Tweaks: insanity or not

sbnx

Well-Known Member
Mar 28, 2017
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1,314
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I thought I would open this discussion and see what you all think.

"tweaks" are always what seem to be on the frontline of audio-nervosa. Some people think they are utter nonsense and others swear by them. If I think back there was a time when even audiophiles were skeptical about signal cables and people would say they don't make a difference. Today, it seems there are very few audiophiles who would claim that signal cables don't make a difference. Then it seems powercords were next. Then along came all types of footers and vibration control. Now there are various types of "grounding" devices. Let's not forget things like high-end fuses and various strange items that help room acoustics ala Synergistic Research (just to name one). In each of these categories there was always a leading fringe of people who claimed they could hear obvious differences that were better in their system while the majority called BS.

Being a scientist and an audiophile I find these things fascinating. I love trying them because honestly I can't seem to explain why many of them should make one iota of a difference -- but I can hear a difference. I have to keep telling myself that just because I can't really explain why something works doesn't mean that it doesn't work. I sometimes think that the pseudo-science explanations the vendors use hurts their cause. Perhaps they should just say "It works. We think by doing X. If you don't like it send it back." This is how I bought my first power conditioner -- an equitech 2Q. I was extremely skeptical but they offered a 90 day trial and ... well, I never sent it back.

Could it be that as the main components & speakers have become better and better with lower and lower distortion that what was once a wash (take footers for example) is now able to lower the noise floor just a little bit more and a few more micro-volts of signal resolution gets through? Let's say a footer (just to pick one of many options) on your CD transport lowered the noise floor 100 uV to 10uV (just to randomly pick two numbers). If the DAC has a noise floor of 500 uV then wouldn't a person say that the footer had no effect? Whereas if the DAC has a noisefloor of 10 uV then a person might say "Wow, that is incredible".

So are all these things insanity or does your system have to have sufficient resolution to hear a difference? Interested in hearing your thoughts.
 

cjfrbw

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
3,323
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Pleasanton, CA
OC disorder placebos. There will always be a market for them, and if they "work", who cares if they are placebos.

Medicine has recognized that placebos can harness mental energies that actually DO help. In audio, they demonstrate that the individual grooms his/her system extensively if nothing else and is also likely to include the things that matter. It's aligns with attention to detail and monitoring.

At least make them pretty and decorative and not too completely stupid (or offensively exploitive).
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Today the audio signals and video signals are so technologically advanced that yesterday's HDMI cables don't cut it. You need the most up-to-date ones with the right seal of certification.

That is just one example. Pushing the envelope in the art of quality sound means using the means necessary to achieve...power cords, speaker wires, interconnects, footers, ground boxes, black fuses, absorbing/isolating platforms, acoustical room treatments. ...Etc.

And getting quality music recordings.
___

What is it, insanity, or sanity, in the audio philia?
 

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