Snake oil sales, I think we have a winner!
- Thread starter DaveyF
- Start date
In regard to tweaks there are several interacting aspects:
Firstly, the better the resolution of the system, the higher its "quality", the more any remaining anomalies, "distortions", become apparent: the ear no longer has to cope with grosser inaccuracies, and now has the "space" to pick out finer points of misbehaviour.
Secondly, these finer misbehaviours are a rat's nest; here's where everything affects everything: the slightest variation in one parameter, aspect, will alter another elsewhere -- it's a chaotic world, hard to understand and hard to track down precisely what is at the core of causing a "problem"
Thirdly, because these misbehaviours are "chaotic", adding, inserting, any tweak will probably cause some change to the sound, no matter how bizarre the explanation for why it does something is. Essentially, the spectrum of the distortion content injected by the replay setup is altered in some way at the very least, hence it does have an effect. Whether it's an improvement very often is like the, how long is a piece of string question, certainly the "sillier" things will most likely just alter the perceived shape of the distortion waveform, not really reduce or minimise it.
Fourthly, the people who discover that certain tweaks have an audible effect have absolutely no, scientific, idea why there is a change, so they just make up some story which looks good in ad copy. Just look at the nonsense served up with reputable, expensive cables ...
Fifthly, what's really needed is someone, anyone(!), to really get their ar.. into gear, and develop measuring tools and techniques to register what's happening consistently, reliably when changes are made. Barely any movement has occurred here, so the audio world is still in a total mess in terms of understanding what's going on ...
Frank
Firstly, the better the resolution of the system, the higher its "quality", the more any remaining anomalies, "distortions", become apparent: the ear no longer has to cope with grosser inaccuracies, and now has the "space" to pick out finer points of misbehaviour.
Secondly, these finer misbehaviours are a rat's nest; here's where everything affects everything: the slightest variation in one parameter, aspect, will alter another elsewhere -- it's a chaotic world, hard to understand and hard to track down precisely what is at the core of causing a "problem"
Thirdly, because these misbehaviours are "chaotic", adding, inserting, any tweak will probably cause some change to the sound, no matter how bizarre the explanation for why it does something is. Essentially, the spectrum of the distortion content injected by the replay setup is altered in some way at the very least, hence it does have an effect. Whether it's an improvement very often is like the, how long is a piece of string question, certainly the "sillier" things will most likely just alter the perceived shape of the distortion waveform, not really reduce or minimise it.
Fourthly, the people who discover that certain tweaks have an audible effect have absolutely no, scientific, idea why there is a change, so they just make up some story which looks good in ad copy. Just look at the nonsense served up with reputable, expensive cables ...
Fifthly, what's really needed is someone, anyone(!), to really get their ar.. into gear, and develop measuring tools and techniques to register what's happening consistently, reliably when changes are made. Barely any movement has occurred here, so the audio world is still in a total mess in terms of understanding what's going on ...
Frank
Last edited:
Gary, you set up your Audiophile Air site as a joke, I know that if some poor unsuspecting consumer had contacted you wanting to buy this stuff, you would have steered them right. Problem is that there are many "hucksters", for want of a better word, that are only too happy to take their money. To my way of thinking, as an example of this is what Ted Denney is doing, which is IMO a) bordering on fraudulent and b) disingenuous to other a'philes and other members of the industry
. I do think that everyone has to use a little common sense, I mean will a piece of rock, as in my initial post, really have any impact on the sound of one's system? To me, that's just ludicrous and obviously bogus. Myles is right, I haven't heard this piece of rock, BUT let me tell you, IF that darn thing does anything to the sound of your system, then there really is NO LIMIT as to what will change your system,,,from the color of your shirt to how long your hair is that day.I would have thought it was obvious: bright, rainbow colours make the system sound really LOUD; and the length of the hair interferes with all those juicy pinna, comb filtering doohdahs when in a thick bunch over the ear lobe! :b:bIF that darn thing does anything to the sound of your system, then there really is NO LIMIT as to what will change your system,,,from the color of your shirt to how long your hair is that day.
Frank
Don’t forget to shave before you start to listen otherwise you have a different head-related transfer function each time…
garylkoh
WBF Technical Expert (Speakers & Audio Equipment)
.... and clean your ears. Humidity in the ear canal will affect the spectral response. I sell a special distilled water for shaving and ear cleaning made from the surface capture of Lake Silvaplana in Switzerland that improves transient response as well. Especially if you have insufficient silver content in your speaker cables.
