The truth about interconnects - can you handle it?

i find it strange that people claim there is no difference between different types/brands of speaker and IC cables. i consider myself new to the hobby, and the most noticeable change in sound on my system came from, in this order: 1) speaker; 2) amp 3) cables 4) preamp 5) NOS tubes 6) upgraded CD player

Bomarc, thanks for your response. I am reading a lot of health care DBTs professionaly designed, but other than some basics I am not at all an expert in statistics...I am trying to do a single blind study [ I will not know, of course, what cable I will listen too, so that will not suppose to eliminate the placebo?] but I'll write what I'll hear for cable A and B...I don't know how many times should I repeat it until it has some statistical significance, but hey, I am not planning to publish the results in Stereophile...It is suppose to be cheap,laid back and fun. I did it before comparing the Musical Fidelity A3 cdp with the Philips sacd 1000. The results were obvious in 15 minutes.On cdp, one player was heavy in the bottom end and had some rolled of highs[ sacd1000], the other had better dynamics and details.[ even my non-audiophile wife got the same differences ] Also the air around instruments and lack of digital glare was evident with pure dsd material...Those modest personal observation did match others reviews, so it may be that I'll find consistent differences with cables. [ However,I will not extrapolate, as two amps or cdps are supposed to be way more complex than two twisted copper wires made from the same purity material...]
I just don't grasp why folks are so tense about this subject, it's like preaching darwinism in a southern baptist church...

The best way is to live with the component under test for three months. Blind test is not a very accurate way to compare different components anyway. As posted by others, a normal listening is not to switch cable every 5 min, I don't care you double or triple or .... Some need longer time to settle, and those cables will lose in blind test. And people are nervous and tired in the tedeous "blind" test. You listen to Beethoven 9'th and say "what a great music" at end. I don't think you will say any good thing if I switch between Beethoven and Mozart every 5 min. Or repeat the same section every 5 min.

Dandr: Unfortunately for audio comparisons, our brains are wired to synthesize information from all our senses, rather than to isolate information from a single sense. So if you're just comparing two cables blind, your brain is already telling you, "These are two different cables." It's really easy to make someone think they're listening to two different things when in fact they're not. So no, just comparing the cables blind will not eliminate the placebo effect.

For your CD player comparisons, it's important to match levels (with a volmeter; an SPL meter won't do). The same system with as little as a 0.2dB difference can sound different--even though one doesn't sound any louder than the other. Also, remember the limitations of single-blind testing--if there's anybody in the room with you who knows which wire is which, there are all sorts of subliminal ways they can communicate that to you. Try to avoid that if you can.

One reason audiophiles don't do more of these kinds of comparisons (besides simply not liking the results) is that it is not easy to really do them right. That doesn't mean that what you're trying to do isn't worth doing--anything is better than non-blind comparisons. You just have to remember that if you hear differences, you haven't definitively proved anything.

Overall, though, you have my respect for giving it a try. Have fun (and enjoy the beer) and tell us how things turn out.

I have been sitting on the fence for a while now when debating if X cable that costs $20 is better than Y cable that cost $300. That being said, a friend let me borrow a set of PS Audio Statements and the second I put them in the system, I heard what I didn't want to hear...a significant difference. Trust me, I DID NOT want to hear a difference. I would have loved it if the $20 set of IC's I had sounded the same as the PS Audio's...but sadly they didn't. So needless to say, I am now saving my pennies for some of the sweet PS Audio ICs.....are there better out there than these even....I don't know and I really don't want to know. My pocket book cannot handle it.