[DaveC113]

Proper test?

How about this for a true proper test...

This won't work in this particular case as the sound changes back and forth. It's so obvious though, it's not subtle at all. I don't need a proper test to tell black from white.

[Speedskater]

A better first test would be:
Install a Furutech duplex receptacle and a plain jane duplex receptacle in the wall outlet box. The cover plate and both receptacles should be the same color. Label one receptacle 'heads' and the other 'tails'. Have a friend flip a coin and plug your system in cover the cord & outlet then leave. Now you can listen, but no peeking.

[Wind Chaser]

This discussion is becoming very religious in terms of what people believe.

[andycsb]

Thanks Everyone for sharing your experiences. I did experience burn in with my ICs, power cords and speaker cables. Tone remained the same but there were definite changes in high freq (siblilance) and bass for sure. I am pretty sure the GTX (g) will also change in sonic character and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will mellow and smoothen out. I do understand that it won't be night and day but 5 to 10 percent change in the right direction would be great.

Anyone using the GTX (g) and experience it mellowing it out after burn in? Don't really need any more air and detail.

Thanks again.

[Genez]

I think you have it bass ackwards... the better the system the easier it is to notice the improvement a GTX receptacle will make.

But I'd guess you've never tried one, so your opinion on the subject seems worthless.

I always wonder about what systems the scoffers listen with. They never claim there is a difference/improvement.. and that others are wasting their money. In contrast, the more transparent/revealing your system is the more obvious these changes do make.

I realize that if my system was using several speaker cables that I have forgone that I suppose I too would not be able to detect the differences these tweaks make.

I also find that scoffers seem to travel in packs.  They enjoy putting down. Take note of where they gather.  Its a type of personality. 

[twitch54]

I have no clue how a listener after 100 to 400 hours, could weed out the small change in sound from a receptacle with so many uncontrolled variables causing large changes.

agreed, I had a good laugh .........

[Elizabeth]

One experience I had (years ago) was a common brand 'hospital' recepticle. It had an orange face...
Anyway I put it in and time passed..
(a few months.
I was noticing how muffled my system was sounding.
I removed the outlet, and KABOOM! back to 'normal'.
I cut open the outlet and it had some oily goo in it. Apparently to stop insertion sparks etc.
Anyway , the thing got discussed on another site. And a few folks mentioned problems with some duplex.

So I would just throw this experience out there for those who think no one can 'hear' an outlet.


Also, one problem with 'dissenters'.. Plenty of former folks who say wire is wire, a power cord is a powercord, ditto duplex..
I too used to think that. I discovered my assumptions were wrong.
This does seem to be a one way enlightenment. People who used to be damn sure folks who say they can hear a difference are deluded, suddenly actually find to their surprise they too can hear a difference.
So I view the 'Flat Earther' types as merely folks who just have not taken off their self imposed blinders. They cannot hear, so they are just certain everyone who can hear are deluded. LOL

I actually do not care what someone thinks. Oddly the folks who say no seem to need to convince anyone who will listen they are 'right'. (like they are preaching to wake up the deluded)
Such as interjecting their belief into threads with questions to folks who do hear differences..

[Early B.]

Also, one problem with 'dissenters'.. Plenty of former folks who say wire is wire, a power cord is a powercord, ditto duplex..
I too used to think that. I discovered my assumptions were wrong.

This was my experience, as well.

The dissenters are nearly always people who haven't tried it, and that's totally unscientific; nevertheless, they have the audacity to base their arguments on science.

[Genez]

This was my experience, as well.

The dissenters are nearly always people who haven't tried it, and that's totally unscientific; nevertheless, they have the audacity to base their arguments on science.

Science is good.  If you have enough facts to work with.   

Science is bad.  When science thinks it knows all there is to be known. And, it doesn't.

[Elizabeth]

I would say it as..
Knowing is NOT understanding..
Someone might know all sorts of fact and things about something. And still have zero understanding.

[jtwrace]

agreed, I had a good laugh .........

Have another...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWy9dHy4l2M

[twitch54]

I think what a lot of you are missing here is a lot of us 'dissenters' as you call us are not going to say cabling can't make a difference (it can), rather it's some of the ludicrous claims made not only by the manufacturer but by some of the end users as well. Spending some of the absurd amounts of money for receptacles , IC's, speaker wire and power cords (70k for MIT top of the line speaker cables as an example) just proves that insanity is not confined to those already locked up in an institution !

[Elizabeth]

I think what a lot of you are missing here is a lot of us 'dissenters' as you call us are not going to say cabling can't make a difference (it can), rather it's some of the ludicrous claims made not only by the manufacturer but by some of the end users as well. Spending some of the absurd amounts of money for receptacles , IC's, speaker wire and power cords (70k for MIT top of the line speaker cables as an example) just proves that insanity is not confined to those already locked up in an institution !

I have to agree the believers can go too far. Easily off the deep end. And plenty of the claims of certain manufacturers and sellers puts P.T.Barnum to shame.
That does not change the fact that plenty of folks can hear differences.

And one defense of high priced cables is:Money. If you got it, why should some poor slob who does not have any..matter to you? Does the naysayer go around condemning $250,000 jewelry as it 'is not better; than costum jewelry? Is the Ferrari really just the same as a Ford Focus? After all the both get you from A to B.
If a billionaire decides to have $100,000 worth of cables in his 'modest' system.. Why does it nmatter to anyone else? And if some company caters to that trade?

