His gargantuan and (maybe obsessive-compulsive?) effort is pretty amazing, but I too wonder if it's not a fool's mission.
Maybe it's because, for me, trying to compare 27 power cables (why 27, btw? Why not 31 or 54...?) would be the definition of hair-pulling torture.
I don't doubt that he has disciplined listening skills and has made a sincere and dedicated effort, but...
the multiple variables of the cables and especially the variables in the mental state, memory and unavoidable expectation bias of the listener just seem to make this an untenable proposition.
OCD maybe, there's nothing wrong with that in this hobby and many others.
Some of the greatest mathematicians physicists astronomers scientists audiophiles have a small amount of OCD running in their bloodstream no?
27 cables simply because that's what he had @ his disposition @ the time and perhaps he had in mind 24 to analyse and study for one year (12 months)? He simply couldn't discard the generic one, and couple more...so he ended up with three more...27.
Another year he might try 48 and take two years off just to do testing?
Anyway the number of cables is irrelevant.
He did a heck of a job no matter how we can criticize this and that ...
We sure can learn something valuable out of it, I do...100%
I know that YouTube music videos are low res compared to records played back on a sota turntable, without any doubt. So we are free to extrapolate anything we want and make our own judgement. The rule of physic laws in audio reproduction is in the music listening first, then everything else is superficial, including the guides of scientific measurements by less than capable microphones and analysing electronic tools. That's my opinion and not the law, so anyone can have their own opinion and I respect them all; as I respect my own.
I listened to that low res audio YouTube music video just above, for fun.
And it sure was revelatory fun to hear Dave's own power cord superior to many others.
Yes Dave here. I have greater respect for the man from one day to the next, just because his cable sounds great to me from that less than perfect YouTube music video where all 27 power cables are on equal footing. I can only imagine how so much better his power cord would sound in a state-of-the-art analog rig with the best music album pressings and premium matched tubes from Russia or Japan or Germany.
If you listen carefully some power cords sound broken, with high distorted noise and screechy highs and like a very worn needle inside the groove.
It you have noticed visually he has a Samsung vertical TV.
Hey, he's cool.
All in all he has my highest gratitude for the immense and valuable work that he did.
It opens my ears and brain to new frontiers in my audio journey ...
""Finding that balance in your system is tough, and never ending."
Feel absolutely free to give it a listen, to give it 15 minutes of your life, to advance in your audio journey. That's what audiophiles do.
