Audio Rhetoric Top 10

[dallasjustice]

I've noticed a few arguments used over and over on various fora and I think they are worth pointing out, just for fun. The following is my favorite top 10 list. Feel free to add some of your own.

1. If you don't agree with me, then your system is not "revealing" enough.
2. You are a dealer so you are biased and your conclusions are only inspired by the bottom line.
3. You are not a dealer so you have no "skin in the game."
4. You haven't spent enough money on your system to be trusted with an opinion.
5. You are too heavily invested in your system to be objective.
6. You are a new member. You must be confederate with an agenda.
7. You've posted so much that others wonder whether you even listen to music.
8. I listen to music. You listen to gear.
9. All systems sound good with the right music.
10.Everything matters, except the stuff I say matters more.



Michael.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

This could be fun.

 

[mep]

#1 and #4 are basically the same thing stated a slightly different way and I agree both are common. #6 is just stupid. #7 has a ring of truth to it and we have all seen some of that here and now on another forum. I think we all have seen #8 before and it has a ring of truth to it as well. I confess I haven't seen #9 before. The "everything matters" part of #10 is quite common to see/read on forums. Not so much the second half of #10. That's usually implied and not stated.

 

[mep]

This could be fun.

Peter-Why does your picture/avatar look like you are screwing something into your ear?

 

[Steve Williams]

Peter-Why does your picture/avatar look like you are screwing something into your ear?

Have you seen the movie "Her"

 

[JackD201]

11. Trust your ears.
12. You can't trust your ears.

LOL!

 

[treitz3]

13. I just finished electrical courses at college and I'm here to tell you that there is no way a cable can make a difference!

If I had a nickle...

Tom

 

[microstrip]

14. You have never owned a properly set up top analog system.

 

[dallasjustice]

15. You never liked those speakers because you don't know how to set them up "right."

 

[zermatt]

Here is a good one: "I do not believe your qualified to make that statement" this came form someone is not an engineer. This was made in a conversation about general trends in circuit design from someone who is an engineer.

 

[MylesBAstor]

I've noticed a few arguments used over and over on various fora and I think they are worth pointing out, just for fun. The following is my favorite top 10 list. Feel free to add some of your own.

1. If you don't agree with me, then your system is not "revealing" enough.
2. You are a dealer so you are biased and your conclusions are only inspired by the bottom line.
3. You are not a dealer so you have no "skin in the game."
4. You haven't spent enough money on your system to be trusted with an opinion.
5. You are too heavily invested in your system to be objective.
6. You are a new member. You must be confederate with an agenda.
7. You've posted so much that others wonder whether you even listen to music.
8. I listen to music. You listen to gear.
9. All systems sound good with the right music.
10.Everything matters, except the stuff I say matters more.



Michael.

Corollary of #8: I'm a musician and know more than you do.
Corollary of #14: You've never heard a properly setup high-end audio system.

#16: My friend is an nuclear engineer who design starship warp engines and says cables can't make a difference.
#???: Audiophiles only listen to audiophile approved recordings, all 50 of them.

 

[andromedaaudio]

17 You apparently didn't use silversolder in the x over .
18 For serious listening all other electric devices need to be switched of

 

[treitz3]

19 - If you are going to upgrade your power cords, then what about the in wall wiring, circuit breaker, transformers and the miles upon miles of wires leading to your house?
20 - Apparently your system isn't revealing enough if you can't hear [fill in the blank]

 

[arthurs]

You haven't broken ___ in enough to hear what ___ can really do..

 

[cjfrbw]

If you don't agree with me, you are a blithering idiot, and I am going to come over to your house and kill your dog if you don't shut up.

My system is much more expensive than your system, so you obviously have a more absurdly retarded opinion about audio than me, but I will be a really big person and listen to your opinion anyway without laughing.

 

[Robh3606]

I have heard your amp*( insert any component*) so I know what your system sounds like.

Rob

 

[Ronm1]

Specs don't matter....how it sounds is of primary importance
Usually followed later by
Give the numbers, prove it. You can't go by how it sounds.

 

[cjfrbw]

Tubes are just tone controls. You just like the sound of certain kinds of pleasing distortions.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Tubes are just tone controls. You just like the sound of certain kinds of pleasing distortions.

Cables are just tone controls.
There haven't been any improvements in digital playback since the technology was introduced in 1980.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Audio Woo Checklist

(attributed to Sean Adams, founder of SlimDevices)

You claim that an

( ) audible
( ) measurable
( ) hypothetical

improvement in sound quality can be attained by:

( ) upsampling
( ) increasing word size
( ) vibration dampening
( ) bi-wiring
( ) replacing the external power supply
( ) using a different lossless format
( ) decompressing on the server
( ) removing bits of metal from skull
( ) using ethernet instead of wireless
( ) inverting phase
( ) installing bigger connectors
( ) installing Black Gate caps
( ) installing ByBee filters
( ) installing hospital-grade AC jacks
( ) defragmenting the hard disk
( ) running older firmware

Your idea will not work. Specifically, it fails to account for:

( ) the placebo effect
( ) your ears honestly aren't that good
( ) your idea has already been thoroughly disproved
( ) modern DACs upsample anyway
( ) those products are pure snake oil
( ) lossless formats, by definition, are lossless
( ) those measurements are bogus
( ) sound travels much slower than you think
( ) electric signals travel much faster than you think
( ) that's not how binary arithmetic works
( ) that's not how TCP/IP works
( ) the Nyquist theorem
( ) the can't polish a turd theorem
( ) bits are bits

Your subsequent arguments will probably appeal in desperation to such esoterica as:

( ) jitter
( ) EMI
( ) thermal noise
( ) existentialism
( ) cosmic rays

And you will then change the subject to:

( ) theories are not the same as facts
( ) measurements don't tell everything
( ) not everyone is subject to the placebo effect
( ) blind testing is dumb
( ) you can't prove what I can't hear
( ) science isn't everything

Rather than engage in this tired discussion, I suggest exploring the following factors which are more likely to improve sound quality in your situation:

( ) room acoustics
( ) source material
( ) type of speakers
( ) speaker placement
( ) crossover points
( ) equalization
( ) Q-tips