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The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance

This is a journey through real life experiences from you to everyone that cares to educate themselves. I must admit that I was not a believer in power cords and how they affect sound in your system. I from the camp that believed that the speaker provided 75% of the sound signature then your source then components but never the power cord. Until that magic day I along with another highly acclaimed AudioGoner who I will keep anatomist ran through a few cables in quite a few different systems and was "WOWED" at what I heard. That being said cable I know that I am not the only believer and that is why there are so many power cord/cable companies out there that range from $50 to 20-30 thousand dollars and above. So I like most of you have to scratch my head and ask where do I begin what brand and product and what should i really pay for it?

The purpose of this discussion to get some honest feed back on Price to Performance from you the end user to us here in the community.

Please fire away!


 


128x128blumartini
delkal
110 posts
 
Cleeds
I’ve participated in a few scientifically controlled listening tests. The trials were conducted by real researchers, not self-appointed audio forum experts. They were tedious - something the organizers cautioned about at the start of the undertaking - and it explains why not all of the subjects who started the test were willing to complete them. Proper, scientifically-controlled listening tests are a time-consuming, laborious undertaking for pretty much everyone involved. Those who claim such tests are simple, fun and easy to conduct have obviously never been responsible for any such test.


Care to share the results of the test?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
OK, I’ll be the first one to bring it up. There’s no such thing as a “scientifically controlled test,” at least for anything audio related, because nobody can control all the variables involved. There’s no MIL-STD for controlled test, even AES doesn’t have a protocol for Controlled Blind Testing. The Amazing Randi had a protocol for controlled blind testing calculated so nobody could pass. Geez, nobody even know what all the variables are. But if you want to pretend test, be my guest! Hey, that rhymes! 🤗
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,101 posts
 
A good overview indeed... :)



thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
I am beginning to question the very concept of the ABX test. Is it a real thing? 

Before you get upset and slam your keyboard (yes, I am talking to you the mighty keyboard-warrior), this is just a joke, but a tongue-in-chick joke nonetheless...

Isn't the "ABX test" something that the "slayers of snake oil" throw in your face every time someone shares his / her experience of anything in audio making a difference? More often than not, without even doing any such tests themselves. 

It's beginning to look like it. To the point of me starting to detest is, as only those guys use it, in every audio forum they can find.
atdavid
736 posts
 
This is such a grossly inaccurate statement as to call it bubkiss. While ideally the test would be double blind, that is not always a viable thing to do. There are two biases, subject bias and observation bias. Single blind removes subject bias, which is usually the dominant bias. While double blind is the "gold standard", single bias is still used as it eliminate subject bias, and provides significantly more statistically relevant results. To suggest this is no more valuable than sighted tests shows a gross ignorance w.r.t. this type of testing.

cleeds2,587 posts11-25-2019 12:46pm
One just needs a friend that switches cables (or lies and tells you that he did), so you don’t know what you are listening to. No huge study design, no exhaustive testing procedures, and the perfect testing system and environment .. your system, your room.
What you describe isn’t double-blind and has no control for the tester’s bias. So the results would be essentially useless, and certainly not scientific.
Anyone who tells you there is no value in doing a test this way is lying to you.
There’s no more value to the test you described than there is to the sort of fully sighted tests that you repeatedly assail so passionately.

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