So many other hidden agendas pop up in these cable arguments. Socialism vs Capitalism, Religion and 'give unto others'.. And just plain greed, and the hatred/jealousy of the well off.
If the notion that folks can and do spend what they feel like is OK, and the thought of stop trying to 'save' the other guy.. Then what is left but a small discussion hardly worth bothering about. Yet the pages and pages of arguing means the topic is burdened with a huge amout of baggage.
Anyway, it is always interesting to read and think about.(mainly FOR the baggage!)

[jea48]

I think what a lot of you are missing here is a lot of us 'dissenters' as you call us are not going to say cabling can't make a difference (it can), rather it's some of the ludicrous claims made not only by the manufacturer but by some of the end users as well. Spending some of the absurd amounts of money for receptacles , IC's, speaker wire and power cords (70k for MIT top of the line speaker cables as an example) just proves that insanity is not confined to those already locked up in an institution !

Problem with your argument is you do not have any proof whats so ever whether a AC power receptacle can have an impact on the SQ of piece of audio equipment or audio system? You have no practical hands on experience do you?

You don't have to spend big bucks on receptacle to hear a difference in sound from your audio system. just buy an old stock Hubbell HBL8200H (15 amp) or HBL8300H (20 amp) compact/slim body hospital grade duplex receptacle and try it in place of what you are using now.
http://www.hubbellcatalog.com/wiring/catalogpages/H5254.pdf

Here is a 20 amp for $16 free shipping.
https://www.ebay.com/p/Hubbell-HBL8300H-Duplex-Receptacle-Compact-Hospital-Grade-20-Amp-125v-5-20r-Brown/691161867

A red one for $17.50
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUBBELL-WIRING-HBL8300HR-DUPLEX-RECEPTACLE-5-20R-HOSPITAL-GRADE-20A-125V-RED-/322004114753?epid=1035700407&hash=item4af8f0dd41:g:fOIAAOSwe7BWur2n 

Now you have to be careful and make sure you are getting the old stock Hubbell HBL8200H or the HBL8300H hospital grade compact slim body duplex receptacle.
The two listed above are the correct ones.

What to look for.
The electrical contacts inside are non nickel plated brass alloy.
The supporting back strap is non nickel plated brass.
The body of the receptacle  is the compact slim design.

Hubbell stopped making this duplex receptacle several years ago. All of Hubbell hospital grade outlets made today have nickel plating on the internal brass allow electrical contacts. Their heavy duty hospital grade outlets have a nickel plated brass back strap. The body is a standard deeper body.

 Hubbell makes a cheaper hospital grade compact/slim body that has a galvanized steel supporting back strap. Avoid any electrical outlet that has a steel back strap at all costs. It sucks for audio equipment.

[jea48]

This won't work in this particular case as the sound changes back and forth. It's so obvious though, it's not subtle at all. I don't need a proper test to tell black from white.

After 400 hours of burn-in on one outlet and a few hours of burn-in at best on the other, I better hear a difference.

[twitch54]

Problem with your argument is you do not have any proof whats so ever whether a AC power receptacle can have an impact on the SQ of piece of audio equipment or audio system? You have no practical hands on experience do you?

You don't have to spend big bucks on receptacle to hear a difference in sound from your audio system. just buy an old stock Hubbell HBL8200H (15 amp) or HBL8300H (20 amp) compact/slim body hospital grade duplex receptacle and try it in place of what you are using now.
http://www.hubbellcatalog.com/wiring/catalogpages/H5254.pdf

LOL 'Jr', you quote my post and then clearly show with your post that you either didn't read mine or have no comprehension ability ........

go back and read it again for I said that a difference can in fact occur !

As for 'practical hands on experience' with respect to receptacles, yes I do and I clearly understand their need....... simply an electro-mechanical connection between two pieces of 'wire' with a function of maintaining voltage / current through their connection.

As for the hubbell duplex, I agree and that's what I've been using for many years.

[Genez]

I think what a lot of you are missing here is a lot of us 'dissenters' as you call us are not going to say cabling can't make a difference (it can), rather it's some of the ludicrous claims made not only by the manufacturer but by some of the end users as well. Spending some of the absurd amounts of money for receptacles , IC's, speaker wire and power cords (70k for MIT top of the line speaker cables as an example) just proves that insanity is not confined to those already locked up in an institution !

They do not expect to sell many of those 70K cables...You think they do?

Maybe some Arab nation oil billionaire just may buy them thinking money can buy happiness. 

[jtwrace]

Problem with your argument is you do not have any proof whats so ever whether a AC power receptacle can have an impact on the SQ of piece of audio equipment or audio system? You have no practical hands on experience do you?

The problem is that nobody here has any proof.  A listening test isn't proof, that's called an opinion as it's not being done scientifically whatsoever.  That's fact. 

[Genez]

After 400 hours of burn-in on one outlet and a few hours of burn-in at best on the other, I better hear a difference.

I bought a $25 outlet..I figured... "what the hey... let's see what it does." ..

What I hear sounds good.  Of course clean connections always sound better.

The  main difference is how well the plug now stays solidly in the outlet, and how the one it replaced looked like a piece of flimsy junk in comparison.

[Genez]

The problem is that nobody here has any proof.  A listening test isn't proof, that's called an opinion as it's not being done scientifically whatsoever.  That's fact.

A woman who gets a face lift and loses a few pounds is the same woman she was before.  But the reaction to her has changed.   Sometimes getting something that is simply better made gives the audiophile a better feeling about what he hears.  No science needed.  Satisfaction of ownership of having something better made effects sound quality in that way.