Tice TPT Enhanced Line Conditioner Review

[brandall10]

It is "good" to dig into some of the early products that started this audio tweak business.

Is it? The people who buy this stuff simply don't care, they 'hear' the difference. The people who care already know how this is going to go... it will either harm or do nothing. It was great to go through the first couple dozen bits of snakeoil but now, I dunno. I'd personally prefer the time was spent reviewing products that will yield something interesting or educational rather than entertainment. Unsure about currently, but historically I've seen comments about months long backlogs of products people would love to see tested.

Yes it is fun when the manufacturer gets involved and goes all hellfire and brimstone on youtube and maybe some will get turned off by that, I just don't how much value these things bring to the bigger picture. Just speaking for myself of course, but I only occasionally open one of these types of reviews now, mostly just to see some funny quips in the conclusion and from other members.

To be clear, I don't mind when expensive poorly performing DACs/Amps/Phono are tested, that stuff is great, its part of the chain that we know has real impact. It's just if we take the stance that cables/power conditioners/jitter busters/etc don't even have the potential to do something beneficial, why can't we put that in a FAQ and point to the plethora of existing reviews on this as general confirmation?

 

[ampguy]

Reminds me of these - https://www.stereophile.com/content...trotec-ep-c-clocks-thomas-j-norton-march-1991

 

[gpauk]

Who are the 8 people who voted this as "great", I wonder??

 

[TXinD76121]

There are modern products that do what Tice does... with Tesla coils...

Ansuz Sparkz / Harmonizer | Audio Group Denmark

audiogroupdenmark.com

And even better because it is more expensive.

I am really astounded people sell these stuff with a straight face.

Do they though? I always thought there was a certain amount of deliberate hokum in these products, like an Andy Kaufmann comedy routine that blurred the edges between the act and reality. "Hokum" meaning (according to Webster's) "1: a device used (as by showmen) to evoke a desired audience response; 2: pretentious nonsense." They're seeing how brazen they can be in challenging customers' gullibility. It's a deliberate con, yes, but also a sort of experiment on human nature.

 

[ErVikingo]

Thank you for the link to the Peter Belt article. I may change my user name to Morphic Links.

"Peter Belt's discoveries, many of seemingly fanciful design: ointments (Electret Cream), stickers (Rainbow Electret Foil), and specially treated paper clips (Morphic Links) have been sold direct and through a handful of retailers, few bearing prices greater than £10 or £20 apiece. One of PWB Electronics' most recent accessories is a Morphic Link Magnetic Bookmark priced at £10, intended to be placed in the user's dictionary. Adjacent to the word link."

Treated Paper Clips

 

[Robbo99999]

Really! This is just a wire coiled up in a box that I'm guessing isn't even creating somekind of circuit, so I'm thinking it literally does nothing - isn't it just like plugging a power cord that isn't attached to anything into the next wall socket, with your audio hifi system connected to the neighbouring socket in the wall?

 

[respice finem]

Really! This is just a wire coiled up in a box that I'm guessing isn't even creating somekind of circuit, so I'm thinking it literally does nothing - isn't it just like plugging a power cord that isn't attached to anything into the next wall socket, with your audio hifi system connected to the neighbouring socket in the wall?

It does part a fool and his money

 

[Robbo99999]

I live in the core of a city of ~1 million and I see it everyday and sometimes right outside at the bus stop ODing. I really should carry naloxone stuff for them. The shrinks have me on so much what is boring dope I consider cannabis and booze to be pretty minor.

(A reset comes to mind)

 

[mhardy6647]

I've had my share of this and that over the years, and I have never once tried to make electrons move in an "orderly fashion". Just saying.

They seem to have a mind of their own, don't they?

 

[Orion76]

Thanks for this review. As a teenager I would flip through my dad's copies of Stereophile and The Absolute Sound and was always intrigued by this type of thing. Interesting to see that it is just a super cheap power cable wrapped up in a wooden box full of black goop.

Also, all this Radio Shack talk reminded me of this $180 portable CD player that was blowing away $1000 players back in the 90s-

Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400- https://www.stereophile.com/content/radio-shack-optimus-cd-3400-portable-cd-player-greenberg

Then some other company came along and made an upgraded, $300 audiophile power supply for it-

Radio Shack Optimus CD-3400 portable CD player Tellig yet again

Sam Tellig wrote about the Sequerra power supply for the CD-3400 in October 1994 (Vol.17 No.10): "Is that a J in your ad, or a fancy Y?" I asked Dick Sequerra. "It's a Y. My ad man made me do it." "Yudge for yourself," reads Dick Sequerra's ad in the July and August '94 issues of Stereophile for...

www.stereophile.com

 

[smkralik]

I simply had to vote “great”, this is easily the most obvious audiophile scam I’ve seen in a while, and I respect the hussle. 10/10, would recommend to everyone.

 

[DonR]

"Your equipment is not resolving enough.",
"You clearly do not have a sufficiently sophisticated listening palate."
"You are being paid by Big (Snake) Oil."

Choose your poison.

I think if you truly believed hard enough, you would have concluded there was a difference.

 

[mhardy6647]

so it has absolutely nothing inside the box besides the wire?

amazing scam.

Well, technically, plugged into the AC mains and unterminated (and assuming it's unshielded) -- it's an antenna.
I mean, technically, it's a receiving antenna, anyway* -- but, plugged in, it could be a 60 Hz (or 50 Hz, depending one one's locale, of course) transmitting antenna.

Now, there's an audiophile tweak!


______________
* just sittin' around, you know? but I guess we might get into metaphysics thinking about an antenna without a detector...

 

[D700]

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[phoenixdogfan]

Looking at that thing I was thinking if you had it on a shelf, and your place was raided by the DEA, wouldn't that be the first thing they'd pry open?

 

[SteveC]

I have considered myself an audiophile for many years, and do on occasion believe that I hear things that may not really be differences, but even I knew that the Tice stuff was bullshit back in the day. Thanks for the memory!!!

 

[BrooklynNick]

Stereophile: Well yeah, all of THAT stuff is snake oil, but allocate 20% of your budget for cables.

 

[mhardy6647]

Now Available! - NEW!

Harmonic Cord Wrap

View attachment 304951


This new revolutionary audio product invites superlative highs and resonant lows! Feel the difference!

This self adhering wrap is made from a harmonic dampening, proprietary compound. Simply wrap any cable or cord fully overlapping each previous wind by 1/3. Use on power cords, HDMI, USB, RCA, XLR, speaker. Any cable that carries an electrical signal may benefit from this miracle product. Don't wait, begin enjoying the best your system has to offer, today!

On sale now with prices starting at $1 a linear foot.

Brought to you by "Uplift", THE name in organic cable lifters.

There's an organic variant, too, I believe...

 

[JSmith]

I'm not understanding the criticism in this thread of the testing and reason for testing. Amir spends his time to produce these review threads and the results are posted for free. If someone doesn't like what is posted, don't read it. Surely those doing so can understand how reading such comments would be disheartening for the person spending their time testing devices sent in by members?


JSmith

 

[D700]

There's an organic variant, too, I believe...

Oddly enough, my favorite speaker cable, Canare 4S11 (as well as various microphone cables) uses pretty much what you show above as a structural winding element around 4 conductors to maintain its cable’s “Star Quad” architecture. Benchmark has posted data on that stuff, helpful in long runs. Even in short runs it’s just good cable. But I digress.