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Harley quote

Regarding two aftermarket power cables: "These differences in the shapes of the musical waveforms are far too small to see or measure with even the most sophisticated technology, yet we as listeners not only routinely discriminate such differences, we sometimes find musical meaning in these differences."

 Nonsense. Just because people claim to "routinely discriminate" differences doesn't mean it's true or they're right. Apparently many have witnessed UFOs but that doesn't mean they actually saw extraterrestrial visitors, does it? Some have seen/heard a deity speaking to them "routinely"; does that imply that they are surely communing with an unseen/unmeasurable spiritual force(s)? Can we not put a little more effort into confirmatory reality-testing first when "the most sophisticated technology" can find nothing in 2020? (Of course, speaker cables can measure differently as per here, here, even if not necessarily audible in many cases by the time we connect amp to speaker.)

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Showing 2 responses by jaytor

jaytor's avatar
jaytor
747 posts
 
@djones51 - if you want to select products based on the way they measure, that's certainly your (and anyone else's) prerogative. Personally, I'd rather choose products that sound good to me, regardless of what the measurements say.

Measurements can be a useful engineering tool, but they are only useful to a point. Measurement technology continues to improve like everything else, and our understanding of what measurements are useful and important also changes.

Just as an example, whitecamaross has been publishing youtube recordings of his system with different amps and cables. I suspect these amps and cables measure almost identically, yet even listening through cheap earbuds on an ipad from youtube, you can hear the difference in the way they sound.

So what measurements are causing this sound difference, and how would you figure out what measurements to look for to get the sound of one vs the other?
jaytor's avatar
jaytor
747 posts
 
I don't get it. Music is all about personal perception and emotional engagement. Arguing that someone couldn't possibly hear a difference because the measurements don't show it makes no sense.

If a particular listener prefers one product over another, that's ALL that counts. 

I have an electronics background which tends to reduce my willingness to accept radical approaches, but I would never tell someone else that what they are perceiving is all in their head. 
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