Cables Are Crazy, what do you think?

Cables do transefer signals but what type of noise do they create or get rid of in the process? If he can't hear the difference then he can't hear well or he doesn't listen. My neighbors aren't audiophiles or videophiles but they can tell the difference easily in a demo on power cords with the plasma and the cdp. They are in amasement and one of them wants a shunyata power cord for his plasma now.

beerdraft

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Your Dr will be relying on scientific theory, which in turn means models of reality that simplify reality. Any scientist that thinks his models completely explain reality is an arrogant pompous ass, not a scientist. Discussing cables with EEs can be very frustrating (though I am one myself). Their models are proven over and over again to be incredibly useful for designing equipment that when built will probably work. But the standards of a microwave or a dishwasher working are not as exacting as we audiophiles strive for. Our ear/brains are more exacting as regards small phase distortions than any EE model allows for. The EE is always discarding terms and issues as being inaudible, when he has no real basis for doing so, other than the desire/need for an implementable answer. Phase issues are perhaps the most important to get right. Some phase distortions are completely benign as the ear/brain may be very used to decoding them. Others may completely interfere with our enjoyment of the music because our ear/brain cannot make sense of it without real effort, which leads to fatigue. The EE models were never designed to achieve the level of perfection we strive for, and so serve only as guides, not truths. We are left to experiment and draw our own unverifiable conclusions. Sometimes we are deluded, for sure, but I think that mostly we are right about what we believe we hear.

Very nice response Redkiwi.

I think the cable industry in general has started to accept that the dielectric (insulation) can have as much of an effect on the quality of a cable as the metal conductor can.

EE's should have a basic understanding of dielectrics and the reason why surrounding conductors with PVC vs. polyethylene vs. teflon vs. air vs. a vacuum would affect sonic performance. They also know that conductor metal, purity, gauge and geometry all have consequences. Termination quality is also important as is connector quality. You put all of these variables together and it makes perfect sense that cables can sound very different from each other.

Still, anyone who has actually spent any real time listening to various cables on a good stereo knows that they make a difference and that's really all that matters.

As for blind testing, it simply puts the listener in an unnatural stressful state where the anxiety of the test serves to block the listeners ability to hear things that are obvious during casual listening. It proves the limitations of the testing methodology more than anything else.

I have always believed that long term blind testing would remove most of the anxiety associated with standard blind A/B testing and result in more meaningful and interesting results. Admittedly, it would be harder to do though.