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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I have no objection whatsoever to anyone doing blind tests, which they probably don’t anyway, but results of a single blind test - or any test - have no meaning because so many things can go wrong with the test. It’s a complicated system. A lot of things can go wrong and affect results. A lot of people seem to think it’s a slam dunk and case closed. But that’s not true at all. Evidence is the accumulation of the results of many tests, test on different systems and by different persons. This is especially true for negative results, which is what the pseudo skeptics are prognosticating - negative results. Hel-loo! 🤗
blumartini's avatar
blumartini OP
224 posts
 
@prof
I thank you for your input and for stepping up to the plate in this oscilloscope v.s. the ear discussion. There is much confusion out there when it comes to audio science, marketing and the ear and what you are saying about the mind playing tricks is true for alot of consumers. For the record, I do believe in science but at the end of the day it does have to process in the point of origination "the brain" and ears and thats why cable companies sell cables. At the end of the day it's the chicken or the egg theory. My hope for the thread was to somehow try to come up with a baseline that would bring the end user closer to their sound expectation at a reasonable dollar to science and ear other and not Marketing magic Crystal B.S. that drives power cord cost from $300.00 to $$.$$$.$$. And yes, at the end of the day people do rely on their ears as the ultimate science.

Thanks for your contribution:)

Cheers 
atdavid
736 posts
 
Many tests are not needed to disprove a claim, just one if the test matches the conditions in the claim and given how broad those claims often are in audio, or how specific they are, it is easy to replicate the conditions purported in the claim, right down to the specific test subject.

The great thing about blind testing is it isolates the auditory system as the exclusive "test". Really, that is all it does. It ensures that only the "ears" are used in the testing.
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
https://twitteringmachines.com/the-finite-capacity-of-short-term-memory-or-why-abx-tests-in-hifi-are-silly/
atdavid
736 posts
 
Oh look, a person who doesn't understand the concept quoting another person who doesn't understand the concept. I feel so much more enlightened now .... like at least 10lbs.

A blind test does nothing more than restrict the evaluation process to one thing, and one thing only .... your ears.  It will never cease to be funny audiophiles claiming their hearing is so infallible that they must see what they are reviewing to hear it properly.


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