Examples of audiofoolery you have been the victim of

[VientoB]

Many years ago I bought these interconnects. I think they were on eBay. Copper twisted pairs in a tubing filled with....oil. Not sure what that was about

 

[ahofer]

The good news is that cables are very liquid and hold their value second hand.

Funny old world.

 

[Mean & Green]

About 25 years or more ago I used to read magazines like What hifi and HiFi choice. I was studying electronics at college at the same time and always had my doubts about some of the claims made by hifi journalists.

The biggest thing that got me was cables. I did honestly believe at first that I heard differences in better quality cables vs the free things that came in the box with kit. I fell into a little bit of a rabbit hole and bought different ones at different times. In the grand scheme of things cables were the lowest cost level for tweaking and at the time I didn’t have much money but I had a modest separates system. I bought some Realistic Gold Patch RCAs from Tandy (anyone remember them?) I did believe I heard improvements with those cables, in hindsight it was probably placebo and pre biasing from what I’d read in the mags. However being intrigued to explore a little further I went onto Sonic Link and QED and it was here that I heard no difference at all. Literally nothing and I was comparing a QED Qunex Silver Spiral at about £70 a half meter pair compared to Realistic Gold Patch at £7 a meter pair. The magazines were claiming all kinds of wonderful things but I wasn’t hearing it.

Funnily enough I never did go back and compare with the freebie cables because in my heart of hearts I knew I’d been suckered but didn’t want to face it.

I also had experience with 4 different CD players during this era and I read the mags reviews of them and just couldn’t hear the differences they were claiming existed. I actually heard nothing different, but I just assumed my kit wasn’t up to snuff to reveal it because the reviews were so convincing.

I went through a couple of amps and tested friends amps in my system and was convinced there were massive differences between those, but it was all sighted not level matched at all and very much pre biased from magazine reading. I suspect in reality with proper controls in place there wouldn’t have been much in it. I do know that today I have two different NAD amplifiers and I couldn’t tell them apart if I had to.

Back in the day I even tried polishing my fuses thanks to What Hifi claiming it would make things ‘clearer and more focused’ - yeah right! I already had my doubts about that one but I still wasted my time trying it.

So I was kind of in the middle, I fell for some things but not others. As I got older and more experienced in general I really wasn’t sure what to make of subjective opinions on hifi there was no real sources of factual info out there, but I was suspecting BS. I had some electronics knowledge but it wasn’t until the last few years I feel places like this have really been an education.

I still have those expensive QED cables kicking about somewhere, I might see how much they go for on eBay…

 

[VientoB]

About 25 years or more ago I used to read magazines like What hifi and HiFi choice. I was studying electronics at college at the same time and always had my doubts about some of the claims made by hifi journalists.

The biggest thing that got me was cables. I did honestly believe at first that I heard differences in better quality cables vs the free things that came in the box with kit. I fell into a little bit of a rabbit hole and bought different ones at different times. In the grand scheme of things cables were the lowest cost level for tweaking and at the time I didn’t have much money but I had a modest separates system. I bought some Realistic Gold Patch RCAs from Tandy (anyone remember them?) I did believe I heard improvements with those cables, in hindsight it was probably placebo and pre biasing from what I’d read in the mags. However being intrigued to explore a little further I went onto Sonic Link and QED and it was here that I heard no difference at all. Literally nothing and I was comparing a QED Qunex Silver Spiral at about £70 a half meter pair compared to Realistic Gold Patch at £7 a meter pair. The magazines were claiming all kinds of wonderful things but I wasn’t hearing it.

Funnily enough I never did go back and compare with the freebie cables because in my heart of hearts I knew I’d been suckered but didn’t want to face it.

I also had experience with 4 different CD players during this era and I read the mags reviews of them and just couldn’t hear the differences they were claiming existed. I actually heard nothing different, but I just assumed my kit wasn’t up to snuff to reveal it because the reviews were so convincing.

I went through a couple of amps and tested friends amps in my system and was convinced there were massive differences between those, but it was all sighted not level matched at all and very much pre biased from magazine reading. I suspect in reality with proper controls in place there wouldn’t have been much in it. I do know that today I have two different NAD amplifiers and I couldn’t tell them apart if I had to.

Back in the day I even tried polishing my fuses thanks to What Hifi claiming it would make things ‘clearer and more focused’ - yeah right! I already had my doubts about that one but I still wasted my time trying it.

So I was kind of in the middle, I fell for some things but not others. As I got older and more experienced in general I really wasn’t sure what to make of subjective opinions on hifi there was no real sources of factual info out there, but I was suspecting BS. I had some electronics knowledge but it wasn’t until the last few years I feel places like this have really been an education.

I still have those expensive QED cables kicking about somewhere, I might see how much they go for on eBay…

Ah, I was very similar to you. I bought the van den Hul D102 MK3 interconnect based on WHF and HiFi Choice reviews. I was sure it was better than Audioquest Topaz I had got before.

I also remember that thing about polishing fuses! I used brasso on them and got the ends really shiny!

I bought one of two of the cheaper things from Russ Andrews.

And I fitted a Furutech IEC mains socket to my Rotel CD player in place of the captive lead. I think it has rhodium plating. I guess that's quite handy though.

The hifi magazines really encouraged all this stuff. When I think back at what I used to read and buy and then think about what I know now, it's kind of sad and kind of embarrassing.

