The Audiophoolery Thread.

[Radio Wrangler]

Ooo-er I think what I wrote was factual as well!

Anyway, the thread is about finding amusing things in the audiophool world, we are observers, and not joining in it!

David

[dougietamson]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

The first law of audiophilia is that there is no limit to an audiophiles ability to discriminate sounds.

A direct consequence is that nothing can ever be good enough.

An indirect consequence is that non-audiophiles cannot hear these things and cannot believe in them.

David

We need to setup a Audiophools Anonymous for these poor victims, sadly for it to actually cure them the subscription fee would have to be eye-wateringly expensive.

[The Philpott]

-Belief systems are quite unassailable unfortunately- my dog will forever believe that the cats on the telly are actually in the room, no other explanation adds up!

[dougietamson]

Originally Posted by The Philpott

-Belief systems are quite unassailable unfortunately- my dog will forever believe that the cats on the telly are actually in the room, no other explanation adds up!

Dogs have an amazing olfactory system which they ignore in favour of their sight, it's like measuring the voltage of a battery on your tongue while in your lab full of the best gear money can buy.

[John Caswell]

I see the latest thing is now to compare ethernet switches for their "musicality".
Oh dear!

John

I see the latest thing is now to compare ethernet switches for their "musicality".

I didn't see that one coming, bet they use the same chip.

[Radio Wrangler]

Ah, but the differences will be due to the capacitors, the cables and the exact sect of holy water used to clean the thing.

David

but the differences will be due to the capacitors

Phooey, it's the magnetics (transformers to the sane) that will make the real difference. Audio grade ferite next (gawd help us).
OK, the race is on for the most ridiculously expensive Ethernet cable...

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

£500 be expensive enough?
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/atlas-mavros-grun-streaming-ethernet-cable
and a switch
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/english-electric-16switch-audio-grade-ethernet-switch

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Malcolm G6ANZ

£500 be expensive enough?
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/atlas-mavros-grun-streaming-ethernet-cable
and a switch
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/english-electric-16switch-audio-grade-ethernet-switch

That switch is badged English Electric with the proper old style 'EE' logo. From the very last sentence in Wikipedia: In 1968 GEC, recently merged with Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), merged with English Electric; the former being the dominant partner, the English Electric name was then lost.

So who or in what capacity is someone using that name?

[David G4EBT]

The definition of faith (in all its forms and idioms, religious or not), is 'a firm unshakable belief in something without proof or evidence. That certainly applies to the sort of products which are often cited in this thread which use no objective measurable means to underpin their products, but fall back on highly subjective unprovable terms such as 'musicality'. In effect, 'blind faith'.

People who buy such products don't see themselves as gullible victims, but as discerning enthusiasts for whom only the best will do. If challenged, as often as not, instead of them accepting that the burden of proof rests with them, they try to shift the burden of disproof on sceptics who they consider to be ill-informed. The 'Russel's Teapot' analogy.

'Russell's teapot' is an analogy formulated by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), to illustrate that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon the person making empirically unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others.

Russell stated: 'Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that since my assertion cannot be disproved, and that it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense'.

Quite so.

Not everyone will agree with him of course. If they did, there would be no market for £500 Ethernet cables, less still for £900 Ethernet switches.

[Radio Wrangler]

Somebody'll have bought the name, now all context has been lost. Once a mighty firm with a huge range of products.

The things Malcolm has pointed at give me the feeling that 80% of their price is needed to pay back development costs (IE the choosing of a name) considering probable sales quantities at that price. Still, the zeroes will have a nice dark velvety texture, and the ones will simply be unique.

David

give me the feeling that 80% of their price is needed to pay back development costs (IE the choosing of a name)

quelle surprise

[knobtwiddler]

David's reference to Russell reminds me that I have to transcribe a cassette of the great man, left by my grandmother. I don't think it's been played in at least 30 years, so I'm not sure if using audiophile fuses in the cassette machine will make an audible difference to Bertie's tone. I suspect that some of the people inclined to spend £500 on an Ethernet cable might beg to differ though!

[Beobloke]

Originally Posted by stevehertz

That switch is badged English Electric with the proper old style 'EE' logo. From the very last sentence in Wikipedia: In 1968 GEC, recently merged with Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), merged with English Electric; the former being the dominant partner, the English Electric name was then lost.

So who or in what capacity is someone using that name?

The name is now owned by The Chord Company and they are using it on their electronics items.

I attended the demo of the unit when it was launched at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show a few years back. Looks very nice - made no difference to the sound!

[stevehertz]

Originally Posted by Beobloke

The name is now owned by The Chord Company and they are using it on their electronics items.

I attended the demo of the unit when it was launched at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show a few years back. Looks very nice - made no difference to the sound!

A Naim spin-off: https://chord.co.uk/chord-history/

[thermionic]

Whilst reading my trade paper today - Electrical Contracting News, I came across this interesting advert for an ‘Audio RCD’.

Apparently, standard RCDs fitted in your home can ‘destroy sound quality’……! The accompanying article describes how different terminal material and current transformer designs have solved these issues.

Well………I’m quite surprised to see this as it’s from a respected German manufacturer of electrical apparatus. Someone else jumping onto the snake oil gravy train?


SimonT

[fetteler]

Snake oil gravy? I 'spect it tastes horrid!

Steve.

[Radio Wrangler]

Hey, "DESTROYED SOUND QUALITY"?

How heavy-metal can you get!

I'm definitely keeping my MK RCDs, then. It's got soul.

David

[stevehertz]

Any company that promotes snake oil I will definitely try to avoid, no matter what the product.