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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

#241

Post by robdachshund »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #238
fyfy18 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding your usage of 'cheap', I would read this as the difference between a 50c or $5 component. I can understand spending more to get a reputable brand compared to buying the cheapest no name item from AliExpress. However audiophiles are a whole different level. People spend tens of thousands of dollars on items that have questionable difference in quality. I guess people do the same with cars though, a Toyota Co…

Wine might be a better comparison (at least a Rolls and a Toyota look different). Many could tell the difference pretty well between a $5 and $20 bottle (hint: the $20 one is the one not loaded with sugar), but not a whole lot of people can tell the difference between a $20 bottle and a $200 bottle. The law of diminishing returns kicks in pretty quick with both wine and audio. I think with audio once you’re in over a…

You got it. There are degrees here. You can be an "audiophile" and not break the bank.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#242

Post by fro0116 »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #95
bayindirh wrote: post #59

I don't understand this type of audiophiles. I also have a fairly high end, vintage audio system at home, but I'd never do anything like that in the name of audio quality. There's a quote I love about these people: A normal person uses the audio system to listen music, while an audiophile uses music to listen to his audio system.

You don't understand the power of naivety, placebo effect, dreams and stupidity composed (multiply all). Not in any way intended to insult these people, I know a few (not as rich) and they simply do not want to understand the basic principles behind digital signals, error corrections etc. I know people that work in IT and still pretend that audio transmission over USB can add jitter to music and that a DAC can "open"…

I don't disagree with the point you're trying to make, but I'm not sure if USB is the best example to make that point.

Case in point: when I used a USB DAC with my NUC there's an intermittent electrical noise that's actually quite audible and distracting (even when nothing is playing). I ended up switching to another cheap DAC that accepts optical input, and the noise completely disappeared. I'm not entirely sure what caused the electrical noise to begin with, but that it existed means there's some potential for USB to mess with the audio signal.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#243

Post by heyjudy »

Wow. That's next-level not understanding Nyquist bandwidth "records are better" extremism. I also get why Nakamichi or early Mark Levinson audio gear was outrageously expensive: they were like modern Apple but in the 1980's... ridiculous engineering and design. Hipsters should love 'em too. :)

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#244

Post by zimpenfish »

samatman wrote: post #167
nabla9 wrote: post #146

Since audiophiles are so gullible I wonder if you could sell even more stuff for them. For example: * plastic surgery for ear lobes (Ferengi audio Inc.) * ear wax removal and ear hair trimming services

You joke but there is no a priori reason that improvements in cochlear implants have to plateau at human-normal hearing. This is an implant I would actually consider having done.

Walking around with binaural mics in your ears is an enlightening cyborgian experience. Especially when you whack the input and monitoring volumes right up. (But don't do it near busy roads. Or roadworks. Obvs.)

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#245

Post by gaze »

hwillis wrote: post #228
thaumasiotes wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do $1,000 aftermarket wooden knobs (with no detectable physical effect) differ from, say, a $1,000 bottle of wine (which cannot be distinguished in a blind taste test from a $5 bottle)? They're just class signifiers. The difference I see is that audiophiles are less prestigious than oenophiles, but I don't see how you get from there to "audiophiles have a mental illness".

> say, a $1,000 bottle of wine (which cannot be distinguished in a blind taste test from a $5 bottle)? Well for one thing, that's wrong- distinguishing wine is easy. Even people who are just pretty into wine can identify different vinyards etc. and actual sommeliers can nail wine down to the year it was bottled and the conditions it was stored[1]. The thing you're referring to is that when you line up regular people…

0.0001% THD is better than 120 dB, beyond the spec of an APx555. That’s beyond lab spec.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#246

Post by thaumasiotes »

imgabe wrote: post #193
thaumasiotes wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do $1,000 aftermarket wooden knobs (with no detectable physical effect) differ from, say, a $1,000 bottle of wine (which cannot be distinguished in a blind taste test from a $5 bottle)? They're just class signifiers. The difference I see is that audiophiles are less prestigious than oenophiles, but I don't see how you get from there to "audiophiles have a mental illness".

A $1000 bottle of wine is going to be from a specific year, from a specific vineyard. There's naturally a limited supply, so price will increase with demand like any collectible. A wooden knob is not unique and anyone could manufacture an unlimited amount at low cost.

There is no natural limit on bottles that are labeled with a specific year and a specific vineyard. The only way to know the label is genuine is the stringent chain-of-custody requirements that have become normal in the world of expensive artwork under pressure from forgeries. As far as I know, those are not yet the norm for wine.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#247

Post by sound1 »

aristophenes wrote: post #178

I'm interested in the playlists of these guys. What are the songs that are worthy of being played on your $100K+ setup? I had never heard of that Queen song before, wonder what his top 10 songs are.

Mostly pink noise ans Diana Krall :)

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#248

Post by tlrobinson »

jungler wrote: post #213
cheeze wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do agree. I think it has to do with the fact that most motherboards have pretty terrible analog audio support. Every motherboard I've ever had has sounded meh compared to a cheap USB DAC. It would be super interesting to compare an iPhone analog vs iPhone with a DAC. I guess you'd have to use an old iPhone with an audio jack though :(

Even the motherboards have gotten better over time. I recall being over at a friend's house in the early 2000's and he was saying, "my speakers are so bad, I guess I need new ones" and I said, "wait, try plugging those into a different source", which we had in the form of another friend's laptop. The audio immediately went from tin can quality to reasonably transparent. The issue was with the cheap DAC in his compute…

The biggest problem with onboard audio generally isn’t the DAC but the amp, especially with higher end headphones.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#249

Post by topspin »

robertAngst wrote: post #47
andrewvc wrote: post #16

Even if you buy into this theory, how is this cheaper or better than using batteries to power your gear?

Exactly my thought. A cocktail of capacitors could do the trick.

There is no deeper well of audiophile snake oil than capacitors.

Re: Audiophiles in Japan Are Installing Their Own Power Poles

#250

Post by Groxx »

zmix wrote: post #205
vortico wrote: post #78

I work in the audio industry, and I can say two things: 1) most everything they do is audio mysticism (i.e. complete BS), and 2) they are very profitable customers.

As what do you work in the audio industry? Marketing? Sales? Engineering? Programming?

From what I've heard talking with a variety of these: it's similar to how every programmer is also asked if they can help with computer problems, and how they all know that turning it off and on again is the primary fix. It just goes with the field - everyone even tangentially related will encounter this kind of thing with some regularity.
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