johnjen
Headphoneus Supremus
I have experienced situations just like that.
And it didn't take more than a few hours to arrive at that conclusion.
I tried a $5K silver power cable.
The bass from ≈ 100Hz on down just dried up and disappeared.
I have performed multiple experiments where there were no changes.
I didn't 'write them up' simply because there wasn't any improvement or in some cases any change at all.
So why bother?
But one distinction that I have not seen mentioned is between designers/engineers of our coveted gear and us as users.
These 2 groups perform very different 'tests', have very different expectations, use the gear very differently, and have very different environments within which we evaluate a DUT (Device Under Test).
To expect a designer/engineer to spend hundreds or thousands of hours using and listening to the same piece of gear and document its changes thru time is unrealistic, at best.
But that is exactly what we as users do.
To expect a designer/engineer to have run his design with the same ancillary gear as is in our own setup, let alone in a typical 'home' as we users will, is also unrealistic.
And while some users might have extensive measurement capabilities, this is somewhat rare.
So we users use the ubiquitous test and measurement systems available to us, namely our ears which are conditioned by our expectations which are again, unlike those in use by designers/engineers.
In short we as users decide if a component works well in our system(s) based upon our previous experience and from those whom we trust or have a congruent set of expectations as ours.
And as an aside. Another similar type of comparison is…
Where we would use a musician as a 'standard' or benchmark as to what is 'real’, which simply HAS to be different because what we as 'the audience' experience is by definition going to be a different experience from the musician.
Much like the recorded sound of any instrument is going to be different than what the musician experiences.
A case in point is a friend of mine listened to my headphone system and said "This doesn't sound like what I heard while playing in the orchestra".
Quite right!
We hear what the audience is supposed to hear which is the sum total of the piece of music that is being projected towards the audience.
And not what the musicians themselves hear while playing.
And back to the main point here…
And in a similar vein designers/engineers deal with the specifics of the operation of the circuit and then the challenges of manufacturing the design etc.
While we users are challenged with integrating this specific design into our existing setup.
This process of integrating runs the gamut of using different cables, or tubes, or acoustic treatments, or selling off that component because it simply doesn't work well in our system.
Which brings me to my last point.
Some of us can and do change gear like changing our wardrobe. If it doesn't fit, we sell it off.
While others (myself for instance) will explore what can be done to see if our new electro-marvel will or can be made to fit.
Or better yet to customize the fit to match our specific circumstances to suit our expectations all the more.
Sometimes this process can take many thousands of hours to experiment with, to try this and that, mostly based upon suggestions, or tweaks performed by others, and/or just our own past experiences.
All of this is not something designers/engineers have the time nor resources to explore.
That's what we (can) do as hobbyist’s, play around with stuff to dial in our system to meet our expectations, which are unique and often unrealized to begin with.
JJ :thumb
