GR Research B24 AC Cable Review: Does it Make an Audible Difference?

Summary

このビデオでは、オーディオサイエンスレビューのサミールが、GRリサーチ社から発売されたアフターマーケットACパワーコード「B24」についてレビューしています。このケーブルは非常に太く、厚みが特徴で、価格は349ドル＋送料40ドルと比較的高価ですが、他のアフターマーケットケーブルと比べると手ごろです。しかし、プラグのサイズが大きすぎるため、挿すのに非常に力を入れなければならなかったり、プラグインした状態で電気が供給されない問題がありました。さらに、安全基準にも疑問が残ります。サミールは、このケーブルを使用した音質の変化を科学的に検証し、聴覚テストや測定を通じて、特にACケーブルによる音質の違いは検出されなかったと結論付けています。

Takeaways

• 🔌 GR研究社から発売された業務用ACケーブル「B24」についてレビューが行われている。
• 💸 価格はケーブル349ドル、送料40ドルと、高級ケーブルとしては手ごろい価格である。
• 🛠️ B24は非常に太く、プラグを差し込むのが非常に困難で、安全性にも懸念が生じる。
• 🔍 レビューでは、B24ケーブルが音質に及ぼす影響について実験的検証が行われている。
• 🎧 音質比較のためのリスニングテストでは、B24ケーブルと通常ケーブルの間には顕著な違いはなかった。
• 📊 科学的に測定した結果、B24ケーブルは音響的な利点を提供していないことが示された。
• 👂 ABXテストやノルテストを通じて、聴衆はほとんどの場合、ケーブルの差異を認識できなかった。
• 🔊 ACケーブルによるノイズ除去の主張にも科学的根拠がなく、実用的な効果は不明である。
• 🛡️ 安全性に関する規程や認証が不十分で、使用には注意が必要とされている。
• 🚫 レビューではB24ケーブルの推奨がされず、その使用には多くの欠点があると結論付けられている。
• 🌐 レビューではまた、ACケーブルが音質に影響を与えないという科学的事実が強調されている。

Q & A

製品レビューの対象となるACケーブルは哪家社からのものですか？

製品レビューの対象となるACケーブルは、GR Research社からのものです。

GR Research社から提供されているACケーブルのモデル名は何ですか？

GR Research社から提供されているACケーブルのモデル名はB24です。

B24ケーブルはどのような価格帯で購入できますか？

B24ケーブルは349ドルで購入できますが、それに加えて40ドルの配送料がかかります。

このACケーブルの厚みはどのように考えられていますか？

一般的にACケーブルでは太いほど良く考えており、B24は非常に太く作られていますが、実際には導体がどれほど入っているかによってその価値は変わります。

B24ケーブルのプラグは標準的なコンセントに挿せるほど大きいですか？

B24ケーブルのプラグは非常に大きく、特に接地ピンが標準のコンセントに挿せるほど広くはありませんでした。

このACケーブルを使用した際に問題が発生しましたが、それはどのような問題ですか？

ACケーブルを挿す際に接地ピンが大きくて挿せない問題がありました。また、挿し込んだと思っても実際にはピンが接触していないという問題もありました。

製品レビューの中で言及された「地球は平たい」という表現とは何を意味していますか？

「地球は平たい」という表現は、人々がACケーブルの音の違いを感じないと言いたい時に使われている比喩的な表現です。

製品レビューの中でなぜTシャツを着ていたのですか？

製品レビューでは、GR Research社のオーナーが同じTシャツを着ていたことを理由に、地球は平たいという議論を参照してTシャツを着ていたと説明しています。

製品レビューの中でどのようなテストを行いましたか？

製品レビューでは、ACケーブルの音の違いを確認するために、RMEオーディオインターフェースを使用して異なるACケーブルでの出力をキャプチャし、比較を行いました。

製品レビューの中でどのような音楽を用いてテストを行いましたか？

製品レビューでは、Vivaldiの「四季」やRadical Faceの「Missing Films」アルバムからの楽曲を用いてテストを行いました。

製品レビューの中でどのような結論に達しましたか？

製品レビューでは、ACケーブルの変更が音に及ぼす影響はほとんどなく、特にGR Research社のB24ケーブルを使用しても音の質に変化はなかったという結論に達しました。

製品レビューの中でなぜACケーブルの安全性についても触れましたか？

製品レビューでは、ACケーブルの安全性も考慮すべき重要な要素であるとされており、製品が安全基準に準拠しているかどうかが問題提起されました。

製品レビューの中でどのような製品の欠点が指摘されましたか？

製品レビューでは、ACケーブルのプラグがコンセントに挿しにくいことや、使用感が悪く、長期間にわたって使用するとコンセントやケーブルの損傷を引き起こす可能性があることが指摘されました。

