LTT takes on snake oil Aqvox audiophile switch

[CrustyToad]

nice to see the new direction at LTT

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I rejected the AQVOX a few years ago.

 

[JeffGB]

From the "teardown" he did, it doesn't look like they really changed anything. The little crystals glued to stuff (with a stupid illuminati logo) are about as snake oil as it gets. The best he could say is they "might" have replaced a couple of caps, but I would guess they didn't even do that, considering the gunk and crystals added to cover up their lack of changes.
Now this does present a business opportunity. You can buy the exact same switch for $30, go to the dollar store and buy some cheap crystals and glue, do the technical build (like a kid making a grade 1 project) and presto you can sell it for $400 while putting the Aqvox company into bankruptcy. Heck, you could provide a kit. It could be the new Dynaco/Heathkit of audio!

 

[Curvature]

I can't shake the feeling that LTT is commercializing Amir's successful and free review model and directly competing with for profit review sites like RTings and Head Fi.

 

[Somafunk]

But did he listen to it?

 

[theREALdotnet]

But did he listen to it?

I’m sure it made a great sound hitting the trash can.

 

[Somafunk]

Of course Positive Feedback gave it a glowing review

Positive Feedback review

Okay, so what did I hear? Well, you obviously already know that if I am writing this, then yes it was an improvement. A clear difference in terms of ease and less "noise." The music flowed better and the lack of noise—not an audible noise, but a noise that can get in the way of the music or signal resulting in less… music—allowed more music to get through. What I mean is air, presence, space… all seemed larger or more realized. Little things were easier to decipher… they simply stood out more from (within) the music. Greater texture and feeling to the music. This was way nice. Now since it was not a quick swap, this took a while to discern and come to appreciate. For sure after extended periods of listening to tracks I am quite familiar with… yeah, this is better. There's more here. More that is quite appealing to what I want to hear from my music. Heck, even the bass was better—deeper with more punch and texture.

 

[voodooless]

It’s all lies people, don’t buy into this! I use of these audiophile switches to download ebooks. It makes the fonts so much more crisp! It like a veil was lifted, right there on screen! Just amazing

But did he listen to it?

But did you watch the video?

… yes they did. Some of the comments are exactly the nonsense things you find in any of the subjective reviews, others could not find a difference. All in all it was a wash, as one would expect.

The “why” of it though was rather short and incomplete. Also, the tests may not have been very valid. If your switching network cables on a streaming service, and listening to the same song twice, chances are It’s already cached on disk (or RAM) for the second run. It would never download it again over the second cable. Same goes for the SMB test. If you switch around a few times, you’re just listening to a RAM cached version, and not a network download. All of this obviously also shows why the concept of an audiophile switch is stupid.

 

[fin]

Quite an interesting video to watch especially the teardown part. I wish Amir's video can go viral like this one day. That's not gonna happen in the near future though.
Most will laugh at audiophile network switch for sure, but they might not be so sure about audiophile cables and much less can get the idea that well built DACs sound the same. Still a long way to go in the debunking.

 

[voodooless]

Quite an interesting video to watch especially the teardown part. I wish Amir's video can go viral like this one day. That's not gonna happen in the near future though.

It's mostly a different crowd that watches LTT videos though. In the end, I bet Amir's video ruffles more audiophile feathers than the occasional LTT video.

Any topics about this video over at one of the Audiophool stronghold forums?

 

[Danaxus]

Of course Positive Feedback gave it a glowing review

Positive Feedback review

Okay, so what did I hear? Well, you obviously already know that if I am writing this, then yes it was an improvement. A clear difference in terms of ease and less "noise." The music flowed better and the lack of noise—not an audible noise, but a noise that can get in the way of the music or signal resulting in less… music—allowed more music to get through. What I mean is air, presence, space… all seemed larger or more realized. Little things were easier to decipher… they simply stood out more from (within) the music. Greater texture and feeling to the music. This was way nice. Now since it was not a quick swap, this took a while to discern and come to appreciate. For sure after extended periods of listening to tracks I am quite familiar with… yeah, this is better. There's more here. More that is quite appealing to what I want to hear from my music. Heck, even the bass was better—deeper with more punch and texture.

You know these early day AI's we have that can write about a topic, nailing the grammar, but being hilariously nonsensical and weird? That's what that excerpt reminded me of.