Are manufacturer AC cables good enough?

In all fairness, I am not sure if any audio manufacturer does blind tests in public. At the same time, speakers, amplifiers, etc., are, more or less, readily available in shops for one to compare them. With a little effort, a person could arrange it to be somewhat blind. Not exactly strong scientific blind, but usable on a casual personal basis. Kind of for choosing speakers to buy.

Is it possible to do something like that for cables, without going through the hassle of buying, packing, sending back? Do audio stores even cary any range of cables?

For example, Synergistic Research dealer is not that easy to locate.
You do have to submit some of your personal information first.

https://www.synergisticresearch.com/dealers/

I did blind tests at CES in 2005 in the Golden Sound room for the Intelligent Chip and Brilliant Pebbles and I think we did blind tests for Ultra Tweeters too. The ones with no output below 1 GHz. The well known U.K. reviewer whose name escapes me did a blind test of the Intelligent Chip for an auditorium full of people in U.K. that year. I also did blind test of Mr. Chip for John Curl and Bob Crump that same year. I actually recommend A/B tests for some of my products, like Clever Lil Clock, Positive Feedback did a blind test for the clock way back when. No big deal. 

A lot of audio devices require a certain amount of testing just to find out where the heck the damn things should go in the room, you know, things like Tube Traps, room diffusers, tiny little bowl resonators, Mpingo discs, things of that nature.

"Positive Feedback did a blind test for the clock way back when."

How likely is it that Positive Feedback would give negative feedback about a product?

Geoffkait, I think you are confusing blind with deaf. Similar words, different meaning.

Glupson, I think this comes down to extraordinary claims, and while there has been tests on amplifiers over the years that showed that audiophiles can have a hard time discerning relative inexpensive from expensive amplifiers when all other variables are removed (and the speakers are not an overly difficult load), there have also been tests over the years that showed differences. Controlled tests have also shown sensitivity to the distortion profile beyond what would revealed with pure THD measures, IM distortion has been shown to be easier to detect, and amplifier vendors will even tweak the response and distortion to achieve a desired "tone".


The claims for certain products are truly "extraordinary" and the explanations used to justify don't pass the smell test. Sure some of them are "real" things, but real, and being anywhere near audible are completely different. If real, as well, they should be easy to prove.

Hey AtDavid (aka @headaudio... numbers... now): You never answered my question. Why did you have to change your Audiogon handle?