製品レビューの中でなぜ製品を推薦しないと結論付けましたか？

製品レビューでは、ACケーブルの性能と価格のバランス、安全性、使用感の悪さから、GR Research社のB24ケーブルを推薦しないと結論付けました。

Outlines

00:00

🔌 ACケーブルのレビューと問題点

SamirはオーディオサイエンスレビューからGR研究社が開発したAC電源ケーブルのレビューを行いました。このケーブルは太さに特徴があり、24本のワイヤーを持ち「B24」と名付けられています。高額で購入したものの、包装には問題があり、取り付けが非常に困難で、コンタクトが取れなかったり、プラグを挿すのに非常に力を入れなければならなかったりと、安全性に疑問が残ります。

05:02

🛑 安全性と信頼性の欠如

レビューではACケーブルの安全性と信頼性に関する懸念が示されています。製品には安全規程に準拠しているというマークはありますが、その安全性は不明であり、専門家のレビューが行われていないと指摘しています。また、返品に関する条件が厳しかったり、製品の評価が低いことも触れられています。

10:04

📊 技術的なテストと比較

Samirは技術的なテストを行い、GR研究のACケーブルと他のケーブルを比較しました。DC抵抗の測定から、GRのケーブルは比較的其他のケーブルと同等かそれ以上の性能を持っていることを示しましたが、実際の音の質に違いはないと結論付けています。

15:05

🎵 聴覚テストと無差別比較

聴覚テストを通じて、ACケーブルの変更が音の質に影響を与えるかどうかを検証しました。特別なソフトウェアを使用して、異なるケーブルでの再生音を比較し、聴衆に違いを感じさせるものがないことを証明しました。

20:06

🔊 音響的差の有無を数理的に検証

Samirは科学的なアプローチを取って、音響的差が存在するかどうかを数理的に検証しました。専門のソフトウェアを使用して、異なるケーブルでの再生音を数値的に比較し、音の差が存在しないことを明確にしました。

25:50

🔍 ACケーブルの機能と評価

ACケーブルが持つ主張された機能と実際の性能について評価し、Samirは製品の設計と安全性に問題があると結論付けました。また、ACケーブルが音の質に与える影響は科学的には認められないと主張し、その理由を説明しています。

30:52

🚫 製品の推奨しない結論

最終的に、SamirはGR研究社が開発したACケーブルを推奨しない結論に達しました。製品の欠陥、安全性の疑問、そして実験的に証明された音の質への影響の欠如から、このケーブルは購入しない方がよいとアドバイスしています。

Keywords

💡ACケーブル

ACケーブルとは、電気製品に電気を供給する為のケーブルを指します。ビデオでは、アフターマーケットのACケーブルのレビューが行われており、特にGR Research社製のB24というモデルに焦点が当てられています。このケーブルは特別な構造を持った高価なケーブルであり、ビデオの主題はその性能と価値について考察しています。

💡アフターマーケットケーブル

アフターマーケットケーブルとは、製品の標準装備ではなく、購入後に別々に追加購入できる製品のことを指します。ビデオでは、オーディオ機器に使用されるアフターマーケットACケーブルのパフォーマンスと価値について議論されており、特に高価なGR ResearchのB24ケーブルが評価されています。

💡コンダクター

コンダクターは、電気を通過させる媒体を提供する部品であり、ACケーブルの主要な構成要素の一つです。ビデオでは、B24ケーブルが多数の細いワイヤーを持ち、それにより電気の供給が向上するという主張がされていますが、実際にはその効果が問い合わせられています。

💡安全性

安全性とは、製品が安全に使用できるかどうかを指します。ビデオでは、GR ResearchのACケーブルが安全基準に準拠しているかどうかが疑問視されており、その安全性に関心が寄せられています。特に、ケーブルの接地ピンが大型で強制的に挿入する必要がある点において、安全性に疑問が投げかけられています。

💡評価

評価とは、製品やサービスの品質、パフォーマンス、価値を判断するプロセスを指します。ビデオでは、GR ResearchのACケーブルが他のケーブルと比較してどのように評価されるかが中心となるトピックであり、その結果、多くの欠点が指摘されています。

💡オーディオテスト

オーディオテストとは、音の品質を測定するためのテストを指します。ビデオでは、ACケーブルが音の品質に与える影響をテストするプロセスが紹介されており、その結果、GR ResearchのB24ケーブルが音に変化をもたらさないと結論付けられています。

💡ノイズキャンセレーション

ノイズキャンセレーションとは、不必要な音を排除する技術を指します。ビデオでは、GR ResearchのACケーブルがノイズキャンセレーションの効果を主張しているが、実際のテストではその効果が認められていないと述べられています。

