ESP MusicCord

[seamonkey]

FWIW, the ESP power cord also has serious radio frequency ferrite filters built into it to clean up the really dirty AC power noise

So do the power supplies in all my gear. If you are looking to buy a piece of gear, and it sounds better when you change the power cord - then don't buy it as there is something seriously wrong with it.

 

[seamonkey]

First off, I don't have audio recording gear. My iPhone won't do any justice to any audio source. Secondly, I don't care enough to convince you. Lastly, there are "power chords" root and fifth and "power cords" copper that conducts electricity. Surely we can agree on that.

Sorry about the "chord" versus "cord" thing. Where I live both words are pronounced the same. If I record myself saying both, they sound the same, no matter what power cable I use.

 

[Epidrake]

I have zero skin in the game. I barely heard of ESP cables. I have never heard them. But I trust my ears and I trust anyone who listens and doesn't judge without trying it himself.
Not everything is measurable.
Some people think their is no difference in instrument cables. That's not true either.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Alright, so any ideas how I accomplish that? Just wrap the cords in thick brown paper? Also, I'm assuming the real test is to do a switch several times and see how reliable I am at picking out the ESP?

Yes. Mark them A and B to write down the results, and it's the tester who writes the results, not you. You never know whether cord A or B is in use. Part of the test is that the tester doesn't actually change the cords for every 'vote'.

Not everything is measurable.

Everything is measurable except the depth of human gullibility. If you think your ears are better than testing gear think again. Ears are among the least accurate and most easily fooled devices.

Some people think their is no difference in instrument cables. That's not true either.

Of course it's not true. What is true is that there is no correlation between price and quality. IMO Monster Bass is defectively high in capacitance and should not be sold at all. That certainly doesn't correspond with either the price they charge for it or the IMO false advertising they employ with it.

 

[JimmyM]

I have zero skin in the game. I barely heard of ESP cables. I have never heard them. But I trust my ears and I trust anyone who listens and doesn't judge without trying it himself.
Not everything is measurable.

If it's audio, it's measurable. If it improves the sound, it should be easily noticeable on a recorder that displays waveforms.

Some people think their is no difference in instrument cables. That's not true either.

There is...it's called "capicitance" and it's measurable. But it's completely unrelated to how much you spend on it.

 

[scotch]

I have zero skin in the game. I barely heard of ESP cables. I have never heard them. But I trust my ears and I trust anyone who listens and doesn't judge without trying it himself.
Not everything is measurable.
Some people think their is no difference in instrument cables. That's not true either.

Some people don't believe in Sasquatch. How do they explain those beef jerky commercials then?

Just kidding! It's all good.

 

[seamonkey]

Ideally, you have a mechanism that'd switch which cable is providing the power, and have it all in a black box so no one knows, there's just a switch to flip. Then you have a person flip the switch while you listen. The person that hooks up the switch can't be the one to throw it, and the one throwing it can't be the one "observing".

And like mentioned in the youtube video - maybe not even switch it. That's right. Let the test subject think you switched them when you didn't.

There's several critical audio sites that already done blind tests. All over google. They end up with conclusion that there is no difference between cables, but hundreds of arguments about how the tests were flawed.

Tests can be repeated here, no problem, either way there no statistically edge of the superiority of these cables.

 

[scotch]

We all realize that like a "Higher Power", there's no way to scientifically disprove somethings existence right? These ESP power cords pretty much rely on that fact + anecdotal testimony. Otherwise, they'd be publishing the data everywhere.



Eric Struthers (I just looked at the ESP site & he's endorsing the product) lives out by me & we frequent the same watering hole. I'm gonna have to see what he really thinks (off the record of course!)...

 

[Dave W]

Sorry about the "chord" versus "cord" thing. Where I live both words are pronounced the same. If I record myself saying both, they sound the same, no matter what power cable I use.

Both words are pronounced the same here as well, but they mean completely different things. Just like there, their, and they're.

I got nothing else on the discussion at hand, but I'll say I'm very skeptical that there would be a difference.

 

[Blue_Whistle88]

I'm sure you could orchestrate an elaborate testing mechanism for this, and (as previously stated) you would have to use pre-recorded bass lines fed into the input of the amp to avoid (subconscious) changes to nuances in your playing. You'd also need to record that and do it both with and without the cable several times, then judge the recordings later on. I'd say that, even though there may be a difference, for one so small, complicated to assert, and that costs $150, I wouldn't bother.

