Power Cables and sh(tuff)

[pompon]

You have closed mind. Give them a try at least ... it's cost nothing to listen and judge yourself if you have occasion to.

For homeopathy, you don't know "the mind suggestion" ... you can burn yourself with a coin if you think the coin is burning.

Maybe it's just mind suggestion for cables ... maybe not. If it's mind ... the fact is .. it's better because I know I use it atm. 8-)

[Beefy]

You have closed mind.

Have you ever considered that your mind is too open?

[grawk]

300 miles of aluminum cable between your wall and the power company. 2 feet of magic cables. If the last 2 feet makes a difference, something somewhere is fucked up...

[spritzer]

Power cables can change the sound considering all the crap that is on our AC lines. There are switching PSU's in almost every consumer gear we buy and most dump their switching noise back onto the lines, not everybody is as clever as Ray and dumping it in the signal ground . There are a few ways to get rid of this and the ferrite in VD cables surely helps but an isolation transformer will do a better job for a fraction of the cost of those power snakes. Passive filtering works too but why anybody charges more then 200$ for those units is beyond me.

I tried running my system off batteries once (with an inverter salvaged from a scrapped fishing boat) and even a small hydro plant that a friend of the family has next to his county house. Both were interesting but highly impractical... The best I've heard is in our summerhouse during the wintertime as there are only 20 houses (empty for most of the winter and off the grid) which share a transformer and the geo-thermal power plant is only about 5km away. Here at home I settle for dedicated lines and they are a solid investment or worth the time if you can DIY.

[deepak]

Reks ban this maroon. Dew eet.

[Voltron]

Reks ban this maroon. Dew eet.

I disagree. I don't think he has done anything but express an opinion and then he got jumped for that opinion. He hasn't acted the asshat like troymypatience, so until he does I don't get it at all.

[Pars]

I would disagree as well (as in agree with Voltron). He hasn't done anything besides discuss cables.

[ilikebananafudge]

This has all been very interesting for me to read.

I was unaware of the small drama I would incur, but if you want my two cents, Pompom just seems like he is expressing his opinion, not doing anything terribly inconsiderate.

[deepak]

I disagree. I don't think he has done anything but express an opinion and then he got jumped for that opinion. He hasn't acted the asshat like troymypatience, so until he does I don't get it at all.

What was troymadison doing wrong?

Seems like a few people just felt like treating him partially because of his old posts about the K1000/Big Joe/his DIY extension. Correct me but I don't think he told an admin to basically grow up and "go play X-box"

Edited October 18, 2008 by deepak

[Voltron]

you seem to speak "stupid," probably in every language you know.

Come on Deepak, Troy has been an asshat consistently and if you are buddies or have done deals or whatever, that is fine and you may know another side of him. But Pompon -- for whom I have no great affection or concern (no offense) -- only posted a harmless retort after Reks, for little reason, posted the above insult. Not the same.

[spritzer]

have you doubled blinded it?

Nope, since it is almost impossible to do. I do this for fun (something which DBT's aren't) and short "burst" impressions are worthless to me. I prefer to use the gear for a while and get to know its quirks and limitations which is impossible to do in a short audition. Comparing AC is also made harder by the ever changing line voltage and there is no easy way of making it a constant.

It should also be noted that impressions of power products do not translate all that well between US and other places since the power system in the US is the most craptacular of any developed nation.

[deepak]

power cables are very simple to double blind, you just need a few patient people to help out. i've done it more than once. i'll let you guess what my results were.

- Width of soundstage

- Depth of soundstage

- Details

- Dynamics

- Extention (highs/bass)

- Mid's detached from the background

- Mid's bass more predominant or less

- Black background

- Neutrality ...

edit: for the sticklers:

[Nenso]

- Width of soundstage

- Depth of soundstage

- Details

- Dynamics

- Extention (highs/bass)

- Mid's detached from the background

- Mid's bass more predominant or less

- Black background

- Neutrality ...

I thought that if you have a decent separete PSU, then everything should be fine.

[spritzer]

power cables are very simple to double blind, you just need a few patient people to help out. i've done it more than once. i'll let you guess what my results were.

I'm not a patient man so that one is out...

What cables did you compare? I only ask since there are designs that will be an improvement and then there is the "RSA" class of products which are just an epic fail.

[spritzer]

A pretty esteemed crowd of snake oil you had there but I have special hatred for the likes of VD and Nordost.

[luvdunhill]

pfft.. please take notes from how this double blind between the He and Stax was conducted, then please repeat your tests Reks.

HeAudio EH-1.3 & EH-1.2B Electrostatic Headphones - Page 129 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

[n_maher]

Jacob,

Does all this mean that I should stop building the $500/ft. power cable you requested?

[luvdunhill]

that seems like a single blind test.

yeah, as if someone couldn't tell which was which by the pads alone.. good thing someone else was putting them on his head though.

[morphsci]

you could always novocain the sides of your head for the test.

Good idea, then you'd hear like Sovshiller ... Oh wait you would actually have to Novacaine your brain for that. Never mind.

[Sherwood]

Troymypatience ... Sovshiller ... you guys sound like Rush Limbaugh.