Extreme Snake Oil

[mhardy6647]

Also, with all those tubes, they huff and they puff and they blow the electric company down.

Well -- I mean -- you can go with one of Carver's big-boy amps, and have all the tubes plus an output transformer, too!

 

[egellings]

Whew! I'd need to have a substation installed at my house to power those. One thing I wonder about is the tight packing of the 20 output pentodes. How hot do those babies get with so little room for ventilation?

 

[fpitas]

$1,250 Diamond-Branded Ethernet Cables Lure Audiophiles With Silver and Carbon

At least shipping is free?

www.tomshardware.com

With its lofty price tag and product name containing ‘diamond’, it is somewhat deflating to study the specifications and see there are no actual diamonds within the product.

 

[ZolaIII]

With its lofty price tag and product name containing ‘diamond’, it is somewhat deflating to study the specifications and see there are no actual diamonds within the product.

I know a product truly worthy its name and genuine snake oil not a cheap fake one.
Edit: I do like they late and cheap relative graphite for it's wide EMI blocking properties.

 

[egellings]

With its lofty price tag and product name containing ‘diamond’, it is somewhat deflating to study the specifications and see there are no actual diamonds within the product.

Diamonds, nonconductive as they are, would bring nothing the table in terms of audible performance. As for insulating properties, diamonds excel there, but if they are on the outside of the cable, what are they insulating it from? Air?

 

[fpitas]

Diamonds, nonconductive as they are, would bring nothing the table in terms of audible performance.

Well, sure. Nor would any of the other nonsense in high-end cables, typically.

 

[egellings]

Well, sure. Nor would any of the other nonsense in high-end cables, typically.

Of course, they might look cool, though.

 

[MattHooper]

Well -- I mean -- you can go with one of Carver's big-boy amps, and have all the tubes plus an output transformer, too!

gawd, those look like a total nightmare for heat production and general tube wear/replacement! 40 output tubes !! (At current prices, just replacing the output tubes would cost around $5,000 USD)

My CJ monos take 4 output tubes per amp so I have eight to deal with. Over the years I've occasionally eyed the bigger CJ amps, which use 16 output tubes per mono. I decided my limit is dealing with 8 output tubes.

 

[mhardy6647]

gawd, those look like a total nightmare for heat production and general tube wear/replacement! 40 output tubes !! (At current prices, just replacing the output tubes would cost around $5,000 USD)

My CJ monos take 4 output tubes per amp so I have eight to deal with. Over the years I've occasionally eyed the bigger CJ amps, which use 16 output tubes per mono. I decided my limit is dealing with 8 output tubes.

Ol' "Sideshow Bob" was never about subtlety.

source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Archive-Audio/70s/Audio-1976-04.pdf

 

[VintageFlanker]

 

[Count Arthur]

I saw that. LTT has called out a couple of pointless and snake oil audio products in the past and aving created a testing and measuring facility, it will be interesting to see where it goes.

 

[Keith_W]

Here is one from a visit to a hi-fi dealer a few weeks back. He was telling me about his new fuses which make a startling difference to the sound. I asked him whether he would like to give me a demonstration and compare a normal fuse to his expensive ($500!!!) fuse. He demurred - because apparently the $500 fuse is larger than a normal fuse, and it is fragile. He broke one when he was trying to remove it. I asked him why should I pay $500 for a bit of glass and wire, which is so poorly engineered that they did not make it a standard size and more robust? I mean, even many subjectivists are skeptical about magic fuses and they would demand a demonstration. And no demonstration = no sale. I wanted to be polite with him and said that if I don't get to evaluate the difference with my own ears, there is no way I would pay so much money for a fuse. Rather than my real reason, which would be too impolite to say aloud to such a nice guy.

 

[amicusterrae]

Just saw this used power cable listed on TMR for $2,599:

Obviously snake oil, BUT as a practical matter, how heavy and inflexible are cables like this?! Looks like it's gotta be an inch or so in diameter.

 

[IAtaman]

Just saw this used power cable listed on TMR for $2,599:
View attachment 274156
Obviously snake oil, BUT as a practical matter, how heavy and inflexible are cables like this?! Looks like it's gotta be an inch or so in diameter.

That looks more like a snake than its oil. A Thicc boi as the youngsters would say. I bet it doubles as a nunchaku.

 

[Blorg]

Interesting video from Lachlan of Passion for Sound on budget crystals:

 

[Axo1989]

Recently we've seen popular reviewer John Darko take up room treatment and diagnostic measurements. As we enter the first day of a new month we see him take on a critical and specific measurement task:

Two years ago today an ASR thread covered the topic of cable lifters in the scientific and level-headed way we expect. Are our methodologies still at the cutting edge? Can we correctly correlate fogs and veils? Can we mix and match cables and lifters to achieve new synergies? Is domicile tenure a critical factor? Are national/regional environmental factors significant? Has anyone done this at home? So many questions ...

 

[voodooless]

I think post #2 of the previous thread still sums it up nicely:

Questions on cable lifter measuring

While the essential role of cables in sound reproduction has been firmly stablished, I feel the functions of cable lifters are much less defined. I would suggest there are four roles that cable lifters must perform. Defining these roles may help us in designing proper scientific testing...

www.audiosciencereview.com

For John Drako, April fools is every day…

 

[Axo1989]

I think post #2 of the previous thread still Simms it up nicely:

Questions on cable lifter measuring

While the essential role of cables in sound reproduction has been firmly stablished, I feel the functions of cable lifters are much less defined. I would suggest there are four roles that cable lifters must perform. Defining these roles may help us in designing proper scientific testing...

www.audiosciencereview.com

For John Drako, April fools is every day…

Sigh. If you are going to pull the monkey from the sleeve, at least pay attention to your spelling.

 

[IAtaman]

Is this the kinda BS we are gonna need to suffer through this April fools?

 

[napfkuchen]

It's BS. To make crystals work you obviously need to follow an holistic approach where at least the loudspeaker-tweeters are made of crystals and the music, too: