Peter Aczel wrote, years ago, that he had no use for Martin Colloms' tweaker tendencies, but that Colloms played it straight when it came to measurements.
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Stereophile doubles down on the snake oil!
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As I wrote before, JVS has never seen expensive components that did not miraculously change the digital content while operating purely in the lowest layers of the OSI stack:
"Ultimately, the Nazaré stack will include three boxes: the server/streamer itself, which is entering production; the forthcoming Nazaré Net reclocking Ethernet switch; and the Nazaré Flow reclocking output stage whose outputs include USB, I2S, and a dedicated output module for DACs with proprietary interfaces."
"And the sound? With music routed through all three Nazaré boxes, transparency was marvelous, and colors bold, distinct, and full. In back and forth comparisons, the Statement NG's soundstage felt less transparent. Boris Blank and Malia's "Celestial Echo," which had sounded mind blowing in the Magico/D'Agostino room at AXPONA, sounded wonderful here too—though different, of course, given the completely different setup. Compared to the Statement NG, the three box Nazaré brought me closer to the source, with larger, more dimensional images."
"Ultimately, the Nazaré stack will include three boxes: the server/streamer itself, which is entering production; the forthcoming Nazaré Net reclocking Ethernet switch; and the Nazaré Flow reclocking output stage whose outputs include USB, I2S, and a dedicated output module for DACs with proprietary interfaces."
"And the sound? With music routed through all three Nazaré boxes, transparency was marvelous, and colors bold, distinct, and full. In back and forth comparisons, the Statement NG's soundstage felt less transparent. Boris Blank and Malia's "Celestial Echo," which had sounded mind blowing in the Magico/D'Agostino room at AXPONA, sounded wonderful here too—though different, of course, given the completely different setup. Compared to the Statement NG, the three box Nazaré brought me closer to the source, with larger, more dimensional images."
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teched58
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HS? I was trying to discern what the acronym you used stands for. Please look at the possibilities below and tell me if I'm on the right track.
High School
Heat Sink
Hot Socks
Highly Special (like JVS)
Happy Snooze (what advertisers do after reading JVS)
Head & Shoulders (in case of dandruff)
Heavenly Sounds (starting at $500,000 and rising rapidly)
Humongous Spectrum (what you expect to hear when you spend $500k)
Hungry Stomach (what you actually have after spending $500k on cable lifters)
Hypothetical Syllogism (If it's expensive, then JVS li̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶v̶e̶s̶ adores it with the passion of 500k suns)
House Surgeon (the person you call on when your $500k illuminati-certified cable fractures)
Holy Speculum (that's what she said)
Howzit Shakin
Any hits?
Steve H
Active Member
Nope think horse
If you use an acronym that is not a common one, please spell out what it means one time just before using it, then continue to use it as needed. I have read posts where I could not get what the subject was about due to undefined (to me) acronyms.
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In the context used above HS is rather obvious an abbreviation for “horse shit”
That's a great idea!
Remember to pump enough hydrogen in them, and they don't need any cable risers, as they will float in the air all by themselves.
Also, You can market them with the slogan "Absolutely the shortest burning-in time!"
Should market it towards home cinema because of its explosive dynamics, well suited for action movies.
In the last few months the comments had gotten a lot nastier and more personal. I'm not sure how large the staff is at Stereophile, but without volunteers like this site has to police the comments, it could be a real pain for them to try to stay on top of them.
After a point, the extra page views from people coming back to argue may just not be worth the headache.
D
Deleted member 43957
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That's volunteer, singular, no s... unless @RickS has cloned himself recently.
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
Hmm, playing make-believe has really gotten more expensive and complicated since I was a kid...Great post and insight into what's going on at SF.
Thank you John, I stand corrected. We're of the same age so as you know, sometimes shit happens.
I got it right back in Feb with a few posts but at some point my wires got crossed.
It really is sad to watch the direction this passion for the reproduction of home music has taken.
Review and Measurements of Benchmark AHB2 Amp
Crazy looking wiring, I assume no permits or inspections?
Back in the 70s when I started with the "underground" mags like SF, TAS, and the rest I must have been receiving at least 10 a month
of "Audio" dedicated publications. Gordon tried to tell you that you were on the wrong path but no one ever listened.
Now we're discussing $34,000 power cords or just as pricey "Stereophile Recommended" speaker cables, as you folks have made a shambles of any integrity this hobby ever displayed. JMHO45 Years of Stereophile | Stereophile.com
It was 45 years ago this month that the first issue of Stereophile, just 20 pages in length, went in the mail. It had been founded by one J. Gordon Holt. Gordon had been technical editor of High Fidelity magazine in the 1950s, and was tired of being asked to pander to the demands of advertisers.www.stereophile.com
Seriously Buddy ???
"Stealth Dream V16: $14,700/2m pair, $6,600 each additional meter
The hermetically sealed, helium-filled Dream V10 is a thick yet flexible cable made of three flat solid-silver wires and a conductive carbon-fiber core. Compared to the TARA Labs Omega Onyx, the Stealth cable had a richer, warmer sound, with a softer attack for a slower overall musical flow. Partnered with the Stealth Sakra interconnects, the Dream V10 cable produced a more textured midrange but lacked the TARA's upper-octave air, said MF. Bi-wiring adds $1300 regardless of cables' length. (Vol.34 No.6)"
qirex
Member
It seems obvious certain industry folks are reading this discussion (and similar ones elsewhere), The Absolute Sound just posted a combo review of the $34k power cable and $11k magic magnet mats you put your components on top of they both make your system sound better. I think they know they get more traffic from rage-clicks at this point. Coincidentally the author's bio begins with his career as a fiction author.
kemmler3D
Master Contributor
Probably not a total coincidence.
