Power Cord Challenge


I've got a couple of weeks off before starting a new job. As I clearly fall into the camp of those who suspect no purely audible differences exist (except in pathologic cases of too-small cords or RFI interference), here's a challenge:

If you live in the San Jose, CA area, let's get together and put this to the test. Your system, your choice of music, I supply a stock power cord to test against your exotic. We play both cords blind (identified as A and B) for a reasonable amout of time; I then play one of the two (randomly chosen through a coin flip) for a reasonable amount of time and you identify it as either A or B. We'll do 10 trials for some statistical significance.

Given that some claim drastic and easily heard differences ("blacker background", "music is more alive", etc., etc., etc.), it should be trivial to get right and shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes per trial. The kicker: you get 9 or 10 right and I'll give you $500! The downside: 8 or less correct and you donate $250 to the Red Cross. Hey, I'm even giving you 2 for 1 odds!

Regardless of the outcome, we post the results to this site. Any takers?

Cheers,
JHunter
jhunter

Showing 2 responses by drubin

I'm close to San Jose and very interested in the results of this experiment, but I don't like the idea of putting money on the line. Why is that necessary? Dan
My experience has always been that rapid switching obscures differences and should be avoided. For example, I can switch rapidly back and forth between the CD playback of my Sony 777 and the same playback using a Dodson outboard DAC. Hard to hear a difference. But if I pause and start the selection over again, the differences are quite obvious and repeatable. Perhaps I am violating rules of experimental design or psychoacoustics, but this has been my experience time and again over the many years,. Maybe this is a topic for a new thread.