[mlundy57]

+1

[corndog71]

^ If I was anywhere close to you HAL, I would bring a diaper and sit and listen for hours.

Hypothetical question... If you have all the right gear (that you have meticulously researched and purhased) and now have a brand new room (completely empty) and OEM power cords and run-of-the-mill cables...
Do you spend your next $1-1.5k on cables or room acoustics? Only one correct answer here. 

-Dieter

Treat the room first.

[SoCalWJS]

Treat the room first.

This.

Speaker/Room interaction has the biggest impact on the sound in the chain.

[Folsom]

I am also spending much more time here and less at AVS. As a professional scientist I have a skeptical eye, but an open mind to realize that not everything that matters can be measured (yet) and not every thing that can be measured matters.  Double blind testing has its utility, but it is very demanding and not often done well by lay people.

It doesn't matter how well a double blind is done for audio. The only thing they prove is that people can't do short term audio memory without expectation/association.

[poseidonsvoice]

This.

Speaker/Room interaction has the biggest impact on the sound in the chain.

+Gazillion.

Best,
Anand.

[maty]

In his day (2013, July) I also changed my way of thinking after trying a cheap audiophile power cable. The improvement was so evident that I could not deny it. I investigated what caused it (cable works like a Low Pass Filter) and I started my path towards the reduction / attenuation of all types of noise and RF/EMI interference until I get the great sound that I have right now, while I listen a great rip/music: Arlo Guthrie - Amigo (1976) (Vinyl) {24-96} [FLAC]

[Spanish] https://nauscopio.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/cable-de-redalimentacion-de-haiviech-netzkabel-ultimative-silber-mit-kupfer-silberkontakten/

    • graves más contundentes y precisos

    • sonido más espacial, envolvente

    • mayor nitidez

     • forceful and precise bass

     • more spatial, enveloping sound

     • more sharpness

[Tyson]

+Gazillion.

Best,
Anand.

Gazillion + 1 

[Early B.]

I remember my first encounter with a "tweak" -- this was almost 20 years ago, and it was before I got into audio. My friend moved his system (DQ10's and Krell amp)from the long wall to the short wall and it sounded significantly better. So I knew that the room and placement matters a lot. Then as I began my journey, I moved into higher quality components and cables, and each time I went to a higher level, the sound improved. Luckily, I didn't start with any pre-conceived notions about the types of tweaks that wouldn't work. 

I understand the naysayers. It's no different fundamentally than someone who cracks jokes about the salad eaters, but know deep inside that their own high sodium, high sugar, and high fat diet is the inferior one. 

[NavyDoc]

It doesn't matter how well a double blind is done for audio. The only thing they prove is that people can't do short term audio memory without expectation/association.

I do not have the expertise to agree or disagree, but what I do know is that conducting double blind testing is extremely difficult and cannot be conducted with any scientific merit outside of a well controlled study.  Anyone interested in blind testing in audio should read the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) recommendation "ITU-R  BS.1116-3 (02/2015) - Methods for the subjective assessment of small impairments in audio systems." [https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-BS.1116-3-201502-I/en] 

I think the following quote is pertinent: "It should be understood that the topics of experimental design, experimental execution, and statistical analysis are complex, and that only the most general guidelines can be given in a Recommendation such as this. It is recommended that professionals with expertise in experimental design and statistics should be consulted or brought in at the beginning of the planning for the listening test.....Accordingly, the test conditions must be arranged in a way that reveals the effects of the independent factors, and only of these factors."  The amount of time, effort and money required makes it nearly impossible to conduct statistically valid double blind-testing.

In the end, the result is double blind testing as commonly used is not valid and cannot be used to determine small - but repeatable and real - differences in audio signals (whether the change is at the source, cable or speaker end of the chain).
 

[jtwrace]

I just change power cords until I get the desired sound.  Seems to work very well!   

[Bendingwave]

I dont doubt better products and or tweaks can improve the sound of ones system...but what grinds my GEARS is the price to performance ratio......for example does a 10k cable sound 10X better then a 1k cable? I highly doubt it....most times its very subtle at best.

[maty]

The question is why a power cable can improve the sound. My hypothesis was that it should works as an LPF with the interference, by adding capacitance and or inductance.

But it would be an inefficient filtering, so I looked for professional solutions for these interferences, focusing on the best specifications -> Schaffer RF/EMI filters and Würth 150 kHz ferrites.

It is best to use cables that do not act as antennas. The shield adds capacitance. Another solution, very effective and without problems is the use of wiring with star quad geometry . Power cords, interconnection and speaker cables.

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/116637511-the-importance-of-star-quad-microphone-cable

The video is VERY INTERESTING.

But the noise that is in the frequency range of the audio can not be filtered by those components ... I had another problem: a lot of continuous in mains. Using capacitors with high capacity to soften the ripple and with very low ESR I obtained an improvement and...

[laserman]

Danny,

I know I am a little late to this post but wanted to let you know I totally agree with you.
Happy New Year,
L