Awesome Audiophile Snake Oil

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ha - yeah i think it's more mid-life crisis than openness of soul but I admire your generosity of spirit towards the hot stamper stans

― Brio2, Thursday, March 5, 2015 4:54 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well i'm not about to descend to using a /sarc tag

goole, Friday, 6 March 2015 00:08 (nine years ago) link

this latest topic is super interesting to me since I work for a housewares company that makes a lot of stuff in plastic, obv, and every part of it makes total sense to me. I mean I don't know what the actual sound quality effect is, but you definitely are supposed to scrap and regrind the first umpteen pieces of a several thousand piece run. That's why our smaller orders of like 1000 pcs have worse quality than our 3000 or 6000 pc orders.

And the small vendors who don't physically have space to stage the work in process properly and have to cut corners on cycle time to keep up... this is like old home week.

a date with density (Jon Lewis), Friday, 6 March 2015 16:12 (nine years ago) link

http://design-milk.com/stone-ohyeahstudio-nokoanna/

koogs, Thursday, 12 March 2015 10:39 (nine years ago) link

hot stamp, i love you so

gr8080, Thursday, 12 March 2015 14:43 (nine years ago) link

lololol

a date with density (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 12 March 2015 15:46 (nine years ago) link

Currently bidding on a original press mono of the first Doors album, fingers crossed it's a hot stamper. On the real though fighting the urge to really go down the mono press rabbit hole on 60s classic albums

kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 12 March 2015 16:12 (nine years ago) link

in the classic 60s arena, for me the only mono vs stereo battle that mono has lost has been Beatles For Sale. Not by a wide margin, but I do like the stereo better for that.

a date with density (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 12 March 2015 16:41 (nine years ago) link

Never heard of "hot stampers" until that Wired article, the whole thing is just an obvious con.

BUT "Lawry has accumulated about 150 hot stampers since then. Adjusted for inflation, that’s the equivalent of buying a new Mercedes E-Class." - tbh, I'd get much much more out of 150 albums I love than any car ever

as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Friday, 13 March 2015 05:23 (nine years ago) link

imo if you spend any amount of time in a car daily it's not bad for it to be nice

also you can listen to music in it

mh, Friday, 13 March 2015 14:20 (nine years ago) link

Earlier this year, Jay Z dropped $56 million to purchase the Swedish technology company Aspiro, owner of two music services for aspirational listeners who appreciate the finer things in life, like lossless file streaming. Whereas shoddy services like Spotify and Rdio are always losing sound from the holes in their hobo file bindles, Aspiro’s high-end providers—WiMP and the newer TIDAL—lovingly fold their audio and ad-free music videos into the velvet purse of 16-bit FLAC files, expertly inserted into the discerning ears and eyes of audiophiles by digital butlers.

http://www.avclub.com/article/jay-zs-streaming-service-isnt-everybody-ie-poors-217109

I just love the illustrative language here.

©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 26 March 2015 16:17 (nine years ago) link

I tried Tidal, it's ok, nothing special

mh, Thursday, 26 March 2015 16:24 (nine years ago) link

this is kind of amazing writing:

Spotify and Rdio are always losing sound from the holes in their hobo file bindles

kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 26 March 2015 20:18 (nine years ago) link

have to say whenever i have tried spotify i have found it very 'shoddy'.
umm .. not.
(and no, i am not a fan, but thats cos of other reasons).
baffles me that someone would put in so much $$$ into such a groove given the dominance of the big players that have clearly wrapped this market up.
tis like the murdoc refunding of myspace to try and take on facebook.
doomed from the start.

mark e, Thursday, 26 March 2015 20:22 (nine years ago) link

i know a couple of people who complained about spotify sound quality, but who had not chosen the high-quality streaming in their preferences

as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Friday, 27 March 2015 00:25 (nine years ago) link

three months pass...

