I am a convert. Goodbye snake oil!

[Chrispy]

Another thing that got me to thinking it was all snake oil, was the ever increasing craziness of the products being put on the market. Okay, cables are one thing, but the gizmos and contraptions that have been released within the last 5-10 years is insane.

I have owned stuff from Shunyata, Nordost and Audioquest. But by far the worst offender has to be Synergistic Research. This company sells small thingies to put on components and on walls, to make things sound better! They also sell magic steel rods and boxes. They also sell a thing called "The Vibratron". Check it out if you want a good laugh!

Man, you really fell into the pit with those vendors....the worst of them pretty much (MIT Cables and a few others can compete, tho).

 

[Palladium]

The passive components in the crossovers and everywhere else already have an inherent manufacturing variance in single digit percents.
The leads and solder on those aren't copper but tin/iron which are far less conductive, and are also much physically smaller than cables.

What I'm saying is you can smell a rat from a mile away from cable woo claims even without actual testing.

 

[kemmler3D]

Meanwhile on Steve Huff's Hifi youtube channel, this was a person's response to a youngling getting into the hobby....

You're not in the hobby. You just bought an appliance and use it. Most people can't tell the difference between $20 bottle of wine and $100 bottle of wine. The same with cigars. If you can't hear that cables sound different you're really into appliance buying category and your comments have no real value in a perspective of the hobby. You still may have a great taste in music and enjoy it immensely. It's just your input regarding hobby is worthless.

Such deranged behavior. leaving aside that they're counting being misled by placebo effect as some kind of accomplishment, they're gatekeeping their own hobby in a really obnoxious way that's sure to leave a bad taste in any curious person's mouth.

 

[voodooless]

they're gatekeeping their own hobby in a really obnoxious way that's sure to leave a bad taste in any curious person's mouth.

This is pure unadulterated gaslighting. It’s disgusting! It’s also exactly what keeps these companies alive.

 

[Jcrow]

I feel lucky I never fell into the traps of audiophilia. I recently got into hobby after needing to upgrade some older equipment and stumbled across reviews on this site. Still took me a while to get over the attraction to products that were deemed to be ‘warm’ and ‘holographic’. But, eventually I realised that all the subjective jargon was horseshit. Different reviewers would say contradictory statements about the same product, and at times even contradict their own subjective observations.
It also seemed, at least to me, that a lot of the audiophile stuff verged toward magical thinking. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next fad is getting a shaman to come and bless an amplifier.

Welcome to the land of mostly common sense.

Hey, listen, I buy good quality cables and equipment because of their sound and the build quality.

I spend extra for Mogami cables because:
• They’re the de facto standard in good recording studios
• They’re build quality is fantastic
• They have a "no-excuses" lifetime warranty (who else does that?)

While not cheap, they are definitely not snake oil. I pay for quality, not fashion or status. That philosophy goes for anything I buy, period, but most especially audio/electronic equipment of any kind.

There is so much non-scientific based crap in the world of audio equipment that it should be criminal. The dolts who subjectively review these products and attest their efficacy in “sounds good to me” testimonials are almost as bad as the fraudsters selling the crap.

You’ll get none of that here.

ive been buying Mogami cable by the meter because recently for diy cables. It’s pretty good, but I also buy cheaper stuff which isn’t far off in quality either. That being said it’s nice to pay a few bucks a metre for something made in Japan and maybe a bit better in terms of materials. Canare, also make nice cable.

 

[Palladium]

i got 20 meters of Belden 14 AWG 2-core for $58.

 

[Jcrow]

Meanwhile on Steve Huff's Hifi youtube channel, this was a person's response to a youngling getting into the hobby....

You're not in the hobby. You just bought an appliance and use it. Most people can't tell the difference between $20 bottle of wine and $100 bottle of wine. The same with cigars. If you can't hear that cables sound different you're really into appliance buying category and your comments have no real value in a perspective of the hobby. You still may have a great taste in music and enjoy it immensely. It's just your input regarding hobby is worthless.

