More 'Audiophile' bullsh*t

[jontykint]

AW111 said:

jontykint said:

4:33 ?

Dammit, I was going to google it, but went with my dodgy memory instead.

Haha, well I only remembered because I listened to it that very morning,
Just after I woke up until the boy bounded down the hall and jumped on my bed !

[kayc]

Heres Johnny said:

Define decent - I’ve had kef reference speakers that took 2 people to lift one, a naim rack of pre, multiple power, not to mention power supplies for the pre, tried hand made power amps and power supplies, speaker cable that was also used on the space station, interconnect I changed depending on what music, and everything from vinyl to 24/96 digital files

And somebody said something to me one day without realising how insightful they were. Was I listening to the Hi-Fi or listening to the music.

The law of diminishing returns kicks in for me in absolute terms and it became a case of chasing around different characteristics. Which is why I find some of it all a bit absurd at the highest end because even if you can hear a difference, it’s rare you can say which is genuinely better in all case and all music

Im talking about a system that literally makes music sound like a live performance..i heard a Vitus CD player with a pair of Vitus monoblocs and YG Sonya speakers connected by Audience cables and power conditioner a few years back and was stunned by how it sounded..listened to it for ages as I heard things on familiar tracks that I had never heard before..i had Naim gear too which never gets close to that level of sound so you are talking a totally different level..talking about Naim weren't they the company that ridiculed people like Russ Andrews etc regarding mains leads etc and now make their own 'upgraded leads!!I agree there is a lot of snake-oil out there but cables definitely make a difference, good or bad ,but they definitely sound different which is still refuted by many..i agree the law of diminishing returns is definitely true in hifi but that final tweak at the top level can make a difference.

[Heres Johnny]

kayc said:

m talking about a system that literally makes music sound like a live performance..i heard a Vitus CD player with a pair of Vitus monoblocs and YG Sonya speakers connected by Audience cables and power conditioner a few years back and was stunned by how it sounded..listened to it for ages as I heard things on familiar tracks that I had never heard before..i had Naim gear too which never gets close to that level of sound so you are talking a totally different level..talking about Naim weren't they the company that ridiculed people like Russ Andrews etc regarding mains leads etc and now make their own 'upgraded leads!!I agree there is a lot of snake-oil out there but cables definitely make a difference, good or bad ,but they definitely sound different which is still refuted by many..i agree the law of diminishing returns is definitely true in hifi but that final tweak at the top level can make a difference.

That’s why I went to handbuilt Amps with hand selected and matched components - you also don’t tend to buy that kind of gear without listening to other stuff. I’m not familiar with the brands you talk about - I lost interest 20 years ago and while I know what you mean about detail can get revealed you’ve not heard before (I remember the a couple of sliding base note on I think A mans too strong which smacked me in the fast the first time I heard them, and the layered vocals on a Paul Weller track that didn’t thicken the vocal like they used to, it was like there was two of him clearly separated) , now though I’m happy just to have an easy to live with sound. Some of the extra revealing detail I question whether it’s meant to be consciously heard or just to build an ambience of that makes any sense. You can have too much

[996owner]

NDA said:

kayc said:

Good piss-taking thread this that makes me laugh as a lot of this 'stuff 'is clearly ridiculous..i would just ask though anyone posting actually own a decent hi-end system or even heard one?

Yes... and I had a recording studio for many years. My hearing is now a bit knackered, so I don't bother too much.

There's high end and then there's audiophile bullsh*t... they do overlap a little.

totally agree.
I've worked in broadcast engineering for many years, most of my kit is ex broadcast equipment. So i'd class my setup as good, but that depends on what you class as good.
Our studio's had very good acoustics and in my opinion that's the main thing people overlook

I still prefer the older analogue equipment over the modern digital guff.
I have a Denon professional amp and a couple of sets of Spendor BC1 speakers. Wonderful sound in my opinion, others may disagree. I could do with finding something nicer to replace the speakers but I don't think I will be able to find anything i'd like.

Edited by 996owner on Tuesday 10th December 13:46

[Zirconia]

Ex broadcast as well. Lots of expensive kit to play with, test and see the results as well as hear them. Built stuff, broke stuff and made stuff do what it wasn't meant for including TV transmissions from a tin can.

Modest set up at home as my pockets are not deep enough.

[kayc]

Zirconia said:

Ex broadcast as well. Lots of expensive kit to play with, test and see the results as well as hear them. Built stuff, broke stuff and made stuff do what it wasn't meant for including TV transmissions from a tin can.

Modest set up at home as my pockets are not deep enough.

Lots of good cheap stuff about to be fair second hand!

[Zirconia]

kayc said:

ots of good cheap stuff about to be fair second hand!

To be honest I and happy with my arcam and rp3. Other realities are there, room size etc.

When I get more time I might look around.

[Deranged Rover]

kayc said:

Good piss-taking thread this that makes me laugh as a lot of this 'stuff 'is clearly ridiculous..i would just ask though anyone posting actually own a decent hi-end system or even heard one?

Yes to both questions.

[swisstoni]

I don’t think anyone comes here without some knowledge of good HIFI.

