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TARA Labs cable challenge!!

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#122
nashvillebill said:
That's a blind test, but not a double-blind test. For a double blind test, the person administering the test (plus the test subject) must not know the difference between the items being tested. This removes the test administrator from inadvertently influencing the subject.
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If the person administering the test says nothing, how will they influence the blindfolded testee? Just curious.

Seems like a blind test should work fine... as long as the buddy keeps his mouth shut;)
 
#123
From the other thread in AMPS...

MKS:As a qualified statistician I would be very pleased to help design a blinded test of these cables.

Unfortunately it can't be double blind unless you can make two different power cables look identical. Double blind means that the person hearing the results and the person switching the cables does not know which cable is which.

My thought would be that you need to have two or more testers / listeners who will listen to and rate the results. You ought to use one standard test rig with an identical signal going through the rig each time - this could either be a looped signal or a standard test signal. Presumably you would have a some kind of standard signal that covers a variety of frequencies... Then you need to listen to this test signal a number of times (10+?) while switching the cables *randomly* for each listening but making sure that each cable gets used the same number of times (viz. Cheap cable 5 times, Tara Labs cable 5 times). The person switching the cable should not be one of the listeners and if possible should not be visible by the listeners (so that they don't know if that person "switches" between one cable and the same one. i.e. that the same cable is used in two adjacent tests). The listeners decide whether what they are hearing is the Tara Labs cable or the cheaper cable. They don't *have* to rate what they like about the sound etc. Simply A or B will be enough.

Once the ratings have been completed it is a really simple statistical test to test if the listeners are guessing which cable is which and if they can hear a difference.

If you would like to take more in-depth measurements or qualitative measurements, then I'd be happy to provide input to the design and analysis.
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I don't think you need a double blind test unless the assessor is asking the testee which cable they think they're listening to. Comments like "...are you sure...?" introduce bias (DUH! Obviously! ;) ). If the testee is simply answering with which cable they think it is, without any feedback from the assessor then that's good enough for science.

EDIT: I think withholding the results until the end is a good idea. Again, if a testee knows that 7 out of 11 people can't tell the difference then they may be more inclined to "try hard" or maybe not. It does have potential to add bias.
 
#124
Just curious. Since Tim is no longer moderating this forum, is the new mod taking over the reins of the cable test?

I don't want to influence the test results but I am kind of curious as to what's going on with the test.

Enquiring minds want to know. :)


Harrell S.
 
#126
pkr2 said:
Just curious. Since Tim is no longer moderating this forum, is the new mod taking over the reins of the cable test?

I don't want to influence the test results but I am kind of curious as to what's going on with the test.

Enquiring minds want to know. :)
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Don't Panic! Tim's moderating Misc nowdays and he's still around. I haven't asked him but I presume he'll continue to hold the reigns of the test. It would make sense for him to do so since he has been in contact with the right people, holds the paperwork, etc..... I may be the new Mod but I don't even know who has got the cables at the moment?
 
#129
i will? oh, happy happy joy joy :hyper:


you know, this whole "blind/double blind" crap is irrelevant to me personally. if the cables perform better or i notice an improvement, i'll buy them - i don't need to be fooled into anything. i've got +$30k in basses and an $8k bass rig. i'm certainly not afraid to spend some dough on cables if they are worth it.

on the other hand, i also have an electrical engineering degree from ga tech, so i'm not going to be an easy sale :D.
 
#130
Yeah, we tried it both ways. The blind test, when compared with a coin toss, was an exercise in hilarity!

I put my money where my mouth is when I bought some Evidence Audio instrument cables. All my cable tests are up on basstasters.com right now, except for the Tara. Those will come when everyone's done.
 
#133
We still have Gard, Smash if he still wants to, and Bob Lee....I believe that is all. Since Gard is out your way, we will send them to him next, then SMASH, then lastly (but definitely not least) Bob Lee on their way back.

Also, I forgot to post on here I am still taking care of all this, even though I moved my moderating duties over to Misc. forum. Petebass is definitely a well suited cat for this gig, so I asked him to become the new mod here.

Also guys, if you could kindly send your testing results to me, I would like to start compiling data for a nice final report.

Thanks!
 
#136
Tim Cole said:
We still have Gard, Smash if he still wants to, and Bob Lee....I believe that is all. Since Gard is out your way, we will send them to him next, then SMASH, then lastly (but definitely not least) Bob Lee on their way back.
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How are you going to account for the difference in sound between the early testers and the last testers, since the cables will be broken-in by the time they get to Bob? I can't imagine that the cables would sound the same fresh from the factory unless, of course, Tara does the breaking-in before they ship them.
 
#139
Munjibunga said:
How are you going to account for the difference in sound between the early testers and the last testers, since the cables will be broken-in by the time they get to Bob? I can't imagine that the cables would sound the same fresh from the factory unless, of course, Tara does the breaking-in before they ship them.
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LMFAO!:D :D :D
 
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