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I didn't he had one...
Giving Thed too much credit.
Clearly, you guys forgot to tag me
This. Some mini-ITX mainboard, looks to be from Gigabyte (OEM version?), but the 3D model on the site shows an MSI board, so could be that as well, with PicoPSU, powered by a few linear power supplies, probably paralleled to get to the 10A 12V in this form factor. There is absolutely nothing special, nor voodoo about this. The regulator bolted to the right heatsink is probably an LT1038. The PCB at the top injects some low-frequency noise into the PSU because that's what they pretend is the magic. Obviously, the PicoPSU won't care one bit about this. BTW, single-channel memory.. WTF!
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Sokel
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Probably for future upgrade at 3k$ or so
Sokel
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That's not strange,that's what a streamer is,a PC,big or small,etc.
At 15k$ though they could include some machine with serious power.
I guess we should be happy they didn't built it with some RPi given their greed.
Yeah but I am used to smaller SoCs for this purpose. A RPi would be fine (though not a this price ofc), but this right here is a full small office PC haha.
You don't need a whole PC for a streamer (WiiM Mini is not going to boot Windows anytime soon) nor do you need to spend $15K on a PC if you want to use one for a streamer.
I wonder, if you spend $200 on a PC and $14,800 on the best power supply you can possibly get for said PC, would these audiophools consider that a more or less performant machine than this little scam?
I wonder, if you spend $200 on a PC and $14,800 on the best power supply you can possibly get for said PC, would these audiophools consider that a more or less performant machine than this little scam?
I’m an academic clinician/educator in internal medicine and infectious diseases and I find it reprehensible that he would exploit those living with chronic illness by promoting false hopes and desperate measures to improve their wellbeing through the purchase of outlandishly priced pseudoscience. I’ve never seen anything like this—I wonder if the supposed psychiatrist he ran this by truly knows what he’s up to. I too posted a nasty reprisal on this video’s comments. This is just the worst. GOD.I just reported this video and the Daniel Hertz website to the FDA for making false medical claims.
Seriously, F this guy. Someone dying from liver failure could buy one of these amps based on his BS. Then they'd be dying and $12K poorer. This is not just the normal snake oil, this is pushing the boundaries of honest-to-god criminality IMO.
I also left a mean comment on the youtube video. That'll show him!
The worst part... he claims that digital audio harms your health and his "c-wave" fixes it. And yes, you guessed it, the "C-wave process" is... digital.
Where to start...
@kemmler3D, thank you for catching this.
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I was reading a post on another website in a thread devoted to tweaks, and here was one listener's tweak routine...just to listen to music on headphones:
My current short list of tweaks for headphone optimization, I can proudly say I have an outside the headphones soundstage that’s up to ten or twenty feet out in front and all around me.
1. Play Schumann 7.83 Hz streamed from YouTube (isochronic tone) 15 minutes prior to listening.iPad at distance of 3 feet. synchronize the neurons!
2. play Schumann 7.83 Hz while listening with headphones. Distance of iPad 3 feet.
3. CD Purity CD spray to reduce effects of polycarbonate porosity. Polycarbonate is only about 91% transparent. Also reduces laser scattering.
4. 3 strips of 3M Super 88 tape 1.5” long and cut in half lengthwise on label side of CD, radially. For disc stability.
5. All CDs twice quasi cryo‘d QC’d in freezer 2x48 hours.
6. Demag/Destatic CD prior to playing - rotate disc with thumb of one hand whilst holding demag steady over totaling disc with other hand, rotate disc 3 times. Also rotate CD perpendicular to demag to get the outer edge… better safe than sorry.
Imagine your neurosis driving you to those lengths!
Then I saw the signature at the bottom of the post:
Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
Well, of course. I know Geoff has come up before in the forum as a snake oil salesman. Probably his notorious tweak is the Teleportation Tweak, where he tweaks the sound of your system over the phone in 20 seconds:
How the Teleportation Tweak Works
I'm curious if he ever managed to find a dupe who paid for that. I interacted with Kait quite a bit on audiogon, and it was a real POE's Law problem, especially as he had a very jokey, sarcastic nature that made him seem unserious. In the end I concluded he was generally serious about the tweaky stuff. He lists his professional education:
Geoff Kait, education: Aerospace Engineering (theoretical fluid dynamics, propulsion, statistical thermodynamics, nuclear physics, indeterminate structures). Work experience: NASA satellite operations and radar data analysis; aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft and reentry vehicles; radio and satellite communications; spread spectrum communications.
Which makes me wonder what the truth is. It's always possible someone with that experience could go way off the beaten path.