💡周波数応答

周波数応答とは、デバイスが異なる周波数に対してどのように応答するかを測定する指標です。ビデオでは、GR ResearchのACケーブルと標準のACケーブルを比較した周波数応答テストが行われており、その結果、双方が一致しており、トナリティに違いがないことが示されています。

💡シナプス

シナプスとは、電気回路における接地ピンのことを指します。ビデオでは、GR ResearchのACケーブルのシナプスが大型であることが問題視されており、それが安全上の問題を引き起こす可能性があると指摘されています。

💡製品レビュー

製品レビューとは、製品の性能、品質、使い勝手などを評価し、消費者に情報を提供する記事や動画を指します。ビデオは製品レビューの一形態であり、GR ResearchのACケーブルの様々な側面が詳細に分析され、その欠点を強調しています。

Highlights

Samir from Audio Science Review discusses an aftermarket AC power cord by GR Research.

The B24 cable is thicker and more expensive than the B16 version, costing $349 plus $40 shipping.

The cable has a design issue where the earth pin is large, causing difficulty in plugging it into outlets.

The cable's jacket slides up and down, potentially causing a poor electrical connection.

The cable lacks safety certifications, raising concerns about its compliance with safety standards.

Samir performs a null test using an RME audio interface to compare the sound quality between the GR Research cable and a generic cable.

The null test results show no audible difference between the GR Research B24 cable and the generic AC cable.

Samir questions the company's recommendation to use the thicker B24 cable for source devices and the thinner B16 for power amplifiers.

The company's claim that the cable filters out interference is debunked by Samir's measurements and logic.

Tests show that the cable has low DC resistance, but this has negligible impact on audio performance.

The cable's design and assembly are criticized for being poorly built and potentially damaging to outlets and connectors.

Samir emphasizes the importance of safety and proper testing for cables that are plugged into the wall.

The video concludes that AC cables do not make a difference in sound quality, and the GR Research B24 cable is not recommended.

The testing methodology used in the video is highlighted as a new technique for future reviews.

Samir invites viewers to conduct their own blind tests using the provided files to verify the findings.

The video ends with a humorous reference to the Earth not being flat, relating to the idea that some people may still believe in the benefits of high-end cables despite evidence.

