What Pins Your High-End Audio BS Detectors?

Mike said:
A 1000 hours is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for 6 months straight. Rubbish.


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Cult brand pre-requisite. Isn't there a pseudo-science term for it? Upgrade train? At least once you're passed the statutory buyer protection period, there is an upgrade programme to look forward to and fortunately the new and improved product release coincides with that 1,000 hour break-in period! Thank goodness for the wonderful research and development the company is doing. So amazing that the patents are so revolutionary and the technology is so far advanced that mainstream science cannot even decipher it! The business owner is so fantastical, praise be to him and his V2s that will take us into the next 1,000 hours. By then we will surely reach our salvation....or wait...there's more....what is that extra plug there for?
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Mike's #1 stole my #1. My only question; which comes first: 1000 hrs or the end of the warranty period?

#2: Designers that are self proclaimed geniuses. Or as Dick Sequerra once said to me, "I made that mistake thirty years ago."

#3: All out equipment raves on audio forums. More often than not, it's some shill or a manufacturer sockpuppet shilling a product. (see Audiogon.)

#4: New reviewers who first piece is an all out rave review. That product is pronounced the best thing since sliced bread not to mention better than ALL other speakers on the market. Whatever happened to the days of having to show reviewing competence first?
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and to expound on that...

#3 - or reviews by short-timers who don't know their history and haven't been in the hobby two years, can't remember ever owning a TT/LPs and wouldn't know a Dick Sequerra from John Curl from Peter Walker or Arnie Nudell or any of the accomplishments by the dead 'legends' that made this hobby.

#4 - a very chatty "reviewer" on another site (like the guy in example #3) never seemed to review a piece of gear he didn't like. When I asked him if he would write a negative (or neutral) review, the silence was deafening. that's my issue with e-zines they act more like a product announcement with a few meaningless sound bites the manufacturer will no doubt quote in their ad copy.
 
Ahhh, but is 1000 straight hours of break-in the same as playing music for 8 hours - turning it off for 4 hours-then playing music for 8 hours again - and so on (letting the dielectric settle)? Takes longer this way but I bet you won;t need 1000 hours for things to stabilize. Probably get there in 100 hours or so.
 
A quick side rant that has absolutely nothing to do with audio... Man, F*&k "non-stick" pans. Talk about BS. Where in the hell are all those armchair engineers when you need em? Time to go ceremoniously throw these useless pans in a bed of lava.
 
Breaking things in period. Why is it products always break in to get better and never to get worse really how can this be. And better yet when a so called expert reviewer states the changes as it breaks in . Now with tubes I can agree it does so .
Next claims of foods or beverages that improve listiining sessions. I know most of us feel this way. But I think its more our mood not anything else .

Al
 
Very entertaining thread. Agree with just about all, if not all, of the views shared. :D
 
Attempting to achieve "neutrality" as the definition of The Absolute Sound is a concept that has started to bother me. I'm not sure I'm interested in that and, frankly, I'm not even sure what that should sound like. A recent review I read started like this and, to me, illustrated the laughable impossibility of this goal (especially considering that the reviewers of this publication have been writing variations of this paragraph for DECADES):

"[The units under review] do, however, present a challenge to both the reviewer and the audiophile. Here’s the issue: With equipment this good—and this neutral and transparent—almost all of the colorations you hear come from the recording, the front end, the interconnects and speaker cables, the load presented by the speaker, and the complex room interactions that shape the sound of the speaker at a given listening position.

What is Truth? Jesting Pilate Asked

There is no such thing as a truly neutral and transparent amplifier or preamplifier, but increasingly the inherent sound quality of a small number of elite units has become extremely difficult to gauge due to interactions with more-colored equipment. "
---

Who judges "neutral" ? Is there some sort of governing body of recording industry types?



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Kev - I couldn't agree more. The belief is that the absolute sound mirrors non-amplified/acoustic music. But my issue with this is that, even if this is the goal of some manufacturers, it can never be achieved. Why? Well, what does an absolutely neutral acoustic guitar sound like? My Limited Edition Robert Johnson Gibson sounds completely different than my 1960's Fender acoustic. My Selmer Mark VI sax sounds completely different than my Yamaha YAS-62 sax. Even within my saxophones, I can make them sound like Sanborn using a metal Dukoff mouthpiece and a hard Vandy reed or sound like Paul Desmond using an old Selmer mouthpiece and a soft Rico reed.

Mike


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Mike said:
Kev - I couldn't agree more. The belief is that the absolute sound mirrors non-amplified/acoustic music. But my issue with this is that, even if this is the goal of some manufacturers, it can never be achieved. Why? Well, what does an absolutely neutral acoustic guitar sound like? My Limited Edition Robert Johnson Gibson sounds completely different than my 1960's Fender acoustic. My Selmer Mark VI sax sounds completely different than my Yamaha YAS-62 sax. Even within my saxophones, I can make them sound like Sanborn using a metal Dukoff mouthpiece and a hard Vandy reed or sound like Paul Desmond using an old Selmer mouthpiece and a soft Rico reed.

Mike


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Did you really say that? :lol:
 
Mike said:
Kev - I couldn't agree more. The belief is that the absolute sound mirrors non-amplified/acoustic music. But my issue with this is that, even if this is the goal of some manufacturers, it can never be achieved. Why? Well, what does an absolutely neutral acoustic guitar sound like? My Limited Edition Robert Johnson Gibson sounds completely different than my 1960's Fender acoustic. My Selmer Mark VI sax sounds completely different than my Yamaha YAS-62 sax. Even within my saxophones, I can make them sound like Sanborn using a metal Dukoff mouthpiece and a hard Vandy reed or sound like Paul Desmond using an old Selmer mouthpiece and a soft Rico reed.

Mike


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While we can argue about what a guitar (or other instrument) sounds like, I think we can agree what it doesn't sound like. Honestly, I think we're nit picking the last 5 or 10% of reproduction. The real issue is--as Villchur discussed in his book written some 60 years ago--not enough people hear live music. If they did, half of this crap that passes for recordings would never see the light of day.

For that matter, I have a hard time taking seriously any review where the author's conclusions are for the most part based around listening to electronic music.

Call me a dinosaur. YMMV...
 
Mike said:
100% yes.

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I have a tendency to be direct and tell people the truth as I know it and sometimes I get criticized for that. Next time someone wants to jump me for being honest I'm going to tell them "Hey, if you think I'm being direct, you should hear what this guy said to a VAC rep!" :)
 
I believe we could all save thousands of dollars on audio equipment, if we just bought more liquor. It improves the SQ of your system, your wife/girlfriend gets much better looking, puts you in a better mood, increases the size of the fish you catch, and you instantly become a bad-ass !!!
 
JDLaudio said:
I believe we could all save thousands of dollars on audio equipment, if we just bought more liquor. It improves the SQ of your system, your wife/girlfriend gets much better looking, puts you in a better mood, increases the size of the fish you catch, and you instantly become a bad-ass !!!
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The problem is that this reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw once and there is some truth to it for some people: Instant asshole-just add alcohol
 
mep said:
The problem is that this reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw once and there is some truth to it for some people: Instant asshole-just add alcohol
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This can be true. But I believe alcohol lowers one's inhibitions, and allows the real person lurking inside to creep out. It can magnify one's personality a bit, though. I say this from a point of observation.......we owned nine night clubs over a period of nearly 30 years. But as always, moderation is key. YMMV ???
 
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