Survey says ....
Thanks to the 179 who took the time to complete the One Minute (okay, TWO minute) Survey. If one thing was clear to me after designing the survey and collecting results is that this is one elite group, with a collection some of the most NOTE-worthy music systems on the planet.
It was no surprise that not everyone shares the same opinion on this subject. There are those who feel premium power cables were on the order of magnitude of migrating prerecorded music from the cylinder to the disc. And, others who feel that premium power cords are the industry equilivent of Pinto exploding gas tanks.
Rather than a plea for decorum, which has been done before (not always with the best outcomes), I’d like to request sometihing a little different. A request that we minimize our energy and emotion related to the specific subject matter at hand, make it somewhat generic, and encorporate "newer thinking" where we maximize the benefit of our time shared together on these forums. Particularly on subjects where we disagree. It’s been said: "It’s better to invite someone tell you what’s right about their viewpoint than to tell them what’s wrong with it."
I’d like to begin with the premise that those who contribute here feel they have something to say. Sure there are "opinions" and "rebuttals" that may be entertaining, but we have the most to gain when contributions add something of value to others in the group. The "best of the best" are actionable items where the reader not only has something to learn, but is compelled to take some action to improve the performance of their systems.
As mentioned earlier, this is an elite group of audio enthusiasts. Some of the best ears in high performance audio, with the brain matter to go along with them. I’d like to suggest that those claim who "hear" sonic differences actually DO hear them. And, those who don’t hear something magical happening, actually NO NOT hear it. The correct response in my view is not to immediately challenge the person and their perspective, but rather ask the question: "What are they hearing that I’m not hearing, and why am I not hearing it?" Or, the inverse. Assuming BOTH questions are valid, then take the conversation to another level. "Tell me about your system. Your location. Your room." The ideal scenario would be to place yourself IN the environment in question to listen for yourself. You may find that you heard nothing of interest. Or, you may find the person did, in fact, hear something pretty amazing. In most cases, the logistics will prevent this from happening. So, we can only share our viewpoints, among gentlemen that we share indulgences with and hopefully those receiving our communications are willing to allow us to tell them what we feel is right about our experiences.
That being said, there are those on the survey with a very high degree of certainty that their observations were correct. Some on the positive side. And, some on the negative side. Hopefully, we can upgrade the conversation from "disbelief and delusion" to "curiosity and willingness to experiment." I hope we learn more about ourselves from the survey and find even more ways to connect in a positive way.
Thanks for all who contributed.
John
A little "housekeeping issue". The "dashboard" link below will take you to the results of the survey. The couldn’t figure out how to edit the font size, so some of the text is crammed together. I hope there is enough information there to make it discernable.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-tcfn8dsvGcfAoSyut8ngrw_3D_3D/