Again, I would simply plug one in, try it, then plug the other one in and try it, no blind test let alone a double blind one. If I heard a difference I'd consider it, otherwise no.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

A power cord won't make a difference unless you're comparing it to a defective one.

But it's entirely possible to believe that it does. It gets harder to believe the more aware one is about what a power cord actually does.

When I was five years old I bugged my parents to buy me a pair of PF Flyers sneakers because the TV commercials promised that they make you run faster and jump higher. I spent just about the entire first day with the new sneakers running and jumping all around the house. I said to my Mom, "Wow, they really do make me run faster and jump higher!"

I didn't know about expectation bias back then.

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

I just have one question though. In my country we do use AC power, and my amp is class-D with voltage switching (currently set to 230 volts accordingly). Does that mean that my amp receives AC power from the wall and converts it to DC, or just runs on AC power?

All amps that run from AC convert it to DC for the amp circuitry to run on. This occurs in the power supply. (Just about anything electronic has a power supply.) That's where the AC mains gets rectified, filtered, stored, and in many cases, regulated. If audible noise gets from the mains into the audio circuitry, the power supply is either defective or inexcusably poorly designed.

 

[bottomzone]

I just know what I hear and I was expecting to hear absolutely nothing.

I concur! I purchased one about 2 years ago expecting to not hear any difference and return it for a refund. Still got it!

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

 

[Blue_Whistle88]

All amps that run from AC convert it to DC for the amp circuitry to run on. This occurs in the power supply. (Just about anything electronic has a power supply.) That's where the AC mains gets rectified, filtered, stored, and in many cases, regulated. If audible noise gets from the mains into the audio circuitry, the power supply is either defective or inexcusably poorly designed.

Right, cheers dude, had a feeling that might be the case. So, is the benefit of having AC power that it goes through that process and has any excess noise eliminated?

 

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

The benefit of AC is that it allows electricity to be distributed over long distances by using transformers to step voltage way up (for the long distance transmission) and then back down (mains voltage for the local neighborhood). And it allows us to use transformers in the power supplies of equipment and other devices to step the mains down to voltages suitable for the circuitry to use.

Edison's original plan for electrical distribution involved DC generating stations strewn throughout cities and towns, one every couple blocks with only a short distance between generators and the homes and businesses they served. That's because DC can't be stepped up with transformers for low-loss longer distance transmission. The inefficiency of the Edison model gave way to Westinghouse's (and Tesla's, to some extent) more versatile plan of using AC.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

When I was five years old I bugged my parents to buy me a pair of PF Flyers sneakers because the TV commercials promised that they make you run faster and jump higher. I spent just about the entire first day with the new sneakers running and jumping all around the house. I said to my Mom, "Wow, they really do make me run faster and jump higher!"

Well, the ads must have been right, because I could run faster and jump higher with them too.

Edison's original plan for electrical distribution involved DC generating stations strewn throughout cities and towns, one every couple blocks with only a short distance between generators and the homes and businesses they served. That's because DC can't be stepped up with transformers for low-loss longer distance transmission. The inefficiency of the Edison model gave way to Westinghouse's (and Tesla's, to some extent) more versatile plan of using AC

And Edison was mightily pissed too, because having power plants licensed by him every few miles would have made him richer than the Saudi Princes selling the oil to power them all. This was probably the major rift between Tesla and Edison. As it turned out Tesla's idea won out, but he still died broke. Edison, not so much. For a real eye opener check out Tesla's ideas for wireless power transmission via Tesla Coils.

 

[3506string]

May be a dumb question, but couldn't a simple null test prove or disprove many of the claims of audible differnce?

 

[Spencer!]

There could be response bias going on. You paid money for the cord, so you subconsciously want it to sound better. A few months ago I was given the musiccord pro, and the first time I plugged it in I thought I heard a difference as well. A blind test proved that I didn't.

 

[fokof]

Lots and lots of people are listening with their eyes.
( Or their VISA cards)

 

[bongomania]

Just for the record, "expecting to not hear something" causes just as much misperception and self-delusion as the other biases mentioned here. Lots of people say "I expected to not hear any difference, but I heard one"--and it's just the same trick of the brain that fools the guy who expected great results.

I'm not saying that as anything negative toward anyone here--just stating something that people often don't realize, in general.