• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

I won a Virtual Dynamics Power 3 Cable

Status
Not open for further replies.
#26
A9X said:
Because someone believes they hear a difference, doesn't mean there is.
Click to expand...

Yes that's a better way of saying it. What I'm getting at is: If the placebo effect takes place, then for all intensive purposes there is a difference to that person. Even if there actually isn't in the real world. In that persons head there is a difference. So it does exactly what it set out to do. Improve tone. Only not through physics but through psychology. Why not use psychology to effect tone? If you can hear an improvement in something does it really matter how it arrives in your head? Doesn't a mobile phone speaker not actually reproduce certain lower frequencies yet you still think that you hear them. Maybe the cable is split into $10 for the cable and $290 for implanting a perception in your head.
 
#29
Bassflute said:
... Also, I intend to do some recording with it and power a high-end studio pre with it, and without it. ....
Click to expand...

Besides measuring, If you can record a difference, then there is a difference. As long as the exact same input and output conditions are maintained. Maybe record your bass direct first. Then play it back through the amp with and without the cable. Record this playback so you have proof there is or isn't a difference.

Now if you can hear a difference, but it can't be recorded, or measured, then I don't know, supernatural maybe?
 
#31
fdeck said:
I would try out one of those cables on my voltmeter or my oscilloscope.
Click to expand...

I have done this including spectrum analysis on a bunch of expensive power cables.

The cables that claim some filter effect, whether from a ferrite or a shield or something else, do indeed pick up less RF than a standard unshielded cable and some of them do shunt off some line noise. However, a properly designed power supply will do this far more effectively than a cable ever could. I did record one instance where a fancy power cable resulted in 6dB lower noise floor than a standard IEC, but it was because the amplifier connected to it had a woefully bad power supply design. The amp in question was a high dollar single-ended 300B power amp. I couldn't repeat the result with any other piece of equipment.

Personally, my experience has shown me that anything truly audible can be measured. People who say that there are purely qualitative effects that can't be measured are either not measuring the right things or not able to interpret the numbers properly. I will also be the first to say that a lot of the typical measurements and specs are pretty much useless. A frequency response sweep at low level doesn't really tell you much about device under test because it tells you nothing about distortion or transient behaviour.

Anyway, I remain skeptical whether the Virtual Dynamics cable makes any real difference, based on my experiences with other fancy power cables. However, since I haven't tested the VD cable myself, I'm not going to make any claims about it. Their ad-copy certainly reeks of BS, though. I'm not sure I'd put my trust in any cable company who doesn't seem to know the difference between damping and dampening....
 
#33
Mark Reccord said:
I'm not sure I'd put my trust in any cable company who doesn't seem to know the difference between damping and dampening....
Click to expand...

That gaffe amuses me on music forums. But coming from a supposed tech company, it's a worse offense.

But if this thing works, think how much better gigs would sound if every venue had all their AC wiring right out to the service box redone with the same "technology". Wowza! ; }
 
#34
You can blame this piffel on Perrier. They managed to convince consumers that water in a bottle was somehow superior to tap water, just because it cost more. That opened the floodgates, if you will, to all sorts of products that claim to be 'better' based only on the fact that they cost more than reasonably priced alternatives.
BTW, the best selling bottled water brands are Dasani and Aquafina. People pay twice as much for this water as they do for the same quantity of gasoline. Guess what? They're both tap water.
 
#35
Tap water isn't the same everywhere. Bottle water does taste better than what comes from the tap in some parts of the world. And power isn't same everywhere. So maybe some amp designers create their amps in their ideal lab conditions, where the power tastes good, and neglect to add proper conditioning for the real world. Where it probably costs a few dollars in parts to add a little extra filtering to the amp, you might get the same spending $300 on a cable.
 
#38
A guy on another forum once offered to send me a very expensive cable to test out. When I told him how I was going to test it (in the electronics lab in the very well equipped plasma physics lab where I was doing grad school) he stopped replying to any of my PMs. I really did want to test the $1000 cable to see what was up with it. I was open minded but felt that there would be basically nothing useful gained from it.

Like has been stated by Mark, a properly designed power supply does enough filtering of the input voltage. If a person has enough money to buy a $300 power cord then they likely do not own audio components that have poorly designed power supplies. I built power supplies for a few dozen buffer amplifiers that worked on signals requiring much more accurate reproduction than an audio signal requires and we never had any problems with noisy AC lines or pickup on the power cords because it was all filtered out by some carefully placed filter capacitors.
 
#39
seamonkey said:
So maybe some amp designers create their amps in their ideal lab conditions, where the power tastes good, and neglect to add proper conditioning for the real world.
Click to expand...
Precisely the argument that keeps the cable shysters in business. But it doesn't hold water. Speaking of which, if you want to drink bottled water because your local tap water has issues that's OK. But you shouldn't be paying Coke or Pepsico a thousand times what it costs them to bottle it for the privilege. BTW, the water out of my tap is the same water that goes into the Dasani bottled a half mile from my house. :scowl:
 
#40
billfitzmaurice said:
Precisely the argument that keeps the cable shysters in business. But it doesn't hold water. Speaking of which, if you want to drink bottled water because your local tap water has issues that's OK. But you shouldn't be paying Coke or Pepsico a thousand times what it costs them to bottle it for the privilege. BTW, the water out of my tap is the same water that goes into the Dasani bottled a half mile from my house. :scowl:
Click to expand...

reverse osmosis, whatever that is.

Cheers,
Cameron
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back