 

[Mean & Green]

Ah, I was very similar to you. I bought the van den Hul D102 MK3 interconnect based on WHF and HiFi Choice reviews. I was sure it was better than Audioquest Topaz I had got before.

I also remember that thing about polishing fuses! I used brasso on them and got the ends really shiny!

I bought one of two of the cheaper things from Russ Andrews.

And I fitted a Furutech IEC mains socket to my Rotel CD player in place of the captive lead. I think it has rhodium plating. I guess that's quite handy though.

The hifi magazines really encouraged all this stuff. When I think back at what I used to read and buy and then think about what I know now, it's kind of sad and kind of embarrassing.

Don’t be embarrassed, those magazines were the only ‘credible’ things we had to go off and they really did push all of this stuff and push it heavily!

Yes I used the Brasso on my fuses and I felt like a schmuck doing it, but at the time I thought how could the mags be wrong they were the ‘experts’?

It’s only the people today who are still brainwashed by this stuff that should feel embarrassed. There’s no excuse for it now we have a wealth of knowledge and science at our disposal. In 2024 no one should be falling for these things but sadly they still do and they will die on that hill and argue black is white, now that’s sad.

I really do dislike the old audiophile cult. Hopefully in another 10 years all of the old myths will be dead and buried.

 

[MattHooper]

I’ve always been sceptical about audio tweaks, including the whole audio cable thing, so for the most part I wasn’t buying into that stuff even from early on in the 90s when I got into high end audio.

But funny enough, a tweak I almost fell for was more recent, probably around 2015 or so when I was resetting up my high-end system I bought an Uptone Audio USB regen.

I can barely remember why I even bought it, probably something along the lines that I was going to be placing my digital audio near lots of other cables in a very tight rack set up, and I thought “ OK just to be sure. No interference will happen. I’ll get one of these things.”

I never actually opened it and ended up reading Amir’s review of that product, which showed it was bogus. So I promptly sold it.
Unfortunately, the guy who bought it told me it didn’t even work or turn on so I had to refund his money. Talk about an all-around loss. Still, a learning moment.

It’s also possible I may have “ fallen” to a degree for some other audio foolery. I own CJ Premier 12 tube monoblocks and a few years ago I received an additional pair that I had bought mostly because they were in better condition than my own, but they had come with a very expensive capacitor upgrade (which I didn’t have to pay for, though I was curious to see if there was any Sonic difference).
Comparing my original amps to those upgraded amps back to back seem to show some distinct Sonic differences, especially in the bass being tighter and more controlled on the updated amps. (I ended up selling the updated amps anyway).

At the same time I started trying tube rolling, and once again seem to hear distinct Sonic differences that I really liked.

I recognize both those cases edge into controversial territory, and so I simply enjoy whatever I seem to perceive without coming to any firm conclusions - in other words acknowledging that it may be me bias on my part, and I wouldn’t offer my experience as evidence of anything.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

At the same time I started trying tube rolling, and once again seem to hear distinct Sonic differences that I really liked

I think tube rolling could easily make a difference, since sample -to-sample gain and transfer characteristics could be different. It would be dependent on the circuit design, however.

 

[Waxx]

I'm the son of an electronic engineer, so i got the basic about electronics and physics in my education. And that helps a lot to avoid most scams. I also was never rich enough to spend riddiculous amounts of money on gear.

I once bought a Project Debut Carbon DC turntable because i though it was better than a technics. But I sold it soon, as it was clearly not (not even than the old SL-D202 i had then).

I do like coloured sound, so i got som gear that you may call snake oil gear. But i never paid a lot for it and love hem truly. My tube amp is litterally standing next to a few Ncore amps in my rack, and both get used and loved. But i know why i have it, and paid less than 1K for it (in a sale), I got it actally for cheaper than my Ncore amps.

 

[tw99]

I had a very similar experience over a number of years to @Mean & Green . After I'd bought my first basic system, Hi-Fi News "educated" me that everything sounds different, so that's what I expected.

I ended up in a small way on the Naim amp ladder in the 90s/00s, going from a two box 72/140 set up to eventually five boxes with an 82/HC/HC/250. A lot of the upgrades were bought second-hand, and in the knowledge that it all held its value well so I wouldn't lose much anyway. That said, I never noticed any change whatsoever in the sound quality from making all those upgrades. I ended up with a more powerful amp combo so it would play louder, but none of the other stuff that the magazines or Naim Forum said would be obvious, was even noticeable.

The thing that actually set me off on that path was going to a Naim demo evening where they demonstrated the upgrade path in five steps from 62/140 up to 52/Supercap/135s, and it was cleverly done so that each time they went to a more expensive setup, you felt that maybe the sound was a bit better, and then at the end they put the 62/140 back in and it sounded awful ! So I did once have that subjective experience of how upgrades matter but never found it repeated at home, even slightly. Makes me wonder if the demo was totally straight or not...

It was nice to finally sell all that stuff and then eventually end up with a system that doesn't need a huge pile of black boxes lurking in the corner.

 

[wadude]

If time is money then a lot of mine has been spent on reading about hifi.

 

[Wicky]

Simply believing there was a direct correlation between price and quality. Thankfully ASR has disavowed me of that misconception

 

[Rednaxela]

I once made these.

Piano 6/1 DIY interconnects [English]

Piano6/1 DIY interconnects cables on TNT Audio

www.tnt-audio.com