Transcripts

hello everyone this is samir from audio

science review i have another product

review for you

in the form of a aftermarket ac power

cord by a company called gr research

this is the cable uh typical of these

aftermarket tape cables uh size matters

so the thicker they are the you know

typical person thinks they're

you know better ac cables so it's

mandatory to make them this thick even

if the conductor's inside or not

this one's called the b24 which i assume

it has 24 wires i think 12 per plus a

ground i'm not sure but that's what it's

called they also have a b16 version of

this which is thinner so i opted to get

the more expensive one get the full

treatment

um

the i paid 349 dollars for this cable

plus 40 dollars in shipping to get it in

a couple days i think regular shipping

was 25 dollars

and

so as high-end cables goes it's not

outrageous although i've tested

aftermarket cables that cost 40 50 60 80

100

um so it's price low relative to the

garden hose size that you see

sadly it didn't come with these velcros

i put them on you would think that they

would throw a couple of them in there to

you know if you're not using it to be

able to contain the size and shape of

this thing

when i first tried to use this cable i

could not um

when i tried to plug it in this

earth pin

was so large and so uh

well so wide that i could not get it

into the

outlet that i was plugging it into

it took incredible amount of force to

push this thing in the first time

after about five or six times it started

to get some scratches and wore out or

got a little bit more compact i don't

know which or damaged my outlet one of

one or both of those things

and it got a little bit better but still

i'm talking about 50 times more force to

plug this in than any kind of uh generic

thin

you know standard iec cable that you get

but the bigger problem was that when i

plugged it in it wouldn't work i was

like wow how could they you know so many

strands going from one side to the other

surely he's got to work i had it plugged

in this side i wiggled it every way i

could and he was plugged in properly

and there's still no power so i went to

pull it out of the outlet and i noticed

something which is this which is i don't

know if you can see it on the side

better but as you try to push this

monster

you know cable in

this jacket

actually slides up and down so you're

trying to push it in because this pin is

so hard to get in there as you push it

forward look at what happens

this thing comes forward

so far that these pins are barely going

past it so you think you've got it

plugged in and is flush with the outlet

but in reality these two pins are not

making contact

so

and that's what was happening is that it

was in there was secure because this

monster earth pin was holding it but it

wasn't so to get it in there you had to

simultaneously pull this back while you

push the cable in by the you know girth

of the the whole bundle

and you're fighting the pressure of this

pin

and it was just a nightmare every time i

had to switch

i could unplug it i was dreading it i

was like you know what's the best way to

do this testing without having to plug

this in again or not

it's also uh

exacerbated by the fact that this

ground pin is actually pretty long uh

the ones that you know usually it is

more proud than these two

you know business end of the plug but

this is actually longer than usual which

means that you really got to force this

thing in quite far before these two make

a connection

there's danger in there that these could

barely make a connection

and

as a result generate heat

and actually make a poor connection

because

it could look like you've plugged it in

but in reality you

basically have inserted most of this

this pin in the earth pin and the and

the two you know how neutral haven't

gone in there looking at right now i see

that it's scratched up from the hole up

but the rest of it is not scratched up

that much so

it just

you know high-end cables may not have

audible benefit but a lot of them are

put together extremely well i mean some

people come you know out of your jewelry

for that reason whether it's

functionality or usability this thing is

just the total disaster so

at some level i don't care what it does

if you can't plug it in and get it in

there uh what kind of usability this

testing did they do beta testing anybody

getting this cable

we surely complained saying oh my god

this thing is just a nightmare to plug

and unplug

on this thing

um there's no other marking on it

strangely came with the masking tape

with uh u or n written on it i don't

know what that is about why this wasn't

uh

taken off um this end of it

the ic plug side has some kind of ce

mark on it so wherever they source this

part of it this

some kind of certification got into just

the plug this side i can't find anything

in here

and

even if these were safety regulated the

whole assembly is unknown

so

you know let's say you get a short in

your equipment you're relying on a very

strong and low impedance path between

these uh you know going through coming

out to the outlet and

who knows if this is compliant or not

you know we want safety experts looking

at something like this and that you're

gonna plug into the wall that you're

gonna leave unattended and make sure

that it is safe uh

you know audio is a great hobby but it's

not worth you know setting your house on

fire now these things obviously don't

happen it's a one in a million chance

but if it happens to you it doesn't

matter that it's a one in a million

chance it's happened to you and and it's

bad so personally you know even if it

had audible benefits it's just there's

so many reasons not like this uh i

should say that

half a dozen or a few other ac cables

after market ac cables i've tested they

also don't have certification on them

which is very disappointing um yes it

costs two or three thousand dollars or

you know they're about to go to get a ul

tested

in for us

but hey you're selling me a shortest

cable is almost 400

for the price of four or five of them

you know get me a safety certification

so i can sleep easy on this thing uh

on that so

a lot of misses but

you know let's put that aside

um

you might be wondering why i'm wearing a

t-shirt uh this is a

uh

tries to settle the argument that

earth is not flat and that nasa has seen

it with their spaceship

and

the reason i'm wearing it is that the

company's

owner danny from gr research wore this

to say that people who say there's no

audible difference between these cables

and others must be thinking the earth is

flat so i thought it was fitting that i

wear the same

t-shirt as he did and we'll find out who

thinks the

earth is flat or not

so with that introduction you don't need

to look at me anymore let's look at the

cabling

i already explained this thing you can

see just sitting in here how proud this

sleeve is by the way this sleeve is

supposed to be some kind of shield

it's a little some kind of copper sleeve

