Cable "burning": Real or VooDoo ???

Yes, it was Emerson. But let's be fair. Steve espouses his point of view with consistency and tenacity. I categorically do NOT subscribe to his "wires is wires" point of view, but I do think it's a bit unfair to demean his "psychological or intellectual character". He's asking for hard data and, to be fair, we haven't yet given such. What we have given is anecdotal evidence. That such evidence is not yet quantifiable does not nullify it; rather it means there are physical properties to this whole business that aren't yet mapped. But namecalling solves nothing. Let's try to stick with facts.

Sean's approach makes some sense from the scientific point of view; perhaps we can undertake to push that kind of empirical testing to see where it leads?

Really hope everyone here can keep this confined to "quietly asking and answering in turn". (Some Greek fella wrote about that quite some time back; Plato or something like that.)

Uh-oh-- seems like I stepped on some toes without even meaning to. Adamanteus, if you'll look at my post again, you'll see that I said "Stevemj does not have the psychological or intellectual capacity TO GET WEIRD ENOUGH for this audiophile". Actually, although I too disagree with Steve, he makes very well written and civil posts. I would say that I complimented him by saying that he cannot get WEIRD enough for me-- straight out of HST's best works. But if I offended, my apologies. Craig.

Getting back to the topic-- can Stevemj demand that we prove our contention, ie that there is a difference in music character with "burn in", but we cannot demand that he prove his, ie that there is no difference with "burn-in"?

Personally, I have no particular "need" to explain the phenomenon as I trust my own senses. But if he wishes to prove his case, I would love to see the results of his study(s) with peer reviews, publication-- the whole works. And I surely do wish him the best of luck. Cheers. Craig

Yes, sloshing electrons through a cable changes it: the cable heats up. Temperature changes mean physical changes. Physical changes can change electrical characteristics--work hardening is an example.

Sean - My opinion, for what it is worth, is that most people here are probably better listeners than I am. I would not want to be in a listening contest with anyone here where we were trying to distinquish between signals with measureable differences. I am pretty sure the folks here have ears that are as good as ears get.

I would not hesitate, however, to bet a huge amount of money that, in a true double blind test, no one could tell if a cable had been "conditioned".

If it really would mean something to you I will try to dig up evidence that electrical signals won't change the property of metals. I hear over and over again the argument that science doesn't know everything therefore what one hears is real. This makes it pointless to give scientific evidence.