Extreme Snake Oil

[Salt]

That means if I place it on my Mini 300, I'll have that old-timey vintage sound.

Awaiting measurements

 

[fpitas]

Awaiting measurements

You're in luck! We're working on a woo meter, powered by snake oil.

 

[mhardy6647]

Maybe it works like a century old crystal radio receiver.

but that might enhance the impact of RFI!

I've mentioned this here before (not necessarily in this thread... at least I hope not in this thread). When I was a kid, we lived a few miles as the radio wave flies from a phased array of antennas transmitting a relatively low power (5 kW, if memory serves) AM radio station (WFBR, 1230 kHz, in Baltimore, MD). My father's hifi consisted of a pair of large EV Wolverine twincone "fullrange" drivers in large vented cabinets, driven by a pair of push-pull EL84 EICO HF-12 'monoblocks' capable of about 12 watts each.
The Wolverines were (are) fairly high sensitivity drivers. The EIA sensitivity rating* for the LS-12 and its kin was ca. 46 dB, which translates to ca. 95.2 dB SPL at 1 meter for 2.83 VAC (1 watt into 8 ohm) input.
see: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-trust-manufactory-specs.69976/#post-2540012

One of the pair would "play" WFBR, very softly but audibly, when the system (which had no AM radio tuner source) was turned off.

My father's theory** was that his (long) speaker cable was acting as a long wire antenna, and a 'defect' or discontinuity in the singing loudspeaker's voice coil was acting as a "cat's whisker" type of detector. The resulting AF signal was strong enough to produce sound from the Wolverine driver.


A pair of unhoused EV Wolverine LS-12 drivers connected to an "Amp Camp Amp" for test, and fun, purposes!

_______________
* The EIA spec referenced the SPL at 30 feet for 1 mW of power applied.
** He was an erstwhile radio broadcast engineer with a first class FCC radiotelephone operator's license, but with not so much formal training in EE, in full and complete disclosure.

 

[gzost]

Down the Rabbit Hole with the Nirvana Audio Chronos Optimizer - Positive Feedback

On a recent, really late evening, my phone chimed nearly nonstop as good friend and fellow high-end audio enthusiast Finnbogi Sigurdur Marinosson urgently slid into my DMs. Finnbogi and I are fairly obsessive hardware geeks, and he’d just descended into an inexplicable, almost incomprehensible...

positive-feedback.com

The Nirvana Audio Chronos Optimizer has been mentioned before here or in another snake oil thread, but this review is new. The device is the purest snake oil available. A dressed up USB memory stick with a working mechanism of "it's secret", which loses its magic power should you ever plug it into a computer USB socket. It works powered (from a USB charger) or unpowered (well, powered by the energy of the music in the room) and improves the usual unspecific audio parameters for the low low price of 2500 USD.

 

[wilcaz]

The documentary "Sour Grapes" is a fascinating expose of high end wine counterfeiting. The counterfeiter could blind recognize wines he'd only tried once and used this skill to mix cheaper wines to taste like $100k bottles. The people buying them could not tell the difference.

Yes, I actually met that guy recently at a wine event. He has one of the most incredible palates of anyone on earth.

Unfortunately unless you're an expert and have extensive experience with these wines you'd never be able to tell. I suspect I've had fake Petrus and not known lol.

 

[wilcaz]

Wine is complex, but even the complex can be analyzed and made more simple, and its real-world measurements and performance shown. It is not much different than the Subjectivist vs Objectivist debate we see played out in audio. People will revel in a certain wine or beer as they have been told it should be revered. In reality its QC and final product may suck -- the illusion of quality or high-performance. We see this in audio and the numbers Amir puts up.

Oh I don't disagree with you on this, I think you may have been misunderstanding my point. I just mean when people drink wine and make up what sounds to laymen like flowery, silly descriptions, this is actually often based on objectively real things they're experiencing when they taste. Versus someone who changes his power cable and says how much better it makes the soundstage.

For sure though, knowing something is rare/expensive will colour your perception. Which is why blind tasting is also critical in wine.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

l

My father's theory** was that his (long) speaker cable was acting as a long wire antenna, and a 'defect' or discontinuity in the singing loudspeaker's voice coil was acting as a "cat's whisker" type of detector.

long, unbalanced cable runs are antennae

 

[mhardy6647]

l

long, unbalanced cable runs are antennae

The antenna part's easy to understand (rationalize).
The detector part is the slightly mysterious (not to say mystical) aspect.

