[bigshot]

  It does seem to be more than just a straight-through plug-to-socket from the pictures

 
No. It *IS* just a straight through plug to socket. If you've ever replaced your own plug on a set of headphone or turntable, you got connectors with three pins on them exactly like this at Radio Shack.
 
Quote:

  Not disagreeing, but if you took apart a capacitor, not knowing anything about what it was or how one worked, what would you make of what you found inside? What I am saying is: Just because we don't know what exactly is inside it, doesn't mean it doesn't do anything significant. 

We do know exactly what is inside it. It is a female 1/4 inch plug jack on one end, and a male 1/4 in plug jack on the other, connected by three wires for left, right and ground. Check your headphones and see if the housing around the jack on the end of them unscrews. If so, you will see three wires connected to pins on the back of the plug just like this. A headphone jack is a connector. It doesn't affect the sound. All it does is allow you to put the plug from your headphones in one end and patch the signal directly into the plug on your amp.
 
All this consists of is an additional two and a half inches of wire.
 
I feel like I'm in Alice in Wonderland here!

 

[Steve Eddy]

Not disagreeing, but if you took apart a capacitor, not knowing anything about what it was or how one worked, what would you make of what you found inside?

Probably wouldn't be able to make much of it if you're talking about the average person off the street. But anyone with a fairly basic understanding of physics and material properties would be able to suss it out pretty quickly.

And it's not much different here. This thing just isn't complicated at all. And we know enough that if you take certain materials and arrange them in certain ways, it will behave a certain way.

My take is that it looks for all the world like someone who had a rather rudimentary understanding of piezoelectricity cobbled something together believing it would do something that it is not.

And just to check myself, I telephoned a friend of mine who knows vastly more than I do about physics and material properties. I showed him the photos and explained what was found inside. I would probably be banned if I repeated what he said, but suffice to say there was no disagreement.

This is my friend if you have any interest in checking out his qualifications.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/stuart-yaniger/2/b37/7a1

I was hoping to be able to send him the device so that he could do a thorough analysis on its electrical behavior, but the person who bought the device was a bit too eager to tear it apart. I suppose it could be put back together enough to still run the analysis. I'll look into that but I'm pretty confident and so is my friend that it would behave no differently than a jack/plug simply wired together.

What I am saying is: Just because we don't know what exactly is inside it, doesn't mean it doesn't do anything significant. 

Given its construction, you don't have to know exactly what's inside it to know that it doesn't go anything significant. You don't have to know exactly what the alloy of the foils are, or exactly what the crushed up rock is, or exactly what the formulation of the adhesive is. No matter what they are, given their construction and arrangement in this thing they're just not going to have any meaningful effect on the electrical signal passing through the device.

se

 

[bigshot]

I think your piezo electric theory is pure speculation. It is just as likely that it is sand from a harmonic convergence in a sacred Indian ceremonial ground in Sedona Arizona.

 

[esldude]

  I think we're due for impressions from owners. It does seem to be more than just a straight-through plug-to-socket from the pictures, even if we don't know what the "more" is. I agree though that they should explain more about what it does and they are shooting themselves in the foot by not doing so.

Really, Currawong, REALLY!?  After the tear down photos you really, really have these reservations that it might do something?  The lack of explanation should be a clue.
 
Impressions of owners,  REALLY?  
 
Maybe worth reading for some:
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/the-backfire-effect-why-facts-dont-win-arguments 

 

[bfreedma]

  I think we're due for impressions from owners. It does seem to be more than just a straight-through plug-to-socket from the pictures, even if we don't know what the "more" is. I agree though that they should explain more about what it does and they are shooting themselves in the foot by not doing so.

 
While I understand the desire to not anger potential paying advertisers, don't we owe the head-fi community some level of honesty about a product so that informed buying decisions can be made?  I'm also missing what you see as the "more" in this design - at least "more" that has relevance to audio reproduction.
 
Given the information available and the lack of response from Synergistic, this should be considered "Snake Oil" until the manufacturer can present supporting evidence of it's functionality.
 
