More 'Audiophile' bullsh*t

[dudleybloke]

i can remember someone flogging wooden knobs to replace the metal knobs on amps ect and they also sold some special fluid for wiping knobs and wires that apparently did some bulls#it or other.

[Sparky137]

Presumably a lot of these high end retailers can also sell you a common sense bypass kit?

[krunchkin]

if you want some real lolz on that site have a butchers at the USB cables he's pimping

[spikey123]

Russ Andrews sells, mould release wipes for cds....mould? like vinyl mould? cds are spun covered not pressed. I am off to paint the edges green, de static my cds, then freeze them all.
Why were gold cds supposed to sound better?

I remember seeing that the old laser video disc players were great for the drive mechanisms and made great cd players.

[TheRainMaker]

£1400.00 for a HDMI cable

Who buys this stuff?

[krunchkin]

presumably some of the prongs on this thread who think Data comes out "better" if you plug in different cables. I'm off to play the super enhanced version of Mario Brothers on my Wii - thanks to the new silver cable I've used to attach the controllers.

[Sparky137]

spikey123 said:

I remember seeing that the old laser video disc players were great for the drive mechanisms and made great cd players.

I think thats a myth probably based around the assumption that a transport that can cope with a higher weight (a laser disc) should be more stable for a CD. However, my Pioneer laser disc sounds pants with CD's compared to my 30+ year old Denon CD player. Hard and very harsh sounding in comparison.

[Countdown]

Sparky137 said:

TheRainMaker said:

cornet said:

Don't forget your Carbonised Bamboo Panda Feet http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Panda%20feet%20at%20...

wtf

That has GOT to be a pi$$ take!!

I feel ashamed to admit it but I can't tell the difference between that website and some of the posts on this thread.

[spikey123]

The phrase, " More money than sense" springs to mind. I guess when you have bought the most expensive "real" components, you then are prey to the sharks that catch gullible punters with their snake oil preps

[wisbech]

It is interesting that in photography there isn't nearly the same amount of obfuscation as in hi fi. Sure, the top data backs can cost 30,000 USD, but those are extremely specialist large format digital backs.

The closest you get to it is the Leica tax, and it isn't that extreme, maybe factor of 2

I think the difference is that high end cameras/ lenses are used by, and development driven by, professionals, who are hard nosed about paying for things that will deliver real value.

[Sparky137]

Well, I picked up my new Sony 55" W905 TV and Panasonic 3D BluRay player today. Set it all up using the standard HDMI lead that came with the Sky HD box and a cheap ebay sourced HDMI lead on the BluRay. And guess what? The picture from the Sky box was just incredible: sharp, vibrant and well defined. Does that mean that the HDMI lead supplied FOC with the Sky box is, in reality, a £200 lead? I somehow doubt it.

And somehow the non 3D non high bandwidth cheap ebay sourced cable seems to be capable of carrying a full HD 3D signal. How on earth can it be that I don't need the £65 cables that Currys tried to sell me. Oh yeah, more B******.

[spikey123]

I went to Comet a long time ago to find out about the best video cable for connecting to a TV. The salesman puffed himself up and gave me the full spiel. It was only when I asked about S Video cables that he really let himself down. " Oh, SVideo.." he said, " they are OK, but the sound isn't as good as the composite video cable is through them". YEP, it wouldn't be would it, it is VIDEO. I didn't listen to him anymore

[Jon1967x]

spikey123 said:

I went to Comet a long time ago to find out about the best video cable for connecting to a TV. The salesman puffed himself up and gave me the full spiel. It was only when I asked about S Video cables that he really let himself down. " Oh, SVideo.." he said, " they are OK, but the sound isn't as good as the composite video cable is through them". YEP, it wouldn't be would it, it is VIDEO. I didn't listen to him anymore

I think he confused sound and noise

[spikey123]

Or Bull and Sh*t. Comet sold for £1, worth so much more....not!!!!!

[spikey123]

I think that when digital waveforms are shown, they always use steps in the picture and superimpose a smooth analogue wave. They then say that the digital is nothing like the smooth analogue wave. This is incorrect, as the digital output is converted to analogue and certainly doesn't have steps. The top of each step is presuming that the signal remains at the previous level until the nest " step". The digital samples are points not steps.
Has it ever been proven that digital is inferior to vinyl? I mean apart from the " vinyl sounds warmer" and " vinyl is richer" arguements? Surely that is colouration of the sound. I had an old Valve radio and yes it did have a "warmer" sound, but it wasn't that hifi and its fequencies were certainly limited. BUT, it did have a pleasing sound to the ear. I remember hearing the first transistor amps and thinking they were very tinny and harsh. So, there is another comparison..valve versus transistor.

[TonyRPH]

With a non oversampling DAC it is possible to see the 'stair step' effect in the resulting analogue wave form.

But with oversampling the wave form is effectively 'smoothed' out, although I suspect if you could really, really zoom the waveform, you may well see artifacts, depending on the level of oversampling used.

Back when I had my turntable, I had a pretty decent setup, and for clarity, CD could not be beaten.

And the bass was superior too IMHO.

And to my mind, the convenience of CD (and latterly streaming) just cannot be beaten.

[spikey123]

Vinyl did not give an exact reproduction of the original waveform either. It had to be equalised and excess bass rolled off. I read somewhere that Frank Zappa tried to include more information on a vinyl album, but the stylus could not follow all the minute and fast changing frequencies and so the information in the grooves had to be reduced. The hiss and crackles on a vinyl album must also obscure the frequencies of music that they correlate to as well. I think of vinyl as a painting and cd as a photograph, the reality of the reproduction is accurate and revealing, the "art" of the vinyl is smoothed and a bit distorted but somehow pleasing. I prefer the accuracy of the cd personally, but thats just me. Also I cannot be bothered with the hassle of warped vinyl, dodgy stylii, worn grooves, scratches and other hassles.

[budgie smuggler]

TonyRPH said:

With a non oversampling DAC it is possible to see the 'stair step' effect in the resulting analogue wave form.

But with oversampling the wave form is effectively 'smoothed' out, although I suspect if you could really, really zoom the waveform, you may well see artifacts, depending on the level of oversampling used.

Back when I had my turntable, I had a pretty decent setup, and for clarity, CD could not be beaten.

And the bass was superior too IMHO.

And to my mind, the convenience of CD (and latterly streaming) just cannot be beaten.

I think you might have mixed up filtering (which prevents aliasing and restores the smooth waveform) and oversampling (which makes it easier/cheaper to build said filter)?

[TonyRPH]

budgie smuggler said:

I think you might have mixed up filtering (which prevents aliasing and restores the smooth waveform) and oversampling (which makes it easier/cheaper to build said filter)?

You are probably right - it's been 30+ years since I studied the theory - and haven't worked in the audio field for about 20 years, so am a bit rusty.

[Sparky137]

spikey123 said:

I think of vinyl as a painting and cd as a photograph, the reality of the reproduction is accurate and revealing, the "art" of the vinyl is smoothed and a bit distorted but somehow pleasing.

What a brilliant analogy, I'll have to remember that.