I dug a bit deeper into Shunyata's claims. There's quite a bit of pushback.
I don't know what to say to you.
Please continue to enjoy your music and your system.
Cable Break In for the Naysayers
I still cannot believe that in this stage of Audio history there are still many who claim cable break in is imagined. They even go so far as claim it is our ears that break in to the new sound. Providing many studies in the way of scientific testing. Sigh...
I noticed such a recent discussion on the What’s Best Forum. So here is my response.
______________________________________________________________________________________________ I just experienced cable break in again firsthand. 10 Days ago, I bought a new set of the AudioQuest Thunderbird XLR 2M interconnects.
First impression, they sounded good, but then after about 30 hours of usage the music started sounding very closed in and with limited high frequencies. This continued until about 130 hours of music play time.
Then at this time, the cables started to open up and began to sound better and better each passing hour. I knew at the beginning they would come around because they sounded ok at first until the break in process started. But now they have way surpassed that original sound.
Now the soundstage has become huge with fantastic frequency extensions. Very pleased with the results. Scientifically I guess we can’t prove cable break in is real, but with good equipment, good ears, it is clearly a real event.
ozzy
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@kevemaher OK. Can share any links to the pushback? For my interest only, I am not qualified to mount a defense in their behalf. kn |
My GEQ is used to fill a hole in the mid bass (100-300 Hz) in my room at my listening position. I can flip the EQ in and out with a push of a button. I can clearly hear the increase in the "weight" of the voice and of instruments. In fact, I'm biased toward a mid-bass emphasis. That's another function of the EQ in my system. It helps me tailor the sound to my tastes. If my taste drove me to emphasize higher frequencies, I could do that with my EQ. I'm not touting a GEQ as a must have. GEQ use can cause problems. Although the noise and distortion are far below any hearing threshold during normal use, if the gain of a particular filter is pushed too high, distortion at that frequency will happen. I have seen and measured this using REW. I have to be careful. There may be other phase shifts, etc...happening. However, I cannot perceive any audible effects from these. I have measured with and without the GEQ. The data I have shows differences, but not any that I can point toward creating audible differences, except for the altered frequency response. That's how I use the GEQ in my system. There are other means to do what I want to do. Traps of course exist. I have plenty of those. DSP. I tried very hard with this one. I found it no better than the GEQ and far less intuitive. And way more cumbersome. Enough babble. I really don't understand your final question. What should I look for? |
The perceived enemy called ASR has posted quite a few measurements and analysis. They are not the only voice of course, but can be a starting point. The search function in the ASR forum is quite effective. Type in Shunyata. You'll find lots of hits. You may consider the ASR stance flawed because it comes to the measurements already biased. There is that. But measurements, graphs with lines on them representing actual data (not biased by humans) tell a clear picture. There's nothing of any value to us in audio from Shunyata cables. Save your hard earned money. ASR is at its best when it advises. I am no fan of the dogmatic attitude expressed on the ASR forum. I quit ASR because of this and asked Amir directly to delete all my posts. He didn't do that but at least my posts were labeled from "Deleted Member". I find there is value in their measurements. This information is scarce elsewhere. |
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