The Audiophoolery Thread.

I am proud to be an engineer, and am sticking with calculated designs and measured results.

[Beobloke]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

I am proud to be an engineer, and am sticking with calculated designs and measured results.

As am I.

However I'm also proud to be an audiophile who appreciates superb sound and realises that, unfortunately, you have to spend decent money to get this and that not everything expensive is simply bling boutique tat designed by cynical opportunists to empty your wallet and do little else.

[Buzby123]

BBC Archive 1959

https://fb.watch/4QufdKuV2Y/

[joebog1]

Love that!!!! It especially sounds good with 17 1/2 plums in the announcer's mouth.

Joe

[Craig Sawyers]

Well nowt has changed that much in over 60 years, that is perfectly clear

[Radio Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Beobloke

not everything expensive is simply bling boutique tat designed by cynical opportunists to empty your wallet and do little else.

True. But it leaves the problem that many people can read a price tag, but far fewer can assess a design.

It is also far easier to put a high price on a piece of low performance gear than it is to put high performance in a piece of low price gear.

Who said the universe had to be fair? Or symmetrical?

David

[Valvepower]

It is also far easier to put a high price on a piece of low performance gear than it is to put high performance in a piece of low price gear.

Who said the universe had to be fair? Or symmetrical?

Hello,

I have done exactly that.

Recently we designed an amplifier with both a good technical and sonic performance with an entry level price tag (that’s the sales name for it) which had to be entirely made in the UK.

We did it, but it wasn't that easy – can’t say it did our nerves any good though.

Sadly, we didn’t have the budget for a symmetrical design

Ps. And there was EMC compliance to do as well... augh

Regards
Terry

[Keith956]

Every hifi needs a gold plated plug with... a gold plated fuse!

https://www.mcru.co.uk/product/mk-toughplug-various-platings-available-3/

[Craig Sawyers]

3.5 times the price of a standard MK toughplug. Given that they have to be disassembled, sent for gold plating, reassembled, and a profit made, I'd argue that the price of £24 is not price gouging. Whether or not it makes any difference to the sound quality is another thing.

There are far more ridiculous mains components out there https://www.futureshop.co.uk/brands-category/furutech/furutech-uk-mains-plugs

And £155 for a mains fuse https://www.futureshop.co.uk/synergistic-research-orange-high-end-slow-blow-fuse . The US manufacturers of that fuse are the crew that say they have been treated with 1,000,000 volts, which we've correctly ridiculed earlier in this thread.

Craig

[Radio Wrangler]

Presumably the cryogenics crowd also get in on the act for perhaps a further 50% mark-up?

But which should be done first? the 1,000,000 volt treatment or the 77 Kelvin one? Would liquid helium treatment sound even better?

Skilled listeners with the goldenest of ears need to find out and tell us.

David

[Craig Sawyers]

Oddly enough we used 77K treatment as part of the machining process at Oxford Instruments. Rough machine the magnet former, lower it by crane into a huge bucket dewar filled with LN2. When fully cold hoik it out and leave it to warm. Then final machine.

Without the cryogenic annealing process, the final machining had enough inbuilt stress to be out of true when at LHe temperature and the superconducting magnet would fail to reach field.

So does 77K treatment change the structure of a mechanical part? Yes it does.

Craig

[Craig Sawyers]

And we used to use Allen Bradley 100 ohm carbon composition resistors. Turns out that they had very predictable temperature coefficient of resistance at low temperature.

So we had a variable temperature insert where we could take the temperature of the business end from 77K and upwards, with the control made with reference to a traceable standard. At the bottom were a whole load of the AB resistors.

There was a major panic when AB discontinued their carbon composition manufacture. We cornered around 10,000 of them to make sure we could continue to supply calibrated sensors into the future.

Nothing to do with use of this type of resistor in audio, which is apparently sought after by the valved crew.

Craig

[Craig Sawyers]

Here we go. The Quantum Burning Technology device for burning in audio cables to improve their performance.

https://telos-audio.com.tw/qbt-cable-run-in-machine/

The price to you, gullible sir, is 20,000 smackers.

And that is just one of the daft things he sells for big money. Have a look around his website. Quantum this, quantum that. Does no one tell these people that quantum phenomena have an inherent uncertainty?

Craig

[Craig Sawyers]

Yes - Quantum Damping https://telos-audio.com.tw/quantum-damping/

"The quantum spacer is a film made of 11 different chemical materials mixed with silicone.

The main components are graphene, rare earth and various materials that produce far infrared rays."

Well, it will only do that if it is not in thermal equilibrium with the environment. And if not in thermal equilibrium heat will either flow into this nonsense or be radiated by it according to the laws of thermodynamics.

I note the use of mF for micro Farad.

[knobtwiddler]

In my experience, TosLink softens the bass, adds treble hardness, and congeals the soundstage.

Taken from: https://wathifi.com/

There are plenty of other quotes on that site. Recommended reading for any 'phool.

[Herald1360]

Clearly those microfarads are 1000x better than the ordinary everyday ones

Well it is Tos*** anyway.

[Radio Wrangler]

One of the broken symmetries of the universe is that it is easier to sell a human a stupid idea than it is to convince him that it is stupid.

David

[knobtwiddler]

“It's Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” – Mark Twain