Stereophile doubles down on the snake oil!

[ivayvr]

The evolution of DACs that has produced superb measured performance and sound quality at drastically reduced prices in recent years has broken audiophile brains.

This review reads like a wounded counterattack that attempts to reestablish the primacy of trusting that increasingly expensive DACs deliver increasingly brilliant artisanal sound-quality magic. Thus the opening salvo, an indiscriminate tirade trashing the hi-fi bona fides of all reasonably priced DACs, followed by these assertions restoring audiophile pricing to its rightful place as the unfailing key to sonic excellence:

“The main things I notice as I move up the digital-component price ladder are a more visceral, less processed feel; more precisely drawn images; more color-saturated tones; and, especially, a more captivating transparency.

“Most of the six-figure DACs I've auditioned made recordings sound incredulously vivid and hyperdimensional, like MQA on steroids. Listening to these million-dollar sound systems caused my brain to wonder, how much of what I just heard was actually in the converted file?”

Our shining golden audio credo: the “price ladder”! It causes my brain to wonder too!

The negativity of John Atkinson’s measurements of the reviewed DAC is the chef’s kiss.

And the simple conclusion based on the above is: If you are serious about the sound, don't even consider a DAC costing less than six figures!
Isn't that obscene (among other things)?!?!

 

[lc6]

A Net Win: Nordost Improves its Ethernet Switch

The big news in Nordost land was twofold. First, the company has upgraded its entire entry-level Leif line to the new Leif 3 series. The latest offerings, presented by PR representative Meredith Gabor, include Blue Heaven 3 digital interconnects, Ethernet and USB 2.0 cables, and (soon) a White...

www.stereophile.com

What, no inky blacks?

JVS feeds his audience this kind of HS in almost all of his reviews. There isn't an overpriced power cable, mains conditioner, Ethernet switch, USB reclocker or a similar totally unnecessary device that did not alter bits in digital audio such that he heard an improvement.

 

[Alexander Gödde]

JVS feeds his audience this kind of HS in almost all of his reviews. There isn't an overpriced power cable, mains conditioner, Ethernet switch, USB reclocker or a similar totally unnecessary device that did not alter bits in digital audio such that he heard an improvement.

I wonder, do they switch cables based on the encoding used for the audio, since the cable needs to alter different bits based on this.

 

[xanalog]

The only cable I have ever known, which cost thousands of dollars (1976 prices), but cannot be considered cablephoolery!

This 24 inch coax cable was rejected by QA InsertionLoss limits of -0.3dB@24GHz.
I have kept it as a momento (and as a weapon) in my cars, ever since.
Yet, like my Stereophile subscription, I am keeping it.

 

[lc6]

I wonder, do they switch cables based on the encoding used for the audio, since the cable needs to alter different bits based on this.

Huh! This is an excellent idea for further product differentiation and price premia -- different cables for different encodings and music genres. And they would have to be accompanied by a commensurately priced switch (one per channel, of course) with which an audiophool could remotely select the best cable according to what is being played.

 

[Sal1950]

JVS feeds his audience this kind of HS in almost all of his reviews. There isn't an overpriced power cable, mains conditioner, Ethernet switch, USB reclocker or a similar totally unnecessary device that did not alter bits in digital audio such that he heard an improvement.

JVS is IMHO the most dishonest reviewer on the Stereophile staff..
He's so over the top with the baloney relating to hyper-expensive sound system gear, if it costs more, it must be better. All that tweaky garbage that does nothing but costs a lot, shameful.

 

[JSmith]

"Truthiness" in hi-fi

Stereophile has discussed the pandemic occasionally because of its relevance to our industry and our listening lives. But for the most part, I've steered the magazine away from politics and current events, and I will continue to do so. In this essay, though, I will engage, glancingly, not with...

www.stereophile.com

This is a good place to express my belief that those who would deny us our pleasure and meaning by insisting we test our listening against hardcore fact—against statistically valid listening tests and proven theories of physics—are doing a disservice to us and our hobby. Please don't try to save me from myself. I embrace this perspective consciously. I know what I'm doing.
Jim Austin

JSmith

 

[xanalog]

... I know what I'm doing.

That's the same line F1 driver Kimi Raikkonen shouted at his engineer over the intercom... Then, proved it by wining that 2012 AbuDhabi GrandPrix.

 

[JiiPee]

"Truthiness" in hi-fi

Stereophile has discussed the pandemic occasionally because of its relevance to our industry and our listening lives. But for the most part, I've steered the magazine away from politics and current events, and I will continue to do so. In this essay, though, I will engage, glancingly, not with...

www.stereophile.com

JSmith

That article written by Mr. Austin himself really reveals him for what he is. He knowingly lies to public in order to get financial compensation from doing so.

