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Chord GroundARAY Review (Noise Filter?)

Rate this audio product:

  • 1. Waste of money (piggy bank panther)

    Votes: 274 96.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 1 0.4%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther

    Votes: 2 0.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 6 2.1%

  • Total voters
    283

theREALdotnet

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Clear example: my wife’s ever growing shoe and handbag collection :facepalm:

On reflection, these sorts of compulsions may not be entirely without merit. They‘re not rational but I think one of the mistakes we (collectively) make is assuming that purchasing anything is just for realising its utility, when in actual fact we might just buy it to impress our peers. And hence, to assure our status within our social group.

This is what I think our subconscious is programmed to make us worry about most above all else, as the result of a million years of evolution. Up until a short few thousand years ago the status within your social group was what made the difference between life and death.

So let’s not discount or belittle status seeking as a motivator for choosing HiFi gear. But let’s expose those exploiting the primordial subconscious biases for profit and those who concoct pseudo-rational explanations.
 
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audio_tony

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Can some network fellow explain to me how this device is working, in theory and assuming it does what it says. I'm trying to wrap my head around it and I am in the dark. Theoretically, the data/signal/information (whatever the right term is) would enter this device that is attached to an ethernet port. It would go through some (passive?) filtering, reducing noise (lets assume that happens), and then what? Go back into the network (I'll bet there is no close circuit inside the device, thus doing nothing at all), how will these data reach the target (dac or whatever)? Please elaborate.
Unlike the old, long defunct network hubs, a network switch directs (switches) traffic between specific ports based on the MAC address of the connected devices.

For example, if you have an 8 port switch, with your streamer plugged into port #1 and your NAS plugged into port #8 - ports 2 through 7 will have no visibility of the traffic traversing ports 1 and 8*.

Additionally, it's worth pointing out that all ports are transformer isolated, so there is no physical connection to ground and hence no opportunity for ground loops between connected devices.
Networks cards also have isolating transformers on the ports.

The Chord device reviewed here appears to be based around the premise that noise can be injected into the switch port, however this is extremely unlikely.

*managed switches generally have a monitor option which can assign a specific port to 'sniff' traffic across other ports - but this is irrelevant here.
 

sofrep811

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The most difficult part of posting to ASR is knowing whether or not you should. I just poured red wine into my cognac glass, so take the below for what it’s worth…



You’re certainly passionate, but your line of argumentation is not coherent and lacks logic.



This has been brought up before, and the general consensus is that yes, the “S” is ASR is a bit of a reach. There is no science being conducted here. Science is the search for knowledge about the natural world (sorry to all of you in the Humanities). What ASR is doing is much more on the engineering test & verification and also the consumer advocacy side. Basically, the ASR reviews try to turn stones and watch the cockroaches shooting out.



No, testing is entirely empirical. I think you are confusing “anecdotal” with “empirical”. But yes, testing procedures are always flawed is some way, and if readers are concerned that those flaws affect the test outcome they are welcome to critique (not dismiss) the procedures or, better yet, put up their own test procedures and findings.



I think you mean, they say not all DUTs but all DUTs with inaudible flaws sound the same. This is a tautology. There were DUTs with audible flaws and they did not sound the same. Also a tautology.



This does not follow at all. The reason this forum exists is that there are unscrupulous charlatans luring wide-eyed and cashed-up buyers into spending their money on junk.



Not all devices sound the same. Not all devices measure the same. But they sound the same long before they measure the same. The only caveat being, do we always have good idea what to measure (not: can we measure it).



Another non sequitur. Just because people buy stuff doesn’t mean the stuff has any objective merit or usefulness.



That’s right, be guided by facts, not hear-say.



Again, be guided by facts, not hear-say. It’s always worthwhile to ask questions, but this seems like a rhetorical one. The actual answer to this question will probably surprise you and is not going to reassert the notion you held when you asked.



Science is not about chasing and nurturing anecdotes. It is about collecting dependable evidence and using that to falsify hypotheses.



We’re not living in caves anymore because we have learned to go by the evidence where it matters, or else be doomed.
Mr Hitchens would be proud. Well done.

"Proof lies on he who asserts, not on he who denies"
 

theREALdotnet

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DonR

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Chord Electronics devices perform reasonably well the only issue with them (aside from the subjective aesthetic) is that they are not audibly different from similar devices priced an order of magnitude or two less.
 

Dana reed

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Just get one of these. Much cheaper and actually works when I have stuff with grouding issues
 

Rednaxela

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Rob Watts:

1659721891322.jpeg
 

AudioSceptic

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Omg, my mistake!!! But given the poor performance on their last reviews (Dave, etc.) I think it applies anyway!!!
I think that's a little unfair. The DAVE at launch was probably close to SOTA so the price was not outrageous. That doesn't justify the price now, but it is still not poor by any standard.
 

Caliban

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This is an antennae "array" not an ARAY (with one r). Maybe Chord is using an acronym as the letters are all capitals?

Not that it changes anything...
I know !
What if there is an array of pixie dust inside ?
To my excuse, I have had a few beers..it is friday evning !
 

fpitas

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Caliban

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First hit when i searched for "magic" on The Chord Company website.
Are we not becoming a bit evil now ?

1659728708413.jpeg
 

sarumbear

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beagleman

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  • Home theater electronics: a complete mess. Almost everything you have tested sucks, especially below stratospheric price points.
I think your understanding of how he tests, versus what is audible leave a LOT to be desired.

I have owned Great measuring components, and right now have some VERY mediocre measuring Home theatre stuff.

You can NOT tell just by listening which is which MOST OF THE TIME.
SINAD alone is not some all encompassing number that separates GREAT vs HORRIBLE.......

Audibility of a mediocre measurement matters far more than the actual mediocre measurement in itself.

I actually thought the SAME as you, until I heard first hand, a few VERY mediocre AVRs, and was astonished to find they did not sound horrible or suck but in fact sounded pretty much just like any other good to decent stereo I had heard.

Sucked meaning, what exactly??
I have one of the lowest priced Yamaha AVRs set up in one (Secondary Audio/TV) room, and it is years old. NOTHING about it sounds sub-standard in any audible way, when I play music, movies or anything.
 

Inner Space

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If ten different people say there are, they hear, differences, as a scientist, you'd ask why is that!?!?
This is a foundational point, but it doesn't lead where you want it to lead. I had two eminent pure scientists in my family, so I know the mindset intimately. If the same sound was heard ten different ways, you bet they would ask why. They would be genuinely excited for a second, and then, instinctively, they would start a mental checklist: can an experiment be designed? What else would I be missing by doing this? How much time and budget would it need?

Because if they choose to pursue it, their enthusiasm comes at a cost. Therefore, again instinctively, their first operational thought is, "I better check the basic proposition is, you know, actually true, so we need to blind test these ten people, maybe alongside fifty or a hundred others, representative of the population. If everything looks solid and repeatable, we'll set something up."

Therefore, a point you feel attacks ASR's method actually supports it. There are members here who have designed amazing, landmark technology. There are others who will, one day - if only they could find a fruitful avenue of inquiry. They would love it with an intensity you can't imagine if something new came up. But so far, nothing has survived contact with that first operational question: is the basic proposition actually true?
 
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