Cables, DBT & other fun stuff

[JBLoudG20]

CABLE DEBATE ALERT

[The Monkey]

No! We are actually debating about the cable debate. Much more meta!

[Pars]

Now if you move this debate on to virgin nymphs of the rainforest, etc., I think you'll be onto something!

[JBLoudG20]

Now if you move this debate on to virgin nymphs of the rainforest, etc., I think you'll be onto something!

I volunteer to double blind that.

[Dusty Chalk]

interesting how only one side ever seems to do experiments on it, though. hmmm *strokes chin, deep in thought*

I'm all for experiments. Just (a) too lazy to do them myself, and ( think the differences are sufficiently striking that double blind tests are unnecessary.

[screaming oranges]

I think cables are highly affected by the headphone they are attached to. A headphone can make a cable sound bright or dark. I always buy my cable and try it with stock cans first. Then I roll headphones to see which one is best...

...

...am I doing this right?

[Dusty Chalk]

Yes. Awesome.

[Dusty Chalk]

[n_maher]

lets do a double blind test to figure out which debating method is correct.

I closed my eyes and tried to read the thread, I liked it better that way. Does that mean that the debate makes a difference?

[en480c4]

Cables make a huge difference, in my experience, anyway.

You get to hear recorded music with them. You don't get much recorded music without them.

[Dusty Chalk]

hey, you're the one who casually dismissed science, not me.

You dismiss science on a daily basis. Is not the difference between green and red sufficiently striking that a double-blind test is unnecessary? Do you double-blind every single decision you make? Have you ever double-blind tested the difference between your favorite flavor of ice cream with your second favorite flavor of ice cream to truly ensure that your favorite is, indeed, your favorite? That's what you're suggesting.

And I will readily admit that my statement is not true in the general sense -- I was actually thinking about one instance of two pairs of cables. The difference between them was sufficiently audible for my purposes that I didn't feel a double-blind test was necessary. I'm sure that, to this day, I could pick one out in a double-blind test 100% of the time. (And yes, I'll bring them when we meet, if I end up coming. And you can dismiss science all weekend long by eschewing listening to music and drinking instead.)

So yeah, maybe I should have made my statement in the past completive. But that's all you're getting out of me, Mr. Decaf.

[Smeggy]

Now, now gentlemen.... continue

[MoonShine]

Reks Rawk.

[morphsci]

... Is not the difference between green and red sufficiently striking that a double-blind test is unnecessary? ...

one would expect green and red (which are arbitrary descriptors) to be different to the human optical system, given how the human optical system works. ....

Unless you are red-green color blind. On point, individual variation also plays a large part when dealing with biological entities.

I will help out on any dbt in any way I can.

[morphsci]

well, you can keep the beer flowing, so that the biological testing units are properly calibrated

See, variation again. I know for a fact that certain biological testing units need whiskey for proper calibration.

[Fitz]

I'm technically a cable MOT and even I find a lot of the things said about cables to be rather ridiculous. My opinion is that if you get a very noticable night-and-day difference on a cable swap, then something was broken... either one of the cables or the listener's head. Of course, it's kinda difficult to say this when somebody is expecting a recable to selectively fix all the problems with their headphones while enhancing the good traits, rather than just make a subtle or even unnoticeable difference.

I volunteer to double blind that.

I volunteer for the sighted test.

[Hopstretch]

Why is it so hard to find quality cables fashioned from braided sea-lion scrotum these days anyway? Surely the ongoing flensing knife shortage is not sufficient explanation on its own?

[The Monkey]

i would be happy to design a double blind test, if others (we'll need two other, patient people) are willing.

I'll bring the SkipJack. It has some pretty cool A/B/X capabilities.

Why is it so hard to find quality cables fashioned from braided sea-lion scrotum these days anyway? Surely the ongoing flensing knife shortage is not sufficient explanation on its own?

They're also used to make crystal meth.

[CarlSeibert]

the cable question is more akin to whether a q-ray bracelet helps pain. many people who own them state that it does, but stating that it does does not make it so, when the bracelet is merely a piece of inert metal worn on the skin.

Oh come on now. Pain is perceived. If you feel that you feel more or less of it, you feel more or less of it. That's my feeling anyway.

The same can be said of music.

-Carl

[Currawong]

FWIW (nothing) I found commercial interconnects <$100, or maybe even below $200 to benefit the sound so little as not to be worth bothering with. YMMV up to $1000, where you can get most models for half their retail value on the 'gon (ie: close to the wholesale price), and where you can get more clarity in the signal, and some slight tonal changes, sometimes beneficial, sometimes not, but probably carefactor close to zero unless you have a good system in the first place. Between the cost added to the price to pay for the marketing, and the 100% or so markup from the retailer, I totally understand the criticism of them.

[Beefy]

Nociception might be a measurable biological response, but pain is different

[luvdunhill]

bending the fingers of someone secured in a fmri back to their wrist and watching what parts of their brain light up and how much (both with and without a q-ray bracelet, of course) is close enough for me, but i'm no scientist, i'm just a jerk.

maybe it has a greater effect on lower level pain signals ya know, it starts clipping at some point or buffers get overflown..

[luvdunhill]

man, is there anything inert metal can't do?

never heard of any inert metal, so I dunno

[luvdunhill]

that was supposed to be a funny

[n_maher]

i'm just a jerk.

I beg to differ, double blind testing of this at a recent meet does not support your statement.