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ESP MusicCord listening test Part 2!

Which clip sounds identical to the "control" clip?

  • track A

    Votes: 3 7.0%

  • track B

    Votes: 5 11.6%

  • Both A and B

    Votes: 35 81.4%
  • Total voters
    43
#101
billfitzmaurice said:
It didn't seem that bad to me either, until I built a Dynaco power amp to drive monitors. The sound through it was so much better than that through the power amp of the Vocal Master that I ended up using the Dynaco to drive the mains and the internal amp to drive the monitors. I'd say the S/N ratio of the Dynaco was 20dB better than the Shure amp. As for the monitors, those were the original Vocal Master columns, which I chopped in half to give four monitor cabs. For mains I built Altec A7 clones.
Click to expand...

Now we're talking (off topic)! I loved those A7 Voice of the Theater cabs!
 
#104
bongomania said:
True, seems to have run its course. Clip A was the ESP cord, the control and clip B were the 18 ga cord. One guy called it!
Click to expand...
maevinj said:
Well for what it's worth, I thought B sounded like the control. I thought A actually sounded better... I really hope A wasn't recorded with the ESP musicCord. I don't want to be one of those people....
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Oh man, I got it right and I thought A sounded better......... I guess this means I need to shell out 150 dollars for a power cord??? Does this also mean I have super music hearing abilities???
 
#106
Sweeeet. I did some track analysis early on and called B and Control as the same. :) I started to have some doubts because all three FR curves are subtly different, but B and Control were closest.

There were definitely some obvious differences in the curves, from A to B and A to Control though at least visually. Auditory differences, I couldn't hear any.
 
#110
rpsands said:
Sweeeet. I did some track analysis early on and called B and Control as the same. :) I started to have some doubts because all three FR curves are subtly different, but B and Control were closest.

There were definitely some obvious differences in the curves, from A to B and A to Control though at least visually. Auditory differences, I couldn't hear any.
Click to expand...

What are you attributing the differences in the curves to in this case?
 
#113
Mark Reccord said:
What are you attributing the differences in the curves to in this case?
Click to expand...

My best guess? Tubes are probably the biggest thing. Probably everyone has heard the difference between a warmed up tube amp and a cold one. My guess is it's something subtle to the way tubes behave when you turn them off and on.

Other than that, I have no idea. And that's really just a guess.
 
#114
rpsands said:
My best guess? Tubes are probably the biggest thing. Probably everyone has heard the difference between a warmed up tube amp and a cold one. My guess is it's something subtle to the way tubes behave when you turn them off and on.

Other than that, I have no idea. And that's really just a guess.
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+1. I could see that. Don't know if that's the case but I could see it.
 
#116
bongomania said:
FWIW, I let the preamp warm up for at least 5 minutes after each cable swap. And it's not like they cooled down much in the few seconds it took to swap cables. :)
Click to expand...

I wonder if that's sufficient to cause a subtle difference in the waveforms. Say if you'd let everyone cool down for a day, then let them warm up for the exact same amount of time, I wonder if it'd be identical.

*** I don't contend that the visual differences are audible
 
#117
bal704 said:
I know the holy grail in this deal is the 'double blind' test, but I don't know how you'd do it on an internet forum in a manner to satisfy everybody. IMO, the 2 tests done so far have been an unbiased way to get an opinion on these cables.

Great efforts by those involved, and great discussion.
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I haven't really followed this thread, so I'm a bit late in responding, but if you really want an answer to this question, go to Invalid Link Removed and read about some of the tests that their members have conducted of audio codecs (the ones that I've read about/participated in have been related to developing the LAME mp3 encoder).
 
#118
rpsands said:
My best guess? Tubes are probably the biggest thing. Probably everyone has heard the difference between a warmed up tube amp and a cold one. My guess is it's something subtle to the way tubes behave when you turn them off and on.

Other than that, I have no idea. And that's really just a guess.
Click to expand...

IMHO using a tube amp is just bad judgement for real testing. Carver learned that lesson long ago. Stereophile experts negated their blind test later when his production amp and the tube reference amp no longer matched. Which do you think actually changed over time. Changedd enough that double blind people could again hear a difference.

Although, as done with other listening tests on this board, nobody can really hear the difference between tube and SS. Or hear which is better. But given the chance to listen and listen again and again, some artifact that has nothing to do with the goal sound may be present in one of the signals. Then somebody will pipe in with "yeah but there's feel". I bet some are feeling these ESP cords also. Nobody can hear it, but some feel it.
 

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