[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Change cups to Magix levitation feet first.

Have you attempted to cover those grills on the headphone yet with your special paper?

 

[Kirosia]

You guys are in luck, I've got some nice magic beans for sale!

No refunds.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnywolfet /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it me, or is there more talk on questionable tweaks on these forums these days? This is a shame as a lot of the impressions and reviews i read on this site i hold in high regard (certainly much more than other info available on the net). and the few that claim huge improvements due to (insert diabolical claim here) drag the site down somewhat. is this a case of diminishing returns to the extreme? do a few eccentrics have extraordinary hearing abilities? or are we being fed utter bull? thank goodness for common sense.

Some people have more time and money than brains or music...

 

[fatcat28037]

Quote:

Originally Posted by slwiser /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you sure that it is Dixie Cup? It may be a different brand with different damping characteristics or a little higher off-set from the floor.

Yes I believe they are Dixie, however you raise an interesting point. Another brand or even material, say styrofoam could prove to be even more advantagous. I might consider filling the cups with a dampening material such as sand or chicken lips. My head could explode just contemplating all the possible materials and combinations. Or we could just forget it and let the wires lay on the floor.

 

[mbriant]

I've just spent 10 minutes deleting most of the useless sarcastic "humour" posts from this thread. It's unfortunate that this topic can't be discussed with thought and reason .... especially when the very people who feel the necessity to contribute nothing but sarcasm are often the same people who continuously complain and wonder why they aren't allowed enough freedom to "discuss their side" as to whether or not there are noticeable cable differences, dbt, tweaks, etc. Presenting a legitimate, rational observation, thought or argument on the topic is one thing .... using exaggerations and sarcasm to insult other's opinions is something completely different.

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illah /img/forum/go_quote.gif . . . I think most crazy tweaks are well intentioned, but taken to the extremes of reason. I think good cables can improve sound over the RCAs that came with your VCR from 1987, but I don't think $500 cables will do a thing better than $50 cables. I think room acoustics do matter, but if you go nuts soundproofing and turn your room into a dark box with equipment all over the place with a lone chair in the middle you're a freak who probably doesn't have many friends --Illah

Nicely written, I do believe some of the tweaks have a value added but going to the extremes that some do seems well a bit extreme. Or perhaps they do have golden ears as well as trained ears.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nicely written, I do believe some of the tweaks have a value added but going to the extremes that some do seen well a bit extreme. Or perhaps they do have golden ears as well as trained ears.

If your ears are jammed with gold you won't be able to hear the music.

If you are using crappy speakers (which sound good to you) and switch to something better, you won't be able to hear how good the new speakers really sound, because you are used to hearing the muddy sound from the crappy speakers. After a few weeks of adapting (or burning in the ears) the new speakers will sound better and better. When you go back to the old speakers, they will sound horrible.

The same thing applies to all tweaks. The more you keep upgrading the more it forces your ears to adapt to cleaner sound. It's a training that takes many years. It doesn't have much to do with "golden ears", maybe at the very highest level, but not at the level audiophilia is at now, there is a lot of further improvements possible to be made in audio, that's why they release new equipment all the time.

Skeptics without the proper training are left behind, it's like car racing, the opponent keeps upgrading his car so it gets faster and faster, while the skeptic still uses his old Volvo because he doesn't believe it makes a difference. The more the opponent upgrades his car the more the skeptic makes himself believe it's all placebo. Eventually the opponent has built a Formula1 car and then they meet at the track.

 

[granodemostasa]

Okay... the deal is this. just about every tweek on the "low end" side of this hobby is not going to yeild any improvement worthy of it's price difference. If you're buying big $$ for an ipod to portable amp.. then shame on you because portable ain't worth it. On the other hand, spending big $ on cables for an orpheus rig is certainly going to change the sound and improve the performance of the whole system.

to really make the little things worth it, I think a person needs a first class-hyper revealing rig. And even then, money is best spent elsewhere... (like a new source)

Overall, no, i don't think that increasing money is really taking audio ever increasingly to zero.... the returns are not diminishing yet... at least for me. I did this benchmark dac-1 v. esoteric DV60 test the other day... and frankly the DV60 kicks the **** out of any 1000$ dac i've ever heard... there was no placebo about it.

 

[mbriant]

Quote:

Skeptics without the proper training are left behind, it's like car racing, the opponent keeps upgrading his car so it gets faster and faster, while the skeptic still uses his old Volvo because he doesn't believe it makes a difference. The more the opponent upgrades his car the more the skeptic makes himself believe it's all placebo. Eventually the opponent has built a Formula1 car and then they meet at the track.

Except that the improvements in the speed of a car can be easily tested, measured, and proven ... as opposed to only felt or claimed by the driver or mechanic. This of course has always been THE bone of contention between believers and non-believers.

 

[MdRex]

Hey its not my money or my inconvenience, so whatever.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Skeptics without the proper training are left behind, it's like car racing, the opponent keeps upgrading his car so it gets faster and faster, while the skeptic still uses his old Volvo because he doesn't believe it makes a difference. The more the opponent upgrades his car the more the skeptic makes himself believe it's all placebo. Eventually the opponent has built a Formula1 car and then they meet at the track.

What happens to the people who cover their steering wheels with paper and then tell themselves that their car goes faster?

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant /img/forum/go_quote.gif Except that the improvements in the speed of a car can be easily tested, measured, and proven ... as opposed to only felt or claimed by the driver or mechanic. This of course has always been THE bone of contention between believers and non-believers.

Indeed, whenever I see a tweak touted I always wonder to myself , by which physical laws does this tweak operate, are these physical laws relevant to the audible spectrum, and how would one assess this objectively, and then is this % change in X likely to be humanly audible ?. Any expensive tweak that isnt supported by at least a semblance of a rational physical argument looks way too risky for me

In the past I have done tweaks like hand-braiding my own speaker cable from solid core mains wire, took forever, dont know if it made a difference..

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif What happens to the people who cover their steering wheels with paper and then tell themselves that their car goes faster?

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazin...lpointsers.htm
Quote:

In another communiqué, Allan passed on a letter from a guy in Boise, Idaho, who drag races his Corvette and achieved substantial improvement with a special cover lined with ERS material. Specifically, his three run averages dropped from 13.676 seconds to 13.586, equating to a 0.3 mph gain. Fortunately, I have enough ERS left over to soup up my new Silver Bullet for the annual March run to the Festival du Son-Image in Montreal.

 

[Thelonious Monk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonnywolfet /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is it me, or is there more talk on questionable tweaks on these forums these days? This is a shame as a lot of the impressions and reviews i read on this site i hold in high regard (certainly much more than other info available on the net). and the few that claim huge improvements due to (insert diabolical claim here) drag the site down somewhat. is this a case of diminishing returns to the extreme? do a few eccentrics have extraordinary hearing abilities? or are we being fed utter bull? thank goodness for common sense.

i agree but keep my yap shut about it (although i haven't in the past, which is a mistake). it's hard to be diplomatic in such situations, so... live and let live.

besides patrick. he's extreme.

 

[Thelonious Monk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazin...lpointsers.htm

extreme.