Today I have returned from CJ Singapore with a new buy from one of our competitors (yep, I listen to everything) and tested a multitude of different ear tips on this IEM with my coupler. To my amazement, the differences in FR were many times very little. But even with two tips that measured almost like 99% the same, they still sound VERY different.
It seems that these ear simulators are not organic after all. And things happen that either cannot yet be measured or simulated, and we don't understand everything about sound yet. FR doesn't give me info about a varying level of occlusion effect, possible real insertion depth and isolation, for example.
Also, I tend to be a person who hears like pretty significant differences between cables. Like with one cable I just cant stand the pairing, and with the other, I feel a synergy is achieved. I'm completely crazy about this, playing with cables for hours until I find the right pairing, and later have like two favourite cables for chosen IEM.
Probably these are the reasons why my more scientific partner, Emil, who is a trained sound engineer, actually hates FR measurements saying that they don't give us true and complete information. He says "two earphones with the same FR measurement may sound very different". Hard to disagree, won't you say?
And that translates to cables also.
P.S. However saying that I'm not debating Crinacle, on the contrary, I kinda accept that we all have different focus and dispositions to different things.
FR is one variable and even then we have a few different ways to measure one. why would anybody assume that one out of several variables could describe something other than FR completely? indeed a FR graph doesn't show occlusion or many other things, because that's not what it's measuring. no surprise there. and it's the very same thing for cables. we tend to rely on gauge, length, and material, or sometimes on impedance because they tend to be enough to get a practical estimate of their electrical behavior. but even rather simplified ways to model that behavior will consistently involve resistance, inductance and capacitance. I don't find surprising that by looking at only one variable, we sometimes miss a change.
IMO the "we don't understand everything about sound yet" is irrational. pressure goes up, then pressure goes down, then it goes up again. seems pretty straightforward to me. I would rather go with "we don't understand everything about the brain", or "we have one hell of a hard time figuring out how to translate objective variables into subjective impressions". makes more sense to me.
I’m not against discussing controversial topics here. I know such things belong in the Sound Science section, but over there it feels more like preaching to the choir than an actual back-and-forth.
Just as a clarification, my views on cables are a little less straightforward than my views on burn-in in that, whether due to actual differences or mental placebo, I personally do hear differences in cables. However, in my case it is very 50/50 on whether the differences are considered upgrades and in almost every instance I feel like the prices boutique cable makers are charging are nowhere close to being justified by the subjective performance increase (if any).
It’s a bit more of a nuanced topic and I’ve consulted a few people to make the upcoming article a bit more in-depth than usual, taking in opinions from diehard objectivists, sound engineers as well as cable DIYers I know. Again, I’m not setting out to change minds but rather to be more transparent on my beliefs and views as well as explaining why I hold such thoughts.
personally I have experienced changes in IEM from cables, felt and measured. they're probably the most likely cables to impact the sound audibly. if only because we usually prioritize flexibility, weight, how they conduct vibrations, and just comfort in general instead of electrical specs. nobody wants to use even headphone cables with their tiny IEMs. also there is almost no standard at all for those cables, unlike interconnect cables. and then the electrical specs of an IEM(huge sensitivity, crossovers, etc) make them much more likely to be impacted by small changes in the rest of the circuit than a 200ohm almost fully resistive, low sensi headphone.
so between that and how I keep purchasing the cheapest cables in batches so I often get some lemons, I could be the ambassador of a campaign on how IEM cables could change the sound audibly sometimes( but spending hundreds of $ on less than 1.5 meters of wire blows my mind).
and yet I almost always end up having to argue against people claiming that cables make a difference because of how sadly consistent most of them are when it comes to having no valid argumentation beyond "I know what I heard" under totally uncontrolled conditions. even when used to defend a fact, logical fallacies and disdain for rigorous experimentation still spoil the conversation and burn their credibility to the ground(at least in my eyes, and that will indeed get them roasted in Sound Science). reaching the right conclusion(or close enough) through completely inapt methods and dubious logic, that's still being wrong.
I wish that from time to time, someone would try to defend a position with more than his unwarranted self confidence. everybody would gain from fact based statements and accepting that an anecdote is not is not a new law of physics for all cables in the universe.
what pisses me off the most is when someone assumes that a metal has a sound, so if we use a silver cable or whatever on any IEM or headphone, it's supposed to carry those same sonic characteristics over. this can be disproved by a teen who just started learning about Ohm's law at school, and yet, I'll read about such idea maybe once a week, and usually nobody even pretends to contest it. sure enough the "accountability free" cable section of the forum doesn't help putting the record straight.
PS: did you expect that even as an April Fools, the subject would end up toxic? ^_^ welcome to Sound Science, the special place where toxic topics usually end up, helping to create that legendary atmosphere of fun.
Can't wait for the "full" one.
