Ridicule Audiophiles - Find the cat shit's resonant frequency

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Ridicule Audiophiles - Find the cat shit's resonant frequency

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A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Even the bigger players seem to be cashing in on the expensive cable game - http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3429.asp

Sure, its nicely built but US$499 for 1.5m of Cat5? Nice one, Denon.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2009 02:49

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 21:45

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Its funny because it looks like that cable carries control signals as well as audio data. Does this mean the control signals will have a hard time getting through or has Denon taken that into account and reversed the polarity on the control conductors?

# ¿ Oct 20, 2009 13:47

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

This part was my favourite:

quote:

What will Critical Mass Systems do for my audio and video system?
...
6. They are designed to remove the �black wall� from your soundstage. Testing and research confirms that black is a color like silver is a color, and that beyond black is clarity. When coloration is removed from the sound stage instruments and voices become solidly and realistically positioned and sound more like live events.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2010 19:00

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Nah, it's just that if you chop the cable in half, each side weighs the same. This helps them sit evenly when using cable risers.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2011 07:18

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I've gone from hifi to pro gear, moving to 2.1 using a cheapo behringer analogue active crossover with the intention of moving my crossover to software on the pc, and yet: http://www.wildwestelectronics.net/moncabm1000i7.html

# ¿ May 5, 2011 14:02

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

For the truest lowest level of background noise I only listen to my system while in orbit.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2011 12:11

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Read the quote below:

The Cynosure v2 is a statement on ultimate cable design. The ultimate realization of my cable construction philosophy using a core of my custom manufactured braid of my customer ultra pure CFDCT-UP-OCC-Ag conductors. This new wire is a great step up from my previous efforts, and allow the "sould" of the original Cynosure to stay intact, while allowing the cable to be even more quiet than before, and reveal even more inner details. As in the previous version, I surround the core with multiple layers (how many=proprietary) of damping and shielding. The layers consist of cotton, carbon fiber, Teflon, Mylar, Nylon, silver plated copper braid, and many more materials that I will not reveal. All Cynosure's are hand built, burned in, and evaluated in one of my reference systems, by me personally.

It all starts with raw materials, I have a vendor partner who I have have taught (and wasted more money than I want to think about teaching them) to make my wire exactly like I want it made, and exactly to my specs, which I then treat with my CryoFreeze� process as soon as I receive it. So, the raw materials are without peer.

I then braid this masterpiece of a wire into a proprietary braid so that the conductors are evenly spaced, and arranged in the configuration I want them to be.

Starting at $3549 for 3FT.

Then click this link.

Edit: Oh, and here's the return policy:

Trial Policy: Any custom Locus Design cable may be returned within 30 days for a refund, if for some odd reason it does not perform as expected in your system. A 20% restocking fee (of the the total price) will be charged and any shipping charges incurred will be the responsibility of the buyer. In order to be eligible for return, the cable must be in 'new' condition (this condition will be evaluated by myself, ie., I will be the judge), returned within 30 days and have a valid RMA attached to the packaging.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Dec 2, 2011

# ¿ Dec 2, 2011 16:24

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

http://www.synergisticresearch.com/tranquility-base/tranquility-base-2/

The soundstage has literally exploded in all directions with instrument solidity firmly anchored in space and the bass agility/solidity of my system has being transformed.

$3000 for a metal plinth with a blue LED.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 00:29

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I'm running a class A+ amplifier. If it breaks down I can use parts from any class A or O amp to fix it.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 19:00

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary

Pace - Often assoc. with rhythm, a strong sense of timing and beat.
Rhythm - The controlled movement of sounds in time.
Timing - A sense of precision in tempo.
And (ewww)
Musical (or musicality) - A sense of cohesion and subjective "rightness" in the sound.

Gromit, how do we talk to our friends about frequency response? If I tell you that my system has a higher response in the 4khz - 8kHz range will you go to sleep instead of punching me?

# ¿ May 20, 2012 03:48

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

It's no mistake the acronym for Pace, Rhythm and Timing is PRaT.

# ¿ May 20, 2012 06:53

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

This is a stupid argument and we should get back to making fun of $6000 battery powered monoblocks.

