What Pins Your High-End Audio BS Detectors?

Alcohol temporarily degrades your ability to hear. Ever notice you need to turn it up louder when drunk? It also obscures detail, hence the need to crank it. I personally do not enjoy listening to music more with alcohol at home. When the music is too loud at a concert alcohol has helped though.
 
I hope everyone realizes I said this as a joke (fish get bigger....ladies get prettier....etc.). But I know a lot of audiophile friends who will enjoy a glass of wine/drink while listening. I've noticed that many turn the volume down and nod off....lol.
 
JDLaudio said:
I hope everyone realizes I said this as a joke (fish get bigger....ladies get prettier....etc.). But I know a lot of audiophile friends who will enjoy a glass of wine/drink while listening. I've noticed that many turn the volume down and nod off....lol.
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It's all good. I suppose I was pointing out the obvious.

As far as the subject of B.S. I agree with many about break in. While I think that it does exist to some extent, it will not make something sound drastically different afterward. If you do not like the sound, break in will not likely fix it. If break in does have a large effect then you have to wonder about the design of the component?

Marketing claims that are not scientifically explainable are highly suspect as well. While science has a loooooong way to go in explaining everything I definitely want to hear it first hand before making a decision.
 
Interesting regarding breakin... I'm currently a little over 150 hours on an ARC REF10/75/Wilson Alexia combo. While the sonic signature hasn't changed from what I feel to be the ARC 'house sound' I am finding the smaller cues and nuances are increasing in flavor, the overall harmonic envelope is opening up, bass notes have more texture, and the soundstage is wider and deeper. Certainly some changes are occuring as the hours mount up a bit.

The 600 hours ascribed by ARC until "broken in" seems like a lot, but if this combo improves half again as much as it has since new I'll be delighted. Am I just getting used to it? Did the glass of vino help? Did the moon phase, combined with cloud cover, and proximity to the sun improve my listening the other night? If so, how do I get it back? Shakti Holographs? Magic pebbles? Coconut audio cables?

(Or a trip across the border to WA state, where certain herbacious plants are now freely available? That made the music sound particularly good even coming through the car radio back in the day.)
 
Myles B. Astor said:
...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...
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But as so many producers have said, it's the musicians themselves who are insisting on compression and signing off on the final masters?
 
Bobvin said:
Interesting regarding breakin... I'm currently a little over 150 hours on an ARC REF10/75/Wilson Alexia combo. While the sonic signature hasn't changed from what I feel to be the ARC 'house sound' I am finding the smaller cues and nuances are increasing in flavor, the overall harmonic envelope is opening up, bass notes have more texture, and the soundstage is wider and deeper. Certainly some changes are occuring as the hours mount up a bit.

The 600 hours ascribed by ARC until "broken in" seems like a lot, but if this combo improves half again as much as it has since new I'll be delighted. Am I just getting used to it? Did the glass of vino help? Did the moon phase, combined with cloud cover, and proximity to the sun improve my listening the other night? If so, how do I get it back? Shakti Holographs? Magic pebbles? Coconut audio cables?

(Or a trip across the border to WA state, where certain herbacious plants are now freely available? That made the music sound particularly good even coming through the car radio back in the day.)
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Bob can I ask where in your documentation does it note 600 hours. I have a LS27 and there is nothing in the manual that notes a break in period. When I got my pre AR said, give a few hours till the tubes warm up and your good to go. I always felt of course my opinion only that a person listening to sound could be listening to their speakers changing and not the amp or pre-amp as the days past. Or it could be the temperature in the home,:D to much wine, :thumbsup: or your just in a great mood :rockerlove:
 
A couple observations first:
- as of the current state of things neutrality can be measured for most links of the audio chain.
- break-in is real for most gear, for a bunch of different reasons. However, 1000 hours of break-in is absurd: just shave a zero, folks!

1. "Top snake oil prize" goes to Machina Dynamica and PWD "psycho-tweaks" (it's a tie).

2. Next goes to the kind of Shakti Hallographs, Schumann Resonators and various micro-bowels (err, bowls).

3. Anything starting with "quantum" is ripe for third place (Tice clock included).

4. Low-quality materials backed up by "scientific twisting" in expensive cables qualifies for fourth: give me some decent metallurgy (think Siltech or Crystal Cables and let me enjoy music).

5. Re-packaged mass market products with a 300% markup and a brand name attached (think the latest Theta Digital and the (in)famous Lexicon (Oppo) player).

6. Speakers with OEM drive units clad in better-than-furniture finished and selling for greater-than-Mercedes prices). Especially if they are mini-monitors with no bass extension.

7. Digital amps based on cheap modules but repackaged and re-branded to sell for the price of a small car.

8. The "magic" of SET amps, in pure oblivion that these are frequency-limited distortion generators.

9. The "analogue revival" of cassette decks and R2R recorders, backed by the silly argument that those are analogue. Nope, they aren't and I can prove it to everyone with a modicum of knowledge in electromagnetism (or even common sense).

10. All audio 'zines touting the equivalent of scented cat litter as the best cure for audiophile angst. You know who you are!
 
CPP said:
Bob can I ask where in your documentation does it note 600 hours. I have a LS27 and there is nothing in the manual that notes a break in period. When I got my pre AR said, give a few hours till the tubes warm up and your good to go.
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In the boxes the units ship in, there is a small sheet of paper, printed in red, usually taped to the outside of the plastic bags, that says the sound of the unit will improve up through 600 hours. There has been one of these in my VS115 box, REF3, REF110, and now REF 10 and ReF 75 boxes too.
 
To all our customers: thank you for choosing this marketing hype. Our manufacture is using the best Chinese factories to provide you with rice-scented boxes made with utmost care for our bottom line. Please do tighten all screws before listening and make sure noone sneezes in front of the drive units. Our speakers are individually assembled and carefully matched for sonic signature within less than some dBs. Please observe the standard break-in procedure: use your new pair of speakers at low volume for at least the time it takes them to rust. We guarantee they will sound at their best shortly before they break.
 
audioarcher said:
Alcohol temporarily degrades your ability to hear. Ever notice you need to turn it up louder when drunk?
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I doubt if that is true in moderation, or even minimal excess.

Mike said:
Just ask Bud!
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Actually, what I have found is that a dubious idea when sober can become a reasonable idea after a few beers. For example, trying to find out just how loud speakers can play before clipping, distortion, or something else occurs. :)

I have never noticed a desire to turn up the volume if listening while having some beer or wine. I have noticed different genres respond better at higher volumes. For example, I play rock louder than I play string quartets.
 
BlueFox said:
I doubt if that is true in moderation, or even minimal excess.



Actually, what I have found is that a dubious idea when sober can become a reasonable idea after a few beers. For example, trying to find out just how loud speakers can play before clipping, distortion, or something else occurs. :)

I have never noticed a desire to turn up the volume if listening while having some beer or wine. I have noticed different genres respond better at higher volumes. For example, I play rock louder than I play string quartets.
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Not sure how accurate this article is but I have noticed short term hearing loss from drinking alcohol. Alcohol can cause hearing loss - hear-it.org
 
Myles your avatar has gone from a coffee cup to a D cup should that not read I love silicone
 
JDLaudio said:
I don't think records is the kind of vinyl this girl likes....lol.
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