[2deadeyes]

Didn't the staff of Gizmodo get banned from future CES events for messing with the display system during someone's presentation?

Sorry for being OT.

 

[vagarach]

Yes, the guy who did the remote clicking was banned, and rightly so.

Still, the thing is, unless the entire cable is made solely out of gold, platinum, and unobtanium, you can never match parts to retail cost, and if you think it's OK to drop $300 on what is just a cobbled together power cord then that's fine! I'm glad that this nonsense company is getting some negative 'press', it's all that it deserves.

 

[Zuerst]

so who makes that cable?

edit: n/m

 

[Born2bwire]

Kitty!

 

[chadbang]

I think being mentioned on HEAD-FI is just as fame worthy of an accomplishment.

 

[Computerstud]

One Word "Classic".

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vagarach /img/forum/go_quote.gif , and unobtanium, .

Oakley's getting into the cable business then. I guess that's all that's left now that the sunglasses are luxottica.

But yeah, when I think Gizmodo, I think of ads, I think of biased reporting, I think of old news, and I think of the asshattery of CES.

I'm going to use my new Oakley cables with the rainbow foil in order to get the best sound. Better than live. I rule.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Where's the thread?

/nvm I found it

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Hahaha I notice the people who defend the cable tend to own one.. Reminds me of when I was kid, when I had a bicycle and a friend had an even better one, and I really wanted to believe mine was superior even if I could never win a race against him

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hahaha I notice the people who defend the cable tend to own one.. Reminds me of when I was kid, when I had a bicycle and a friend had an even better one, and I really wanted to believe mine was superior even if I could never win a race against him

Only if you never raced because you already knew you would win so why bother. Or if you did race, he was more familiar with the track so of course he won, or some other such excuse

 

[manaox2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hahaha I notice the people who defend the cable tend to own one.. Reminds me of when I was kid, when I had a bicycle and a friend had an even better one, and I really wanted to believe mine was superior even if I could never win a race against him

I also notice that the people who put down the cable have never tried a decent aftermarket power cable on a power amp.

I got it for free as did most. I have not defended it until now... But I have to say that aftermarket power cables do improve sound in my experience and even the Power 3 is recognized as one of the best in its current price range of $100.

I also think someone with DIY skill could emulate the vibration control and shielding on the cable rather cheaply to get the effects. I had a friend who was a Grad Student and explained to me how he was taught about some of the effect vibration has on an electrical signal. If you study amp design, you will find that the power does often work its way into the signal path. If something works and isn't that expensive to make, maybe we should be rejoicing at the discovery of what Virtual Dynamics discovered and marketed to improve our currently owned equipment cheap and easily.

 

[bigshot]

If cable companies want to prove that their cables improve the sound, I think they should do testing to conclusively prove it. Throwing freebies to people in chat rooms in hopes that the goodwill will generate positive anecdotal reviews proves nothing.

The real deal-breaker though is the lack of Underwriters Lab certification. It's conceivable that an insurance company could refuse to pay on a claim for losses due to an unlisted power cable. For the cost of a couple of fancy cables they could get that certification. It doesn't matter if other high end cable manufacturers don't bother to get UL certification. They should have at least enough concern for the welfare of their customers to guarantee the safety of their product in the same way just about every other electronic product does.

See ya
Steve

 

[Happy Camper]

Steve,

Have you tried one of their products? I was ignorant to the effects of an alternately designed power cord or ICs until I actually tried some. I now know the differences because I can go back to the common item and listen to the differences. Value of differences are determined by the customer and their economic position.

As to the UL/CSA certification, how many products sold relating to this hobby are? I'm looking for a UL/CSA listing on my amp and DAC and can't find one. Is VD any different? I don't mean to say they shouldn't, but to call out one when many don't is biased to justify a point of view.

As far as anecdotal reviews meaning nothing, why does your opinion mean more than someone that has heard the product? Can you look at numbers and tell which CD player, DAC or amp sounds better? Why should cables and cords be any different. By your view, synergy should be easily found by a formula. It's not as I am learning but if you have found one, please share.

 

[kpeezy]

Did anyone read the comment by Virtual Dynamics?

"As the inventors of this unique technology we were quite pleased to see the interest here at Gizmodo and thought we should shed a little light. This "Cat tore up my Power 3" was started at head-fi.org. Reading through the entire thread you'll see that the author, in the end understood the value of this invention.

"the author's final post" VV
[]www.head-fi.org]

The invention in this cable is a unique process called dynamic filtering. You can learn about how this unique process works to lower distortion in electronics. We are currently undergoing a large test with the University of Toronto that we'll be posting publicly later this spring, shedding light on the technologies, and how and why they work.

+ Watch video

There are also reviews of some of our more expensive cables that you may find of interest."

I didn't read the thread intensely or anything, but I thought that "last post by the author" was actually made by VD themselves. Am I misunderstanding the VD response?

 

[Uncle Erik]

manaox2, the power cord you have does not have RF shielding. It is a garden hose with residential wiring, filled with sandblasting medium. I guarantee you it will pick up RF. I could give you a quick demonstration with an amateur radio and a meter. This test would be repeatable by anyone and would have measurable data. If sandblasting medium dampens vibrations that harm the signal, that can be tested as well. Have you ever heard the effect of vibrations in your car stereo? Probably not. Unless you performed extensive upgrades, you car has similarly cheap wiring as Virtual Dynamics uses, with no vibration control. Your car is subject to orders of magnitude more vibration than your home is, so if vibrations make no noticeable difference in your car, they won't at home.

Power cords are not attached directly to an amplification circuit. They are attached to a power supply. First, that goes to a transformer. Then it goes through rectifiers (sometimes tubed, sometimes solid state), capacitors, resistors, sometimes chokes, and sometimes regulated by either tubes or solid state. Can we agree that they are widely varied? What goes into a power supply is massively changed by the time it comes out on the other end. I highly recommend Morgan Jones' book if you want to learn more. Bruce Rozenblit's books are similarly excellent. Anyhow, you can put the output of a power supply on an oscilloscope and have a look at what comes out the other side. I've done this and the power cord makes no difference.

Ask yourself this, how can a piece of wire affect thousands of different power supply designs the same way? They can't. Even if a power cord did something to one particular supply, it probably wouldn't to any of the thousands of other supplies the same way. Taking into account component selection and house wiring, there are as many variations as there are people. Something that makes the same change across millions of examples is not possible.

The simple answer is placebo and mass delusion. Power cords are like Bigfoot; they sound plausible at first. But when you get down to it, hard evidence vanishes. Further, everyone involved in the field eventually turns out to be a hoaxer, scammer, lunatic, etc. Cables are just another field of the paranormal, though rarely recognized as that.