Since the Higgs particle is mentioned, and I have worked on the properties of theories involving Higgs and Higgs-like particles, perhaps I can chime in.
I find the discussion on the discovery of the Higgs or for that matter any particle somewhat relevant for the ongoing discussion/debate on the power cord
.
Every fundamental particle has a unique and complete set of properties (like its mass, charge, spin or intrinsic angular momentum, its behavior under the Lorentz transformations etc). If the set is NOT complete, there is obviously a problem to identify the particle uniquely. In other words there may be two or more particles having some of the properties being the same, but others different. That's why, measuring the complete set of properties can only uniquely identify the particle. In the example of the Higgs, it transforms under the Lorentz group as a scalar particle, it has spin zero, it also has no charge. The only missing property is the mass which the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam model (known as the Standard Model) does not predict. From a lot of experiments, the region below 115 GeV and above 130 GeV has been excluded. Now two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN Geneva are finding some faint signals of a spin zero, chargeless scalar particle around 125 GeV. However, to call it the experimental discovery of the Higgs particle, there is a serious need to increase the number of events by a significant amount. This will of course happen in the course of time. BTW, not finding Higgs at all in experiments, is also not a disaster for the theorists. It just means that the symmetry breaking sector of the Standard Model needs a revision and new thinking. As a theorist, I am excited about such possibilities too.
Now, with the above in mind, let us come back to the discussion of measurements in audio equipments and accessories. I have stated it a few times in this forum, but I do not think anybody appreciates my point here. So let me gather some courage and say it again. The list of measurements in audio is definitely far from a complete set (in the sense I discussed the complete set in the previous paragraph). And, that's why, believe me or not, I have paid almost no attention to the measurements on audio business. I use some measurements selectively: for example, when I have to match an amplifier to a pair of speakers, it helps in looking at the sensitivity of the speaker and the impedance vs frequency curve for the speaker.
Reaching a conclusion without having a complete set is dangerous. The conclusion is as likely to be incorrect as it is to be correct.
Importance of a sustained supply of a perfectly sinusoidal electrical supply with a fixed and correct amplitude and fixed frequency is understood by all. But is a sinusoidal wave form (meaning a single frequency) actually possible? Theory tells you that any energy carrying signal has to be a wave packet (meaning a linear superposition of several waves). The power cord situation is too complex to understand, at least for me. But I should be honest and actually state the experimental facts, although my experience is quite limited in this business. In my experience, changing the power cord and the connectors at its two ends can affect the sound. This is something I can demonstrate to anybody (including people not in our hobby) in my system, it is so obvious, but all power cords did not affect the sound significantly, only some did. This is something I have not understood at all, being a physicist myself. But I am just stating what I and some others have experienced in my system. Some day I like to understand the physics behind this. I know we are talking about only power cords and not interconnects or speaker cables, but still I'd request everybody to keep in mind that the musical signals are very complicated : at a given point of time it has a wave form necessarily having many many harmonics (even before any non-linear processes and amplification stages), and this form changes non-trivially with time, that is, with time the relative amplitudes of the waves present in the form change with respect to each other; in addition, the absolute amplitudes of the individual waves are also changing with time (at times quite drastically, this is what we call large dynamic range). Hence this is not an easy system to study.
Regards.
