Wednesday White Noise
I've never considered myself to have "Golden Ears." That is, people who say they can hear the difference between $30,000USD Class-A 10-watt audio amplifiers or who use green paint on the edges of music CDs because they say it keeps the laser light from bouncing through the edge and creating spurious signals or who place their CD players on top of granite slabs suspended on bladders so as to reduce the vibrations that "color" the music.
But I don't recall ever seeing one of these people do any double-blind tests and reliably pick which is which. They may be able to tell a difference between test subjects, but not which is which nor which is "better" (Deciding what is better would be a whole section of study. Indeed, I seem to recall a study that tested a system that was very flat across the spectrum versus one that had deliberate emphasis in the low and high ends. Guess which one was considered to be the better of the two by subjects? Yup, the non-linear one.).
So it was with great amusement I read a test report (see it here) on one-metre audio cables costing between $200 to $400 per cable. Yes, that's right. For what you or I would pay for a pretty good receiver, these people pay for a single audio cable.
Yes, the cable may be made of pure silver with gold plated tips. Yes, the cables are marked for direction (I didn't know wires needed to have the direction of flow labeled, figuring electrons would flow from the source regardless which end of the cable you used, much less causing a change in timbre because of it). Yes, they are sheathed in the finest designer woven jackets.
But again, where are the double-blind tests to determine if a statistically valid difference can be reliably perceived, and if so, what objective criteria are used to determine which is "better"?
If you are interested in audio equipment, take a look at this site here that lists links that debunk the "snake oil" audio claims that these high-end manufacturers make. The money you save may be your own.
Aloha!