There was the case of Ian Rankin who quit hi-fi reviewing to become a (very successful) fiction author. So they can move both ways.
The skillset is near identical: telling good fairytales.
Rankin did confess some years later that, due to tight deadlines, he reviewed some equipment without ever taking it out of the box.
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True, but I think many hi-fi reviewers may be unfamiliar with the concept of verisimilitude.
Given that I have a Linn Axis coming to me, I'm performing my usual research into what has been said about it to learn what issues might need to be corrected (such as increasing the ratings on new capacitors, etc.). That has caused me to spend time in other forums and reading old magazines. The only contemporary article about the Axis that was actually informative was the one in Audio. It actually included wow and flutter measurements, frequency response vs loading measurements (for the K9 cartridge), and so on. (The Axis had the lowest wow and flutter of its era, near as I can tell, and the K9 was pretty flat with a touch of rolloff in the I-can't-hear-that-high-any-more-anyway range.)
But just about everything else I read was very tiring and annoying. "Linn wouldn't let dealers put the Ittok tonarm on it because then it sounded as good as the LP12" "It's definitely a step up from a Rega P3." "The Basik tonearm is better than the RB-300." "The Rega P3 with the RB-300 tonearm destroys the Axis." "We refused to sell the Axis because it just wasn't musical." "The Axis has rhythm!" "Fatique sets in after a few hours of listening to the Axis." "In A/B comparison with the Sondek, the Axis was plainly better because the lateral compliance of the springs allow the platter to move with motor accelerations and groove drag." (That one had me sorta curious, I have to admit.) "These are junk." "These are entry-level high-end." "If they weren't crap, they'd still be making them." And on and on. Absolutely nothing that has any value whatsoever. My sense of Sterophile's comments sections were that they were dominated by just those sorts of unevidenced pronouncements from "experts."
(I'll add my more of the same: When my friend bought the Axis, he and I auditioned both Linns and two Regas. We were listening to a Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto, and my clear recollection was that the music was more detailed and less smeared going from the Regas to the Axis, with an even bigger step going from the Axis to the LP12. Of course, all had different tonearms and cartridges, so really we didn't learn much. My friend bought the Axis and I went back home to my $100 Technics. But these are the transducers, just like speakers, and, as we all understand, LPs perform poorly enough that audible comparisons aren't a complete waste of time.)
But Stereophile didn't review the Axis, or at least not such that it is currently available on their website. Several of its editors from that period apparently did actually own one, though none of their comments about them had anything to do with woo. There was one article by Larry Archibald asking what a music lover was to do with the apparent demands made by audiophiles for prices paid for audio candy--a more balanced view than we read these days. I think the snake-oil thing must not have been quite as bad in the '87-94 era when the Axis was in production.
My conclusion? ASR is an outlier, not the norm. But I'm told by younger relatives that I'm a "smartie" instead of a "normie" and that was not a compliment. So, it makes sense that ASR is where the smarties hang out, eschewed and disparaged by the normies that dominate the other channels.
Rick "sigh" Denney
But just about everything else I read was very tiring and annoying. "Linn wouldn't let dealers put the Ittok tonarm on it because then it sounded as good as the LP12" "It's definitely a step up from a Rega P3." "The Basik tonearm is better than the RB-300." "The Rega P3 with the RB-300 tonearm destroys the Axis." "We refused to sell the Axis because it just wasn't musical." "The Axis has rhythm!" "Fatique sets in after a few hours of listening to the Axis." "In A/B comparison with the Sondek, the Axis was plainly better because the lateral compliance of the springs allow the platter to move with motor accelerations and groove drag." (That one had me sorta curious, I have to admit.) "These are junk." "These are entry-level high-end." "If they weren't crap, they'd still be making them." And on and on. Absolutely nothing that has any value whatsoever. My sense of Sterophile's comments sections were that they were dominated by just those sorts of unevidenced pronouncements from "experts."
(I'll add my more of the same: When my friend bought the Axis, he and I auditioned both Linns and two Regas. We were listening to a Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto, and my clear recollection was that the music was more detailed and less smeared going from the Regas to the Axis, with an even bigger step going from the Axis to the LP12. Of course, all had different tonearms and cartridges, so really we didn't learn much. My friend bought the Axis and I went back home to my $100 Technics. But these are the transducers, just like speakers, and, as we all understand, LPs perform poorly enough that audible comparisons aren't a complete waste of time.)
But Stereophile didn't review the Axis, or at least not such that it is currently available on their website. Several of its editors from that period apparently did actually own one, though none of their comments about them had anything to do with woo. There was one article by Larry Archibald asking what a music lover was to do with the apparent demands made by audiophiles for prices paid for audio candy--a more balanced view than we read these days. I think the snake-oil thing must not have been quite as bad in the '87-94 era when the Axis was in production.
My conclusion? ASR is an outlier, not the norm. But I'm told by younger relatives that I'm a "smartie" instead of a "normie" and that was not a compliment. So, it makes sense that ASR is where the smarties hang out, eschewed and disparaged by the normies that dominate the other channels.
Rick "sigh" Denney
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It's both writing up bullshit that's nice to read, I'm sure some missing techniques here and there can be acquired quickly when changing professions.
Maybe I should look into making some money from review writing? I know a fancy word or two, and making up seemingly logical nonsense isn't a problem either. $$$
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