At 115wpc RMS into 8-ohms (230wpc into 4-ohms), Liliana is the first commercially produced battery-powered amplifier to unite �iron-fisted� high-current FET output with a �velvet glove� warmth and character only found in vacuum tubes.

Users of revealing systems know that their performance rides on AC power conditions. Many systems sound far better at night when the power grid is loaded less. Taking a system or at least its core components off that grid minimizes or removes the frustrations over fluctuating performance. A Red Wine system of digital iPod dock fed from their DAC/pre's auxiliary DC output (or a laptop in DC mode) plus Liliana monos sounds the same at all times. It doesn't give a toss about aircon in your or your neighbor's pad, floor board heaters, nasty light dimmers, Internet routers or big industrial power users.

http://redwineaudio.com/components/liliana

Now I need an audiophile battery charger

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 08:39 on May 24, 2012

# ¿ May 24, 2012 08:34

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I always listen to music at 100% volume so my DAC can use all the bits.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2013 10:07

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

This has probably been posted before, but it deserves a second look.

Maybe the greatest troll in the audiophile world. Some people at a trade show take a poxy system worth $700 and put it up against a $12000 system in a blind test, using the same speakers but swapping the speaker cables over. Then they ask a bunch of audiophiles to pick their favourite.

As for the results, well I think that each can reach to its own conclussion...

http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 09:03

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Looking at the front row from left to right it's like each guy is trying to listen (poop) harder than the previous one.

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 16:47

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

What a strange way to measure the thickness of a cable! I have 4mm core cable on my left speaker, 2.5mm core on the right and 1.5mm core on my 700W RMS sub.

Someone mentioned earlier the first place to start with a component system is the speakers. I think that the room is more important. This guy agrees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbLVjHfHahg

Watch as Mohammed catalogues his descent into madness, and the effect it has had on his family. As his system grows, each different part becomes a surrogate for his family members. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAXn6JkwonA

Oh my god this guy is us : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ERMu825m4

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Oct 31, 2013

# ¿ Oct 31, 2013 23:46

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I looked up a conversion chart for your moon wires and apparently I'm using just over 6AWG. I am an idiot so that's okay I guess?

# ¿ Nov 1, 2013 16:07

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Kind of related:

ANTI-OXIDANT ELECTRICAL NUTRITION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLOx1kWCWoc

I'm sure we could sell a grounding pad to audiophiles though.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2013 17:22

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

My first "proper" amp was a C320 and it lasted me about 10 years before one channel needed to be kicked in by cranking the volume. Apparently this was common and had an easy fix. Really like the build quality on NAD stuff.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2013 16:27

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Or get an SPL meter and put some sine waves through that sucker.

Edit: I should refresh the page before posting. It's probably got more to do with you not listening to the amp before, just the music, but now you've made a change you're really listening hard to see if the sound has changed. Also if the speakers had been connected to the amp for ages you might have got a build up of corrosion at the terminals but I have no idea how much (if any) resistance this would cause.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Dec 29, 2013

# ¿ Dec 29, 2013 17:42

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Come on, we all know the only thing that sounds better than a $10,000 DAC is the one you build yourself using this neat trick discovered by a single mum that the record companies don't want you to know about.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2014 21:44

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Oh well, time to reinvent the wheel.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2014 17:45

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

That would probably actually sound really nice and I would be interested in trying such a thing if it had 6 outs and was a reasonable price.

Edit: Three thousand GBP. Get hosed. AU$3400 per tube channel is just crazy.

Edit 2: Was looking for audiophoolery in the review but: "Where we will give Accustic high marks is in the elimination of jitter, with the audio output showing no trace of distortion." Why bother buying a tube preamp if it doesn't distort? But then...

It has all the hallmarks of classic high-end kit, with excellent neutrality, effortless detail and almost tangible grip, authority and control.

One of the consistent features we've found across a range of upmarket CD players is the high degree of polish they bring to the sound, making cheaper players sound rough by comparison.

Computers are renowned for being a jittery source...

Accustic Arts may not thank us for saying this, but the TUBE-DAC has very good rejection of incoming jitter and is therefore quite unfussy about the source.

