@jl1ny
Interesting report. I take it your friend came to make cable changes (or not) both Saturday and Sunday?
In any case, don’t beat up on yourself. What you hear and how you "feel" about what you hear has a huge subjective component to it but that is definitely not said to dismiss possible objective effects of changing cables, etc. I’m not familiar with your specific Belden 8402 or Cardas Clear Light ICs. Maybe with your gear they’re very close sonically.
Same system, no changes, dedicated power circuits, power conditioner blah blah blah - yet some days my system seems to sound better than others. I attribute a lot of that to how well rested I am (mental energy and focus), weather conditions!, and just how psyched I am about a listening session or the music playing.
I’ve never been that into A/B-ing myself. Make a change and live with it for a while but don’t go back and forth too quickly. If the change is going to have an audible effect, I can usually tell right away and I absolutely don’t claim to have "golden ears" sensitive to subtle nuance in the sonics. If I have to stand on my head and squint to hear it, probably not signifiant for me (regardless what others say). If I do hear an immediate change but not quite sure if it’s a good change or not, all the more reason for patience and to live with it for a while. The Shunyata Alpha power cord I trialed was that way. It took a loooong time for that thing to settle in and open up, whatever you want to call it. Once everything has reached "equilibrium" (including my ears) try going back to the old set up. Not something I enjoy doing! but a "collapse" of sonics, loss of intelligibility of lyrics, less ease in the sound...those are some of the things that point to the change having been a good one.
Hope that doesn’t across as patronizing or stating the obvious. Good luck in your evaluation.
Interesting report. I take it your friend came to make cable changes (or not) both Saturday and Sunday?
In any case, don’t beat up on yourself. What you hear and how you "feel" about what you hear has a huge subjective component to it but that is definitely not said to dismiss possible objective effects of changing cables, etc. I’m not familiar with your specific Belden 8402 or Cardas Clear Light ICs. Maybe with your gear they’re very close sonically.
Same system, no changes, dedicated power circuits, power conditioner blah blah blah - yet some days my system seems to sound better than others. I attribute a lot of that to how well rested I am (mental energy and focus), weather conditions!, and just how psyched I am about a listening session or the music playing.
I’ve never been that into A/B-ing myself. Make a change and live with it for a while but don’t go back and forth too quickly. If the change is going to have an audible effect, I can usually tell right away and I absolutely don’t claim to have "golden ears" sensitive to subtle nuance in the sonics. If I have to stand on my head and squint to hear it, probably not signifiant for me (regardless what others say). If I do hear an immediate change but not quite sure if it’s a good change or not, all the more reason for patience and to live with it for a while. The Shunyata Alpha power cord I trialed was that way. It took a loooong time for that thing to settle in and open up, whatever you want to call it. Once everything has reached "equilibrium" (including my ears) try going back to the old set up. Not something I enjoy doing! but a "collapse" of sonics, loss of intelligibility of lyrics, less ease in the sound...those are some of the things that point to the change having been a good one.
Hope that doesn’t across as patronizing or stating the obvious. Good luck in your evaluation.