Most Beneficial Cable Upgrade

Okay, I'll give it another try.

In your 1/25 post, the one that ends "ha, right...", you use half of the "paragraph" writing about using tape decks, I think you're actually referring to cassette decks. Why? I never mentioned using a tape deck for anything.

Also, I point out that professional sound engineers and others are able to use A/B comparisons and quickly make sonic decisions. Your reply is to say that's not what the discussion is about. That's sidestepping the issue. Are sound pros able to successfully A/B and audiophiles just can't? If so, why is that?

Regarding the scientific method. I think Pcoombs has an excellent idea. Why not just record what systems sound like in different configurations and compare the recordings. It might not be foolproof, but it's certainly better than saying A/B comparisons cannot be done.

I'm intrigued by your comment that recording engineers aren't chiming in about power cords. I think that raises more questions than it answers.

if you can't hear a difference how would listening to a recording help? that is all i am asking. ps audio has some readouts of tests for the more scientificlly inclined. but you can't trust them because they are selling wire. ha

Interesting thread. Appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts. I am currently trying to figure out what cables I need in order that everything will be pretty well set up when my speakers arrive (in 6 weeks...). Reading this thread has persuaded me to try the stock power cords and my existing Belden speaker cables before trying anything fancy. And that seems like a good idea--so thanks!

I am relatively new to the hi-fi audio world, but I did spend a number of years searching for and finally buying a professional quality double bass (back when I thought I was going to make my living in an orchestra). I remember that the beginning of my search was more difficult. I would spend hours playing a few instruments and get very confused. But as time went by, and as I auditioned more and more basses in all different parts of the country, it became a much easier process. It got to the point where I really didn't need to play much more than few notes to eliminate an instrument. And, in fact, I came to realize that playing an instrument for more than a few minutes was counter-productive. The more I played a bass that I didn't immediately love, the more unsure I became. I'm just blabbing--this isn't in response to anyone's comment in particular--but I think there is something very important to be said for the reaction you have in the first 3-5 seconds. Impulse, gut, or whatever you call it...

what were you going to record on? and would you listen to the recordings with or without better ac cords. and what cords would you record over? this sort of throws everything into more questions. i am sorry i didn,t say that a/bs can,t be done. i meant to say it has problems and has been dismissed by many. i would never buy anything at a store that uses a/bs as a tool for decision making. maybe you are on to something and maybe reel to reel would offer better recording data. i worked for nakamichi and sony microphones for several years and recording has to be done right as i am sure you know. thanks for continuing the discussion. very interesting. and i didn,t mean to lump all recording engineers into one pot. but the ones that keep compressing the music for louder horrible sound should stop.

A very simple version of this test would involve a CD player with a digital output and one of the DSD capable HD recorders from either Korg or Tascam. The CD player will digitally output to the DSD recorder and the test will be of three different power cords - stock, mid-level and SOTA. We can have a PC manufacturer suggest and supply the cords. The questions about break-in, settling-in or warm-up can be dealt with by having the power cords fully broken in on external cable burners and attached to the CD player for an arbitrary time period, say 72 hours, before recording. The music to be recorded should be the same for each power cable and I would suggest at least 2 hours of recording time for each cord.

Once the three separate recordings have been made you can now play them back and see if you hear any differences between the recordings. You can playback long sections, short snippets, mix and match, play at random, repeat play sections over and over, etc. and see what you hear.

As you can see, this is a simple setup, but it is scalable if you want to test larger equipment systems. I would even think that if you took the time and effort you could design a test along these lines that would optimize which power cords to use in your system, excepting power amps or speakers that require AC.

If you see holes in what I propose, then tweak it, for I think Pcoomb's basic concept is sound.