Chord Chorus 2 vs Merlin Chopin. And (ooh) burn-in times

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Again, thank you for all your help over the last few months. Here's the thing, and I hope I can now give a bit back!

I have owned the Merlin cable for about a year.

I have just purchased the Chord interconnect and connected it to the second output of my cd player and into the tuner input of the amp. This allows for A/B testing. Guess what? Little difference, except 170 smackers. If I were to be picky, I would say the chord gave a slightly larger soundstage. 

Then I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to test whether cable burn in time actually exists. I will keep you informed!

I will listen to the Chord cable for the next few weeks and keep flicking back to the old cable to compare, using a variety of music. 

Before I can evaluate this properly, can you help me out? Has anyone ever bought said interconnect from the unauthorised dealer on an unnamed auction site? And was this a wise move on my part?

Secondly, has anyone compared the two cables previously and what did they think?

Thirdly, If cable burn-in does exist, is the  improvement exponential or linear?

PS, 3 hours in and I "think" there is a bit of a bigger difference now. but that could be me!

Thanks! 

 

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

Keep us posted with your findings.

 

[Anonymous]

I have carried out similar test and have found little/no difference when flicking between channels.

However when I have replaced a cable completely, I seem to notice a difference! Ive put this down to my imagination and 'expectation bias'.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I'm about 15-20 hours into this "burn-in" thingy and there is definately more toe tapping going on with the Chord cable. I can't tell why but it seems to be the case!

The Merlin cable seems to be more two dimensional, to my ears anyway.

About half an hour ago I was puzzled, thinking maybe the cable isn't performing its magic (price difference). Then I saw I had switched the input to the Merlin cable. This I can only see as a good thing. Money well spent? We'll see, but its got potential!

Listened to Trentmoller, Cinematic Orchestra, Orbital, Gregory Issacs, Aphex Twin, Slovo, Bentÿ

 

[Thaiman]

I have to say that Merlin sound a bit different than many other cables around this price but burn-in? What is there to burn in? it's a piece of wire, not a deisel Van!

 

[Anonymous]

I'm a sceptic too! is it the extended evaluation of a cable over a long listening period or do these thing need a bit of time to settle into a system? I dunno!

Though its making me listen to a lot of music. That can only be a good thing.

 

[Anonymous]

To make this work you need it to be a blind test. As your ears are sort of connected to your wallet if you see what I mean.

You need to get a mate to help you. They should conduct the test having a random table of A / B combinations sometimes false switch combinations must also be used so you must have all combinations of real and false changes i.e. A to A, B to B, A to B, B to A included in the test in a random order.

If you must - have a sample listen to A and B before you start.

Now your assistant proceedes with the test making the A/B changes and then pausing. After each change you listen to the music and tell your assistant A or B.

You need to do at least 500 reps over several albums on multiple occasions if possible. You then need a statistician to analyse the data for you unless you have got every single one correct. This is due to the fact that in any multiple choice test chance says you are bound to be right some of the time. TBH if you get any wrong you already have most of the answer.

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds like a bit of a mission.

It could be easier to get 500 friends round to my house and see which input they prefer!

Also, I'd wear out that lovely plating to the plugs, ruining the contacts and reducing the resale value!

Maybe thats why there are no stats on this sort of stuff.ÿ

Do you think thats what magazine reviewers do?ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Well, to conclude, after about 120 ÿhours i decided that both interconnects sound approximately the same! Maybe the chopin offered a bit more seperation of instruments, the chorus a bit more fuzz, if thats what you need.ÿ

I'm selling the chorus.

Maybe you need the Chord Chorus 2 in your system. Mine didn't hear it.ÿ

ÿThough Atlas Hyper 3.0, with the Proac tablette reference 8 Signatures work really well!ÿ