracy in recreation of the encoded musical moment.

Perhaps it would be useful to make a recording of some music made in my audio space. I suspect that advances in digital technology make it a realistic proposition that an serious amateur could make a high quality encoded musical moment in their living space which could in turn be used as a high quality 'test signal' for evaluation of their audio system. It's late, I'm rambling on but I think you can get my drift. Or am I out of my mind? (one audiophile to another!)
cjs

Mrtennis how could you ever 'know' which is more 'accurate' unless you could control (know) the input signal. And, as I am sure you would agree, more accurate on square waves (or other test signal) may not be more accurate with a musical signal. So how can we ever do better than find that which we prefer? Perhaps with a standard cable, we could find another cable 'most like' our standard. Even in this case all we could say is that we could identify a cable close to our standard within the constraints of a given system.

There is only an absolute within the relative. Using the metric of what live music sounds like we seek the best recreation of this event. 'Accuracy of the whole' may well be more than a sum of 'accuracy of the parts'.

Or perhaps I am inaccurate!

cjs

Luis, I find that my enjoyment of this hobby stems from the fact that I can listen to music or think about physics or do some soldering or worry aobut chemistry (record cleaning) or the biology of hearing or just listen to music. I mean, it's all fun or it's not a hobby!

Mr. T - I agree. Wish there was a simple 'cable distortion test' as you describe. However the test might not always correlate with which cables we find musical - which would give us some additional questions to ask. I don't have an occilliscope (yet) but I wonder if you put standard signals (e.g. square waves) thru various cables are they all identical?

cjs