If there is anything to criticise, it's a very slight degree of hardness in the highest registers when reproducing instruments with an extended harmonic structure - a violin being perhaps the most critical. In such cases, the 'air' around the instrument is not quite so pure, the decay at the end of notes a touch less well-defined.

But they never, ever measured it.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Jan 14, 2014

# ¿ Jan 14, 2014 18:47

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

grack posted:

This may signal my lack of audiophile "breeding" or whatever, but what the gently caress is grip?

Look at the context - authority and control. It is usually used to describe a quality of the mid bass part of the audio spectrum. You know when you change your DACs or pre-amps and suddenly your usually flat system starts sounding, wooly, muffled and flabby in the bass area? Well, that DAC or preamp has little grip. It doesn't have the authority to tell the rest of your system what to do. It can't control the actions of your monoblocks, so the amps just decide to do whatever the gently caress and you go, "Gee, I really need a DAC with better grip."

Edit: My DAC's specifications list grip coefficient of 9.32mN/W. Is this good?

tldr: It's how you anthropomorphosize your audio equipment.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Jan 15, 2014

# ¿ Jan 15, 2014 07:43

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Room > speakers > crossovers > everything else (as long as it's not broken or not fit for purpose). The biggest change I made without changing room or speakers was moving to active software crossovers and bi-amping. All of a sudden my system played a LOT louder.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Jan 19, 2014

# ¿ Jan 19, 2014 18:41

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

It's grip.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2014 05:03

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Nope audiophiles are starting to come around to using a computer as source and DSP, but there have only been a few computers that ~~cater to their refined sensibilities~~ have been designed to efficiently separate them from their money.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f13-audiophile-downloads/best-sounding-download-14951/

quote:

I think probably the Blue Coast Collection in DSD format.

Blue Coast Collection | Blue Coast Records

Some classical DSDs from Channel Classics have also been nice, but (possibly owing to it being my first extended listening experience with DSD, and also the fact that the recordings are generally of acoustic music with one or just a few players and vocalists on each track) this is really the one that made me sit up and pay attention, and think "Wow, there's something different going on here."

For PCM format, I like Wilco's "The Whole Love" and Ottmar Liebert's "Dune." (Have also heard good things about "One Guitar.") I think Officium Novum also has really good sonics, but jazz saxophone accompanying medieval barbershop quartet in an abbey may not be your "thang."

quote:

http://www.hifi-advice.com/best-PC-audio-solutions-info.html
2. Best Solution, making use of an already present DAC:

Regular Tower PC (not a laptop) running Windows XP and Winamp 2 or 5 with kernel streaming
Lapp or other warm-sounding power cable for the computer
M2Tech HiFace EVO USB-SP/DIF interface
Elijah Audio Quad Braid USB cable
Wireworld Gold Starlight III, or if you want spend less, Belden RG59 Coax for digital audio output (or if you like it cleanest, with no overhang: ST Glass fiber optic digital cable)
Mark Levinson no.360S DAC (or another second hand high end dac, many oldies but goodies are available at reasonable prices these days)

This system falls behind the system above when looking at its best areas but exceeds it in the bass and slam department. The HiFace EVO helps to produce the best bass I have been able to get from a computer based system, with the exception of using the digital output from a EMU1212M soundcard which has even better bass, but falls behind in all other areas.

Read that again, his USB -> SPDIF converter has the second biggest impact on bass reproduction he's ever seen.

Onkyo gets in on the fleecing here: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/16/onkyo-unveils-another-audiophile-pc-the-apx-2-hd/

Oh and this should make you fairly angry: http://www.highend-audiopc.com/optimizer.html

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Jan 27, 2014

# ¿ Jan 27, 2014 06:16

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Did you know the performance of your audio investment is suffering due to acoustic oxidisation? Just like iron, sound waves rust. Our solution to this age old problem is simple. We come to your house, make your hifi room airtight and replace the inferior existing atmosphere with a pure nitrogen solution. You know how the nitrogen bubbles in a pint of Guinness give it that unique smoothness only nitrogen can provide? Our service does the same to your listening station.

After you've tested this amazing new tweak for a few minutes, you will never want for any audio improvements again!

