a/b interconnect cable comparison single ended

Mrtennis how could you ever 'know' which is more 'accurate' unless you could control (know) the input signal. And, as I am sure you would agree, more accurate on square waves (or other test signal) may not be more accurate with a musical signal. So how can we ever do better than find that which we prefer? Perhaps with a standard cable, we could find another cable 'most like' our standard. Even in this case all we could say is that we could identify a cable close to our standard within the constraints of a given system.

There is only an absolute within the relative. Using the metric of what live music sounds like we seek the best recreation of this event. 'Accuracy of the whole' may well be more than a sum of 'accuracy of the parts'.

Or perhaps I am inaccurate!

cjs

I discussed hooking cabling up to a distortion analyzer quite a while back. Some cables are far higher in distortion than others. John Curl has also discussed this over at AA.

With that in mind, this type of test still doesn't simulate the way that a cable acts as an impedance transformer between pieces of gear. Since no two pieces of gear have the same input / output impedances, the loading characteristics, distortion and sound WILL change somewhat from system to system / component to component.

As far as the approach that David Salz recommended, it really can't tell you too much of anything. One could easily see the electrical differences between the two cables and the variances in signal flow when hooked up in series using a network analyzer. However, attributing what sonics go with what cable, regardless of where Cable A is in relation to Cable B or vice-versa, would be nothing more than a crapshoot. That's because the source sees the combined electrical characteristics of the two cables and load component on the whole. Thevenin's theory teaches that the sum of impedances can be summed into one impedance. Then again, i've never been a huge fan of Thevenin's theory. Lumped and distributed impedances can and do very different things electrically, even though they might sum into equal values if looking at the circuit on the whole. Sean
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mr smith, you are correct. one cannot know which of 2 cables are less accurate0.

however, anecdotally, you might have confidence based upon listening, which of the two cables seems to alter the signal to a greater degree, at the listener position, using spectral analysis. i realize this is not a definitive test, and, as you indicate one cable may be preferred, but as a first step, it may provide some useful information.

Mr. T: you note you'd like to find

'which of the two cables seems to alter the signal to a greater degree'

How do you know what the signal is suppose to be?

If we take our time and listen carefully for the sound of live music in our audio rooms (creating the illusion of sound/space) we will select out increasingly 'accurate' components where accuracy means accuracy in recreation of the encoded musical moment.

Perhaps it would be useful to make a recording of some music made in my audio space. I suspect that advances in digital technology make it a realistic proposition that an serious amateur could make a high quality encoded musical moment in their living space which could in turn be used as a high quality 'test signal' for evaluation of their audio system. It's late, I'm rambling on but I think you can get my drift. Or am I out of my mind? (one audiophile to another!)
cjs

hi cjsmith, your point is well taken.

suppose you had a high quality spectral analyzer.

suppose you had a cd which contained white or pink noise.

if you follow my paradigm, one of the cables might exhibit greater frequency response deviations, when the spectral analyzer is set up at the listening position.

yes, the room is part of the equation, but the room is a constant.