Do Cables MAtter and other related chat

lxXXxl

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Yup that is the wisest thing to do indeed. Anyway nobody is perfect. Forgive and forget.

For people like me who don't understand the science well enough and unable to quantify everything and do the math, we still fall back on whom to believe. Andrew Jones? ASR Amirm or other scientists. I can never be on same level as them. I can only quote what they say and blindly believe them. So I am not improved regardless of whom I believe. We are who we are. Best if everyone can accept that.

Whether you are blindly believing things or not I do not know. Your comments so far seems to imply that you're pretty intelligent, and hence choosing what you want to say, or not say. Good for you, doesn't really matter for me, I guess?
 

lxXXxl

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lxXXxl u should get award for always needing to have the last word haha.

Like I said... nobody is perfect.

I ask for clarification on the things people say, they run around pretending not to understand what I asked, so...?
 

benedium

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We all have strengths in different areas lah bro. How come I can appreciate yours? U only appreciate science? Nothing else?
 

benedium

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Anyway let people be whoever they are lah bro. They never hurt anyone and u are not paid to be police.

Actually this is for our own good. When we judge others we suffer more than those we judge.
 
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lxXXxl

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Anyway let people be whoever they are lah bro. They never hurt anyone and u are not paid to be police.

Actually this is for our own good. When we judge others we suffer more than those we judge.

I ask for proof, that's judging? For my own good??? :s13:

20180509114540_26029.jpg


So I shouldn't correct anyone who points to a deer and calls it a horse? :s13:
 

benedium

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Eh bro u making it sound like u never spoke with Clearnfc before. Like every encounter is like the first time so we have to see u throwing same questions and challenges. It gets tiring and it speaks more about u than it does about others lah deh.
 

lxXXxl

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Maybe unscientific claims irk u just as unkindness and intolerance irks me. Heheh.

Good that you agree Clearnfc is making unscientific claims.


Eh bro u making it sound like u never spoke with Clearnfc before. Like every encounter is like the first time so we have to see u throwing same questions and challenges. It gets tiring and it speaks more about u than it does about others lah deh.

I never spoke with Clearnfc before....Is he selling something?
I'm not selling anyone anything, just pointing things out in a public forum. :D
 

benedium

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Aiya then u just ignore me lor. Just treat me like a crazy old man talking to himself.
 

lxXXxl

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Audio Cable Frequency Response Measurements

Got curious that so many people can hear clear audio differences between their cables, saying things like 'night and day', 'even my wife in kitchen can hear'.

Note:
1. No one disputes that there are electrical differences between cables.
2. No one disputes that there are audio differences between cables.
3. But between various properly designed, short length home audio cables, placed in sensible locations, without strong magnetic interferences, there should not be huge differences that human ears can detect.

And comparing wires not meant for audio use, to thousand dollar audio cables is just....trying too hard to make a sale? :s8:



So to see if my ears are really that bad, I set out to measure me some cables. Starting with some interconnect cables.

Interconnect cable comparison (yes no exotic cables :s13:):
1. Generic yellow / red / white rca cable, 1.8m
2. Monster Standard THX i100 'THX certified' rca cable, 1.2m
3. Belden 1694a rca cable, 2m

X1CKVhG.jpg




Source: Windows 10 PC (DIY)
USB DAC: Topping D10 (w/ generic usb cable)
Amplifer: Yamaha A-S500
Speaker cable: Belden 8471
Speakers: Dali Fazon Sat
Subwoofer: NA, turned off

Mic: Umik-1 (~8cm away from speaker face)
Measuring software: Room EQ Wizard (REW), ~80dB Pink Periodic Noise
Only 1 speaker is measured, with grills on. In HDB room.

BzToPlv.jpg





It should be clear from the charts that differences between the measured frequency responses of the 3 cables are so small (less than 0.5dB, the 3 lines are on top of each other) that it is almost impossible for human ears to pick up.
1/48 smoothing applied to frequency sweep graphs.

A4cUVgK.png

*Noise level in my room (PC fans, high storey, but roads ~30 meters away)



Zoomed in to frequency sweep graphs of only Belden 1694a and generic cable (so easier to see), smoothing turned off. Hardly any difference that's more than 0.5dB.

BXtOkfP.png



Download the REW file with the measurements here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ufij74sqvfgdtkr/Interconnect%20measure.mdat?dl=0


Based on the graphs, I think my system and speakers played all the frequencies (above 60Hz) so the system should be 'resolving' enough, at least sufficient for the mic to record everything.

Of course, there're 101 variables that weren't accounted for when doing the measurements. Sure, maybe the cables are doing something magical below 60Hz and I couldn't capture that. So take the real world data and decide whether it's useful or not to you.

Will measure more cables in the future, in the hopes of finding ones that show substantial, more than 1-2dB differences, and see whether 'brighter' cables are really brighter and show an increase in higher frequencies.

If you measure your cables and do a cable shootout, do share them here as well.
 
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wwenze

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Is the difference between cables more than differences between the same cable tested multiple times?
 

alamakazim

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Repeatability i emphasize

if u can plot a graph exactly the same 10 out of 10... then u are good to go...

else you can forget about your experiment
 

Clearnfc

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Repeatability i emphasize

if u can plot a graph exactly the same 10 out of 10... then u are good to go...

else you can forget about your experiment

Even if you can repeat the test, there is still one hurdle you cannot overcome. What contributes as audible difference and whats "better" ?? Eg, SNR 95 and 100. Difference is 5. Can see on graph, but does it result in any audible difference?? This one is subjective.

If you take a 10 pple sample in a blind test, 2 thinks 95 one is better, 3 thinks 100 one is better. 5 think no difference. Because of human perception of whats is better, its extremely difficult to have a conclusion.

Its also not limited to sound. Even same song sung by different singers.... how do you measure objectively which singer sings it best? Its impossible.
 

lxXXxl

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Repeatability i emphasize

if u can plot a graph exactly the same 10 out of 10... then u are good to go...

else you can forget about your experiment

Don't quite understand what you mean.
Are you referring to wwenze's comments to test the same cable more than once? And that the measurements should be repeated multiple times to ensure the results are consistent?
 
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