It sounds funny, but in fact I have had a few clients that went to an ENT doctor and had their ears flushed. They noticed the difference in sound, and in some cases I had to retune their systems. This was back in the days when we would install and set up a system, dialing it in to the customer's taste (which may or may not have been flat FR).
For better highs, a helium injection system should be employed in the listening room...
For better highs, a helium injection system should be employed in the listening room...
There was 1 guy overhere in holland who developed some tweaks as you can see in the link (photos ), as i understood it also included oil on the circuit boards , which i would think wouldnt go so well with guaranteed products,
Th great mysterie of audio putting in some copper on cork???
He did actually have quite a crowd behind him that took very serious what he did , and it let to fierce debates on the net.
http://forum.audiofreaks.nl/index.php?topic=17250.45.
Cleaning your ears i would say doesnt sound so far fetched to me .
, Th great mysterie of audio
putting in some copper on cork???He did actually have quite a crowd behind him that took very serious what he did , and it let to fierce debates on the net.
http://forum.audiofreaks.nl/index.php?topic=17250.45.
Cleaning your ears i would say doesnt sound so far fetched to me .
Last edited:
It sounds funny, but in fact I have had a few clients that went to an ENT doctor and had their ears flushed. They noticed the difference in sound, and in some cases I had to retune their systems. This was back in the days when we would install and set up a system, dialing it in to the customer's taste (which may or may not have been flat FR).
For better highs, a helium injection system should be employed in the listening room...
For mellower mids, an alchohol injection system should be employed in the listening room.
Tim
There was 1 guy overhere in holland who developed some tweaks as you can see in the link (photos ), as i understood it also included oil on the circuit boards , which i would think wouldnt go so well with guaranteed products
Th great mysterie of audio
He did actually have quite a crowd behind him that took very serious what he did , and it let to fierce debates on the net.
http://forum.audiofreaks.nl/index.php?topic=17250.45.
Cleaning your ears i would say doesnt sound so far fetched to me .
It helps to eliminate low-level, high-frequency distortion. A fresh haircut lowers the noise floor. And these things, of course, lead to perfect phantom images flying around all over your neighborhood.
Tim
Sure .
But i dont know if i can call it snake oil , because they were actually free tweaks ( I think i am not sure actually i am gonna try to find out )
I found out : he did actually charge a certain amount of money and even had people install the " modification " , so he was running a little enterprise here .
I dont know for sure ,but i have heard they are still chasing him round the block, because the cork/glue seems to fall apart
But i dont know if i can call it snake oil , because they were actually free tweaks
( I think i am not sure actually i am gonna try to find out )I found out : he did actually charge a certain amount of money and even had people install the " modification " , so he was running a little enterprise here .
I dont know for sure ,but i have heard they are still chasing him round the block
, because the cork/glue seems to fall apart
Last edited:
Like the majority of tweaks, this makes sense when you better understand what the underlying behaviour is that is being addressed, changed by the mod. No-one laughs at microphone cables being manufactured to minimise movement induced effects, microphonics are accepted as being a "problem" in circuitry in a number of places, a high percentage of audiophiles spend considerable money and time isolating components from vibrations, damping their impact. What's being done here is just another version of that, except it's done on the inside of the cabinet, rather than the outside.
I'm not using cork, but other, related materials inside my HT to damp vibration in many key areas. Take those items away, and the sound quality sags badly ...
Frank
I'm not using cork, but other, related materials inside my HT to damp vibration in many key areas. Take those items away, and the sound quality sags badly ...
Frank
Nitrous Oxide is the most common suicide vehicle for dental hygienists. How's that for arcane trivia.
This guy's at it again: http://app.audiogon.com/listings/coconut-audio-seashell-hyperspace-interdimensional-travel
He is plastering his ads all over A'gon. Perhaps this guy isn't paying for them, because IF he is then something is seriously wrong, IMO.
He is plastering his ads all over A'gon. Perhaps this guy isn't paying for them, because IF he is then something is seriously wrong, IMO
.
Steve williams
Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
I almost cant stop laughing this guy is really funny
In my view this indeed has to be the winner , if only he would reduce the worlwide shippingcosts
I like this phrase :
The noise is truly removed and you can upsample the music to infinity when adding more of these SeaShells, there is no limit!
SeaShell is shipped brand NEW from the Coconut-Audio factory in Sweden.
Worldwide shipping is $12
In my view this indeed has to be the winner , if only he would reduce the worlwide shippingcosts
I like this phrase :
The noise is truly removed and you can upsample the music to infinity when adding more of these SeaShells, there is no limit!
SeaShell is shipped brand NEW from the Coconut-Audio factory in Sweden.
Worldwide shipping is $12
Last edited:
