Get a grip ffs.

[Welder]

Good Grief

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...&client=safari

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2010/08...-sound-better/

Articles like this really don’t help to dispel the belief of many who might otherwise support the ailing Hi Fi industry that the H iFi industry and the media that represents it, is full of sharks and badly informed reactionary old bastards that don’t have even a basic grasp of the science of sound reproduction let alone adequate knowledge of new technology.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i couldnt give a toss either way to be honest ... but why bother saying it if he didnt feel it had made an improvement... dont get me wrong, im not backing up his claims... just intrigued by his motives

[aquapiranha]

i saw the original thread on the Wam before it was pulled as mr steward threatened legal action. I personally doubt they could make a diffierence and while reading his site I couldn't help but notice his 'tweaks' thread contained a couple of supposed tweaks which are at least loosly related to a certain manufacturers, namely naim and chord...guess who he has links to on the site too??? hmm...

[The Vinyl Adventure]

so there might be an ulterior motive?

[aquapiranha]

I couldn't possibly say! but I would like to know who made these cables, if it was chord, or one of the other manufacturers linked to from his site I would not be entirely surprised let's put it that way. I may of course be wrong, and in the interests of protecting this forum, I will add that these opinions are entirely my own.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

It's a bit chicken copping out of letting people leave comments, but the I supose the opening post is a good example o why he might not want comments (no offence)
I shall as always remain unbiased, I have no idea why a cable like that would make any odds... But then I also have no idea why it wouldn't ... I know nothing of electronics or cables shielding or data transmision or anything.... So why worry about it I say... Some people will buy it/into it some people won't ... Makes bugger all difference to me...

[Welder]

I’m not sure I would approach articles of this nature with a why should I care, people will either believe it or not attitude.
It doesn’t take many visits to forums such as this to realize that many visitors look to such forums for “knowledge”.
It is easy to respond with only a fool would seek knowledge on an internet forum but if we are honest, most of us have done exactly that at some point.
Add to this that many of these regular contributors/journalists either explicitly or implicitly claim larger product experience, more sophisticated auditioning equipment, years of experience in the field, etc, and what you can end up with is acknowledged experts in their field, often supported by their peers, and large financial concerns such at media companies.
I’ve read on these forums posts from contributors who have been in the HiFi business using their experience in the business to imply, albeit quite subtlety, that their opinion should carry more weight because of their former position.
Unfortunately we rarely question those concerned about exactly what it is that they believe qualifies them to be experts in their field and what interests they may have in supporting one particular view or product.
Some industries would seem to have stricter controls over expert status and advertising content than others. The “audiophile” section of the music industry seems to have virtually no controls concerning claims made by manufacturers and often self appointed experts.

Does any of this matter?
That depends on whether you would prefer to have accurate information disseminated wherever possible or are quite happy to let people struggle with sorting the probable from the improbable.
If for example you consulted an expert concerning your office computer network system and he/she recommended you spent so many thousands of pounds on a particular product you subsequently discovered made absolutely no difference to any functional aspect of the system might you not consider taking him/her to court?

I would argue that the same applies in any case where you have “experts” and knowledge seekers; schools, hospitals, engineering matters to name a few. It is in every bodies interest to have up to date, accurate unbiased and verifiable data wherever possible.
This approach has worked pretty well in reducing ignorance and superstition in the past. I really cant see any reason why audio should be an exception.

[Reid Malenfant]

Does any of this matter?
That depends on whether you would prefer to have accurate information disseminated wherever possible or are quite happy to let people struggle with sorting the probable from the improbable.
If for example you consulted an expert concerning your office computer network system and he/she recommended you spent so many thousands of pounds on a particular product you subsequently discovered made absolutely no difference to any functional aspect of the system might you not consider taking him/her to court?

I honestly think there is a rather large difference between a so called expert installing something in a computer system to streamline things if you like, than a subjective difference between two cables I'm sure it'd be noticeable if things did go to plan & the system worked more efficiently - you'd be able to measure something, whether it be a speed increase or cooler running processors

I think we already understand that you can't "measure" a stereo image using any kind of electronic equipment. Yes you can measure channel seperation but you could measure things forever & it still won't tell you what the combined two channel signal will sound like on a pair of well set up hifi speakers

I think this is where the objectivists fall down as all they appear to squawk about is L.C.R. (inductance, capacitance & resistance). Objectivists can't appear to accept that people hear things differently on different cables, they don't like it because they can't measure it! If they can't measure it then it doesn't exist is their mantra

Personally i'm not going to make a big fuss over audio interconnects, but digital interconnects most definately make a big difference imo, having experimented with different cables & connectors in my system

Here we are talking about much higher frequencies & square waveforms where edges need to be accurately reproduced & not corrupted by cable capacitance etc. It's about keeping jitter low, jitter is time distortion which is in reality little different at the end of the day from harmonic distortion imo

[Welder]

Perhaps not the best analogy but……….
So Mark, in general terms, would you agree with the tenant behind

“That depends on whether you would prefer to have accurate information disseminated wherever possible or are quite happy to let people struggle with sorting the probable from the improbable.”

And

“I would argue that the same applies in any case where you have “experts” and knowledge seekers; schools, hospitals, engineering matters to name a few. It is in every body’s interest to have up to date, accurate unbiased and verifiable data wherever possible”

or not?

I don’t consider myself to be firmly in the objectivist or subjectivist camp. I tend towards rational explanations of the world around me in the first instance and repeatable results through testing where possible; failing these, weight of opinion.
It is true, audio perception is a complicated business and I wouldn’t dream of telling anyone what they can and can’t hear. However, if 1000 people can’t hear something and 5 do I would tend to suspect the hearing of the 5 rather than the 1000.

[Reid Malenfant]

So Mark, in general terms, would you agree with the tenant behind

“That depends on whether you would prefer to have accurate information disseminated wherever possible or are quite happy to let people struggle with sorting the probable from the improbable.”

And

“I would argue that the same applies in any case where you have “experts” and knowledge seekers; schools, hospitals, engineering matters to name a few. It is in every body’s interest to have up to date, accurate unbiased and verifiable data wherever possible”

or not?

Oh i agree with that wholeheartedly

I happen to be a member of a certain forum that discusses shall we say scientifically proven stuff Occasionally members join that in all honesty don't know what the hell they are taking about but like to think they do, but what's worse is that these people are often giving advice to others who admit they don't know

The thing is this... If i don't know i'll either shut up or ask questions in an attempt to try to understand (if i'm interested). As i'm sure you're aware there are way more than enough people out there on forums or whatever that will just jump in & give erroneous information thinking they are doing someone else a favour

These idiots need weeding out (& banning or at least being asked to STFU) imo, especially if they are mentioning anything to do with working with potentially lethal voltages

As we are discussing cables right this second i don't mind chirping up

Seriously though i know exactly where you are coming from