A-B testing of cables

BDP you hit it on the head, the upstream i/c is the critical one, but it's improvements can't go much beyond the downstream cables which will have a cummulative degradation of what would have been possible had all the cables been upgraded.

labyrinth, you overstated your case on neutrality, there is neutrality, it's just hard to find. By definition neutral cable would be an absence of coloration, distortion, or imbalance of the complete tonal range. Anything that affects any tonal element differently than it does the rest is going to throw off the tonal balance. The fact is cable manufacturers put a lot of engineering into "doing" specific things coloration wise so as to make cable that "does" something different with specific systems like tube or solid state. Neutral as heard in a few cables made by companies that put all their focus toward neutrality has a couple of distinct strengths. First thing noticed is that all the frequencies are in a more natural relationship as they were recorded. The cable that emphasizes highs so as to make high frequencies pop out of the sound stage like Nordost Valhalla loses mids as they get lost behind the high detail popping out louder. The other thing is that unnatural emphasis is harder and edgier and hurts your ears after half an hour or so. Neutral is smoother and easier on the ears, and can be listened to for hours on end without the same degree of listener fatigue. Your ears get very acclimated and used to neutral very quickly to where cables that are not neutral are objectionable.

Believe it or not women tend to have better hearing for higher frequencies. My wife, while she was clueless as to what she was listening for as pertains to critical listening, could hear edgy hardness in friend's systems and would remark that they were "nasty and hard to listen to". She'd tell me I needed to fix their systems.

I had a couple of lines of neutral cables, and they cost a fraction of many that they outperformed at different price points. I call a $2500 speaker cable that sounds way better than a $10,000 one or an $800 interconnect that goes up against $3500 ones while maintaining equal or better resolution a bargain.

"By definition neutral cable would be an absence of coloration, distortion, or imbalance of the complete tonal range. Anything that affects any tonal element differently than it does the rest is going to throw off the tonal balance."

Great. But like I asked you before: "If neutral cables are so important, define them. How do I know cable A is more neutral than cable B?"

Give us an example of a cable that you know is neutral. And not just because you say so. Prove it. All of the differences that you've listed in this thread, and your other one, can easily be explained by the interactions of the components themselves, and not the cables. Cables make a difference, but active components make bigger differences. (Yes, I understand that there may be the occasional exception, as there always is.). With all your talk, you make it sound like the components don't have anything to do with how the system sounds.

10-21-15: Aintitgr8
Believe it or not women tend to have better hearing for higher frequencies. My wife, while she was clueless as to what she was listening for as pertains to critical listening, could hear edgy hardness in friend's systems and would remark that they were "nasty and hard to listen to". She'd tell me I needed to fix their systems.

Aintitgr8
Interesting example. thanks for sharing. In our household my wife only 9 months younger than I, has come in last on multiple hearing tests behind my myself and our now 21 year old fraternal twins (boy and girl).

so..... I don't think you can make a statement like this;

"Believe it or not women tend to have better hearing for higher frequencies."

...without looking at each case individually and the factors involved (age, environmental, occupation, heredity to name just a few)

And based on the clear evidence presented in this short fun video on hearing capability

Click here

I think that the statement can be modifed to say;

"Believe it or not "younger people" have better hearing for higher frequencies"

Now the above does raise the question for your specific example... is your wife younger than yourself and by how many (y)ears ? :^)

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@Almandog the OP of this thread who asked.

What is your experience in doing A-B testing of interconnects?

I look at it this way. You can be in one of two phases.

Phase A) Audiophile - uses music to listen to their gear.
Phase B) Music Lover - uses gear to listen to their music.

I have been in Phase B for a long time now. Over the years I would probably split it up into B - 85% and A- 15%.

But when in phase A ......I usually go deep. :^(

The clue for myself that I am in Phase A ....the music becomes a set of specific albums.

Happy Listening

Maybe, he'll answer my question.