Do you consider yourself an audiophile?

[BigTom]

I think we should look at getting some custom SDD enclosures made (SDDs are quieter than HDDs as they have no moving parts - for an actually genuine reason they will let you hear the sound with less outside influence, not that it really matters but hey, always nice to have something real to push the placebo effect into overdrive), put in whatever the cheapest off the shelve SDDs are, whack on, say, a 10,000% margin and see who buys them.

Cos yknow, the brand makes a huge, huge difference to the 1s and 0s that come out of it. Some will use arial as the font, others will use times new roman.. some even comic sans! Can you imagine what a serious piece of classical music, or something like Radiohead would sound like in comic sans?? My god. We would design our fonts specially, with input from professional sound engineers* - and give the user the choice between a serif font and sans serif font (switch on the box that connects to nothing), because it really depends on what kind music you are listening to as to whether serif or sans serif will produce the desired sound. I suppose we could then experiment and expand our product line to include bold, italic, underlined etc 1s and 0s. oh yes.

*We don't have to tell anyone the input was all negative, professional sound engineers laughing at us etc. We'll just stick to the line that they had some input into our process.

 

[fishfinger]

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm

 

[chemn]

The article seems to state some quite conflicting things about the Kingston... Best in sound quality and "blackness" but it also robs music of it's pace and makes it sound like an mp3 rip?!??!

 

[Gone Girl]

For me an "audiophile" = someone who enjoys music being played back in very high quality to get the best out of the source material.

Some audiophiles unfortunately are elitist though and seem to forever agonise over minuscule details and obsess over their audio chain of equipment.

Also there is a great amount of "snake oil" or placebo products aimed at audiophiles, which is no better shown that the "HOT" by Synergistic Research, which has already been pretty much proved to be an inert product (but costly at $300).

(see head-Fi.org site under Sound Science section with two threads on the HOT).

Also, I totally agree with earlier posts here that cables costing absurd amounts of money are a complete waste and do little to nothing of improving sound.

 

[BigTom]

The article seems to state some quite conflicting things about the Kingston... Best in sound quality and "blackness" but it also robs music of it's pace and makes it sound like an mp3 rip?!??!

No, they only say something very quick about the Kingston, it's the Corsair drive they say robs music of it's pace. They are probably using some pretty heavy font for their 1s and 0s, like a gothic font or something.

 

[fractionMan]

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm

woah

 

[tbtommyb]

beesonthewhatnow that whole test is pointless, they didn't control for the effects of those strange green devices you can see in the photo.

 

[Gone Girl]

Synergistic Research's new audiophile product the "Atmosphere" ($1900) with add on modules ($400 each) which they claim make your audio system "sound good" consistently from day to day.

In this demo video the SR guy plays music with the Atmosphere turned on and off.

To me anyway, there is zero difference to be heard yet the people in the crowd claim there is an audible favourable sound quality difference, but I think this is total placebo effect and the power of suggestion by SR guy doing the demo.

It would seem that the audiophile world is littered with these weird and wonderful, yet highly expensive, snake oil devices that pander to the audiophile "connoisseur" who believes in the idea of "if it costs lots then it sounds better".



I'm thinking "emperor's new cloths" type scenario here maybe?

And so, IMO, this is the "dark side" of the audiophile world unfortunately

 

[paolo]

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm

Blimey.

Just when I thought all the lolz had been had.

 

[paolo]

"The same piano had more lower mid body on QNAP2 and slightly softer hammer impact, perhaps more like a Bosendörfer."

Yes, I could imagine a change in the piano hammer impact. Absolutely. I mean, let's not just go with an entirely impossible eq change, let's go right back to when the instruments were played, and affect that too.

In fact, if you use SSD, you'll find the drummer is wearing a different T-Shirt than the original recording.

 

[Gone Girl]

In fact, if you use SSD, you'll find the drummer is wearing a different T-Shirt than the original recording.

Have you considered being an audiophile critic?

 

[Nylock]

The most tragic thing about about audiophiles is that they expend all that money and effort on esoteric electron polishing kits and proton turntable alignment whatsits only to have it all wasted on speaker systems that are at best 20% efficient -the rest is spunked-off as heat

 

[Crispy]

http://wathifi.tumblr.com/

 

[Nylock]

Dammit, site blocked by the joyless web admin at work =/

 

[fishfinger]

http://wathifi.tumblr.com/

Thanks

The benefits of demagnetization can be heard on all discs from brand new CD’s to CD-Rs, even DVDs, Blu-Ray and other formats will benefit.

