The truth about interconnects - can you handle it?

Bluefin, our audio memory for detailed musical presentation is very short, same as memorising a phone number for 10-20s in order to call someone in our phonebook. Unless yours imediate recall memory is truly exceptional, after 3 mo from listening to a component you'll have just some vague impressions of how the music details were[ are you very sure that the cable you listen 3 mo ago has a slight tighter bass than the one you listed today? Would you be more inclined to detect a difference if you were listening to the same cables half a minute appart?] ...

Obvious,normal listening does not include switching cables like crazy, but we are not talking about normal listening but of some kind of test designed to pick up some differences...

5 minutes is too long! I'll listen to about 25-30s on one cable, than I'll switch to the other one. If the 2nd cdp will start playing 25s after the first, I'll be able to listen to the same slice of music presented through 2 cables, one after on other.

Tired and nervous? Nah, I'll do it when I'll be rested and relaxed. My happines in life is not linked at all with the test's results, I'll do it for fun [ some of my weekends are booring also...] If any audiogoners are around Barnwell, South Carolina, are all invited for a listen-beer on the house!

Cables not broken in? It may be a point. Many vendors do burned them on the cable cooker, someone can also buy used...

Bomarc,the level matching seems like a good point,I did't think about it. OK, maybe we'll not eliminate the placebo, just reduce it a little will be ok...

on other ideea for a test: same CDP, 2 different cables-ICs R/L to my Mg Head OTL tube head amp and than listen through the Sennheiser Hd600, each ear will listen to a different cable!...what do you think?[ does not seem very rigurous, but is very easy to do it!]
cheers.

Dandreescu,

The point is not to remember which cable has tighter bass or high. The point is: do you like the sound/music or not after you listen and tweak for enough time? So you know the best you can get from this cable. Very often, a component impress people at first listening does not keep the excitement long. Especially we don't want to bet our hundreds CD's collection on one or two namely reference CD's. I know many friends regret their purchase realizing later that the particular component is only good for <20% of their CD collections. And actually a so called better high and low componet make 80% of their collection sound worse. It is not uncommon to hear this.
I personally had experience of blaming on wrong components before. Like some cables or CD players were edgy.... and later found the room was the cause. After fixing my room, the edgy cable became better cable. The other example is the bass: after using a better transport, the bass is tighter and reverse my vote on my IC. The other way around, I change my mind on some DAC becasue switching around digital cables.
So, a good component lasts! it responds well for most music and associated gears you throw at it and should last long.
I still remember which CD or LP I enjoy very much tens years later.
Maybe I remember the amp or speaker, but I usually forget which cable I used with them.
Only remember recent cables I have been playing around.
A good cable should not remind you about cables all the time, otherwise there is a bug in your system.

Like man will not know woman on the first date, and definitely should not A/B girl friends in a short time bcz it won't work.
Eventually, we will find it out after marriage after man and woman live together.
Same as music and our gears.

Even some journal put out so call "blind test result", how many of us will trust it? I think many will say "a bunch of lousy listener" to replace "this crappy commercial writer". We still will not have conclusion.

Dandr: For more info on good listening tests, check out:

http://www.pcavtech.com/abx

and

http://www.pcabx.com

Okay folks. I am kind of new here--oris that "hear"(?), but I am a quidk study. I suspect that anyone moving from Radshack, circuit city, good guys,etc. standard off the shelf cables to Acoustic Zen, Cardas, etc.-quality cables will hear a terrific differance. Perhaps this is enough. There are those of us who appreciateg great bass and especially vocals and there are some cables that might show some differance. I did change from Radshack digital RCA to Acoustic Zen and I am a believer! As far as speaker cables and comparisons, etc., the test is easy: Just wire one speaker with one cable and the other cable goes to the opposite speaker. you can even run the system on mono setting. If you like it, buy it.

Wires make difference on components that are not properly designed and tend to pick up and oscillate from already increased 21st century RF influence causing large circuit instability or even permanent damage.

Like in the old-day designes all you've got to do is not to let it be present in the input (piece of cake actually) with pennies worth of electronic elements. Tend to say that ALL audio circuits had been already designed and have a bunch of ways to avoid bias instability and RF influence.

For me as EE working in large financial institution(as a financial specialist) there is a very simple explaination:

Electronic specialists needn't reinvent any wheel nowdays. All the specifications on audio-electronic equipment jumped far higher than standards of High Fidelity and the question stays pretty clear: How to "resurrect" the dying after 80's audio market?

All you need(as a designer or manufacturer) to do is hook-up a dealer or few(market stability) explain him that you've got some outstanding own scientific conclusions and selected the best of the best to create this wire that should retail for the price of diamond necklace. Dealer is the one with commercial sting will add some "harmonic distortions" to transduce it with nice advertizing manner to his dumb client.

Yeah, wires and cables do "its best" for the ones who hears well and reads well commercial magazines to compensate simple and inexpencive circuit elements that should be present in every audio component but believe me they are not.

What drove me realy for my conclusion is despite my knowlege of electricity and signals I started to read magazines and started to develop some belief but...

I was CURIOUS to strip my Mainstream Hybrid expencive powercord and realized that it's OXIDED after one year of usage!!!!!!!! WHERE THE HELL IS 99.9999999999 OFC COOPER???
I also looked up in Home Depot power wires that I have a large roll for near three years and there were no corrosion whatsoever!!!

Anyone wishes to strip some Shyniata or Siltech out here?

I also stand for component manufacturers that stand for their product(where they realy put labor) able to proove that their components sound equally to the listener with ANY type of interconnects or speaker wires and believe me there are such and many of us after my post can write them bellow...