I still have the gear tucked away, but in modern environments (ie married with children environments) a delicately set up vinyl rig is not the most likely domestic ornament.

I have the makings of a den in the offing, and my gear will one day be resurrected.

Whether I will take as kindly to the 90’s inconvenience of it all remains to be seen.

[Big Nanas]

kayc said:

Good piss-taking thread this that makes me laugh as a lot of this 'stuff 'is clearly ridiculous..i would just ask though anyone posting actually own a decent hi-end system or even heard one?

I've heard some excellent hi-fi over the years, but the highlight for me was when I was flying from London to NY and managed to get an upgrade to Upper Class.
In the lounge I was able to use their Linn hi-fi listening room (this was over 20 years ago), which Linn had completely setup with all their top gear - presumably a good marketing exercise.
I put on an LP of REM and was blown away with the quality. I think I calculated at the time the equipment totalled about £125k (but I could be wrong).

[TonyRPH]

Well, my bullst meter has just completely blown up and I'm now looking for a replacement.

A demagnetiser for your records. Whatever next.

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-rev...

[Zirconia]

Holy moly.

I prefer the method we used in school, a hammer.


Then get the bostik out.

[swisstoni]

Now I’m locked down I will finally be setting up my old HiFi, some of it not touched for over 20 years (!).

Thanks for that link. I particularly liked the name of the manufacturer here; at least they warn you ...

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-rev...

[bristolracer]

TonyRPH said:

Well, my bullst meter has just completely blown up and I'm now looking for a replacement.

A demagnetiser for your records. Whatever next.

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-rev...

I remember my dad having one of static pistols that was supposed to stop dust.
I subsequently found out that if you pointed it at the coin slot on a space invaders table top game and fired it, it would give you unlimited credits.
I may have spent more time in the arcades than I did studying

[Gary C]

mgv8 said:

I agree that the cable can only take power away not add anything. The question is, does a thin fuse wire take away? What would that effect be?
Also yes running a single cable from distribution box all the way to amp would remove the problem.

Remove the 'problem' !

You should see some of the equipment between your plug socket and the stator in a power station !

Switching transient noises, harmonics from the rotor and partial discharges in the transformers.

Basically, the mains is noisy and no £155 fuse is going to make any difference.

Its almost criminal to try to fool people into spending that much on a fuse.

[Gary C]

bristolracer said:

I remember my dad having one of static pistols that was supposed to stop dust.
I subsequently found out that if you pointed it at the coin slot on a space invaders table top game and fired it, it would give you unlimited credits.
I may have spent more time in the arcades than I did studying

Wilson of BBC micro fame designed a little FM radio to detect the crack of those to reset the machine as I recall (useless bit of knowlege #2345)

[john_1983]

In the spirit of this thread, something I've been thinking about when it comes to copying CDs (legally etc etc...) is that is it possible for any loss of audio quality on the copy?

My point is, if you're just replicating a bunch of bits in the same order, then surely the copy is exactly the same and therefore will sound the same. Unlike say a cassette where you could potentially lose quality

[TonyRPH]

john_1983 said:

In the spirit of this thread, something I've been thinking about when it comes to copying CDs (legally etc etc...) is that is it possible for any loss of audio quality on the copy?

My point is, if you're just replicating a bunch of bits in the same order, then surely the copy is exactly the same and therefore will sound the same. Unlike say a cassette where you could potentially lose quality

Although many will have you believe otherwise, a bit perfect copy between CDs is a trivial process assuming the source CD is undamaged.

When using a computer with a CDROM drive, if an error is detected the drive will attempt to re-read until as such time as a) either the data is recovered successfully or b) the re-read limit is reached (this is usually set in the software used to make the copy).

So yes, the copy will sound identical, assuming it was written correctly.

[Zirconia]

I understand that there can be some discrepancies between the original mixed tape and CD due to keeping it all up for the digital grabs especially when it is starts its journey through quantisation and on.

Something I have read about with regards vinyl, the source is digital or from the original tapes, can affect the final pressing?

Anyone in the business here knows?

[alock]

TonyRPH said:

john_1983 said:

In the spirit of this thread, something I've been thinking about when it comes to copying CDs (legally etc etc...) is that is it possible for any loss of audio quality on the copy?

My point is, if you're just replicating a bunch of bits in the same order, then surely the copy is exactly the same and therefore will sound the same. Unlike say a cassette where you could potentially lose quality

Although many will have you believe otherwise, a bit perfect copy between CDs is a trivial process assuming the source CD is undamaged.

When using a computer with a CDROM drive, if an error is detected the drive will attempt to re-read until as such time as a) either the data is recovered successfully or b) the re-read limit is reached (this is usually set in the software used to make the copy).

So yes, the copy will sound identical, assuming it was written correctly.

Not quite. Red book and yellow book error correction standards are built with different goals. Audio CDs are designed to fail gracefully and interpolate missing data. This should allow them to continue working even when heavily scratched. CD ROMs are designed to either work 100% or fail.

I have a distant memory of some old CD ROM drives having no firmware error correction so you could be 100% sure of a perfect rip. My memory might be failing me on that though.