I did this very type of test when I was trying to decide on some Taralabs RCS Air 3's. The cable ran from my Meridian 508-24 to the Sonic Frontiers Line 2, which then fed my headphones: Grado RS-1. I was quickly able to differentiate between cabling. The previous writers have made some excellent points: 1) that the results via headphones may not exactly match a full system response 2) that this type of test is of dubious value if the headphones are run out of the CD player directly. Having said that, I felt that this stripped down sonic system got to the heart of the detail of the cable a bit more directly than a full system test, which has more layers of gear. I'll say again that I was comparing cables, not trying to ascertain some mythical benchmark of "neutrality". I also discovered that this combination sounded so good as to make me weep. I'd have to spend a lot of money on better power amps and speakers to match certain qualities that the RS-1 can deliver with a good front end.
can i use my headphones to judge IC neutrality?
i am comparing a couple cables as they burn in- LAT IC D100 II and signal cable analog 2( i know, big price difference)- so far they give a fairly different presentation
- since i don't have a reference cable to gauge where neutral is, i was wondering if the signal direct to my Grado SR80's from the cdp would be a good basis for comparison- or are there too many other factors involved?
- since i don't have a reference cable to gauge where neutral is, i was wondering if the signal direct to my Grado SR80's from the cdp would be a good basis for comparison- or are there too many other factors involved?