Maybe this explains it all -- or at least part of it:
"Auditory memory is said to last for only about forty seconds (average) and this possibly explains the diverse auditory perceptions."
From:
http://www.innerear.on.ca/editorials/editorial-v9-3.html
A few people have asked me, as the igniter of this unexpectedly voluminous thread, to state my opinion. I've held back, but after almost 150 postings on this topic, and now that it seems to be slowing down...what the heck.
Based on my 30 some years in audio, many of those years spent as a musician, and the past 15 years as a financial writer observing the degradation some people will fall into in pursuit of their god of money, I see the same pattern in huckster get-rich-quick pitches as I see in high-end product advertising, particularly in cables, interconnects and, most shamelessly, in power cords: Snake oil. The only difference is that the financial con men appeal to their audience's desire to get rich quick, while the audio con men appeal to their audience's desire to get audio nirvana quick.
Before you ask, have I spent tens of thousands of dollars and auditioned every interconnect, cable and cord out there? Of course not. Have you? Even if I had attempted such an absurd venture and pronounced my opinions, they would only be MY opinions, and many would disagree. The 40-second rule applies.
I have tried some high end speaker cables and compared them to Radio Shack 12 gauge oxygen-free copper cable at what the salesman thinks is an outrageous $1.00/foot. I find no appreciable difference.
Horrified? Get in line.
If it comforts you, I hear a big difference between 12 gauge and 14 or thinner. Other than that -- snake oil.
I think that some people are convinced that they hear a difference between, for example, one cable or power cord versus another. I can't get in their head to verify this. But my common sense, which I am learning more and more to trust, tells me that most likely they *want* to hear a difference. Maybe it's because they bought it and have convinced themselves they have to defend their extravagant purchase to their wife and thus to themselves. Maybe it's because they read a review and have convinced themselves that if they allow themselves to disagree with the respected reviewer they wouldn't be taken seriously as an audiophile, by their friends or perhaps just in their own minds. Whatever it is:
High end audio is largely about ego. That's why it's a male hobby.
We all want to think we have the biggest and the best. Or that we are on the way to getting it. And the latest and greatest cables and power cords all promise to be the new Viagra. Until you get the next issue of Stereophile which pronounces the newest latest and greatest.
And to those who have asked about my system (golly, I hope mine's bigger than yours)...here's what I am currently listening to:
Thorens TD-160 Mark II table
Audio Technica AT440 cart
Audible Illusion Modulus 3A pre-amp
JoLida tube CD player
Theta Casablanca
Spectron Musician II amp
Martin-Logan speakers
12 gauge Radio Shack O2-free speaker cable at an outrageous $1.00/foot
TMC interconnects on some components, Radio Shack gold terminal interconnects on others (haven't made up my mind on these, except the TMCs are stiff as a board and very difficult to work with)
FYI, the Spectron/Martin Logan combination is truly magical.
Of course, that's only my opinion. But I make no money giving you my opinion; unlike the cable and power cord manufacturers. Snake oil it's not.