There was another member on audiogon who would talk about the wildest tweaks, lots of stuff similar to Kait, lots of weird materials, pebbles, tin foil or whatever. At one point he had a bunch of photos of his "reference system" and it as THE most bizarre set of audiophile photos I've ever seen. It looked like the unkept bare cement walled basement of a serial killer, with sparkly or silvery bits of tape and material hangind and taped everywhere (to align the right "fields"), weird things placed on pipes, cables, with a bizzare cheap set of little speakers in nearfield. Words don't do justice, but unfortunately those photos are no longer there.
My current short list of tweaks for headphone optimization, I can proudly say I have an outside the headphones soundstage that’s up to ten or twenty feet out in front and all around me.
1. Play Schumann 7.83 Hz streamed from YouTube (isochronic tone) 15 minutes prior to listening.iPad at distance of 3 feet. synchronize the neurons!
2. play Schumann 7.83 Hz while listening with headphones. Distance of iPad 3 feet.
3. CD Purity CD spray to reduce effects of polycarbonate porosity. Polycarbonate is only about 91% transparent. Also reduces laser scattering.
4. 3 strips of 3M Super 88 tape 1.5” long and cut in half lengthwise on label side of CD, radially. For disc stability.
5. All CDs twice quasi cryo‘d QC’d in freezer 2x48 hours.
6. Demag/Destatic CD prior to playing - rotate disc with thumb of one hand whilst holding demag steady over totaling disc with other hand, rotate disc 3 times. Also rotate CD perpendicular to demag to get the outer edge… better safe than sorry.
Imagine your neurosis driving you to those lengths!
Then I saw the signature at the bottom of the post:
Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica
Well, of course. I know Geoff has come up before in the forum as a snake oil salesman. Probably his notorious tweak is the Teleportation Tweak, where he tweaks the sound of your system over the phone in 20 seconds:
How the Teleportation Tweak Works
Teleportation Tweak explanation How it Works
TELEPORTATION TWEAK EXPLANATION, MORPHIC FIELDS, AUDIO
www.machinadynamica.com
I'm curious if he ever managed to find a dupe who paid for that. I interacted with Kait quite a bit on audiogon, and it was a real POE's Law problem, especially as he had a very jokey, sarcastic nature that made him seem unserious. In the end I concluded he was generally serious about the tweaky stuff. He lists his professional education:
Geoff Kait, education: Aerospace Engineering (theoretical fluid dynamics, propulsion, statistical thermodynamics, nuclear physics, indeterminate structures). Work experience: NASA satellite operations and radar data analysis; aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft and reentry vehicles; radio and satellite communications; spread spectrum communications.
Which makes me wonder what the truth is. It's always possible someone with that experience could go way off the beaten path.
There was another member on audiogon who would talk about the wildest tweaks, lots of stuff similar to Kait, lots of weird materials, pebbles, tin foil or whatever. At one point he had a bunch of photos of his "reference system" and it as THE most bizarre set of audiophile photos I've ever seen. It looked like the unkept bare cement walled basement of a serial killer, with sparkly or silvery bits of tape and material hangind and taped everywhere (to align the right "fields"), weird things placed on pipes, cables, with a bizzare cheap set of little speakers in nearfield. Words don't do justice, but unfortunately those photos are no longer there.
- Thread Starter
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Matt, your not used to dealing with people with severe mental problems. Many decades ago when I was a police officer I would get a call by concerned neighbors and or family members to check on someone. When I went into the house and saw any aluminum foil action or other weirdness, I would arrest them and take them to the county mental health building. Then the nurses there would give them a starter shot of Thorazine which slows them down so much they become docile little lambs. After a few days of that they would get other medications and be released. They were always good until they went off their meds and then I would have to start the process all over. In today's world they just start selling audiophile woo. Very sad.
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Ha! As it happens I'm pretty familiar - close family members with Schizophrenia, a couple of friends with Schizophrenia (one after a fairly normal conversation one night later ended up on my roof looking in my bedroom window, wanting me to save him from all our friends who were currently "knocking on his bedroom walls with hammers."). I've also had to cool out a number of folks out of their minds on drugs/acid. So I've got a feel for that stuff.
But I certainly appreciate that as a police officer you would have dealt with it more regularly.
In any case, yeah, one can speculate on some of the nuttier proponents in high end audio.
To @Spkrdctr 's point, when you can't tell "genuine" audiophile tweaks from serious mental illness, well... who's to say whether the audiophile in question is mostly audiophile or just mostly in need of medical intervention.
Place the headphones on your head with the active diaphragms facing away from your ears.