More 'Audiophile' bullsh*t
Discussion
andy_s said:
Dromedary66 said:
AW111 said:
I made it about halfway through the review.
If the cables take about 3 weeks of use to "bed in", do they get better or worse after more time?
If I was selling them, I would definitely give them a "service life" equating to about 2 years of typical use, after which "the quality starts to degrade", so you'd better replace them.
For those who can't wait 3 weeks they can use the Blue Horizon ProBurn Cable Conditioning System that "reduces the burn-in time of all cables, and also fully prepares them like no music ever can. Proburn does more than simply synthesise music; using specially-developed technology, the unit generates a sequence of unique ultra-low frequencies to penetrate the core of the conductor, and ultra-high frequencies that penetrate both the conductor and the dielectric."If the cables take about 3 weeks of use to "bed in", do they get better or worse after more time?
If I was selling them, I would definitely give them a "service life" equating to about 2 years of typical use, after which "the quality starts to degrade", so you'd better replace them.
A veritable bargain at £695.00
https://www.futureshop.co.uk/blue-horizon-proburn-...
https://www.thecableco.com/au24-sx-version-bi-wire...
$720 for four short lengths of wire with some spade terminals on the ends.
$720 for four short lengths of wire with some spade terminals on the ends.
Used to use heat shrink and braided coverings quite a lot in work, mainly to keep stuff tidy, say several short vids in a short loom or the heat shrink for strain relief or repairs. It seems the goto "high end" make it look shiny. The stuff is dirt cheap.
Anyhoo, got looking at the digital cables from above site
https://www.thecableco.com/cables/usb-cable/crysta...
You don't want the two meter one.
Anyhoo, got looking at the digital cables from above site
https://www.thecableco.com/cables/usb-cable/crysta...
You don't want the two meter one.
Maybe after 70 pages of opinion I am a bit late to the party. Hello, I spent 7yrs working for Cambridge Audio as a hardware and product manager. Working on several products (mostly DAC's) that went on to win various awards. I am not here to peddle snake oil, but tried to share what I learnt.
Distortion and linearity can be measured. You need some pretty expensive kit to measure it (speakers even more so). Small volume manufacturers don't always have access to this equipment let alone the capability to make electronics, robust, reliable and immune to interference.
If you linearise your system entirely, it sounds a bit dull, but very accurate/precise/'bright'. The art is injecting Joie de vie without losing the original artistic intent. It is not something I excelled at. Most high end hifi is neither accurate nor linear, but some of it is 'fun'.
Most high end accessories are bulls
t, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.
Speakers are the least linear and most distorting element of any system, by a factor of 100. Speakers like the devialet phantom counteract some of these issues by characterising out the distortion and non-linearity with DSP, if you have Sky Q try the soundbox for an accessible example of their tech.
People who listen to music from their phones speakers on public transport should all die in a fire.
Distortion and linearity can be measured. You need some pretty expensive kit to measure it (speakers even more so). Small volume manufacturers don't always have access to this equipment let alone the capability to make electronics, robust, reliable and immune to interference.
If you linearise your system entirely, it sounds a bit dull, but very accurate/precise/'bright'. The art is injecting Joie de vie without losing the original artistic intent. It is not something I excelled at. Most high end hifi is neither accurate nor linear, but some of it is 'fun'.
Most high end accessories are bulls
t, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.Speakers are the least linear and most distorting element of any system, by a factor of 100. Speakers like the devialet phantom counteract some of these issues by characterising out the distortion and non-linearity with DSP, if you have Sky Q try the soundbox for an accessible example of their tech.
People who listen to music from their phones speakers on public transport should all die in a fire.
Esotericstuff said:
<snip>
Distortion and linearity can be measured. You need some pretty expensive kit to measure it (speakers even more so). Small volume manufacturers don't always have access to this equipment let alone the capability to make electronics, robust, reliable and immune to interference.
I think there are a lot of decent PC sound cards / interfaces that can be used as quite precise measuring instruments these days.Distortion and linearity can be measured. You need some pretty expensive kit to measure it (speakers even more so). Small volume manufacturers don't always have access to this equipment let alone the capability to make electronics, robust, reliable and immune to interference.
Most modern cards will be as good as (or even outperform) an Audio Precision 1 (£12k back in the day?) for example.
I have a fairly low end Focusrite Scarlett USB interface and I can measure distortion down to 0.001% for example.
Measuring speakers does require a good microphone, but even these are readily available (with calibration files) these days for not a lot of money, and you don't even really need an anechoic chamber to get reliable measurements either.
