Rower30. Brilliant stuff and I salute you. The whole issue of AC is fascinating to me. Many of us have reported that our gear sounds considerably better late at night and I am not convinced it is just the alcohol as I quit drinking many months ago and have experienced several fabulous late-night sessions since. There's no question that power demands and atmospheric conditions change as night settles in and could thus effect the signal in some (positive) way. I acknowledge that I do NOT use a conditioner but if I follow your argument, the power is undergoing transformation to DC within in given unit anyway so it *should* not matter.
I've even had a guy with a masters in physics (teaches at a local community college) tell me that one amplifier is as good as another but I'm sorry, when I replaced an Adcom 5802 with a McIntosh MC402 there was simply no comparison.
I know this is a crazy question but is it possible that the length of dissimilar conductors with varying dielectrical properties can have varying effects, positive or negative, in terms of introducing, eliminating, or altering interference? Before you laugh, I think of the radio antennae which, getting longer, pulls in a progressively better signal. Does an unprotected stretch of conductor automatically serve as a lightning rod for intereference (the notion of capping all open RCA does seem a bit over-the-top to me but...)
Lastly, not throwing gasoline on the fire (or not wanting to ;-) ) sound coming through my best interconnects still BLOWS AWAY the sound coming through my low-grade ICs, ditto speaker cable. I mean, it's not even close. Power cords are a bit less dramatic a change (maybe I haven't spent enough money ;-) ). I've had to listen hard to hear a difference with the JPS Digital AC-X I'm auditioning for my CDP but I believe there is a qualitative difference, if a subtle one. It might even be worth $400.
Like in politics we have people sitting on two sides of an aisle, but not everyone can be, or must be, a stubborn fool. Isn't it possible that we have people who really are capable of being objective listeners and who don't talk themselves into hearing differences that do not exist in reality? And can't they be sitting on either side of the aisle at different times? As in life, nobody is right all of the time and nobody "knows" everything.
I always like the discussion, as long as it stays civil, as it's alternately informative and amusing.
I've even had a guy with a masters in physics (teaches at a local community college) tell me that one amplifier is as good as another but I'm sorry, when I replaced an Adcom 5802 with a McIntosh MC402 there was simply no comparison.
I know this is a crazy question but is it possible that the length of dissimilar conductors with varying dielectrical properties can have varying effects, positive or negative, in terms of introducing, eliminating, or altering interference? Before you laugh, I think of the radio antennae which, getting longer, pulls in a progressively better signal. Does an unprotected stretch of conductor automatically serve as a lightning rod for intereference (the notion of capping all open RCA does seem a bit over-the-top to me but...)
Lastly, not throwing gasoline on the fire (or not wanting to ;-) ) sound coming through my best interconnects still BLOWS AWAY the sound coming through my low-grade ICs, ditto speaker cable. I mean, it's not even close. Power cords are a bit less dramatic a change (maybe I haven't spent enough money ;-) ). I've had to listen hard to hear a difference with the JPS Digital AC-X I'm auditioning for my CDP but I believe there is a qualitative difference, if a subtle one. It might even be worth $400.
Like in politics we have people sitting on two sides of an aisle, but not everyone can be, or must be, a stubborn fool. Isn't it possible that we have people who really are capable of being objective listeners and who don't talk themselves into hearing differences that do not exist in reality? And can't they be sitting on either side of the aisle at different times? As in life, nobody is right all of the time and nobody "knows" everything.
I always like the discussion, as long as it stays civil, as it's alternately informative and amusing.