Dave -- My compliments on a well written review, and on the very extensive effort you obviously put into all of this. However, as a technically-oriented person who as you'll recall is something of an audio skeptic, albeit one who considers himself to be open-minded, there are some questions I would like to raise.
I don't doubt that your descriptions of what you heard were accurate. What I wonder is if your methodology adequately eliminated extraneous variables, and if what seemed to be differences attributable to the receptacles may have actually been due to something else.
Were the differences you perceived typically immediately recognizable, on the first recording you listened to after switching receptacles, or did they only become apparent after listening sessions that extended over weeks or months?
If the former, did you switch back to the previous receptacle to confirm your perceptions?
If the latter, the same question applies, and also how do you know that the differences were not due to things like ongoing aging or burn-in of system components, seasonally-related temperature changes in the room affecting component performance, changes (also possibly seasonally-related) in line voltage, or in noise levels on the ac line, subtle wear in your record grooves due to repeated playings, etc.?
Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your findings, just raising what I think are questions that need to be addressed before your conclusions are fully persuasive.
Regards,
-- Al
I don't doubt that your descriptions of what you heard were accurate. What I wonder is if your methodology adequately eliminated extraneous variables, and if what seemed to be differences attributable to the receptacles may have actually been due to something else.
Were the differences you perceived typically immediately recognizable, on the first recording you listened to after switching receptacles, or did they only become apparent after listening sessions that extended over weeks or months?
If the former, did you switch back to the previous receptacle to confirm your perceptions?
If the latter, the same question applies, and also how do you know that the differences were not due to things like ongoing aging or burn-in of system components, seasonally-related temperature changes in the room affecting component performance, changes (also possibly seasonally-related) in line voltage, or in noise levels on the ac line, subtle wear in your record grooves due to repeated playings, etc.?
Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your findings, just raising what I think are questions that need to be addressed before your conclusions are fully persuasive.
Regards,
-- Al