Awesome Audiophile Snake Oil

Went to Axpona on Friday. Best room to my ears was Acora Acoustics. Here was the equipment list:

https://i.imgur.com/6t3mrOz.jpg

I should say I am not an audiophile and went with a friend purely as an exercise in curiosity. Sadly most listening rooms did not have posted price lists like this.

Nice. I guess it's the old adage, "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it."

Did you have fun?

Yeesh. For those prices, they should specify room dimensions and specifications while they're at it.

It was a fun experience, yes. Just to be able to listen to some of these systems was a treat and definitely made mine feel wholly inadequate!

Based on what most rooms were playing, my tastes are miles away from the audiophile community. More bluesy guitar quartets and solo classical guitar than I knew existed.

Saw this company's network streamer/DAC in lots of rooms:

https://eng.hifirose.com/

lol 5 grand, suck my dick

Playing ethnicky jazz to ease my snazz only five grand stereo

I am so glad I bought a spare Google Chromecast Audio before they discontinued it

*brings reference album to audiophile listening party*

*Album is Propeller by GBV*

haha

when I tested out turntables many years ago, I brought that Gastr Del Sol 7" on Teenbeat and a Thelonious Monk promo LP, something else too but I forget what

five grand stereo

spent a few mintues on that website trying to work out if any of their gear indeed had speakers on it... and still not sure. I know there was a DAC + streamer product for way more than my whole system costs. I'd like to one day be in a city where one of these events is taking place, cuz I just don't believe my ears would find much difference. (... then I lose all my money)

BTW the Bureau of Labor Statistics says five grand in 1980 (date of Holiday in Cambodia) is worth nearly $20,000 today.

solitary posts that effortlessly summarize the spirit of ILX

lol bravo

I’m flattered

Nice to see I'm quoted in that thread, talking about the Nirvana baby's penis!

The box for my Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt has a sticker that says the Cobalt needs 100 hours to “burn-in” (their quotes). “Please be patient as the chips come up to speed.”

99-hour warranty?

To be fair I’ve noticed that with new computers too, they’re all sluggish and veiled until they’ve burned in - the mouse becomes more responsive, more analog in feel, and the pixels on the screen acquire a depth and clarity that really opens up the display.

i can't tell if that's a joke.

wait, yes i can.

BRB going to start a publisher that requires you to burn-in your books for about 100 hours. At first it will all seem like gibberish but after 100 hours of staring at the page it will start to make sense.

. C’mon!

https://consequence.net/2023/04/half-vinyl-buyers-record-player-study/

It's been kind of an irritating practice to shove a vinyl disc into every multi-CD box set these days, thus inflating the price in the process - I wonder if that's a factor? (I sold off my player a year ago and I've still had to buy some vinyl because of this.)

doubt it, I think people feel a disconnect or nostalgia for physical artifacts related to the music they consume and are buying records to fill that hole in the time of streaming. maybe a pinch of buying merch to support an artist too

background items for social media posting, too

Pro tip: Audiophiles are the flat-Earthers of the audio industry. pic.twitter.com/SzDA8hoq8J

— Eduard (@edthesoundman) May 10, 2023

Pro tip: Audiophiles are the flat-Earthers of the audio industry. pic.twitter.com/SzDA8hoq8J

— Eduard (@edthesoundman) May 10, 2023

omg the reveal that this is all for stuff that was recorded in mono. A+

^ what this thread was born for xp

Tbf even thru my phone speaker off YouTube, that did sound pretty fuckin hot … but I’m pretty sure the perimeter whatsits had nuffin to do with it.

Yeah, it sounded great through headphones on my laptop, but can you imagine being in that room, with that guy, and trying to enjoy music without constantly thinking about how he was gonna murder you and grind up your bones for his next set of magical resonating discs?

Being a flat earther is cheap, this guy is more like a $450 a day in supplements wellness hippie

Someone in the thread linked to this full video (with more music at the end)… I admit it does sound pretty great even through my phone speaker, but yeah who knows exactly why (I will say the guy seems surprisingly chill).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8O_jZhpl4

It sounds great because he's playing it loud (or at least it's coming in hot through the camera mic).

The bit talking about how his pucks on a pole change the acoustics of the room was the funniest part, since there's still very obvious echo in the small rectangular room with bare drywall walls.

god what an amazing video

I had a moment where I was like "wait a second...you guys...this isn't real audio equipment!" But then the joke never ends because it's not a joke...

I can hear David Letterman saying "Mah-PEEN-go! Mah-peen-go, Paul. What do we think of that?"

I’m checking out some other videos on that channel… these equipment demos really seem to favor sleepy, cocktail-jazz type music… wish they’d crank up Toto or something.

As someone else pointed, it's crazy if that entire system cost that much more than his modest-looking home.

*pointed out

hope he noted that on his homeowners insurance or insured it separately

imagine trying to explain to an insurance adjuster your zillion dollar audio system you had in this modest little house

MoFi has agreed to a $25 million settlement over claims that their “all analog” records were created using digital methods.

MoFi has agreed to let all customers either receive a full refund and return their purchases, or keep their albums and instead take a 5% cash refund or a 10% refund in credit.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mofi-records-settlement/

"claims"

how large is this business exactly because $25M seems like an insane number

Dunno how they came up with that number. The figure if everyone opted for refund? They're going to be paying out far less than 25 million.

Jonny Ive’s first non-Apple design project is this 60k turntable. (See also FastCompany article here.)

not surprised. the token projects from design studios tend to be limited run insanely priced objects that are only purchasable by collectors but look really nice in monographs and studio portfolios

just had a thought

I picked up a fresh vinyl copy of an album I love off my porch where it was delivered today directly after work. Toss it on the turntable, and it’s good but something’s kind of flat.

I’ve only recently moved my turntable setup to the living room and I’m thinking, ugh, this isn’t as good for listening due to different speakers, etc. but as I’m sipping an after work beer and kind of sinking into listening, wow, it’s great!

I kind of wonder if more than a wee bit of the audiophile mindset is the mental mood boost of experimenting with little tweaks here and there and the dopamine (or whatever) boost of unpacking a piece of gear and installing it primes the brain with little chemical changes. You then listen and… wow, this is different and better!

not completely foreign to any other consumer tech choice. there’s some guy out there posting how websites look much better on his new iphone every year

also I totally need a new phono amp