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Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

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Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#21

Post by kazinator »

pasta wrote: post #15

Once a producer told me that they mastered at 16bit 44.1kHz and then pressed records and CDs from those masters. Ofcourse the records sold better because they sound much better...

Of course the records will sound better; they will have their dynamic range squashed to fit the medium. Compression sounds nice: all the quiet parts are so clear, yet the transients are cleanly articulated.

Compressed audio, like from a record player, also works better with a cheap back end. Protecting the record player's needle from skipping out also helps the amplifier and speakers.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#22

Post by newnewpdro »

> he realized that electromagnetic interference from his neighbors’ appliances was propagating through their shared power lines, reducing the quality of the sound he was getting.

This actually seems a lot more reasonable to me than the monster cable level of absurdity audiophiles are famous for.

When I last visited family my sister's home's electricity exhibited all sorts of overload artifacts. Her lights would dim when the neighbor's AC or refrigerator compressor ran. I convinced her to contact ComEd about it as it suggested there was an overloaded supply shared across their homes making voltages sag under load.

They sent someone out to just look around her house and act like they did something, then said nothing's wrong. Of course they're not interested in actually fixing the infrastructure when it involves costly work.

She's had an exceptional number of electrical appliances fail over the years she's owned the home as well, which I presume is related.

But I figure with this audiophile guy he could just run the system off a UPS using the mains just to top up the batteries.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#23

Post by gpderetta »

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #18
remcob wrote: post #9

$100k in equipment, but I bet none of that went to an oscilloscope to actually quantify the problems they are imagining.

I bet you some of those dollars went towards the acquisition of some Brilliant Pebbles [0]! [0] http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm

This must be satire, right?

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#24

Post by cies »

pasta wrote: post #15

Once a producer told me that they mastered at 16bit 44.1kHz and then pressed records and CDs from those masters. Ofcourse the records sold better because they sound much better...

Record pressers do have very good DA-converters. That's what they do!

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#25

Post by nimish »

newnewpdro wrote: post #22

> he realized that electromagnetic interference from his neighbors’ appliances was propagating through their shared power lines, reducing the quality of the sound he was getting. This actually seems a lot more reasonable to me than the monster cable level of absurdity audiophiles are famous for. When I last visited family my sister's home's electricity exhibited all sorts of overload artifacts. Her lights would dim w…

A filter would be just as good.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#26

Post by calinet6 »

ferongr wrote: post #7

At what point does it stop being a hobby and turn into mental illness?

Around $5,000.

Lots of really good low-hanging-fruit actual improvements and solid equipment in that price range (combined, for the whole system); above that you're just getting crazy, and likely seeing marginal gains you can't actually hear and/or aren't worth the cost for what you (maybe, possibly, unlikely) might be fooled into hearing.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#28

Post by gerdesj »

remcob wrote: post #9

$100k in equipment, but I bet none of that went to an oscilloscope to actually quantify the problems they are imagining.

Quite. Why not also test your hearing first. Find a lab and offer them some serious money to test your "built in" equipment. Then you can get serious on delivering the best possible input. While you are at it, you'd better hire a decent studio and the artists, sound engineers etc and re-record to your spec. Recordings are normally designed to work reasonably well across anything from a car stereo to a disco. Now crack out your oscilloscope and work away at the environment, which is what gets in between your input and ears.

If you were really serious then why not buy a small plot of land well away from the city and build a custom man cave (yes it will be a man!)

Oh and don't forget to get your FLACs recorded in 32 bit - you'll need all those extra bits to be able to treat your golden ears properly 8)

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#29

Post by kazinator »

CaliforniaKarl wrote: post #10
Johnny555 wrote: post #4

I wonder if a battery-inverter setup would give cleaner power for less money? For less than $40K you can buy a couple powerwalls along with a top-rate inverter/charger.

That’s a double-conversion UPS: AC to DC, a small siphon for batteries and control hardware, and then DC to AC out. I imagine an audiophile would say that the sine wave generated by such a setup wouldn’t be smooth enough. They’d want something like a double-rotary converter, so that a spinning generator is making the final sine wave.

I think pros in the music and sound reinforcement industry tend to be satisfied with rack-mounted power conditioners.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#30

Post by analog31 »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #5
Johnny555 wrote: post #4

I wonder if a battery-inverter setup would give cleaner power for less money? For less than $40K you can buy a couple powerwalls along with a top-rate inverter/charger.

Or, with less insanity, DC powered equipment running from batteries. Which is still pretty insane. A good quality PSU should be able to tolerate quite a lot of noise. And power conditioners are already a thing.

Indeed, and if you think about it, an amplifier is a power conditioner.
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