That night and day thing the cable skeptics fear...

[sejarzo]

Originally Posted by earwicker7

Just goes to show that taking things out of context is a great tool.

My original point stands--I am asserting a night and day reduction in whatever you guys want to call the low level hiss on my CD player, which is a change in sound due to a power cord, which is supposedly impossible. I NEVER said that this made a night and day sound in the music itself. That is a red herring.

So why did you title the thread "That night and day thing the cable skeptics fear... " and then say it doesn't make a night and day difference in the music?

[nick_charles]

Originally Posted by earwicker7

My original point stands--I am asserting a night and day reduction in whatever you guys want to call the low level hiss on my CD player, which is a change in sound due to a power cord, which is supposedly impossible. I NEVER said that this made a night and day sound in the music itself. That is a red herring.

I really think at this point that we need measurements to support this night and day reduction in low level hiss, are we talking a 6db drop , a 12db drop or a 1db drop , a 0.5db drop ? A 6db drop may be worth bothering with perhaps a 1db less so and a 0.5db drop pretty pointless.

[sejarzo]

Originally Posted by slwiser

....... at least the Flat Earthers don't.

If all one depended on was his own eyes, he would indeed believe the Earth was flat.

It took scientific inquiry and greater understanding of reality to determine that virtually every human's long-standing perception of the Earth as being flat was in error.

To skeptics, it's the believers (I'm certainly not saying that you're one of them) who steadfastly refuse to learn or accept any basics whatsoever of electricity....and depend strictly upon their ears, much like people in the past only depended upon their eyes vis-a-vis the shape of the Earth.....that are the Flat Earthers.

It's all relative, just like voltage.

[earwicker7]

Originally Posted by nick_charles

Yes, but the OP insists that the problem is Hiss not hum.

Yeah, I was a musician using amplifiers for long enough to recognize a hum. That's not what it is. I'm positive it's some kind of interference.

[earwicker7]

Originally Posted by sejarzo

So why did you title the thread "That night and day thing the cable skeptics fear... " and then say it doesn't make a night and day difference in the music?

This is aimed at are the people who say "Power cords cannot possibly make any difference in sound." Due to this belief, they stop listening to reason. We can debate the level of difference that it makes; I'm just trying to establish that it makes SOME difference. I think this scares some people who have HUGE emotional investments in what they call "skepticism" (I actually believe skepticism is very healthy), but is actually dogmatism.

NIGHT--low levels of interference when turned up high enough
DAY--no levels of interference when turned up the same amount

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by JohnFerrier

Well, if it's dependent on the volume setting, I expect the noise source to be upstream from the volume control.

Could be a noisy preamp, but most likely it's a ground issue.

See ya
Steve

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by earwicker7

How do I get a selective ground loop that only affects one component?

Ground loops are very difficult to trace. They can be the effect of combinations of units, not just any particular unit. Turntables and equalizers are the most frequent culpret though. Sometimes you have to ground the unit causing the problem. Sometimes grounding the amp will solve it. Get a clean ground wire and touch it to the chassis of several of your components and see if the noise goes away.

See ya
Steve

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by earwicker7

This is aimed at are the people who say "Power cords cannot possibly make any difference in sound."

Who said that? A defective power cord that shorts out can add static. An improperly grounded one can add all kinds of noise.

See ya
Steve

[earwicker7]

Wow, people are really insistent about this being a ground issue

Again, I'm going to default to what a guy who makes amps for a living told me. He could have easily said "You have a ground issue" or whatever. Instead, the first thing he said when I described it to him was that he knew the sound I was speaking of, and it's noisy digital op-amps. He took me through all the steps you suggested and I determined he was right. I do think he thought I was anal, but he seemed to think it was a genuine issue.

This was never an issue of something like a ground loop, which is, IMO, something bad enough to ruin the experience of listening to music. It was something that I just accepted (like I accept a bit of hiss on vinyl) as a fault of CD players until I saw an ad for the Shunyata cord. Turns out I can try it for 30 days and return it if I don't like it. I've dealt with Music Direct and I know their "no questions asked" policy is rock solid; they've never complained about me returning stuff and don't try to talk me into just switching to another product.

I tried the product, and it did exactly what it said... reduce noise on digital equipment.

Wow.

[sejarzo]

OK, now I think I've got it.

A multiformat audio disc player that lists for $7495 is unfortunately designed so that any non-defective standard power cable somehow allows power mains interference to create a hiss on the analog outputs that a user fears might obscure low-level detail, and that doesn't get better with other power cables, but hey.......it only takes an extra $1600 investment in the right power cable to take care of the problem!

Thank goodness most of us don't have those issues with sub-$500 players, or sub-$200 USB DAC's and headamp, because we'd be pretty sore about it.

Wow, indeed.