 

[Nutul]

Down the Rabbit Hole with the Nirvana Audio Chronos Optimizer - Positive Feedback

On a recent, really late evening, my phone chimed nearly nonstop as good friend and fellow high-end audio enthusiast Finnbogi Sigurdur Marinosson urgently slid into my DMs. Finnbogi and I are fairly obsessive hardware geeks, and he’d just descended into an inexplicable, almost incomprehensible...

positive-feedback.com

The Nirvana Audio Chronos Optimizer has been mentioned before here or in another snake oil thread, but this review is new. The device is the purest snake oil available. A dressed up USB memory stick with a working mechanism of "it's secret", which loses its magic power should you ever plug it into a computer USB socket. It works powered (from a USB charger) or unpowered (well, powered by the energy of the music in the room) and improves the usual unspecific audio parameters for the low low price of 2500 USD.

This is beaten only by the crystals staying passively in your room.
I wonder how a minimally intelligent brain could ever remotely think that an unplugged (or just plugged to the mains, that is, without any interaction with the audio-chain...) USB device can have some sort of effect. I mean, you really have to be brain-damaged to believe such BS. And for 25-hundred...

 

[gzost]

Modern audiophilia is a religion and abandoning reason is a requirement to join. How else could you have people who swear by expensive devices which claim to "lower the noise floor" while they listen to vinyl records played via tube amplifiers, or rave about how an amp "digs deep in the bass" when their speakers are mini monitors which cut off everything below 60 Hz?

 

[fpitas]

Modern audiophilia is a religion and abandoning reason is a requirement to join. How else could you have people who swear by expensive devices which claim to "lower the noise floor" while they listen to vinyl records played via tube amplifiers, or rave about how an amp "digs deep in the bass" when their speakers are mini monitors which cut off everything below 60 Hz?

You do have to wonder how these people can do things like hold jobs.

 

[egellings]

Modern audiophilia is a religion and abandoning reason is a requirement to join. How else could you have people who swear by expensive devices which claim to "lower the noise floor" while they listen to vinyl records played via tube amplifiers, or rave about how an amp "digs deep in the bass" when their speakers are mini monitors which cut off everything below 60 Hz?

I think it's called Audiophile Orthodoxy.

 

[Nutul]

I think it's called Audiophile Orthodoxy.

Well... TBH it has another name, but to avoid blasphemy I am keeping it for myself...

 

[Laika2]

but that might enhance the impact of RFI!

I've mentioned this here before (not necessarily in this thread... at least I hope not in this thread). When I was a kid, we lived a few miles as the radio wave flies from a phased array of antennas transmitting a relatively low power (5 kW, if memory serves) AM radio station (WFBR, 1230 kHz, in Baltimore, MD). My father's hifi consisted of a pair of large EV Wolverine twincone "fullrange" drivers in large vented cabinets, driven by a pair of push-pull EL84 EICO HF-12 'monoblocks' capable of about 12 watts each.
The Wolverines were (are) fairly high sensitivity drivers. The EIA sensitivity rating* for the LS-12 and its kin was ca. 46 dB, which translates to ca. 95.2 dB SPL at 1 meter for 2.83 VAC (1 watt into 8 ohm) input.
see: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-trust-manufactory-specs.69976/#post-2540012

One of the pair would "play" WFBR, very softly but audibly, when the system (which had no AM radio tuner source) was turned off.

My father's theory** was that his (long) speaker cable was acting as a long wire antenna, and a 'defect' or discontinuity in the singing loudspeaker's voice coil was acting as a "cat's whisker" type of detector. The resulting AF signal was strong enough to produce sound from the Wolverine driver.


A pair of unhoused EV Wolverine LS-12 drivers connected to an "Amp Camp Amp" for test, and fun, purposes!

_______________
* The EIA spec referenced the SPL at 30 feet for 1 mW of power applied.
** He was an erstwhile radio broadcast engineer with a first class FCC radiotelephone operator's license, but with not so much formal training in EE, in full and complete disclosure.

Same years ago in a 8th floor dorm room, no issues when listening to something, it masked the low level radio signal. When off you could hear the station clearly, even when unplugged.

 

[Salt]

Tats Radio Erevan, can be received all over the world, in any condition

 

[Nutul]

Tats Radio Erevan, can be received all over the world, in any condition

Same for Radio Maria from Vatican City my friend; same thing.

 

[fpitas]

That means if I place it on my Mini 300, I'll have that old-timey vintage sound.

It's here! I'd show you measurements, but it came with a warning that any attempt to fathom the crystal magic would destroy it. Sorry!

 

[Laika2]

Look closely, it's directional as well.

Install it backwards and it's like a single lane road that with two directional traffic.

Those electrons, photons, bon bons and ding dongs will collide at high speeds. This greatly adds to the bass when enough collision leads to nuclear fusion.

 

[Ropeburn]

Install it backwards and it's like a single lane road that with two directional traffic.

Those electrons, photons, bon bones and ding dongs will collide at high speeds. This greatly adds to the bass when enough collision leads to nuclear fusion.

Me playing synth bass:

 

[EERecordist]

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