Extreme Snake Oil

[RickS]

Please get back to good old snake oil stuff and avoid further personal commentary. Thanks!

 

[Nutul]

Basically, in a thread named "Extreme Snake Oil" you don't just jump in and say "I changed the PSU with this USD 3K and, oh boy, the difference was nigh-and-day".
It just doesn't fit.

 

[xanalog]

Thanks, @RickS,
I get really annoyed when members disparage other members.

 

[RetroStereo]

Back in the late '60's and early '70's, I was friends with a group of people, most of whom had way more disposable income than 99% of the other people around me (I was barely making it being still in college & working part-time, clearing about $40/week).

They were buying Audio Research, Krell, Mark Levinson, Sequerra, and dozens of other mostly brand new audiophile companies' products as fast as new products could be announced. One of them even had a listening room designed by some famous architect (don't remember the name) with a pair of 24-inch Hartley subwoofers (& their enclosures) built into the floor. They only operated below about 50Hz. I do remember that the room's dimensions were based on multiples of the cube root of two and that its longest dimension was a fraction over 35 feet.

The first electrostatic speakers I ever heard - the original Dayton Wright XG8 - were in that room. Mike Wright, himself, delivered them and set them up. I was sold on the spot - unfortunately, no money in my wallet. My love of electrostats never died and I now own a pair of Martin Logan Monolith IIIs (purchased used 5 years ago).

Back to my well-to-do friends: they would argue for hours about which sounded better of all the new gear they accumulated. And that included things like speaker cables and RCA interconnects. These were the people who started The Absolute Sound magazine.

Edited to add: BTW, I still have the 1st twelve issues of TAS. HP cancelled my subscription after I tricked him when evaluating three high-end FM tuners. I didn't actually do it on purpose. I got the wires crossed and didn't notice until the end of the evening (like 3am). But I didn't tell him and I forgot about it. After he wrote the article and published it, I came clean. He had claimed the Sequerra Model 1 was superior to the McIntosh MR78 over approximately two-thirds of the FM band when, actually it was the reverse. I couldn't tell any difference at all (and my ears were 20 years younger than his).

 

[Roland68]

Basically, in a thread named "Extreme Snake Oil" you don't just jump in and say "I changed the PSU with this USD 3K and, oh boy, the difference was nigh-and-day".
It just doesn't fit.

Yes, I've experienced exactly that.
For example, when connecting a new power supply, all the fuses tripped immediately and it went pitch black.
That was literally a night-and-day difference.

 

[xanalog]

...all the fuses tripped immediately...

Obviously, all those fuses were NOT one of the 100 referenced (and/or those special) "fuses", discussed in this thread!

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Yes, I've experienced exactly that.
For example, when connecting a new power supply, all the fuses tripped immediately and it went pitch black.
That was literally a night-and-day difference.

well, it depends. did you try them during the day time? after all, daylight hours are audiophile-grade time.

 

[Johnkeizer]

Nonono, night time is audiophile heaven.
That nasty sun has gone away and the moon is now able to do its magic.

 

[xanalog]

That nasty sun has gone away and the moon is now able to do its magic.

I am surprised that no one has devised a rooftop-mount, corona and gamma-ray arrestor, yet.
It can be easily marketed as the perfect snake-oil to prevent the resultant diffusion-distortion of the sound particles inside the airwaves, before they reach our auditory system.

"If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance; then, baffle them with your bullsh*t!"
Cha-ching!

 

[RetroStereo]

I am surprised that no one has devised a rooftop-mount, corona and gamma-ray arrestor, yet.
It can be easily marketed as the perfect snake-oil to prevent the resultant diffusion-distortion of the sound particles inside the airwaves, before they reach our auditory system.

Sounds like a great marketing opportunity to me. You build & market it. I'll denounce it (thus maintaining my integrity), thereby making you famous. Audiophiles will argue its merits for years. You'll sell thousands.

 

[Johnkeizer]

I thought of the following first:
A year after initial release, a series 2 gets released promising even greater benefits. Then as SE version, a Signature Edition, a Leap Year edition which is bigger and more expensive due to having to cope with an extra day.
This will become the Mk3 the following year.
After all that, change the case, put a piece of steel in the bottom to increase the weight and give it a different model designation and repeat the above.
In all cases, increase the price.

 

[Mnyb]

I thought of the following first:
A year after initial release, a series 2 gets released promising even greater benefits. Then as SE version, a Signature Edition, a Leap Year edition which is bigger and more expensive due to having to cope with an extra day.
This will become the Mk3 the following year.
After all that, change the case, put a piece of steel in the bottom to increase the weight and give it a different model designation and repeat the above.
In all cases, increase the price.

yes i have yet to see any high end manufacturer announce that the mk2 is going to be cheaper and better due to more integrated circuit better components and a higher level of automation in the factory

Interestingly all the providers of OP amps DAC chips other chips, components etc. are constantly striving for better tolerances more rational manufacturing that yields better components at lower prices . This never translates to finished products in the high end audio mk2 is inevitable heavier larger and even more expensive .

They may make an entry level series with the new designs

 

[RexrothPigeon]

I thought of the following first:
A year after initial release, a series 2 gets released promising even greater benefits. Then as SE version, a Signature Edition, a Leap Year edition which is bigger and more expensive due to having to cope with an extra day.
This will become the Mk3 the following year.
After all that, change the case, put a piece of steel in the bottom to increase the weight and give it a different model designation and repeat the above.
In all cases, increase the price.

slow clap

 

[Roland68]

well, it depends. did you try them during the day time? after all, daylight hours are audiophile-grade time.

Seriously, have you never heard of the fatal sunspot activity?

 

[Dumdum]

Watching this video, it makes me a bit violent, I want to find the people who sell this cable and burn them at the stake.

Summary: $150k speaker cables with a blackbox of horse shite.

199K views · 1.1K reactions | $150K for a car or speaker cables? #AudiophileLife | Audio Connection Australia

$150K for a car or speaker cables? #AudiophileLife

www.facebook.com

Try this one for vomit!

 

[Mart68]

Try this one for vomit!

View attachment 523414View attachment 523415

Makes you wonder why Gryphon and DCS don't fit them as standard, espcially at the prices they charge for their kit.

Don't those manufacturers realise they're 'Leaving a massive amount of potential on the table'?

These people would sell you the Brooklyn Bridge if you wanted it.

 

[mhardy6647]

Obviously, all those fuses were NOT one of the 100 referenced (and/or those special) "fuses", discussed in this thread!

Those audiophile fuses are amazing. They work so well that they don't blow. They don't need to. This can even add an  olfactory element to a spirited listening session that is unattainable with "standard goods" fuses!

 

[Alan O]

Those audiophile fuses are amazing. They work so well that they don't blow.

Talking of which, I devised the perfect test for all audiophile fuses - and you don't even have to buy an audiophile fuse.

You make a no-fuse placebo by soldering a piece of thick copper wire between two fuse end caps, and compare that with a standard cheap fuse (either measuring or blind listening). And if you can't tell any difference, you can happily conclude no audiophile fuse can sound any better either.

(Disclaimer: Do at your own risk, I accept no responsibility in the unlikely event your item of equipment happens to fail during the short time you're doing the test and fries because there's no fuse )

 

[AaronJ]

At quick glance you could easily confuse this with an ad for ED medication.

 

[xanalog]

This can even add an  olfactory element to a spirited listening session that is unattainable with "standard goods" fuses!

If I ever catch you going OT using those 2 words again, I shall have to report you to our enforcement bureau!