The Quackery Thread
- Cressy Snr
- Amstrad Tower of Power
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#226
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
- Paul Barker
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#228
Agreed.
However it is an amazing proof of the power of persuasion that they sold one yesterday one 10 days prior and one a month ago. Not to mention a lot of other mysterious products.
I have experienced the power of the attitude to a device making it sound better because you believe it sounds better. While at the same time another person with no vested interest or feeling of positivity about the product heard nothing.
The power of psychoacoustics.
In another way this element of our nature can be harnessed, in the sense we can teach our minds to be perfectly happy with systems that could be but don't have to be better than what we have.
However it is an amazing proof of the power of persuasion that they sold one yesterday one 10 days prior and one a month ago. Not to mention a lot of other mysterious products.
I have experienced the power of the attitude to a device making it sound better because you believe it sounds better. While at the same time another person with no vested interest or feeling of positivity about the product heard nothing.
The power of psychoacoustics.
In another way this element of our nature can be harnessed, in the sense we can teach our minds to be perfectly happy with systems that could be but don't have to be better than what we have.
"Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe." – Albert Einstein
#230
Whilst I remain an agnostic and have no time for products, including mains leads that might bring on a psychoacoustic influence, I have to acknowledge that whilst nothing moves me, others think or perceive they hear improvements. Whether what they hear is a fallacy is not the point. The point is, they perceive a sound improvement which brings them satisfaction. For all of us, such an improvement to sound would be welcome. No, I don't get it but I'll never knock others who think they do, even if I think they are deluded. Undoubtedly they are getting something that feeds their audio interpretation. The fact that I can't sign up to that does not make their experience invalid. If they do get (for them) a better sound, I can't hear it and certainly do not understand it, but their experience for them should be regarded as valid because that is the claim they make.
Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?
Douglas Adams (HHGTTG)
Douglas Adams (HHGTTG)
- jack
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#231
Been a while, so resurrecting this one with a piece of insanity...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/09 ... net_cable/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/09 ... net_cable/
Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt
#232 No blanket damnation from me
I have learned that EVERYTHING makes some difference, however miniscule.
When I change the impedance of a power cord, the capacitance of an interconnect, the resistance of speaker wire, things happen that have nothing to do with fidelity. Many times they are measurable, but we have no language to discuss the audible, we resort to descriptions from food, wine, cigars, or many other art forms.
Good engineering can minimise the differences for most audiophile add ons. Devices requiring very expensive accessories usually have great engineering deficits.
I am always amused when "audiophiles" with no substantial quality below 300 Hz (I probably define this differently than some others.....) can hear the grass growing. I think they need this stuff to compensate for the lack of true grunt. It is kind of like the bloke that gets beaten by his wife and turns into a mystery killer. My experience has been that many of the accessories show their true colors at low frequencies.
When I change the impedance of a power cord, the capacitance of an interconnect, the resistance of speaker wire, things happen that have nothing to do with fidelity. Many times they are measurable, but we have no language to discuss the audible, we resort to descriptions from food, wine, cigars, or many other art forms.
Good engineering can minimise the differences for most audiophile add ons. Devices requiring very expensive accessories usually have great engineering deficits.
I am always amused when "audiophiles" with no substantial quality below 300 Hz (I probably define this differently than some others.....) can hear the grass growing. I think they need this stuff to compensate for the lack of true grunt. It is kind of like the bloke that gets beaten by his wife and turns into a mystery killer. My experience has been that many of the accessories show their true colors at low frequencies.
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
- Mike H
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#234
That's what I thought too!
Apart from, the signal is digital data so doesn't matter what the wire is.
Apart from, the signal is digital data so doesn't matter what the wire is.
"No matter how fast light travels it finds that the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
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#235
I sent this link to our supply management team and suggested that they open up a trade account.
Took them a couple of hours to get the joke. Sigh...
Took them a couple of hours to get the joke. Sigh...
Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt
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#236
This is right up there with 'reading a wav file from a different part of the HDD' makes a difference brigade. Beggars belief, not EVERYTHING makes a difference! Some of it is just downright Bollocks.
Only the Sith deal in absolutes.
#237 Re: The Quackery Thread
Dunno if this has been posted on here before, but it's a cracker-
http://www.audio-magic.com/Prod-PEA.html
Apparently it "aligns the way the electrons are spinning". Fantastic, I want one!
http://www.audio-magic.com/Prod-PEA.html
Apparently it "aligns the way the electrons are spinning". Fantastic, I want one!
- jack
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#238 Re: The Quackery Thread
11/10 for that one. Made my morning - I'll order two immediatelyAli Tait wrote:Dunno if this has been posted on here before, but it's a cracker-
http://www.audio-magic.com/Prod-PEA.html
Apparently it "aligns the way the electrons are spinning". Fantastic, I want one!
Vivitur ingenio, caetera mortis erunt
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#239 Re: The Quackery Thread
Only the Sith deal in absolutes.
- andrew Ivimey
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#240 Re: The Quackery Thread
Well I rather liked it ...
So I went to the blog
this guy met an alien!!!
... relatively harmless!
So I went to the blog
this guy met an alien!!!
... relatively harmless!
Philosophers have only interpreted the world - the point, however, is to change it. No it isn't ... maybe we should leave it alone for a while.