Hello, @maprik ! I like to compare new things to a standard. I already have. I find it much easier to change one thing at a time and simply evaluate whether it’s better or worse. Once you go changing more than one thing at a time you can get a headache real fast! Do you have a cable you’re used to hearing?
How do you compare components?
I’m going to be comparing HDMI cables for the I²S connection between a Denafrips Iris and Pontus 2. ALL are certified 8K Ultra High 2.1. A $6, $47, $72 and $150. My thought is to start with the cheapest and work my way up, giving each a few days to settle in. Is that the best way to go about it? Or start with the most expensive and work down in order to hear if there’s a degradation?
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@fastfreight I am adding a Denafrips Iris between my Node N130 and the Denafrips Pontus 2, that I love. So both the Iris AND the I²S cable will be new. So, what would you do? Start with the lowest or the highest? |
The real trick in comparing... unless you are VERY experienced requires long term listening to detect the differences. Start with whatever you have. Don’t listen to your equipment but listen to the music... for at least a couple of weeks... until you completely understand what your system sounds like. Then swap in a broken-in new interconnect. You may instantly detect a difference... write it down. Then listen to the music for a couple of weeks, you will start noting differences. Write them down. Switch back to the original to confirm your conclusions. Note... If your interconnect is not broken in, then the whole experiment is compromised. You must swap in a fully broken-in interconnect. So, somewhere else you need to break in the next interconnect. I have a "spare system"... a collection of components that I will use to break stuff in... put at least a hundred to two hundred hours of time on. I would recommend comparing the real cheapy versus the most expensive first to allow yourself the most likely largest difference in sonic qualities. If you can’t hear any difference... then maybe checking out the differences between one cheapy and another may not be worth your time. Go borrow a $700 interconnect from an high end audio store after you have compared yours. You might be surprised. Flipping back and forth is for experts. Sure, do it. But do not expect to really think you are detecting anything more than a really obvious differences and missing most of them. Yes, in case you are wondering... this is incredibly time consuming and requires a lot of work. I have spend many hundreds of hours evaluating wires. I came up with variables and rated each on a scale of one to ten. This helped me understand the variability.
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