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Devian666 posted:I'm seriously considering trying to push the myth that spreading a thin layer of cottage cheese on top of your CDs will improve audio quality.
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Aug 21, 2010 09:51
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Fantastic video that debunks a lot of these myths and snake oils. Even though they talk about bits and bytes, you can extrapolate a lot of what they say to audiophile nonsense. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ
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Aug 24, 2010 13:51
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The company I work for introduced a line of products aimed at the home A/V market a few years back. We didn't do great in sales until we jacked the price way up to Monster levels and beyond. My yearly bonus likes audiophiles.
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Aug 26, 2010 15:57
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I've been reading the first several pages of this thread and got some enjoyment out of it. Here's a load of more $1000/ft cable goodness: http://www.avguide.com/buyers-guide/the-absolute-soundhi-fi-guide-cables-power-products-accessories-and-music?src=Playback
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Dec 11, 2010 01:05
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I think i'm going to start selling tin foil rolls as Ion Shield Protectors. We all know that photons and other particles pass through stone and wood quite easily. But if you wrap your electronics, cables, speakers, remotes and the dog with my Ion Shield Protection wrap (made of space age materials), it reflects the particles away, removing the possibility of invasion of outside distortion. Only $799.99 for a 100 foot roll.
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Dec 11, 2010 03:27
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Pretty sure this hasn't been shared yet, apologies if it has: http://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-K2-terminated-speaker-cable/dp/B000J36XR2/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top The reviews are amazing.
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Dec 21, 2010 22:58
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fahrvergnugen posted:Pretty sure this hasn't been shared yet, apologies if it has: From that page: http://tinypic.com/r/15673vb/7 "Wow, these cables even make silence sound better!" 
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Dec 22, 2010 17:42
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fahrvergnugen posted:Pretty sure this hasn't been shared yet, apologies if it has: Voted 'Review Helpful'. Took me 5 minutes to read it I was laughing so hard. Jason Theriault posted:1.0 out of 5 stars
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Dec 24, 2010 14:18
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The $10,000 Denon AKDL1 (an ethernet cable) has some decent reviews. http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/dp/B000I1X6PM quote:I knew my day was going to improve when the truck pulled up at my home with this cable deep within. No ordinary truck, this one was Holy White, and the gold Delivery logo sparkled like a thousand suns reflected through shards of the purest ice formed with unadulterated water collected at the beginning of the universe. The driver, clad in a robe colored the softest of white, floated towards me on the cool fog of a hundred fire extinguishers. He smiled benevolently, like a father looking down upon his only child, and handed me a package wrapped in gold beaten thin to the point where you could see through it. I didn't have to sign, because the driver could see within my heart, and knew that I was pure. Upon opening the package, an angelic choir started to sing, and reached a crescendo as I laid this cable on my stereo system. Instantly, my antiquated equipment transformed into components made from the clearest diamond-semiconductor. The cable knew where to go, and hooked itself into the correct ports without help from me - all the while, the choir sang praises to the almighty digital god. With trepidation, I pushed "play," and was instantly enveloped in a sound that echoed the creation of all matter, a sound that vibrated every cell in my body to perfection. I was instantly taken to the next plane, where I saw the all-father. I knew with my entire soul, that all was good in the world.
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Dec 24, 2010 21:58
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Houston Rockets posted:The $10,000 Denon AKDL1 (an ethernet cable) has some decent reviews. It was $500 actually
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Dec 24, 2010 22:21
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SatanX posted:I think i'm going to start selling tin foil rolls as Ion Shield Protectors. It's not just for blocking out the CIA's mind control rays anymore!
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Dec 26, 2010 07:37
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Houston Rockets posted:The $10,000 Denon AKDL1 (an ethernet cable) has some decent reviews. amazon.com posted:Transmission of music data at rates faster than the speed of light seemed convenient, until I realized I was hearing the music before I actually wanted to play it. Apparently Denon forgot how accustomed most of us are to unidirectional time and the general laws of physics. I tried to get used to this effect but hearing songs play before I even realized I was in the mood for them just really screwed up my preconceptions of choice and free will. I'm still having a major existential hangover. 
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Jan 1, 2011 14:39
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Jan 7, 2011 23:32
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flyboi posted:Ah, the know-nothing angry response to "audiophiles" that anything over $20 is wasted money. You should have posted the GoatKCD.
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Jan 8, 2011 00:44
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qirex posted:You should have posted the GoatKCD. This is true of pretty much any XKCD.
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Jan 8, 2011 01:55
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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-hdmi Proper testing of the cheapest HDMI cable going against the most expensive.
