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In Reply to: RE: nice sales pitch? posted by madisonears on June 20, 2014 at 22:18:48
Tom, I'm sorry that the expression of my feelings and findings offended you. And anyone else, for that matter. They were, however, honest and heartfelt.
However, the fact you haven't experienced anything like what I claim to is utterly irrelevant, unless you check out the product and then experience it for yourself, and then post your findings. Otherwise, you are simply nay-saying, which is not normal for you, as I usually think your postings are very helpful. But thankfully, your opinion, like anyone else's here, can be aired openly for others to think about and judge. And that's great.
What this power cord does is NOT subtle at all, Tom! That's why I am so enthusiastic.
In fact, in my experience over 35 years in the hobby many power cords have had enormous effects (both positive and negative) on playback, some even breath-taking (such as here.) So our experience there is at a great variance. But that's cool. If you have never heard a power cord make a huge and positive difference, well, now's your chance. Or not. Your call entirely.
But I dare say that you are likely in a tiny minority of the folks here if power cords have never made much, if any difference, in playback to your ears. Most 'philes that I know find power cords to be hugely important to the sound they create in their systems, and spend a lot of time (and money!) painstakingly selecting cords that give them what they believe their systems need. Consider yourself lucky --and slightly richer!-- if you have successfully avoided that end of the hobby. ;-)
As for you never owning any music that is peaky or irritating, well, all I can say again is that you are a lucky man, Tom. But few recordings that I am aware of are perfect, and most, if listened to at live volume level (around 85-95dB average with peaks around 110+db), will reveal their flaws quite seriously (and sometimes painfully.)
An example that Uncle Stu and I discussed years ago was the venerable recording, "Midnight Sugar" on the Three Blind Mice label. On CD, if you play that disc at literally live volume levels, there are, occasionally, notes that the pianist strikes that simply overloaded the tape and created nasty spikes of distortion. And I listen extreme near-field, which exacerbates the problem. So, if you listen at a distance, the law of inverse square helps out immensely, as does reflected vs direct radiation. Sitting at a distance usually help smooth things out, as we all know.
But I know of no one who would say that "Midnight Sugar" is a crappy recording. Yet it can hurt your ears if you play it loud enough, especially if your system and room also share the same peaky resonant point.
The MSA cable does NOT 'magically' make crappy recordings sound good. What the cord does is it strips away a layer of seemingly ubiquitous distortions that we all take for granted because we have always heard them in our music reproduction. Once that is gone, we suddenly hear our recordings without these distortions, rendering them much more musical, life-like and enjoyable. That is what we have in the MSA cable, at least in my system and experience. Again, nothing magical, just simply good engineering implemented in an economical way that allows even impecunious audiophiles to get a chance at killer sound. Anything wrong with that?
Not in my book!
So if you do not listen at life-like volume, if you sit far-field, and if you only play stuff that you find inoffensive, well, we are just coming at the hobby from completely different angles and perspectives. You are certainly not 'wrong' in any way with how you listen. But then again, neither am I. We can both choose to listen as we wish. But to criticize another's opinion and manner of expression just because we approach things differently and have different audio experiences, seems unfair, especially so if you are entirely unfamiliar with the product's performance I am describing.
Again, I usually find your postings informative and well reasoned. So your criticisms mean a lot to me, and I take them seriously, as I do all the members who respond to what I have written. And I am truly sorry if my manner of expression of what I heard and experienced with the MSA cables was in any way offensive. They were not meant to be. I was just extremely excited by what these power cords did for my system, and I simply tried to convey what I experienced sonically, which I found extraordinary. And my review reflects this, for better or worse.
"Over the top"? You bet your ass I'm over the top. Over the top with excitement at what an ugly little $139 power cord did to my system! And still grinning. LOTS of grinning.
Cheers,
WS
Follow Ups:
Your response is perhaps too civil and very well written, but, sorry, I'm not buying any of this. Power cords cannot transform a system, and they do not strip away distortion, ubiquitous or otherwise. There is no audio component, passive or active, that can improve a signal.
I certainly recognize what a well designed and constructed power cord can do to improve the sound of even very good components. True, I am unfamiliar with the product you are describing, but I have heard a broad spectrum of connectors and wire, from extravagantly wrapped, obscenely expensive precious metals to economical homemade conglomerations. Some are good investments, some are overpriced bling, others are worthless or even harmful, a few are excellent value and actually offer better sound. Congratulations if you have discovered one from MSA. However, none of them improves the signal by removing distortion, and none of them transforms bad recordings or systems into good.
