James Randi vs. Anjou Pear - once and for all

You can't have it both ways. Either you believe all cables sound the same or not. Take your pick.

*sigh* yes some people think that way...that it has to be a choice that there is no gray area. It helps to understand that small differences exist but that these differences are just simply too small to be relevant in the vast majority of cases. Extreme geometries can roll off the highs slightly (separating +/- wires by great distances such as one foot such as in a loose dangling ribbon or wires...of course long runs are needed to make the effect audible)

Winstonsmith, yours is a very informative post. Thanks for the information you bring to bear, which highlights the controversy well. I must say, however, that I wonder why you went so far as to say, "If people want to waste their hard-earned cash on such products, let them. If they think they heard a $34k difference, I'm not going to tell them otherwise." I heard the Wavelength $350,000 amp at CES and regretted that I did. It was incredible and there was no way I could even consider it. I don't think necessarily that people are "wasting" their money, especially on say the Siltech cords. If they can afford them, more power to them, especially if they can hear the benefits. I do know some who buy for appearances, but I know very few of these.

Nevertheless, your post does attack the irrational and illogical arguments of many of those who hear no differences. I have always wondered why they bother posting as they convince no one. You may well have the answer.

I am always, unhappy that they seek to wrap themselves in the cloak of science when few have any understand of what it means other than a few concepts in electrical engineering and a vague notion of what the placebo effect is about and of concern to some scientists.

If you can't hear a difference between various cable designs, you probably shouldn't be in audio, just as people who are color-blind probably shouldn't be artists or traffic light designers

We ALL know this is true, that no two different cable designs sound exactly alike (if they do, the system you're listening to is very, very low rez --apparently like Randi's! A Kenner "Close-'N'-Play", perhaps?)

The story of the "emperors new clothes" comes to mind...if you can't hear the difference then you have a lousy system and you are probably deaf too. We have all heard this one before.

Well Winston, I think you might do well to investigate about a certain high end user on Agon with well over 1000's posts on his system and with the kind of SOTA gear and room design that everyone dreams about. Recently, this Gentleman underwent a Blind test and was unable to discern between two cables in his own system that he selected himself. (The reason he selected the cables was that he was utterly convinced he could hear a difference when conducting sighted tests and said so with such great conviction that a Blind test was a no brainer test he could pass with ease!)

Shadorne, more information please. I don't know what a capitalized blind test means. What did he do as a result of not being able to "discern" between the cables. I suspect nothing. Perhaps he was more able hear a difference in the sighted test if the "blind" test was the usual 30 second, same/different test. This is the reason why I think these DB tests are invalid.

I would not be too critical of Winstonsmith until someone shows that there are not variations in the ability to discern differences. It seems to be unreasonable to expect that everyone's aptitude is the same as it is not on all other measures.

Shadorne

Well Winston, I think you might do well to investigate about a certain high end user on Agon with well over 1000's posts on his system and with the kind of SOTA gear and room design that everyone dreams about. Recently, this Gentleman underwent a Blind test and was unable to discern between two cables in his own system that he selected himself. (The reason he selected the cables was that he was utterly convinced he could hear a difference when conducting sighted tests and said so with such great conviction that a Blind test was a no brainer test he could pass with ease!)

I assume your referring to Mike, based on your description?

The only blind test with Mike was a copy of LP on digital and the actual LP compared, and he "failed" because he missed identifying the difference one time out of six (or so I read).

If my understanding of the numbers is correct, I would hardly consider that test a failure on Mike's part, or is there another blind event that I missed?