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Jan 8, 2011 16:31
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qirex posted:Ah, the know-nothing angry response to "audiophiles" that anything over $20 is wasted money. You should have posted the GoatKCD. That would've gotten me banned  It still made me chuckle v  vI can relate though, my partner was dumbfounded as to why I wanted to spend $1000 on a home theater when there were HTIB for $300 that did what I wanted. Then I set it up and he saw the light... I think the harmony one remote is what sold him on the whole thing.
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Jan 10, 2011 17:09
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Sciency type paper refers to cables giving markedly different results  http://www.eetimes.com/design/audio-design/4015821/Loudspeakers-Effects-of-amplifiers-and-cables--Part-5?pageNumber=0 I can't make sense of their graphs and I have an EE background.. Why SPL (dB) ? How do they define 'measurements' ? Very odd.
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Jan 10, 2011 19:51
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Some questions: I have a Corda Symphony Amp (1000 bucks, I know, i'm going to get burned here) and AKG 702s... 1) Does it really matter where teh SPDIF feeds into the amp from? Motherboard SPDIF vs. Sound Card SPDIF? I still might get a soundcard for better 3D positioning for games, or is that bullshit also? 2) What are balanced cables, and why do they cost a billion dollars?
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Jan 11, 2011 14:22
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oversteer posted:Why SPL (dB) ? Um, why not? SPL or sound pressure level is the easiest way to measure perceived volume at any given point, those graphs are simple spectrum analysis.
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Jan 11, 2011 14:35
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IronChef Chris Wok posted:Some questions: But since you sound sincere... IronChef Chris Wok posted:1) Does it really matter where teh SPDIF feeds into the amp from? Motherboard SPDIF vs. Sound Card SPDIF? I still might get a soundcard for better 3D positioning for games, or is that bullshit also? It doesn't matter at all. They will give two identical digital signals. Disclaimer: Some (expensive) sound cards are able to encode the outgoing digital signal as DolbyDigital or DTS, even if the sound is coming from, say, a game that hasn't licensed that (expensive) codec from Dolby. This lets you pipe your game audio into an external surround receiver. I don't know if this is ever useful in practice. Anyone else? IronChef Chris Wok posted:2) What are balanced cables, and why do they cost a billion dollars? Edit: Just read this for chrissakes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_audio Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Jan 12, 2011 |
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Jan 12, 2011 17:26
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:In a normal environment, they're pretty pointless for short distances. Unless your cable runs go anywhere near sources of interference. Mains electrical cables, for instance.
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Jan 12, 2011 17:41
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IronChef Chris Wok posted:2) What are balanced cables, and why do they cost a billion dollars? Check monoprice.com for some great prices on balanced cables.
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Jan 12, 2011 18:37
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Neurophonic posted:Unless your cable runs go anywhere near sources of interference. Mains electrical cables, for instance. You're both missing the point of this thread... We should ridicule audiophiles, not take their side!  Edit: In that vein, can someone please explain to me why this cable exists? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/255152-REG/Monster_Cable_119029_3_RCA_to_3_RCA_Balanced.html 1. Why gold plate and overprice a loving composite video cable? 2. How exactly is it "balanced"? Looks like an ordinary RCA lead to me. Hippie Hedgehog fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Jan 12, 2011 |
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Jan 12, 2011 21:31
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Hippie Hedgehog posted:You're both missing the point of this thread... We should ridicule audiophiles, not take their side! 1: Because people will buy it. 2: It's not. You need three signals for a cable to be balanced, RCA only has 2.
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Jan 12, 2011 22:27
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/13/russ_accessories/ At least they can't advertise their lies anymore!
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Jan 13, 2011 17:12
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My dad was a huge audiophile but not to the extent that some of these people are/were. He had the krell mono blocks, tube this, tube that and all very nice sounding. He dabbled in the overpriced wires for a while which was to my benefit. He recently gave me about 3 grand worth of silver braided speaker wire about as thick as a garden hose. I have them hooked up to my 800 dollar NHT speakers in my budget home theater. I can't tell the difference between those and thin cheap copper wire best buy sells.
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Jan 15, 2011 04:06
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Gimperial posted:http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/13/russ_accessories/ Would that it was so. Sadly, from the article: "The ASA can only prevent the Russ Andrews making the same claims again[...]", which makes me suspect that they will repeat their flawed studies with some slightly altered methology, and just keep on pushing their lies. =(
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Jan 15, 2011 11:11
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wav3form posted:My dad was a huge audiophile but not to the extent that some of these people are/were. He had the krell mono blocks, tube this, tube that and all very nice sounding. He dabbled in the overpriced wires for a while which was to my benefit. He recently gave me about 3 grand worth of silver braided speaker wire about as thick as a garden hose. I have them hooked up to my 800 dollar NHT speakers in my budget home theater. When dealing with analog processing the use of tube equipment can make a marked difference to the sound. TC make an amazing tube based compressor that a great many bands use on huge scale tours.
