101–110 of 129 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can confirm that. On most computers I could tell what is happening on screen just by listening. Scrolling, video playback, task switching all makes different noises. I have decent headphones and amplifier.
Any external DAC will eliminate this for you.
The vendor claims that
1.'All audio cables are 'directional'
2.'When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio.'
That's two verifiably untrue or misleading statements with reference to a data cable, putting all subjective sound-quality fluff aside.
Puts me in mind of the claims of homeopaths, etc.
https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law/regulations-tha...
http://www.cap.org.uk/Advertising-Codes/Non-Broadcast/CodeIt...
"All audio cables are directional. The correct direction is determined by listening to every batch of metal conductors used in every AudioQuest audio cable. Arrows are clearly marked on the connectors to ensure superior sound quality. For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. For example, NAS to Router, Router to Network Player."
> For best results have the arrow pointing in the direction of the flow of music. Ideally one should have a separate cable flowing the other way, too, so that ACKs aren't unduly delayed.
"Silver plated plugs" Can someone remind me of the electric properties of Silveroxide? ( Or do I need to hire someone who polishes the plugs before each track?)
From memory the oxides, sulfides, and chlorides all have to be worried about but they tend to be mushy semiconductors and any wiping action in the connector will 1) destroy the connector plating in 10-20 uses at typical plating / finish reqs 2) wipe itself clean giving a lovely perfect silver to silver contact until it wears out.
Another interesting aspect is this engineer from Tyco went to great lengths to claim they can commercially ship lower electrical and thermal resistance SILVER connectors than GOLD connectors as a complete connector system. Its not the bulk conductivity of Ag vs Au that matter, its that every gold plate has an underlying nickel plate or whatever, and some discussion of the deformation of silver being a benefit so you get higher contact area leading to higher conductivity.
Then again this whitepaper is around a decade old and gold prices haven't exactly dropped back to $230/oz since then, meanwhile Tyco and everyone else still ships mostly tinplate and goldplate IC sockets and I don't recall ever seeing silverplate IC sockets in any mouser/digikey product list. So maybe there's other problems with silver plated electrical contacts in the real world. It has the odor of a mid 00s marketing doc in its (remembered) claims that by mid 10s no one will ever use tinplate / goldplate in connector design. Well, we can see how that turned out, but maybe the 20s.
It made some impression on me a decade ago WRT thinking about RF connectors, .mil / aerospace will pay anything of course for higher performance so it gave me something to think about, if they really can deliver then we can expect gold to disappear from military aircraft radars and stuff like that. Although nothing seems to have materialized on this topic since then.
I onced interviewed for a job at a software company developping virtual instruments plug-ins. At some point in the interview, the guy told me this great story : "We made some test once, and we changed the skin of the software, to a new color. Every people said the software sounded better with that new skin. Yet we changed absolutely nothing except the color." I'm still wondering if some graphical configuration ( such…
While I totally agree with the moral of this story, I'd like to point some reasons why the visuals of a software might interfere with audio: 1. just check this website: http://thume.ca/screentunes/ there is a large chance that your computer videocard and/or LCD will make a noise on that page 2. when the videocard makes such a noise, it can interfere with the PSU and thus affect the soundcard as well. 3. Thus, it's ac…
To be fair, that price is for the 12 meter (40 ft) cable. The 75cm (2 ft) cable is much more affordable at just £600. The best part about that cable is that someone took the time to determine which direction it sounds best, and the cable is marked to make it straightforward to attach it in the best direction!
> The best part about that cable is that someone took the time to determine which direction it sounds best Nope, they just marked an arrow on it and said they took the time to determine which direction is best .
I have always wanted to ask this but never found the right place to do so. Why, in the world of Digital Audio with ones and zeros, would any cable, be it silver or gold or what ever super conducting cores make any difference to sound quality? Yes it would properly make 0.0001% ( Wild Guess Only ) speed difference due to better conductivity and less Error correction. But if everything gets decoded at the Chip level, t…
Poor quality or really long connections can cause jitter, especially since in most consumer stuff the clock is sent with the signal. That jitter can cause differences in the signal out from the d/a. That said, the difference is less than minuscule, and time and time again people post double blind tests that prove even people who consider themselves trained audiophiles can't tell the difference. Same goes for analog -…
Without commenting on whether the product is worth the price (I don't know enough about HiFi quality): There is a bell curve of purchasing mentality - from a minority who buy solely based on what's cheapest, through varying degrees of cost/benefit tradeoff, through to a minority who will tend toward whatever is most expensive. It often pays to offer something to that latter group.
As far as I know its just a Ethernet cable and that means that there would be no difference to the "sound". It does have an extremely high bandwidth at 100 gbps (gigabits) but unless you have a audio file that requires 10 gigabytes per second then it is completely useless (Uncompressed audio is at most a few hundred kbps). Also the pure silver and other features would not make a difference to sound quality. So I woul…
I bet not even NASA would deploy such expensive cables on a spaceshuttle.
IANAL, so maybe someone who is can comment: surely this is flat-out illegal? The vendor claims that 1.'All audio cables are 'directional' 2.'When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, a big problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio.' That's two verifiably untrue or misleading statements with reference to a data cable, putting all subjective sound-quality fluff aside. Puts me…
you know how nigerian scams are badly written and full of typos to avoid anyone with half a brain? well, audiophile scams put on a price tag like that for the same reason.