I see the issue with ABX blind testing

But professing what you perceive should apply to others’ perceptions and/or use cases? Better off having some evidence.

I don't find that people do that. For the most part I've found that those who think cables make a difference will detail their experience and explain which cables they have liked and why. I don't find that they tell me that my experience will be the same. Those who feel cables are snake oil often do so without trying the cables being discussed and do think that their perception should apply to everyone.

I moved the sub to the right, between the stand and the right speaker, about an inch behind the front of the speaker. I've also ordered a second sub.

As for the cables, I'm satisfied with my assessment. I don't believe anything I do will result in a dramatic difference and for the price it would have to be dramatic. So I've sent them back. I had neighbors interested in hearing the difference but my opinion of the sound is all that matters to me as I'm paying for it.

Do you think I recorded these samples a second time? I just plucked them off of the original and separated them with a dead spot from the original. There was no change in any equipment involved.

Thanks for the advice. I think the dealer will let me have the cables for a month.

The flooring is 5/8" rubber mats. They sit on a floor covered in marmoleum flooring. Both offer acoustic abilities. The difference in sound from the hardwood flooring on the upstairs room is pretty impressive. But I do have a large thick rug that I plan to move downstairs to try.

The subwoofer is only there temporarily. I haven't spent the time to figure out where it sounds best so it's not usually turned on.

There are two 7" Monster bass traps at each side reflection point, corner bass traps at the back walls and additional bass traps with diffusion plates on them on the back wall. I have ceiling brackets coming to mount two bass traps at the first reflection on the ceiling.

@dwcda so what are you hearing with the transparent cables in your system? Any conclusions?

I just swapped my Mogami for the Transparent. To me they immediately sounded better but after 10 minutes  of swapping it's really hard  to tell. So  I'll play them for a week, taking notes on individual sections of songs that really stand out for me & then swap back & relisten to  those sections.

So what model transparent?

Super.

So yesterday I swapped the Mogami cables for the Transparent and spent the day and today playing songs I know well. I documented areas of each song that I found notable. Today I swapped back the Mogami. I know I said I'd wait a week but I wanted a preview. I found no difference. Not a thing. Both sound amazing. There were no additional details, no change in bass/treble/etc. It sounded exactly the same. Could be my ears or listening abilities but I think I just saved myself $18,000. If anything I'll consider buying another subwoofer. But I did leave the Transparent connected and I'll compare again in a week.

@mihorn I listened to that on my system & heard no difference between any of the 4. So I had my spouse choose the part to play while I had no idea which she was playing & I could not tell if she was playing different pieces or just the same one again & again. So no difference for me.

Is it just me? Has anyone listened to those 4 recordings and heard differences?

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1st, it’s hard to notice the sound difference with my system which is a really good sounding system. The sound is still good with a bad power cable.

That's my concern with the cables I auditioned. There could be differences but they're very small and not worth the cost to me 

3rd, You have no idea what the difference looks like between 4 PCs sounds. The sound is a hard field to describe or explain since the sound is invisible. The evaluation of sound needs much experienced and trained ears. Many people and I took decades to earn seasoned ears.

Below is mahgister feedback of 4 PC test video from Cable matters thread which I agree.

I'd find that analysis valid if mahgister listened to a sample of 6 recordings and gave a similar synopsis without knowing which recording related to each cable and could discern the duplicates.

OP - your room acoustics when addressed will be a better ROI than cables, in the current state of your system. Revisit cables after if you still feel the need to explore. 

I've decided to put some of the money I would have spent on these cables towards a second sub. I've moved the existing sub to the best spot as indicated to me by crawling around on the floor while it played in my chosen listening spot. The ceiling brackets arrive this week allowing me to mount two of the panels on the ceiling at first reflection. The diffusion panels are mounted front & back. I think I'll be good. When the MEN220 arrives I'll be ready to see what it can do to the overall sound.

Anyone in an optimized room with a balanced system want to give their impressions on the 7 power cords in this file?

@mihorn You chose the JPS cord as the best & worst sound, the WT v2 was your second best choice. I agree with @mahgister they all sound the same.

With usual my computer speaker (Bose companion 3),best sound (0:17), 2nd best (0:50), Worst (1:08).

This shows the difference between listening to sound where we know what we're hearing and can be influenced vs a blind test. I was falling into this trap when I first put the Transparent cables in place and though it took 15 minutes I was sure that they sounded better. Later after swapping back I could see there was no difference. 

My dealer says that no one has ever returned cables after an audition in his 45 years experience. His opinion is that Super was not a high enough level to notice and he would like to bring by Ultra or better and witness the swap and resulting sound himself. 

In my experience there is a very strong motivation to hear an improvement because you want your system to sound the best that it can and if others say that better cables produce better sound then you should hedge your bets and get the best cables you can afford. I'm willing to bet that a second sub will have a much bigger effect than a cable swap at a fraction of the cost.

Thanks for all of your responses.

2) You wrote there are 7 PCs but it was not 7 PCs. Some were just repeat. It’s like a trap and bring a confusion.

ABX implies that you listen to A, then B and then X which will be either A or B. Paul McGowan of PS Audio is of the same opinion that you are, he doesn't like the X part of ABX as he feels that he's being tricked. But it's not meant to trick you,  it's meant to discern whether you  can actually distinguish the difference between A & B and identify them when you don't know which you're listening to. If, after hearing A & B you can't tell which thing X represents that's a pretty good indication that they are indistinguishable.

I'm content with where I've ended up  on  this journey & you sound like you are too. We can part as friends & move on.

do you think i tune my room by ears with 100 resonators  with astonishing results  but all is wrong because my eyes were open ? 

Odd argument. No one but you thinks that you tune your room with 100 resonators with astonishing results. You make such a statement, deem it a fact because you say its & then challenge anyone to disagree with your opinions. I've tried to take this topic seriously but it's comments like that that make me think that it's too silly to continue. I'm out. 

It seems that most people on both sides of the cable debate accept the fact that the placebo effect is real... if someone is in pain & a doctor gives you a placebo & tells you that it will cure your pain, you may find pain relief. If a sighted test of cables produces a wonderous ability to hear differences in those cables, the way it did earlier on this thread with the YT video showing 4 different power cables, would you want to pay for the more expensive cable  if you knew that it was merely a placebo, and that your inability to see the cables made that difference recognition disappear? IMO I don't  want to pay for the  placebo, whether we're talking about medicine or audio gear. With medicine the underlying  problem causing the  pain still exists & hasn't been treated. With my audio system I  don't  want to stitch my audio equipment together with very, very expensive bits of magic that my brain has been fooled into believing make a difference. 

So these discussions happen & will continue to happen because there is real medicine that actually solves problems and those that believe in the underlying science of medicine are trying to convince people not to spend thousands of $$$ on the placebo. 

How is this so complicated? It is very, very straightforward.

You quoted my post and ended the quote before the reason it's difficult was stated...

But from what I can see the benefit, if there is one, will be most noticeable system wide. In other words, just switching one power cable the way I did before won’t be sufficient for you to tell a difference... again, assuming there is one. So I need my friend to swap power cables for my amp/preamp & streamer, XLR cables from my streamer to my preamp, preamp to amp & speakers cables. That takes a good 5-10 minutes. There is no way my brain is retaining what I previously heard and then comparing it to what I currently hear.

The human brain can retain & compare audio for about a fraction of a second. If it takes 5-10 minutes, or even 1 minute to swap cables, your ability to remember what you heard and compare it with what you're hearing now is effectively zero. 

Don't believe me? Take this test... 

Compare the sounds and see if you can tell the difference. But when you're comparing, wait about 5 minutes between listening to each test.