Esotericstuff said:
If you linearise your system entirely, it sounds a bit dull, but very accurate/precise/'bright'. The art is injecting Joie de vie without losing the original artistic intent. It is not something I excelled at. Most high end hifi is neither accurate nor linear, but some of it is 'fun'.
Agree that you can end up with a boring sound when seeking too much linearity. Esotericstuff said:
Most high end accessories are bullst, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.
Depends on what you mean by 'parasitic effects' as there are some very high end cables out there that are designed to act as filters, thereby adding so called parasitic effects!t, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.Esotericstuff said:
Speakers are the least linear and most distorting element of any system, by a factor of 100. Speakers like the devialet phantom counteract some of these issues by characterising out the distortion and non-linearity with DSP, if you have Sky Q try the soundbox for an accessible example of their tech.
I think the high distortion only applies are high(ish) listening levels though?Esotericstuff said:
People who listen to music from their phones speakers on public transport should all die in a fire.
Harsh but true!!!Esotericstuff said:
Most high end accessories are bullst, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.
All cables exhibit parasitics. Fortunately it's quite easy to make those parasitics very small at audio frequencies without resorting to exotic materials.t, but bear in mind cheap cables are detrimental due to measurable parasitic effects. It is a law of diminishing returns.TonyRPH said:
I think there are a lot of decent PC sound cards / interfaces that can be used as quite precise measuring instruments these days.
Most modern cards will be as good as (or even outperform) an Audio Precision 1 (£12k back in the day?) for example.
I have a fairly low end Focusrite Scarlett USB interface and I can measure distortion down to 0.001% for example.
Measuring speakers does require a good microphone, but even these are readily available (with calibration files) these days for not a lot of money, and you don't even really need an anechoic chamber to get reliable measurements either.
I'm sure soundcards have moved on, but I would still stick with an AP, they are industry standard for a reason. As a hobbyist/cottage industry, whatever works, but with the knowledge that it may come at the result of accuracy.Most modern cards will be as good as (or even outperform) an Audio Precision 1 (£12k back in the day?) for example.
I have a fairly low end Focusrite Scarlett USB interface and I can measure distortion down to 0.001% for example.
Measuring speakers does require a good microphone, but even these are readily available (with calibration files) these days for not a lot of money, and you don't even really need an anechoic chamber to get reliable measurements either.
Speakers can be measured with a mic (pretty sure it's how 99.9% are measured). But some brands use laser interferometers to identify the breakup points and address them through either DSP or cone design. And those things cost a s
tload.[quote] Depends on what you mean by 'parasitic effects' as there are some very high end cables out there that are designed to act as filters, thereby adding so called parasitic effects!
[quote] I think the high distortion only applies are high(ish) listening levels though?
jmorgan said:
Used to use heat shrink and braided coverings quite a lot in work, mainly to keep stuff tidy, say several short vids in a short loom or the heat shrink for strain relief or repairs. It seems the goto "high end" make it look shiny. The stuff is dirt cheap.
Anyhoo, got looking at the digital cables from above site
https://www.thecableco.com/cables/usb-cable/crysta...
You don't want the two meter one.
For added entertainment, put 20m into the custom length section..........Anyhoo, got looking at the digital cables from above site
https://www.thecableco.com/cables/usb-cable/crysta...
You don't want the two meter one.
Mr2Mike said:
Esotericstuff said:
I was always told that even at low levels, speakers are about 1%.
Speakers are, by far, the least linear parts of an audio system.This distortion figure is minor when you bear in mind that the room the speaker is playing in and the speakers' position, relative to the boundaries, in that room can both cause 20db peaks and troughs ( relative to the anechoic response ).
Speaker design is a black art because there a so many factors which all need to be considered, and executed well, before a speaker sounds good. Phase response and in room power response are big factors. IMHO companies such as PMC, ATC & AVI who use well engineered 4th order crossovers have a big advantage relative to less thorough competitors.
The hardware & software needed to make state of the art speaker measurements used to be extremely costly ( MLSSA, Bruel & Kjaer, CLIO, LinearX ). Comparable measurements can now be made at home today with a £150 audio interface and £50 mic. The software http://www.artalabs.hr/ , which is free, is used by Genelec , MBL, Bang Olufsen, Beyerdynamic, Bose, Phillips, Sony Corp., Siemens, Nokia, LG Electronics, Analog Devices, Quadral, Ford Audio-Video, General Electric Global Research, Logitech, Visaton, Revox, QSC Audio Products LLC.
jmorgan said:
Unfortunately there is sod all I can do about my room, must be a special paint out there somewhere.
There is, but I only have it in industrial quantities, I can repackage some for you- It will arrive in a tin marked B&Q magnolia Special price for PH members £795 per tin.
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