"Excited to contact Sean Scoggin of Stereo Dave's Audio Alternative, I called him to discuss what his modifications were to the Pioneer SW-8MK2 and discovered that they use a proprietary method to influence and speed up the electron flow of the subwoofer's amplifier. Modifying the driver allows the subwoofer to move faster and have better freedom in its excursions for accuracy and speed in its ability to track the low frequencies it is replicating. All the modifications successfully work to quicken the subwoofer and increase its bandwidth/frequency range, making the subwoofer sound faster, more powerful, and deeper while still maintaining bass texture and detail.

i'm not really knowledgable in science...but that sounds like bullshit to me

kurt kobaïan (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 10 July 2015 18:14 (nine years ago) link

he sped up the electron flow without making the music out of sync? what a magician

Upright Mammal (mh), Friday, 10 July 2015 18:21 (nine years ago) link

people are generally worried about 'speeding up electrons' when they want to lower a shunt capacitance that will reduce the signal at high frequencies by shorting it to ground. i'm not sure why you'd want to lower capacitance for a subwoofer amplifier. one is generally more commonly concerned with increasing any series capacitance so that you don't have a very high series resistance at low frequencies. so I think it's probably bullshit.

an asteroid could hit the planet (Sufjan Grafton), Saturday, 11 July 2015 00:15 (nine years ago) link

two weeks pass...

this may or may not be snake oil...but I want one.
https://www.marshallheadphones.com/mh_at_en/london-phone

campreverb, Friday, 31 July 2015 13:28 (nine years ago) link

I already can't tell the difference between my Galaxy s6 DAC/amp and a nice desktop dac/amp connected to my laptop

oh, i am a lonlely poster. i live in a box of posts. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 31 July 2015 16:55 (nine years ago) link

You can get a ridiculous DAC (120dB SNR, etc.) for under a dollar in volume at this point.

schwantz, Friday, 31 July 2015 17:15 (nine years ago) link

amusing audiophile article inc snake oil content) by ilx's old mate Petridis here: http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/music/8618/are-the-audiophiles-hearing-something-were-not/

Hector Ringtone (DJ Mencap), Monday, 3 August 2015 14:27 (nine years ago) link

Worried that something he calls “dirty” electricity will affect the sound his system produces, Jason has had his home rewired – his hi-fi is on a separate mains ring to the rest of the house, running off the “purest electricity possible”. “It’s quite a lonely road in some ways,” he says. “Because when you’re listening, you’re in your room, it’s just about you and the music.”

what the shit

bizarro gazzara, Monday, 3 August 2015 14:31 (nine years ago) link

hope that goes through a power conditioner, the utility can't be relied upon to provide clean electricity

Upright Mammal (mh), Monday, 3 August 2015 15:32 (nine years ago) link

Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Didn't your stereo used to sound better when you were young? That's because we used to have clean power. Now, no matter what kind of high-end system you have, it sounds worse than it used to. Because as soon as they privatize the utilities, the utility companies are more concerned with making a dollar than with providing you unsullied electricity. For my sound system I've installed a small hydroelectric generator that runs off a precisely regulated flow of water (yes, it's the water that comes off the mains, but it's been treated with audio-enhancing ingredients that remove the treble-damping ions that are known to cause issues in this type of system). This gives me the security of knowing that my hi-fi is running off the purest, sweetest, most audio-friendly electricity available with current technology.

Although I hear there are further advances being made in Eastern Europe that will render my system utterly obsolete within a year. It will be garbage. You couldn't pay me to listen to it anymore.

Great article xpost!

hardcore dilettante, Monday, 3 August 2015 15:54 (nine years ago) link

James from HiFi Wigwam is not a man much given to mysticism – he’s funny and self-deprecating and tells me that the best upgrade you can buy for your equipment is “a couple of bottles of wine”

the truth will out.

mark e, Monday, 3 August 2015 17:19 (nine years ago) link

"No seriously," James sad, "You balance your preamp on top of two bottles of $3,000 Napa Cabernet."

oh, i am a lonlely poster. i live in a box of posts. (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 3 August 2015 17:29 (nine years ago) link

fits in nicely with recent revive :

Songs sounding better when drunk?????

mark e, Monday, 3 August 2015 17:31 (nine years ago) link

two weeks pass...

Can anyone recommend a good short online guide/book/video/etc that summarizes the ins and outs of audiophilia - more for a lay consumer than someone concerned with the minutia of electrical physics, or someone with enough disposable income to actually buy a full hi-fi system at once.

EDB, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 20:16 (nine years ago) link

Like, the ins and outs of the psychological delusion known as audiophilia? Bc that's just this thread.

go hang a salami I'm a canal, adam (silby), Thursday, 20 August 2015 20:21 (nine years ago) link

EDB - the Entry Level forums at Stereophile are very helpful, I like Stephen Meijas's old columns are helpful

Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 August 2015 20:31 (nine years ago) link

Thanks! xpost: the idea is precisely knowing where to draw the line between "sounds good" and "batshit crazy."

