2. cables
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Most Important, Unloved Cable...

Ethernet. I used to say the power cord was the most unloved, but important cable. Now, I update that assessment to the Ethernet cable. Review work forthcoming. 

I can't wait to invite my newer friend who is an engineer who was involved with the construction of Fermilab, the National Accelerator Lab, to hear this! Previously he was an overt mocker; no longer. He decided to try comparing cables and had his mind changed. That's not uncommon, as many of you former skeptics know. :)

I had my biggest doubts about the Ethernet cable. But, I was wrong - SO wrong! I'm so happy I made the decision years ago that I would try things rather than simply flip a coin mentally and decide without experience. It has made all the difference in quality of systems and my enjoyment of them. Reminder; I settled the matter of efficacy of cables years before becoming a reviewer and with my own money, so my enthusiasm for them does not spring from reviewing. Reviewing has allowed me to more fully explore their potential.  

I find fascinating the cognitive dissonance that exists between the skeptical mind in regard to cables and the real world results which can be obtained with them. I'm still shaking my head at this result... profoundly unexpected results way beyond expectation. Anyone who would need an ABX for this should exit the hobby and take up gun shooting, because your hearing would be for crap.  
douglas_schroeder
dgarretson
2,592 posts
 

@jinjuku

Two nice hi-res files and lots of fun listening. I could hazard a guess as to which sounds the best, but for a meaningful test kept to one variable we need to compare identical songs across the two cables. Any possibility of your replicating that scenario?

dgarretson
2,592 posts
 

@unreceivedogma

No foul. I’m a cable skeptic myself. However, I’m more skeptical about the high price of commercial cables than about differences in sound between cables. All DIY cables in my system.

rodman99999
6,030 posts
 
@grannyring(et al) - As I posted earlier: (I believe Ivor Tiefenbrun(Linn founder) said something along the lines of, " if you haven’t heard it, you have no opinion". That just makes sense, which(to some around here) seems irrelevant.) It escapes me, why so many of you even reply to the posts of some on this site. Save your keystrokes. As milpai so eloquently asked, "Why do you give a rat’s ass, what they think?"
jinjuku's avatar
jinjuku
226 posts
 
@dgarretson

You need to re-read what I did: While I was capturing those two tracks I was ACTIVELY swapping out cables. Yes I was able to record tracks in their entirety while disconnecting Ethernet cabling and plugging another back in and as you can hear there was no break in the playback. Please let the significance of this sink in for a moment. 

The tracks you are listening to are a composite of both cables.
unreceivedogma's avatar
unreceivedogma
899 posts
 
Rodman99999,

I said that I have listened to a variety of cables, maybe a dozen.

I found the differences to be barely perceptible, and certainly in no way justifying some of the exhorbitant  prices.

I think that if you spend more than $5 a ft you're  smokin' sumptin'. 
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