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Old 15th Oct 2017, 12:46 pm   #163
GrimJosef
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Oxfordshire, UK.
Posts: 4,310
Default Re: Audiophoolery. 'Cable Break In' - I never knew that!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Argus25 View Post
I submit that part of this problem has come about because as a group of Engineers and Scientists, we have failed in our job as educators. We dropped the ball.

What has happened is that one of the oldest sins, human greed, has been left to run rampant in the field of audio engineering. So now, with a bit of help from the internet, the marketing of audio related products has about as much meaning and truth as a copper bracelet to cure arthritis or a Homeopathic treatment for cancer.
There is definitely some truth in this. But it's no more than half of the problem. The fact is that it's very difficult indeed, some would say impossible, to reproduce many musical performances, from small-scale pure-acoustic soloists and ensembles to massively amplified stadium rock, using any domestic stereo system. The best that can be done is to create a good impresssion of the real thing, enough of a 'reminder', if you like, to allow you to imagine that you're not on your own in your living room. But from the customers' point of view that leaves plenty of room for improvement. They want better. There is real consumer 'Pull' here as well as industry 'Push'.

An engineer/scientist might say "We've done the best possible. There's no more improvement to be had. Like it or lump it". A salesman might know this to be true but might tell the customer that the new kit contains technological improvements which will make a difference. He might be fibbing, but when it comes to the experience of audio we are all suggestible. So that fib, if it convinces us, can genuinely make our experience better. This is the critical point. Lying about electronics can't make a plane's autopilot work better. But it can make the sound of a hi-fi system better. And it can do so when the engineer/scientist has got no more to give. So in those circumstances how wrong is it to lie ? The salesman might argue that he has taken people's money and given them a better experience.

Where I definitely do object though is when someone tells me that my understanding of what's going on is wrong, and if I can't hear the improvement then I'm either deaf or simply trolling.

Quote:
Perhaps as a group we should be more active in creating scientifically based documentation on audio amplifiers and related products to help inspire a quest for relevance and scientific reasoning ... If we don't put effort in this area, then it will be hardly surprising that someone tells you a valve sounds better because it has a black plate or some specific type of getter.
This assumes that the customers will want to hear this message. I'm afraid a lot of them don't, and just won't listen. For those who do Ethan Winer's videos are well worth a watch e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvireu2SGZM

Cheers,

GJ
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