or something uh which is fine you know

they want to shield it they want to

shield it but then the only thing that

seems to hold it there is this heat

shrink tube and the heat shrink tube is

attached to this

jacket in here and

so of course the whole thing just moves

back and forth maybe it was supposed to

be glued and wasn't i don't know

and then here i'll show you how much

you know how proud this uh ground pin is

uh relative to the uh

the two main connectors

uh on this so

the company in the video says look go

ahead and try this you know don't like

it return it so before buying it i once

looked at their uh terms for returning

it it says that hey you have to pay for

the shipping from both directions

so about 40 dollars coming to me

uh so

you know if somebody doesn't have a

commercial account shipping account

going back probably it will cost them

another forty dollars and then he says

you gotta pass the credit card

transaction fees too

excuse me i'm like whoa

what is that you're gonna charge me you

know

best case is probably two two and a half

percent but you know maybe they charge

you five percent of this thing so you

add it all up you're out eighty ninety

dollars you know if you're not careful

uh to send the free cable back so this

is not a free evaluation by any stretch

i don't think you could just you know

listen to it and you think it made no

difference send it back you're not out

anything

you're out you know almost a hundred

dollars and you could buy 50 other ac

cables for that same price so it better

do some good and you better produce some

results

um

i try to do always some basic you know

tests on on things and here i just

measured the

dc resistance of the one end to the

other uh you need to have a special

meter that can measure very small uh

resistances and an idea

and

i then converted that resistance to how

much it is per meter because the other

cables that i compared it to the pangaea

and audio quest and the thin cable i use

for comparisons

they come in different lengths and

they're all actually longer than this

i didn't want to buy a longer one

because it was four of those as it is

with the shortest line

so but if we normalize everything to

a million or thousands of an o

per meter the gr research cable is only

four

uh

million per thousand uh uh

per meter or uh you know if you have a

thousand meter it would it would only be

four ohms the pangea core that i have is

an ac

14se

it's also a thick cable but not as thick

as this so as a result it's actually 9

million per meter

i had an article audioquest nrg x3 i

believe that i reviewed recently and

that one's 11 so a little bit worse than

this and for the bulk of the test you

see in here i actually picked the exact

opposite to show any difference that

might be which is a very thin

chinese-made

cable though had nice specifications on

the outside jacket and so forth which

this one does not and that it naturally

had more resistance so 81 million but

again remember this is 81 thousands of

an ohm for one meter

so if you do the math and you pull 15

amps out of this cable so about 1 800

watts or so

you will have a 1.5 voltage drop

with the thing cable that i use this one

versus 0.1 for the gr research so

technically there's less drop now that's

negligible it's dropping the bucket your

equipment doesn't care uh i think it the

yeah 1.8 volt voltage drop at 15 amps

continuous which you're not none of your

equipment gonna do that even power ramps

will have cycles in them but anyway uh

given benefit of doubt yes if you stack

so many conductors you know for each pin

you're getting essentially a very thick

gauge cable

i'm not going to try to guess but maybe

it's like an eight gauge or six gauge

cable you're getting

now you would think that this

would then

get the company to recommend that you

hook this up to your power amps but

ironically i don't know if you was in

the video promoting it or on a forum

discussions they recommend that you use

this thicker cable for your source

products your cd player your dax and

preamps and use the thinner cable the

b16 for uh power amplifier

uh don't ask me to explain why i don't i

only work here i you know the logic of

subjective is audio uh does not compute

with me so i follow instructions and

therefore i

tested this device uh for uh

um you know in my case i use the

preamplifier which was most convenient

thing to do

i'll really explain there's no safety

standards in here and hopefully some of

you will start insisting on only buying

uh certified cables and and nothing else

uh on this thing

so now typically i would go and show you

umpteen measurements at this point

to prove that nothing changes in the

output of the

audio device and

people then don't read the rest of the

the review where i often do listening

tests and complain that you just did

measurements and the magic of these

cables doesn't show up in measurement so

i'm going to

not talk about measurements right now

i'm actually going to talk about how the

cable sounds

so

the target device that i use is this

topping a90 discrete preamplifier and

headphone amplifier

it's an exceptionally high performance

device and

beautifully made with stepladder volume

control and so forth and it has an ac

power supply inside of it therefore it

just accepts an iec cable so ideal

setup for this some of these products

have external power supplies that don't

accept the regular ac cable

and

then i did something else now i could

tell you that what i heard or didn't

hear but how do you know that's true how

do you know i wasn't biased for or

against this cable and so

instead of that i did another test which

is i used an rme audio interface

interface that's my desktop product uh

audio interface i used to listen to

everything and uh you know my headphones

normally i'm working i'm listening with

the rme but it has a you know high

performance analog to digital converter

and i captured the output of the topping

890

when it's powered with a thin ac cable

versus the gr resist b24 and then what

i've done is that i i captured the two

analog files um converse to digital and

then i have them but importantly i

perform a null test now this nalt has a

smart null test in that when you

do consecutive captures they can be

clock drift where that means the two

tracks aren't running in sync they could

be out of alignment

you know one maybe hair off than the

other one and so if you just do the dumb

mathematical subtraction the null

actually is not zero even if you have

changed nothing you will actually hear

the music as if you had changed

something and for me that's the control

by the way i change nothing in my setup

and i do two consecutive captures if

nulling them is silent that i know that

my not nulling process is right if i

hear the music still that means you know

denial is not correct and in this case

it worked really well

and so i picked different kinds of music

one of them is this vivaldi four seasons

one of my favorite composers

and