He admits that what he writes is strictly speaking not true, but then claims that there is no harm done, because "We are all consenting adults". That is 100% BS. He represents himself as a subject matter expert giving advice, and there are lots of people who trust in him and waste their hard earned money based on his non truthful advice. Afaik, that fulfills the criteria of what constitutes a fraud.

I certainly do not try to save him from himself, or from anything else - Quite the opposite: In my opinion, he should be tried and sentenced at the court of law.

 

[Mart68]

That article written by Mr. Austin himself really reveals him for what he is. He knowingly lies to public in order to get financial compensation from doing so.

He admits that what he writes is strictly speaking not true, but then claims that there is no harm done, because "We are all consenting adults". That is 100% BS. He represents himself as a subject matter expert giving advice, and there are lots of people who trust in him and waste their hard earned money based on his non truthful advice. Afaik, that fulfills the criteria of what constitutes a fraud.

I certainly do not try to save him from himself, or from anything else - Quite the opposite: In my opinion, he should be tried and sentenced at the court of law.

By the same logic he uses, people getting scammed out of their money by 'Nigerian princes' is fine since they hand over the cash of their own volition and there's no danger to their health.

Con men of the world rejoice!

 

[BeeKay]

Quite the opposite: In my opinion, he should be tried and sentenced at the court of law.

 

[rdenney]

The only cable I have ever known, which cost thousands of dollars (1976 prices), but cannot be considered cablephoolery!
View attachment 454777
This 24 inch coax cable was rejected by QA InsertionLoss limits of -0.3dB@24GHz.
I have kept it as a momento (and as a weapon) in my cars, ever since.
Yet, like my Stereophile subscription, I am keeping it.

Which is why I specified wave-guide for the 18 GHz backbone system I designed for the Las Vegas traffic signal system back in the 90's. Getting flexible cable, even hard-line, to the point where the insertion loss was tolerable at such frequencies seemed beyond feasibility.

Rick "a glimpse into his professional world" Denney

 

[rdenney]

"Truthiness" in hi-fi

Stereophile has discussed the pandemic occasionally because of its relevance to our industry and our listening lives. But for the most part, I've steered the magazine away from politics and current events, and I will continue to do so. In this essay, though, I will engage, glancingly, not with...

www.stereophile.com

JSmith

Mr. Austin may know is mind, but he does not know what he is doing. The reason he doesn't know what he is doing is that he eschews the data that would tell him what he is doing. He's like the cancer victim who believes vitamins cure cancer because he "feels fine", but who stopped going to doctors for examination immediately after the cancer was diagnosed.

But it's not himself that commitment to factual data is trying to save. It's his readers.

Rick "journalists owe a duty to factual data, even when editing a lifestyle magazine" Denney

 

[DSJR]

It is already known that the difference in sound quality due to the difference in cables is difficult to detect, so there is no need to buy a good cable. However, thicker cables are always better.
Of course, this is my personal experience and just my opinion. Please refer to it.

Not in interconnects it isn't! For a giggle, I made up a set of 1mm screened cables and to stop them breaking, used some cheap gold plated RCAs with soft plastic screw-on covers. They 'sound' absolutely fine to me (the cable is related to the 'wireless aerial' cables in laptops, which are very fine.

You'd be amazed how visuals dictate how 'we' seem to perceive sound. I still suffer from that to a degree and find it difficult not to

 

[mhardy6647]

I mean, I've made several pairs of these.

 

[Sal1950]

I certainly do not try to save him from himself, or from anything else - Quite the opposite: In my opinion, he should be tried and sentenced at the court of law.

Agreed but in the big picture no one wants to put their legal ass on the line over the issues.
I'd love to but don't have the degree or that kind of cash to play with.

 

[krabapple]

It is already known that the difference in sound quality due to the difference in cables is difficult to detect, so there is no need to buy a good cable. However, thicker cables are always better.

Nothing is infinitely better with increase. Is "beyond the point of practical improvement" better ?

 

[DSJR]

Do remember that with most common interconnects, we're talking of 1.2m or so length, not tens of metres where a dedicated low loss and usually balanced cable would be specified.

 

[ivayvr]

I mean, I've made several pairs of these.

I would be surprised if you did not notice that sound stage improved quite a bit with these!

 

[kemmler3D]

"Truthiness" in hi-fi

Stereophile has discussed the pandemic occasionally because of its relevance to our industry and our listening lives. But for the most part, I've steered the magazine away from politics and current events, and I will continue to do so. In this essay, though, I will engage, glancingly, not with...

www.stereophile.com

JSmith

1) "truthiness" was a term coined by Stephen Colbert to poke fun at the 2nd Bush administration's loose relationship with facts... Using this term to describe your own work is more or less putting on a big neon sign that says 'I'M LYING".

2) asking that people not refer to the laws of physics in critiques of your work is pretty much the same as above.

You've got to wonder if he was just disclaiming his entire body of work here. If anyone complains he can realistically say, "I told you I was lying and I didn't even care if the devices I reviewed were physically possible, what more did you want?"