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Old 28th Aug 2019, 1:15 pm   #981
wd40addict
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

The more insidious thing about the Phantoms is not their cost, or relative sound quality, but that they are not repairable! The 'buy it then send it to landfill' model has moved distinctly upmarket from the usual supermarket TVs etc. Devialet offer an extended warranty where your faulty unit will be swapped for a good one if you're on the scheme, otherwise landfill.

The original Naim Muso was also sealed, but I believe the new version can be repaired.
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Old 28th Aug 2019, 1:53 pm   #982
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

At least in the high-end speaker market most of the competition is no less repairable now than it ever was. So if repairability is an issue for customers they have plenty of alternatives to choose from (that said, fixing an aluminium-wired voicecoil was never easy, and finding a surround with exactly the same compliance as the original, but now perished, one could be a challenge too).

While we're trying to pick holes in the Phantom I should also mention that it depends on a good deal of digital technology and associated software, often being controlled via a phone app. I have heard reports that, like all software, the Phantom's can have its flaky moments, and when they happen no-one knows why. You could try the software 'engineer's' usual approach of switching them off and switching them back on again, of course.

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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:25 pm   #983
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Extreme Mystery Feet

http://marigoaudio.com/isolation-feet/mystery-feet/

The extreme mystery is the price
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Old 17th Sep 2019, 11:53 pm   #984
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I see their interconnect cables are also quite a price.

One innovation which hasn't seemed to happen in the high-end cable industry is making cables with audible signatures dedicated to certain connections EG CD to preamp, preamp to power amp, turntable to preamp etc. They would have to be more expensive of course in order to pay for specially selected materials and the research needed to optimise them.

Much better to use a specific purpose cable than any old general purpose one just sold by the metre as if nothing else mattered.

David
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 5:47 am   #985
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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Extreme Mystery Feet

http://marigoaudio.com/isolation-feet/mystery-feet/

The extreme mystery is the price
The designers were clever and economical, it is cheaper to make sets of 3 feet rather than 4 and the device you put them on will balance on nearly any form of uneven surface (like the 3 legged bar stool vs a 4 legged one). So this optimizes both results & profits...its the dream come true. So maybe they are not nearly as stupid as they appear.

As for the price, everyone knows most of the time, price is synonymous with quality and performance, after all, how could they be as wonderful and outstanding as they say they are, if they cost the same as a serving of fish & chips. This is why advertising is now known as "perception management". Bravo to the marketing engineers. Imagine under-pricing the Emperor's New Clothes, what a silly mistake that would have been.
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 7:51 am   #986
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Here's another one bandying around the word "quantum".

https://telos-audio.com.tw/quantum-noise-resonator/

Perhaps they are uncertain whether it works or not. Or it works or doesn't with equal probability. It is only when you open it that the wavefunction collapses and you realise it is bovine ordure.

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Old 18th Sep 2019, 9:07 am   #987
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

That is cutting edge stuff. It looks like a rotating pattern of LEDs is used to symbolise the noise being resonated! This reduces the strain on the purchaser's imagination.

The wording of the brochure suggests that English isn't their primary language, which is perfectly OK. The content makes it obvious that science isn't their primary subject, which is hilarious.

David
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 9:46 am   #988
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Craig and David, that's very funny Did you notice the quantum noise reducer (edit - sorry, resonator - what remains of my inner engineer must have subconsciously attempted to imagine that this thing has a rational purpose) uses a branded fuse? I wonder how much they are...
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 10:23 am   #989
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

If you have to ask the price, you aren't gullible enough!

Let no quantum of noise remain unresonated!
To infinitesimal and beyond!

David
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 10:45 am   #990
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Its amazing that they can get more than 100 out of a scale of 100:

"They mentioned the upgrade is like 300%~500% improvement. We even have customer said that the upgrade range, Is like adding USD30,000 audio tuning accessories to the system".

No doubt they have a unique poly-dimensional system which transcends the limitations of conventional mathematics, which has always stifled and constricted conventional audio designers.
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 11:07 am   #991
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

It's a shame it only begins to work from 1kHz up …

The UK mains supply being rated at 50Hz, those LED's inside the box would've been useful as a strobe for my record player, though I'm guessing they wouldn't trigger at 50Hz(?) … pity really. Mind you, they must have a gadget for strobe monitoring, calibrated I'll wager.

Looking at those 'Mystery Feet', if I were to stand on an isolation platform, complete with 'Mystery Feet', would my own voice have better definition, clarity and separation, whilst deliberate feeble mumblings would simply turn into authoritative annunciations?

It's all wave shaping, sorry, no, I mean, quantum reso-nonsense restructuring, giving the openness and feeling of space that only a stupidly long spring in a reverb box and an empty wallet can hope to match.

Mark
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 11:17 am   #992
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Quoted by Argus25:
Quote:
We even have customer said that the upgrade range, Is like adding USD30,000 audio tuning accessories to the system.
It is quite likely that the audible effect of one expensive 'upgrade' is similar to the audible effect of another expensive 'upgrade'. Of course, sometimes it can be worse than that and the 'upgrade' damages the sound.
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 11:29 am   #993
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
One innovation which hasn't seemed to happen in the high-end cable industry is making cables with audible signatures dedicated to certain connections EG CD to preamp, preamp to power amp, turntable to preamp etc. They would have to be more expensive of course in order to pay for specially selected materials and the research needed to optimise them.