uh i've got the details of the recording

if you want to know in here

and uh i went ahead and and captured it

once with the thin cable let me see if i

have my thin cable to show you

uh yes

so this is the uh

the thin cable is as i said it's a

generic thing cable uh nothing fancy

this is probably on a seven or eight

dollar cable uh and i'm comparing this

four hundred dollar cable so not the

fancier audio cables that i talked about

before

on this thing so

i played this with multi-track captured

it and then i run it through

both ways with two different power

cables and i run it through this

great program

called the delta wave that a forum

member

going by the alias p kane

has written which does a beautiful job

of matching volumes and syncing two

tracks down to sub samples that means

not just digital samples or a line but

it actually is a fraction of a sample

which is what you have to do to get

things to be lined up what i do this it

it computes the objective level of

matching that it is finding so it

computes a difference and says what's

the difference ratio of that difference

relative to

originals and it's finding that down

here you can see

93 correlated null is 93 db this is a cd

rip so best case is actually 93 db said

the third file so instead of 96 we get

dyn3 so essentially our null is as good

as the resolution of the original

recording and it what is there lenses

in the null itself the spectrum is noise

and you can see the spectrum of of the

noise in here it's purely around doesn't

look anything like music there's none of

the music spectra is in here

and i can save this file and listen to

it so let's go ahead and listen to this

let me pause for a second and make sure

this volume comes through i'll be right

back

okay i'm back

so

i'm going to play the difference file

between the two

and it's on the dropbox you can go

download it and play with it the link is

here so when i open that

you can see the dropbox come up and

dropbox is able to play these files in

place so you don't even need to have uh

you know download them and play them

elsewhere so

fortunately you can't see the bottom of

my browser but just trust me i'm going

to play this

do you hear anything

i don't

even my sensitive iems and cranking the

volume way up if i go way way up where i

would go deaf if music is playing i just

hear the hiss

and that's it

usually dropbox is also showing the

spectrum over here and you don't see

that because there's just nothing to say

so i'm gonna pause this and uh close

this guy and go back uh this music is

copyrighted so i'm not giving you the

two source versions but for the next

track two tracks i can share the uh

actual captures i did not make the test

blind so you can actually download them

know which is which and you're welcome

to do your own comparison um it's from

one of my favorite bands called radical

face i think the artist's name is ben

cooper and he has an album called

missing film

and it's basically compose

compositions that he created for

different projects that didn't get used

and he was very kind enough to give away

this album i actually purchased it

from

band camp where you can donate any

amount of money you want or nothing

there's also a site where you can get it

for free

but i thought it was worthwhile to buy

it so if you like this music at all

please

go and donate something on this but

you're welcome to download these tracks

and

use them as is he provides them with

with no restrictions

so

this one i'm gonna warn you as soon as i

play the first track it's gonna be quite

loud so make sure your volume is down

uh a bit because a very dynamic track

and these by the way these two tracks i

didn't try to hand pick them to

disadvantage this this test i uh is

actually part of my reference tracks

that i use for testing headphones and

speakers

so here we go this is with a generic ac

cable

so once again dropbox loads now you can

see the peaks in here of the uh uh

spectrum so let me see if i can

make this guy zero now you're still not

gonna see it

no i lost my controls there we go

so i'm going to play it again it's going

to be loud at the beginning

so i'm going to pause it here so this

was a generic code

generic cohort and now this is the gr

research version um

all that's changed is the ac power cord

so let's go ahead and play this

now you're probably going to have one of

three reactions one is that you're going

to say well i couldn't hear a difference

but some of you will think that

the second version was better some might

think that the first version is better

indeed when i listen to them on a

computer so i can quickly switch between

them um sometimes i preferred one versus

the other and other times i couldn't

tell the difference depending on how i

play them if i play them inside delta

wave where they're synced and one face

to the other i couldn't hear a

difference

so

and by the way which one's better

changes depending on the sequence i

played i'm not part of the music so

statistically speaking in a sighted test

it's all over the place and it's okay

for you to have had a preference um but

if you want to know if you really heard

the difference then you got to pull them

into abx program like fubar and

see if you can tell then if there's a

difference and you gotta get it eight

out of ten times or nine out of ten

times to do that

but uh better yet we could just subtract

those two computationally as i mentioned

over here and now i'll play the

difference for you between the two and

we can all try to see if we hear

anything so now you can turn it up turn

up the volume if you like to hear the

difference

nothing right

again dropbox is showing a progress

monitor in here and the progress monitor

is

showing nothing there's no spectrum for

it to show

and

there's no difference if i crank this

way way way way up i'm talking 50 60 db

raising the noise floor

then i can hear this impulsive thing

that goes at a very regular cadence

what the cause of that is i don't know

it's not music it only happens once in a

while

certain would be anything that would get

me excited thinking that the two are are

different and that's what this low

peaking is over here

once again we're at 94 db nulling which

is the noise floor of the source so

and this is a spectrum you can see going

all the way to above 20 kilos it's just

all noise there's nothing else there so

mathematically we know

there's no difference between these two

files and

so if you think inside the test oh of

course the one sounds better than the

other

you just have proof that you what you

heard was not reality you know the

reality is that when we subtract these

two when they're we align them

then the different stitch disappears so

whatever you think you're hearing is

incorrect

so that was one track another track i

have from this album that i use as a

reference

again turn on the volume this one is

even though it's from same band it's got

a very different composition in it and

so let's play the uh

generic track

[Music]