EDB, Friday, 21 August 2015 04:28 (nine years ago) link

the headphones people at head-fi are uh, thorough, although you might end up with a headphone-buying problem

μpright mammal (mh), Friday, 21 August 2015 14:02 (nine years ago) link

haha the controversial NwAVGuy!

Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 August 2015 14:04 (nine years ago) link

there is a dude on the head-fi forums who has had people ship him all kind of headphones for a week so he can actually run frequency response tests, which he posts

it's bizarrely quantitative and objective for an audiophile forum, but hey, beats arguing over what metals are in your headphone cables

μpright mammal (mh), Friday, 21 August 2015 14:08 (nine years ago) link

m@tt tyvm for the mention of NwAVGuy, I was unaware of that saga and it's great reading

μpright mammal (mh), Friday, 21 August 2015 14:19 (nine years ago) link

it's bizarrely quantitative and objective for an audiophile forum

that's pretty standard, stereophile always runs those graphs and shit with reviews

Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 August 2015 14:30 (nine years ago) link

NwAVGuy was a hero until he was disappeared by J3rry R4skin's agents

oh, i am a lonlely poster. i live in a box of posts. (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 21 August 2015 18:58 (nine years ago) link

a perfect storm of terrible 'research' and cackhanded pr bullshit

bizarro gazzara, Friday, 28 August 2015 16:37 (nine years ago) link

dumb & offensive & pseudoscience but not really audiophile

Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 28 August 2015 16:53 (nine years ago) link

yeah I couldn't think of an equivalent thread on I Make Music

Immediate Follower (NA), Friday, 28 August 2015 16:59 (nine years ago) link

enjoying their trademark of the snappy catchphrase "Pickup Switch Upgrade"

pdf booklet in the cheesecaked factory (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 August 2015 17:29 (nine years ago) link

guys that's an april fool

go hang a salami I'm a canal, adam (silby), Friday, 28 August 2015 17:37 (nine years ago) link

dumb and offensive but probably not honest pseudoscience

go hang a salami I'm a canal, adam (silby), Friday, 28 August 2015 17:38 (nine years ago) link

Why Do You Need More Pickup Tones?

When you have MORE pickup tones, it gives you Total Control over what You will sound like. Even more important, you also have more control over what others hear what you sound like.

Why should you settle for 3 or 5 pickup tones? You can't get Total Control when you're saddled with an antique 3-way or 5-way switch that hasn't changed in 100 years. It's like settling for a job that pays you "three" hundred or "five" hundred a week. Wouldn't you rather have more? Like a job that pays you "six" hundred, "thirty five" hundred or "sixty eight" hundred a week?

What if your vehicle's radio only had three or five stations. Wouldn't you really want a radio with more stations?

Would you subscribe to a cable T.V. provider if they just offered you just three or five channels?

Would you buy a cell phone if you were limited to calling only three or five people?

Why are you settling for just three or five pickup tones?

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We are the original AweSome upgrades for your electric guitar and bass. When you compare the incredible performance of our upgrade products with all the copycat wannabes, you can see that only our products will give you ALL the possible pickup tones, are LESS EXPENSIVE and work with a wide range of electric guitar and bass instruments. Review the below "Feature Comparison" chart to convince yourself that our upgrades are the Best that you can get, give you the Most pickup tones, and Cost a lot Less.

pdf booklet in the cheesecaked factory (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 August 2015 17:41 (nine years ago) link

I crave the radio stations that are between two other stations - just a mix of garbled crosstalk.

pdf booklet in the cheesecaked factory (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 August 2015 17:43 (nine years ago) link

two months pass...

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/11/sennheiser-unveils-40000-marble-clad-valve-amp-orpheus-headphones/

for that price, couldn't i just get bionic ears or something?

rushomancy, Thursday, 5 November 2015 12:22 (eight years ago) link

iirc bionic ears aren't very good yet

μpright mammal (mh), Thursday, 5 November 2015 14:40 (eight years ago) link

Just out of curiosity has anyone heard electrostatic phones or speakers? Audiophile dudes seem to like them a lot, figured it was just a gimmicky gadgety thing.

Capitalism Is A Death Cult And Science Is A Whore (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Thursday, 5 November 2015 19:32 (eight years ago) link


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