I have owned more than a few bad recordings, but not for long. I am not familiar with Midnight Sugar (although no reviews I read mentioned anything about nasty piano distortion, which makes me wonder about other aspects of your system), but I know what overloaded tape sounds like: an unpleasant but normally tolerable distortion which eventually almost becomes part of the music. It cannot be removed or lessened by use of a power cord or any other device unless that device also affects the good parts of the signal. I can accept some distortion in a recording, but certainly not anything that makes me want to cover my ears. I really like loud music, but if it sounded that bad, I guess I'd just turn the damn thing down or off.
I strive to make my system more musical, sometimes at the expense of what others call ultimate detail. I value the emotional content of music, the dynamics, the intonation of vocals. If my system or room had any peaky resonance, I'd change something quick, but probably not power cords! To imply that a power cord can ameliorate such a basic flaw is, um, disingenuous.
Your exaggerations and flattery are pretty transparent. This type of hyperbole is perilously close to snake oil, and gives much of credible audio a bad name. Please stop making these ridiculous claims. We don't want your "heartfelt and honest" apologies; just a modicum of rationality and objectivity would suffice. Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing and should be shared, but no one enjoys BS. Can you understand the distinction? Prove that my criticism means a lot to you. Try to tone this down a little and we might start to believe that MSA makes a decent PC worth $139, perhaps more, but not a million.
Peace,
Tom E
Agree, Tom. Strong emotion has no place in reviews. I see that plainly now, and strongly concur. I have no problem admitting when I am wrong. (I would consider a re-write, sans all emotionally charged expressions and narratives, but I am not sure that would be appropriate.)
But in the future, any reviews I do will assiduously avoid all such manners of expression, and will approach the task from the perspective of simply providing as many facts that were observed and learned as possible.
Thank you for your input.
Sorry for riding your ass like this. I appreciate your willingness to change, and see it as a big positive for any future contributions here. You probably have a lot to offer, and you're a decent writer. Glad you're not discouraged.
If you don't want to actually post a rewrite, and I understand why, perhaps you could do one for yourself, just as an exercise to see if you can manage it.
Peace,
Tom E
The op need to 'defend' his post with a big reply to each and every comment which does not gush praise on his post... is telling me he is really 'hovering' and worried.
All the more making his originla post seem to be over the top fanboy gushing. (Or a paid/promotional advertisement)
So feel free to respond yet again to this new condemnation?And yes I have been there gushing.. When Pangea came out they were only half to 2/3 the current price, and a great deal.
I have not even bought the latest offering, as it is expensive, and really not a big enough jump.. More like Pangea dude is 'milking' the current owners. So I passed on it. And no longer 'gush' about how great Pangea is. I do still use them as I paid somewhat less than the current retail for mine. And they do the job. I do still have the label of Pangea fangirl, no problem.And the problem the op has is folks (like me) will and are starting in after him just to get the rise back out. It is SO entertaining!!!
Edits: 06/21/14
A simple term you may be unfamiliar with.
Nearly everyone who takes the time from their busy day to respond to my posts, be it positive or negative, gets a response. They deserve a considered and thoughtful engagement. Sometimes it is a simple as a thank you.
I am sorry that offends you.
.
I also felt something inside me figuratively shut down when I read that WS was "literally blown away."
Perhaps trimming one's sails a bit might allow for a better chance at survival. Still, I am relieved that he did manage to survive this bout with death and make it back to his keyboard.
Aural delights should never be as life-threatening as all that.
axolotl
Would you please provide some charts indicating distortion measurements with a generic power cord and this magic cord. You mention that it strips away the ubiquitous (man, I love that word!) layer of distortion. I didn't realize that there was distortion in power cords to begin with. Hmmm..
Would you please provide some charts indicating distortion measurements with a generic power cord and this magic cord.Would you please provide some guidance as to how such charts might be prepared or what information you think they should provide. WS's review, even if, well, a little flowery, did not claim to provide data or technical explanations.
I didn't realize that there was distortion in power cords to begin with.
There's always distortion in the sine wave of the AC mains that flows through the cord. That really is not a controversial point.
Even if one assumes (controversially . . .) that the cord under test is a perfect conductor or, more realistically if a tad tautologically, that its imperfections can safely be ignored, there's a great deal more distortion to be seen the moment it is plugged into almost any real-world electronic device. Regulatory authorities the world over seek to limit that distortion (even if, the next moment, they permit powerline networking).
A sizeable sector of the electronics industry addresses the issue with fancy filters, ferrites and much else besides. Now why would it do that?
Hmmm..
Quite.
Edits: 06/21/14 06/21/14
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