so this generic ac cable

[Music]

let me stop it so as i mentioned these

are reference tracks they sound

beautiful on my system they sound

gorgeous on good headphones

uh it has all the characteristics that

people look for

is there sound stage is there a

separation between instruments is there

not the case you can listen to

all of that is there as you can see

these transient massive transients over

here it's got all of that so this was

with generic ac cord and now let's play

the gr research version

[Music]

i could listen to these tracks forever

but i won't bore you so let's go to the

uh difference uh this time the

difference is just as pure as you can

get so let's go ahead and play this and

you're welcome to turn up the volume now

to see if you can hear anything in the

silence

so i've got it up

i'm gonna do the same thing crank it up

i hear nothing but random yes um again

all these tracks are available as a

dropbox download i don't know if i'll

keep them there forever but if you're

watching this video fresh and for a few

weeks from now you certainly can

download them and listen to them and uh

you know you form your own opinion you

can

get delta wave and and all them yourself

if you don't trust what i did but again

this one also knocks down to the noise

floor that we have 93 db so there's zero

evidence that the jr research b24 cable

is able to modify the sound that you're

hearing we have objective proof using

our ears

we have computationally subtracted two

waveforms from each other and we have

nothing that would help widen the sound

stage tighten the bass and you know

smooth out the highs all the stuff

people talk about

uh you know block your background none

of that is in there or we would see it

in different tests like this

okay

so we now have this by the way any track

i throw at the system will do the same

thing i've tested more tracks that i'm

showing you in here i try to pick the

shortest one so i wouldn't take as much

space on dropbox

but there's nothing specific

about these tracks you know if you think

there's some other tracks that shows a

difference you have this cable you think

makes a difference give me you know

comment and give me the track and i'll

create a null test for it and we'll go

ahead and look at

now if in their video the company says

the reason this cable sounds better is

because it filters out

uh i guess interference coming into it

uh

an ac cable first thing happens is goes

inside your device and there's a

transformer there which is a filter

already then it gets converted do you

see an um thin amount of filtering is

done to it so why would a you know an ac

cable noise make a difference it there's

no engineering reason behind it but less

humor the uh the company and what i then

did was that instead of using this cable

as an ac cable i treated it as an audio

interconnect cable meaning i hooked up

to my analyzer output of the analyzer

input of an analyzer it generated 121 db

synapse which means that it's always as

perfect as a uh by the way so it was a

generic cable both of them were great as

an interconnect cable also

not that you'd want to use an ac cable

for that purpose but they did um but i

wasn't happy with that i wanted to see

if i could induce a difference between

the cables so what i did was i took uh

this cable and my cheap cable

excuse me

and i stuck a big transformer to it uh

i can't get to the transformer but i've

got a chunky big ac transformer that is

part of my grass measurement system for

headphone

and i brought it next to the cable and i

rotate it to get this sort of worst case

inducement into it from the magnetic

field of that transformer while it's

plugged in and with gr research you can

see it in blue over here so relative to

our tone which is a 0 db this is minus

135 db so

20 db better than threshold of hearing

and at all frequencies and then i put in

my generic ac cord and it actually is

about 20 db worse

uh so

you know is that important

if you were using this cable i said here

can i turns out even if you use these ac

cables as interconnect it wouldn't make

a difference i have scaled the threshold

of hearing from fletcher months and to

match this graph it's sort of

non-trivial you have to understand how

you're doing it and this specific

reference to 120db sbl but essentially

if your playback peak level is 120

25 db

this would be per frequency noise level

so therefore all of these spikes fall

well below it and naturally so what our

hearing is not sensitive to low

frequencies so we see that even my cheap

cable using the interconnect it still

would be inaudible and would be totally

uh silent on this thing so

um

yes the weave that they have

does provide some some cancellation or

you could be generation but uh it

certainly is doing what it says it's

doing it's just that it's not important

it's like somebody says uh if you wax

your tires you'll be smoother it's like

yeah it'll be smoother but you know when

i drive it on on a dirt road why would i

care that is a little bit smoother

anyway car analogies are terrible i

shouldn't have gone there

on this thing so

you know i just want to say what's fair

is fair they talk about the geometry and

there is science behind that geometry

being good for noise but

for a c power coordinate is non it's

it just doesn't apply and certainly as

an interconnect it didn't

create an audible case

i then plugged it into my

a90d and ran a frequency response test

naturally these two curves land right on

top of each other absolutely no

difference in the frequency response of

the

preamp and that guarantees that tonality

has not changed so anybody wants to say

well it's got more highs less highs more

bass less but it's just impossible this

graph mandates that they cannot have any

tonality difference uh on this thing and

