Quote:
Originally Posted by
pepar 
We had been talking to the mod owner for some time and some others in our group were spearheading the effort to organize the test. We had proceeded with scientifically endorsed procedure until we got to the switch, and then you would have thought we had proposed ... I find myself here attempting to come up with something
so far-fetched so as to make my point, but words fail me ... it's all so far-fetched ...
Let's just say the switch was the bogeyman, and for the "reasons" I have already posted. That was pretty much the end and some of us threw up our hands in disgust. Unbeknownst to the disgusted among us, one of us continued talking. I was delighted to hear that it was going forward. Only at the last moment did I learn that the mod owner
did not know we were going to use the switch.
It is my belief that he wouldn't have brought his modded unit anywhere near a blind A/B/X test had he known. And that would exactly for the reason you cite, though he would have
believed it was because the switch would destroy all the fine detail that he knew was there.
I'm sure he thinks he was ambushed and betrayed, but that's always the reaction when belief is met with science. I would never consider questioning someone's religious beliefs as those are, well .. sacred. But this flat earth stuff, this the universe revolves around the earth stuff is fair game.
Guys, I was away for a few days, so I had to catch up on about 4 pages. Just to clarify, my intention was to have the switch available for evaluation by Rich before we did any testing.
Rich was first to arrive, so I helped him bring the gear in, showed him my system and told him about the switch we had available from Kal. I explained that it was the only practical way to A/B the units, Kal had graciously provided 6 pairs of identical ICs, we all agreed to use identical TUC power cables and matching Wireworld HDMI cables that Rich brought on the DUTs, and that we would spend time A/B'ing the units sighted, with familiar material before conducting the actual test.
This was all done to allow Rich to become comfortable with the idea of using a switch instead of plugging/unplugging 6 cables every minute for 33 trials. He told me that David just wanted everything to be identical for both units, down to placing the DUTs on the same plane, identical cables, etc, etc. (Which we did to the best of our ability).
After the sighted listening, Rich was sure he heard a difference, but he was nervous about whether he could pick it out in the test. He did settle down for the multichannel tests, but did no better on either set of trials.
And, yes, I did get an attack call at 9:20 the next morning from DS, but I thought it best not to fan the flames by posting about it. It was to be expected, given stories I had heard before, so let's just say I wasn't surprised. Details now would really serve no purpose other than gossip.
DS and everybody needs to understand that we all were hoping to hear major improvements, and we would have been the first in line to plunk down $$ for mods if we had heard (and be able to prove in a blind test) significant improvements.
I'm never entirely sure if Stereophile is serious or tongue-in-cheek. (I hope Kal isn't lurking... if you are, you are the exception that proves the rule, Sir).
I am surmising that you're talking about the random vs. not-so-random jitter issue, the latter being more potentially audible and the Ashihara data being flawed because it mainly or only addressed the random jitter audibility aspect.
I like to refer to them as my "Audio Jewelry" as they serve no other purpose than looking good over standard well built cables IME. I actually broke a power socket socket in the back of a component with one of my upgraded "aligator grip" power cables trying to plug it in
I guess I deserved that. They do look cool though but I always mention to friends that they just look good and I have personally never noticed a difference in SQ.
