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(Buster Mudd) wrote in message
...
"Bob Marcus" wrote in message
...
Buster Mudd wrote:
I guess I'm confused: I got the impression from the posts I'd read
here that your claim was that the differences between boutique
audiophile speaker cable & Home Depot 12awg zip cord would be
inaudible in DBTs. But you're saying that spectral distortions
potentially introduced by these cables *don't* count?
The "claim" is not that all cables are indistinguishable, though
sometimes people's wording is imprecise. (This is Usenet, not a
peer-reviewed journal, after all.) The "claim" is that, if a difference
is really heard, it will be the result of resistance-related (or perhaps
inductance/capacitance related) frequency response anomalies.

Oh, well that seems incredibly obvious (and mercifully concise, thank
you).

Though that doesn't quite explain how a Snake Oil Advocate would go
about separating the (quote-unquote) "objectivists" from their hard
earned +/- $4000. If Joe Schmoe claims there is an audible difference
between, say, Home Depot 12awg zip cord ($0.25/foot) and Tara Labs
"The One" ($500/foot), & the ABX/DBT proctors claim "if a difference
is really heard, it will be the result of resistance-related (or
perhaps inductance/capacitance related) frequency response anomalies",
shouldn't the proper response be

"Ok, whatever"

...and then everyone just goes home & listens to music, in complete
agreement. Where does this whole You Only *Think* You Can Hear The
Difference challenge come into play?

First of all, in many cases where audiophiles claim to hear differences
there really aren't substantial FR differences. Wire isn't wire, but
12-gauge copper is 12-gauge copper (and really isn't distinguishable from
12-gauge silver).

And when 12-gauge wire isn't 12-gauge wire, it's because a "designer" has
done something to intentionally muck it up, like loading resistors into
those funny little boxes on the ends. Since many audiophiles seem so
impressed with those boxes that they're willing to spend hundreds of dollars
on them, it's worth demonstrating that we can produce the same (distorting)
effect with a few bucks worth of Radio Shack gewgaws.

bob

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