i mentioned that you know you get a 121

db synapse when you use it as an

interconnect and i don't show you the

generic one but it's identical to this

there's just no difference and notice

that

there is no noise spectrum over here to

speak of

even though i'm using the cable again as

an interconnect and and i'm in a very

noisy environment i have a full-blown

analyzer running i've got my desktop

workstations running gun monitor i've

got

tons of gear running in here so it's

much dirtier than your audio system is

sitting by itself none of that got

picked up in here and what you see in

here is basically performance of the

analyzer itself

on this thing with you know combined

nose and distortion that's below

threshold of here so even as an

interconnect cable there's just nothing

there it's just you know typical

environment so remember i said to induce

noise i had to stick a transformer on

top of the cable and rotate it to get

the best case

interference if you don't do that just

have any distance

this is what you get on the measurements

on this thing

that's at one frequency but let's go at

all frequencies and

we can see the distortion plus noise of

of

the topping a90 digital or discrete and

no matter what frequency we tested out

the noise and distortion does not change

and we're going all the way up to 90

kilohertz so any claim that this cable

provides noise reduction

it may on ac cable side of it

but once you go inside an equipment

equipment has so much better filtering

that it doesn't matter what you stick in

front of the

the device um people say well this

stuff's not music well all right well we

have 32 tones simulating music and i

measure the distortion whether with a

90d uh with a generic chord versus this

other chord

it'll make no difference

so

you know

it's very very clear that

there is just no difference to be had

there's a reason those audio files were

silent it's because even the most

trivial implementation of a power supply

is immune to these noises nobody

designing audio electronics says ah i'm

going to assume that the

incoming ac is pure and clean and if

it's not my performance going to degrade

i'm going to somehow shrink the sound

stage and all that stuff you're not but

i want to emphasize in this review that

bulk of this testing was done with

listening and you're welcome to do blind

test if you want i've provided the files

then nulling is as clean you can get an

ultra b

no debate said there's zero zero zero

difference coming out of this thing now

somebody may say well you know maybe on

this device is good and others wouldn't

be well

then you better listen to my

recommendations when i tell you this is

a great preamp

then that's what you want to buy

but i'm confident that i could run this

test on a bunch of other devices and

have it uh make no difference now if you

have some kind of hum and buzz and you

disconnect the regular cable and you're

plugging this monster thing in there and

it changes that for some reason and it

can because the ground currents change

okay but i've never seen anybody buy

aftermarket ac cable for that reason

they all think their system was great

then they plug in the aftermarket cable

then all this unveil is removed and the

detail got better what have you and

there's just we've proven here with our

ears and only our ears that there's no

difference in there because the null

tests

powerfully show that you know changing

power cables makes no difference on this

thing

so there are many many strikes against

this cable in the specific and that it's

just poorly built poorly assembled from

point of view that shrink wrap that

moves you can't plug it in you can't use

it i don't even know if it's damaged my

outlet now and enlarge the safety pin so

when i now plug in a regular cable with

the last two loose won't make a good

connection cause it generate heat or

cause it to not trip the breaker uh you

know why would you jump through so many

hoops and uh

to plug in this monster cable which by

the way i didn't even talk about the

cantilever force this thing puts on your

connectors no question in my mind over

time you could damage and break

lots of out you could damage your outlet

by the wall or power strips you could

damage this i had to keep worrying that

the whole thing wouldn't topple over

it's just gone through so much pain

for supposed benefit but those benefits

are simply not there

we know as a matter of engineering it's

not there matter of listening tests not

their matter of measurements

okay

so

we have proven that science works that

nasa is right when you apply science you

can't find that the earth is round and

we've applied science in here i didn't

just deliver a monologue and say whoa

you know i've weaved these wires this

way trust me it's better than a 2 000

cable and certainly better than anything

cable you get and and you don't have the

correct system if you don't have these

cables or that you know it's just

lameness excuse me oh you get to a level

where your system is so good that only

then you hear the benefit of this well

okay go ahead and show me this you can

pass an a b test of the files that are

provided blind and then we can talk set

up a camera run the test 10 times if you

get eight or nine times correct

identifying one versus the other and

i'll try to replicate that then we can

go from there but uh i'd say this is the

most powerful proof we have that in

general ac cables don't make a

difference at all and in this specific

we just have so many negative things in

here that i absolutely cannot recommend

this cable from gr research okay

hopefully you learned something and by

the way this is a new technique that i'm

going to use in future videos with

knowledge

of two samples

see you in the future bye bye future

video bye bye