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 18:37

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

KozmoNaut join the 21st century and do your crossovers in software.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2014 03:34

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Depends on the current acoustics of the room. Room correction won't get rid of nodes, nulls and reflections, but you'll definitely notice an improvement in the one spot you set it up for. It might sound worse in other spots though. Don't aim for perfectly flat response, try for a nice house curve.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2014 19:25

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Sagacity posted:

In this case that's exactly my goal. This is not intended to be a fix for a living room setup, it's just my "home studio" (I use the term loosely), where I usually sit in a single spot. That spot should be as flat as possible, or at least not as ridiculously boomy as it is now.

I didn't realise you were going to use this for a studio. Also, I'd like to take back what I said about improvement and replace it with "you will notice a difference". Also, that sweet spot you set it up for can be measured in millimetres. Have you measured the response of the room yet so you know what you're dealing with? Have you tried moving your sub or speakers around to get a flatter response?

Honestly, I think you would be better off treating your room first. Then I could see one of these being used to set up simulations of response curves for different types of target systems. You don't need to spend much on treatment if you are willing to do some of it yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbLVjHfHahg

Talking about speakers that reveal bad mixing or mastering, can anyone give examples of good and bad mastering in similar kinds of music?

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 16:02 on Mar 13, 2014

# ¿ Mar 13, 2014 15:46

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Try $1100 for a 1.5m ethernet cable!

http://www.stereophile.com/content/ethernet-cables-audioquest

# ¿ Mar 21, 2014 23:36

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I am going to pay someone to measure the room response in my campervan :negative:

# ¿ May 23, 2014 11:14

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Nuh-uh! 0Hz is either pressurising your room or making it a partial vacuum :pseudo:

http://www.rotarywoofer.com/

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 23:23

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

If this guy could buy surround sound vinyl I think he would.

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/blu_ray_audio_wont_save_music_biz_but_gourmet_audiophile_format

I get the love for 5.1, I mean I haven't experienced it but mastering music to take advantage of it makes a lot of sense, but there's a fair bit of audiophoolery mixed in here.

quote:

the majors began releasing 5.1 surround and high resolution audio in 1999 with the introduction of the Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) which allowed for the reproduction of DSD audio streams that had the same �warmth� as vinyl.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 06:12

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Oh god just use J River Media Centre.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 08:29

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

There are also other software players that will do all those things for free or a fraction of the price.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 20:28

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

jonathan posted:

However doing EQ at the source doesn't make sense to me. I handle EQ and everything else at the preamp/processor stage. Then again I have a few different sources.

I do all my processing, including volume control, in software then send it from my audio interface directly to power amplifiers, then pull the knobs off the volume pots once I've set their gains. Worked great as a party system just playing blurays, mp3s and youtube because nobody could ever turn it up louder than I wanted and the processing settings were incredibly easy to mess with. Really sucked when someone brought over their xbox, ipod or other source because it just couldn't handle multiple sources.

Looking at my system though, I really think it could be improved with the addition of this 400euro USB adaptor and a 350euro SATA cable: http://jplay.eu/jcat/

quote:

Our extensive tests showed that using audio grade SATA cable is as important for sound quality in a computer audio system as using high quality USB cable with a USB DAC or USB-S/PDIF converter.

And I'd have to agree with that claim.

A Lone Girl Flier fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jul 1, 2014

# ¿ Jul 1, 2014 21:02

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

I was trying to follow the woo of the Schumann Resonance generators and learned a bit about ELF and what it takes to transmit it, eventually got to this, http://montalk.net/conspiracy/55/how-to-block-microwave-mind-programming-signals

Then I got sad and gave up.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2014 16:55

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# ¿ May 4, 2024 21:45

A Lone Girl Flier: Sep 29, 2009; This post is dedicated to all those who fell by the forums, for nothing is wasted, and every apparent failure is but a challenge to others.

Not completely about ridiculing audiophiles, but here's Dave Jones interviewing Rod Elliot from Elliot Sound Products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjfOTRBqpJw

# ¿ Nov 26, 2014 15:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Ridicule Audiophiles - Find the cat shit's resonant frequency

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