Much better to use a specific purpose cable than any old general purpose one just sold by the metre as if nothing else mattered.

David
Sounds like an excellent idea for a low cost base business with very high margins. Don't forget to offer red, gold and platinum options for each type of cable with appropriate differential pricing, say $1000, $2000 and $3500. All you'd then need is a shed (aka manufacturing and research facility) and a glossy web site with testimonials, homely sounding CV and a load of convincing technical information. The first million should roll in quite quickly. Wish I had the necessary entrepeneurial spirit.

Alan
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 12:29 pm   #994
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
One innovation which hasn't seemed to happen in the high-end cable industry is making cables with audible signatures dedicated to certain connections EG CD to preamp, preamp to power amp, turntable to preamp etc. They would have to be more expensive of course in order to pay for specially selected materials and the research needed to optimise them.

Much better to use a specific purpose cable than any old general purpose one just sold by the metre as if nothing else mattered.

David
Sounds like an excellent idea for a low cost base business with very high margins. Don't forget to offer red, gold and platinum options for each type of cable with appropriate differential pricing, say $1000, $2000 and $3500. All you'd then need is a shed (aka manufacturing and research facility) and a glossy web site with testimonials, homely sounding CV and a load of convincing technical information. The first million should roll in quite quickly. Wish I had the necessary entrepeneurial spirit.

Alan
Seriously, you're not far from the truth with that description.
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 12:31 pm   #995
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

David/Alan, just think of the possibilities.

Dedicated cables for source/destination and, oh how about different cables for different music genres and moods?

You could do real scientific research too, normal lead in one channel, fancy new cable in t'other.

How about a dedicated storage system for the interconnects, in alpha/numeric/signature order? With gold plated hinges & lead-lined glass, all standing on magic feet to match the system.

The sign in front of the company telephone number should also denote the local currency, and away we go

Mark
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 12:35 pm   #996
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

I am marvelling at the Tuning Dots:

http://marigoaudio.com/tuning-dots/

This is truly Innovational Engineering™
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 12:41 pm   #997
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Default Re: Audiophoolery. 'Cable Break In' - I never knew that!

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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehertz View Post
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Originally Posted by julie_m View Post
So cables that were "used to", say, jazz, would not sound as good when the system was being used for listening to, say, folk?

That hypothesis would be worth testing, but for the inevitable accusations of insufficiently-sensitive measuring instruments .....
Oh we have such sensitive instruments, they're called ears, and in some respects, contrary to the view of us 'techies', audiophools trust their ears 100%. That's even when the difference either doesn't exist, or is demonstrably so miniscule as to be unmeasurable, as it is in so many cases. No, the problem that audiophools have is that they are either unaware of, or choose to ignore the fact that what they are listening to is actually not just an aural event, but a psychoacoustic one. And that changes everything. The reason? because it is dead easy to convince ourselves (for lots of reasons but one of them being that you just dished out thousands of pounds on this new piece of hifi) that the 'upgrade' that you have just made sounds better. In short, you desperately want, and really believe that this new piece of kit will make your system sound better, so your brain says, there you go, it is better! Seller and audiophool are happy! This satisfying deduction is arrived at on the basis that in truth, your ears have not been able to detect any difference. But you knew the difference would be subtle anyway (didn't you?!), so it all makes sense..
You have to be a trifle careful regarding human hearing. I suggest you scan this http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/...ghly-nonlinear

And the paper from Physical Review Letters on which that is based https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstrac...ett.110.044301

Quote "We study human ability to simultaneously judge the frequency and the timing of a sound. Our subjects often exceeded the uncertainty limit, sometimes by more than tenfold, mostly through remarkable timing acuity. Our results establish a lower bound for the nonlinearity and complexity of the algorithms employed by our brains in parsing transient sounds, rule out simple “linear filter” models of early auditory processing, and highlight timing acuity as a central feature in auditory object processing."

Craig
Something I've been keen on when trying out HiFi has been "clarity" both of speech and music also stereo placing and _movement_. My homebrew tinkering and experimentation has led me to the conclusion, that to my ears and those who I've tried who can be bothered to join in, group delay and temporal distortion seems to be more important than chasing distortion down to sub percentage levels.

To those who say if you can't measure it it doesn't exist, I say "Are you sure you're measuring the right thing?"

I no more *believe* in the 'phoolery than any good scientist but as a Physicist I'm always open to being proved wrong!

D
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 12:45 pm   #998
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

Yeah - I saw the Tuning Dots. And almost immediately thought of the infamous Peter Belt, RIP.

http://www.pwbelectronics.co.uk/pwb-price-list

Craig
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 1:00 pm   #999
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

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That is cutting edge stuff. It looks like a rotating pattern of LEDs is used to symbolise the noise being resonated!
David
Yes I noticed that. Each LED is connected via a resistor to 8 pins of a 16 pin chip, probably a 3 bit to 8 line decoder like a logic family 138 or similar. Difficult to say because the manufacturer has ground the part number off and added their logo.

Craig
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Old 18th Sep 2019, 1:27 pm   #1000
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Default Re: The Audiophoolery Thread.

OK - the Quantum Noise Resonator. He's had it CE approved, the test house he used exists and the certificate appears genuine. So he plans to sell in Europe.

The UK dealer is selling them at £1090 https://www.audiocomav.co.uk/173-power-conditioners .
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