HIFI TUNING - DISC DEMAGNETIZER
Price: $299.00

 

[Nylock]

Holy fuck!

 

[teuchter]

speaker systems that are at best 20% efficient

How is this calculated?

 

[Nylock]

How is this calculated?

Conversion of electrical power to acoustic power. There is tons out there about this (and not just on the internet )

 

[fishfinger]

Another good one from Wat HiFi?

“Double blind tests may be a really good thing if a company wants to confirm the veracity of a new type of aspirin, for instance. When it comes, however, to audiophile grade components I cannot see how they are any more than a waste of time.”

Source:

http://audiophilereview.com/audiophile-news/the-case-for-double-blind-tests.html

 

[Nylock]

Acknowledging by the back door that it's all bullshit?

 

[Gone Girl]

The most tragic thing about about audiophiles is that they expend all that money and effort on esoteric electron polishing kits and proton turntable alignment whatsits only to have it all wasted on speaker systems that are at best 20% efficient -the rest is spunked-off as heat

Audiophiles call it "the law of diminishing returns" (paying absurd prices for equipment to get what they percieve as 10% or whatever small amount extra sound quality) but I think most of them just like buying new equipment for the sake of it tbh

But, I think you don't have to spend crazy money to have excellent sound quality or weird and wonderful add on devices really.

 

[Nylock]

Audiophiles call it "the law of diminishing returns" (paying absurd prices for equipment to get what they percieve as 10% or whatever small amount extra sound quality) but I think most of them just like buying new equipment for the sake of it tbh

Yeah, the rest of us call it 'delusional bullshitting'

But, I think you don't have to spend crazy money to have excellent sound quality or weird and wonderful add on devices really.

You're right, you don't.

 

[8ball]

Another good one from Wat HiFi?



Source:

http://audiophilereview.com/audiophile-news/the-case-for-double-blind-tests.html

I think we've had that one on the thread before - or it may just be a very similar one.

It's a shame that you need a modicum of education to decode this into 'it is all bullshit' - but it's more effective than a simple admission in a way as it gives a window into the mindset.

 

[fishfinger]

I think we've had that one on the thread before - or it may just be a very similar one.

Fair enough - it never ceases to amaze me, the lengths some people will go to dismiss reality.

 

[Cowley]

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/hificritic/vol5_no3/listening_to_storage.htm

lol

 

[8ball]

Fair enough - it never ceases to amaze me, the lengths some people will go to dismiss reality.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was more than one similar article. If you're going to use sciencey-sounding language all over the place and then refuse to accept the results of well-designed tests plenty of people are going to want some kind of explanation. Which this article clearly isn't.

It gets even funnier in the comments below where he digs himself in further.

 

[fishfinger]

It wouldn't surprise me if there was more than one similar article. If you're going to use sciencey-sounding language all over the place and then refuse to accept the results of well-designed tests plenty of people are going to want some kind of explanation. Which this article clearly isn't.

It gets even funnier in the comments below where he digs himself in further.

I didn't see the comments at first, as I was blocking scripts. I've just been reading them, and it's heartening to see such a sensible rebuttal by several sane people.

 

[8ball]

I didn't see the comments at first, as I was blocking scripts. I've just been reading them, and it's heartening to see such a sensible rebuttal by several sane people.

The best bit is where he tries to put the smackdown on science by starting this way:

Suppose the system in a double blind test is performed with entry level products in a cavernous warehouse by a group of non audiophiles...

 

[ManchesterBeth]

No. However, I can barely tolerate MP3s, even at 320.

Very bassy Low end and screeching high-end, such as with dissonant metal and avant-garde free jazz, sounds muddy to me on a 320 MP3. the difference is subtle but it's definitely there.

 

[ViolentPanda]

No. However, I can barely tolerate MP3s, even at 320.

Very bassy Low end and screeching high-end, such as with dissonant metal and avant-garde free jazz, sounds muddy to me on a 320 MP3. the difference is subtle but it's definitely there.

I shall make my usual point here, which is that unless your audio set-up is a Fisher-Price Kiddykassette, or your ripping process is somehow being infiltrated, then psychoacoustics are playing a role, and you're hearing what you expect to hear - rather as "audiophiles" do when they hear a difference between an MP3 reproduced using £500 speaker cables rather than 13amp mains cable.