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Jan 16, 2011 22:46
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IronChef Chris Wok posted:2) What are balanced cables, and why do they cost a billion dollars? Its a cable with two signal carrying conductors instead of one. At each end its terminated in 3 places instead of 2. So instead of tip (signal) and sleave (ground) 1/4" jacks you have tip (+ve signal), ring (-ve signal) and sleave (ground). Its called balancing because the impedance of the source and load at either end of both signal conductors is the same. Therefore, any sort of interference will induce equal noise voltage in both wires. The receiver passes the difference between both signal carrying lines and doesn't pass signal common to both lines (noise voltage). Balanced cables are not expensive in the sense that you can get cheap as poo poo balanced cables just like you can get cheap as poo poo unbalanced cables. Its just that the balanced variety will tend to be a little more expensive than the unbalanced variety. I picked up 8 x 6.0 meters of the cheapest ones Thomann were selling which worked out at €7.30 each I think and I'm pretty much done synthwise. They aren't going to be stepped on or flexed alot so whatever. Short version: You use balanced cables for common mode noise rejection. You need gear capable of differential signalling for it to work otherwise its just like any other unbalanced cable. You can totally cheap out if you want to. Hippie Hedgehog posted:2. How exactly is it "balanced"? Looks like an ordinary RCA lead to me. I'm not sure. I think they took the whole "3 lines" thing rather literally and are attempting to sell 3x separate unbalanced RCA to RCA cables. Hey, if the sleight of hand works they sell 3 times as much cable right? WanderingKid fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jan 19, 2011 |
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Jan 19, 2011 18:01
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The cable they're selling is probably using balanced cables, but obviously they're using them with an unbalanced connector (and they probably aren't even connecting them properly).
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Jan 20, 2011 06:53
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Nah, it's just that if you chop the cable in half, each side weighs the same. This helps them sit evenly when using cable risers.
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Jan 20, 2011 07:18
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Waldo P Barnstormer posted:Nah, it's just that if you chop the cable in half, each side weighs the same. This helps them sit evenly when using cable risers. Acrylic?! Feh, that'll completely destroy your mid-range no matter how perfectly balanced your cables are. I built my own using the finest Swedish pine-oak, the machining took a few days per riser since I did the last few inches using 320 grit sand-paper but the wider sound field made it completely worth it.
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Jan 20, 2011 16:42
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longview posted:Acrylic?! Feh, that'll completely destroy your mid-range no matter how perfectly balanced your cables are. But are your blacks deeper?
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Jan 20, 2011 18:13
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It took a bit longer to do the video lines since they need a slightly silicony finish on the struts to absord unwanted K-band noise and the odder harmonics thereof, but since the slightness is very severe it took a few attempts. There was an improvement in the blacks but where the silicon struts really shine is in the contrast and overall image warmth, as well as colour purity. My Quadruplex recordings have never looked better!
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Jan 20, 2011 21:35
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Waldo P Barnstormer posted:Nah, it's just that if you chop the cable in half, each side weighs the same. This helps them sit evenly when using cable risers. I won't lie. I love cable risers. Pointless? Sure. But I love the way they look.
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Jan 22, 2011 01:17
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TheMadMilkman posted:I won't lie. I love cable risers. Pointless? Sure. But I love the way they look. By the time you've reached cables that work with risers at all, you're a lost case anyway.
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Jan 22, 2011 01:22
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I just got a text message from a mate saying he bought "the best of HD cords. It's meant to be 10 times the data quality of the past ones." For his PS3 Ill note. Oh, 
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Mar 4, 2011 02:29
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oversteer posted:Sciency type paper refers to cables giving markedly different results Also, if you were to do a reverse FFT of the values represented in these graph, the result would be the booming voice of god having a poo poo fit, so loud, it'd be breaking earth in half.
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Mar 4, 2011 03:42
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Sunesis posted:Fantastic video that debunks a lot of these myths and snake oils. Even though they talk about bits and bytes, you can extrapolate a lot of what they say to audiophile nonsense. I hate this guy only because of his "proper enunciation" on every goddamn word. "SynTH... SOUND" ads9fja0s9dfja
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Mar 6, 2011 07:55
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