2. cables
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How to A/B Test Power Cables & Interconnects?

Looking for some advice. Here is the situation:

  • I am building out a new system (dCS Bartok > Parasound JC 2 BP > Parasound JC 5 > Floorstanding Speakers)
  • Equipment is on-hand. I am in the process of re-wiring the A/C circuit with two matching, 10awg home-runs (one for power Amp, one for sources)
  • I have the opportunity to try some high-end power cables and interconnects
  • I will invest in the cables if there is a discernible difference. I am somewhat skeptical.
  • I am trying to come up with a test protocol to determine what these higher end cables do. Everyone advises that I do A/B testing will listening to music. Of course I will do this.


My question:

Is there some more objective way to A/B test power cords and interconnects? I prefer to do this by listening,...not using lab equipment. How can I A/B measure system "blackness" or noise level?


Any advice appreciated. Thanks in advance.


128x128temporal_dissident

Showing 2 responses by ahofer

ahofer
225 posts
 
Fast switching is far more revealing than long term tests; auditory memory is less reliable as time goes by. Here’s a good synopsis of a paper on the subject:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/aes-paper-digest-sensitivity-and-reliability-of-abx-blind-testing.186/

I’m a cable skeptic, which puts me in a (somewhat reviled) minority on this forum. But the evidence is clear that for all the differences audiophiles write about with respect to cables, the perceived differences utterly and completely fail to replicate under scientifically controlled conditions.

We don’t listen under controlled conditions, and that is certainly also something to think about - you should buy what will make you happy in your listening at home. But the overwhelming testing evidence should give you pause as to whether you should spend any money at all on fancy cables.

You should absolutely conduct some AB (or better ABX) tests, blind if possible, with as quick a comparison as you can manage. But then do what makes you happiest with your newly expanded knowledge.

Here are two good thread with compendia of various blind tests:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/testing-audiophile-claims-and-myths.486598/

https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,82777.0.html

Specifically for cables

http://djcarlst.provide.net/abx_wire.htm

and stay tuned for the surprise reveal at the end of this one:

https://www.audio-forums.com/articles/interconnect-cable-blind-listening-test.15/

You might also want to look at Ethan Winer’s null tester results - the cables aren’t even sending significantly different signals, so why, exactly, would the speakers behave differently when presented with the same exact electrical signal?

https://www.audioxpress.com/article/you-can-diy-building-a-null-tester-device


ahofer
225 posts
 
I’m not hiding behind anything. I don’t hear differences between interconnects, speaker cables, and most amps. Or rather when I’ve sat down and done *immediate comparisons* the differences aren’t there. In that sense, I’m like....everyone else, apparently.

But I’m just one guy with biases, like you (perhaps even a bias *not* to hear a difference, the opposite of the problem Stereophile ran into). Larger population, properly conducted blind studies are much more compelling evidence than my individual experience, and thus more relevant to the OP.

And it is "ahoFer" (capital for emphasis), but you knew that.
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