There’ve also been some embarrassing results from blind tests with wine connoisseurs too!!

 

[Jcrow]

Meanwhile on Steve Huff's Hifi youtube channel, this was a person's response to a youngling getting into the hobby....

You're not in the hobby. You just bought an appliance and use it. Most people can't tell the difference between $20 bottle of wine and $100 bottle of wine. The same with cigars. If you can't hear that cables sound different you're really into appliance buying category and your comments have no real value in a perspective of the hobby. You still may have a great taste in music and enjoy it immensely. It's just your input regarding hobby is worthles

I couldn’t help myself, I had to find the comment and respond

 

[dweeeeb2]

The mess your room makes of the sound dwarfs almost all electrical deficiencies

 

[Keith_W]

Can't enjoy the "hobby" unless deluded it seems, such a shame.

To be fair to them, we have our own delusions. For example, SINAD chasers, people who time align subwoofers down to 0.02ms (i.e. me!), people who place too much faith on automated DSP solutions, people who think the frequency response is everything, etc. The only difference is that most of us are open to persuasion and can be talked out of wrong beliefs. I think there is a certain respect that we have for each other, and also for those who know less about a particular subject than we do. After all, we were there once.

 

[Chrispy]

To be fair to them, we have our own delusions. For example, SINAD chasers, people who time align subwoofers down to 0.02ms (i.e. me!), people who place too much faith on automated DSP solutions, people who think the frequency response is everything, etc. The only difference is that most of us are open to persuasion and can be talked out of wrong beliefs. I think there is a certain respect that we have for each other, and also for those who know less about a particular subject than we do. After all, we were there once.

Those at least have some basis in fact.

 

[Mort]

More sinad chasing shaming. I thought we were past that.

 

[Lsc]

To be fair to them, we have our own delusions. For example, SINAD chasers, people who time align subwoofers down to 0.02ms (i.e. me!), people who place too much faith on automated DSP solutions, people who think the frequency response is everything, etc. The only difference is that most of us are open to persuasion and can be talked out of wrong beliefs. I think there is a certain respect that we have for each other, and also for those who know less about a particular subject than we do. After all, we were there once.

Well said! I personally don’t really care what others believe in. If it makes them happy then perhaps the delusion is worth it and they are doing a greater good - thank you for spreading the wealth .

 

[BeeKay]

More sinad chasing shaming. I thought we were past that.

Nah, but it’s fun every time they can’t help when being boxed in the blind test corner

 

[Soandso]

I won't be buying someone's used 6 feet of Double Helix brand Molecule E electrostatic headphone copper cable for £400.

 

[antcollinet]

The little Wiim comes pretty close is identical to the former Naim system in terms of sound quality.

Fixed that for you. (I'm assuming Naim is as audibly perfect at the Wiim is.)

I think Amir, Gene (from Audioholics) and others have been correct all these years...

Imagine.


Welcome to reality.

The hobby seems to attract people with certain mental illnesses.

Being deceived by a marketing machine is not a mental illness.

 

[antcollinet]

An interesting take on Google AI on cables:

Please modify your post to comply with the ASR policy on AI in posts:

Official policy on use of AI

We have had recent issues come about regarding use of AI in member posts. I personally think this technology can be useful to us. And at any rate, hate having to police members left and right on what they post. That said, here are my thoughts: 1. If you are going to use AI, make it...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[antcollinet]

Well, yeah. We might have a case of confirmation bias at work here, but just the other way around

To really test the hypothesis, a double blind test should be performed.

Pretty sure confirmation bias doesn't work like that. In any case a DBT can't prove a negative.

 

[antcollinet]

View attachment 511807

I couldn’t help myself, I had to find the comment and respond

I joined you.

We're not going to change any minds by shitposting on youtube, but hopefully the younger audiophile is less likely to be deceived.

 

[Mnyb]

Comments on youtube or facebook , they could rename the comment sections to idiot sections how long before the aluminum in vaccines causes autism guys show up or the windpower spreads microplastic people ...