Frankly, I don't see how customer testimonials are going to alter the physical reality of the device.

 

[Currawong]

 

  I think we're due for impressions from owners. It does seem to be more than just a straight-through plug-to-socket from the pictures, even if we don't know what the "more" is. I agree though that they should explain more about what it does and they are shooting themselves in the foot by not doing so.

Really, Currawong, REALLY!?  After the tear down photos you really, really have these reservations that it might do something?  The lack of explanation should be a clue.
 
Impressions of owners,  REALLY?  
 
Maybe worth reading for some:
http://bigthink.com/think-tank/the-backfire-effect-why-facts-dont-win-arguments 

 
If those impressions are "It did nothing for me so I sent it back", then all well and good. As for the lack of explanations -- I think they are damned if they do and damned if they don't, given that they are a cable company and people will judge them purely because of that, before anything else. I'm simply not going to judge something I haven't tried, though I am skeptical as everyone else is.
 

 

  I think we're due for impressions from owners. It does seem to be more than just a straight-through plug-to-socket from the pictures, even if we don't know what the "more" is. I agree though that they should explain more about what it does and they are shooting themselves in the foot by not doing so.

 
While I understand the desire to not anger potential paying advertisers, don't we owe the head-fi community some level of honesty about a product so that informed buying decisions can be made?  I'm also missing what you see as the "more" in this design - at least "more" that has relevance to audio reproduction.
 
Given the information available and the lack of response from Synergistic, this should be considered "Snake Oil" until the manufacturer can present supporting evidence of it's functionality.
 
Frankly, I don't see how customer testimonials are going to alter the physical reality of the device.

 
I don't have any care about advertisers on here. They don't affect me as I'm not paid to be here. If I had the attitude you suggest, the last page or so of posts wouldn't be here any longer.  
 
The "more" is the material that surrounds the socket which we haven't identified, let alone know what it does. If it affects the sound, people will hear it. If not, they'll send it back under their return policy. From their site:
 

30-day no-risk money back gaurantee:
Contact your nearest authorized Synergistic Research dealer and arrange for a 30-day, no-risk money back guarantee. 

 
Again, I'm not expecting anything, but I am curious to try it. If I get one, and I don't feel it does anything, I'll say as much. If I feel it makes some difference, I'll say as much too. 

 

[bfreedma]

   
If those impressions are "It did nothing for me so I sent it back", then all well and good. As for the lack of explanations -- I think they are damned if they do and damned if they don't, given that they are a cable company and people will judge them purely because of that, before anything else. I'm simply not going to judge something I haven't tried, though I am skeptical as everyone else is.
 
 
I don't have any care about advertisers on here. They don't affect me as I'm not paid to be here. If I had the attitude you suggest, the last page or so of posts wouldn't be here any longer.  
 
The "more" is the material that surrounds the socket which we haven't identified, let alone know what it does. If it affects the sound, people will hear it. If not, they'll send it back under their return policy. From their site:
 
 
Again, I'm not expecting anything, but I am curious to try it. If I get one, and I don't feel it does anything, I'll say as much. If I feel it makes some difference, I'll say as much too. 

 
So there is no need for a "sniff test" here?  Spreading any substance on a piece of electronics now needs subjective review before being assumed to be bunk based on well known science and acoustic theory?   If I spread peanut butter on my TRS connector socket, I should expect a serious review of the impact to audible sound without clearly stating the benefits?
 
The minute they called it a "transducer", the game was over.  Until Synergistic presents some objective data anyway.

 

[Currawong]

  So there is no need for a "sniff test" here?  

 
I didn't say that.

 

[bfreedma]

   
I didn't say that.

 
Agreed - you just seem to be discounting Bigshot's disassembly of the HOT in favor of subjective opinions.
 
Given that Synergistic won't/can't explain the "special sauce", I don't think owner's testimonials will be changing my opinion.  Others may see this differently.

 

[Currawong]

  you just seem to be [...]

 
Don't go down that road. I say what I say and I mean what I say. 

 

[bfreedma]

   
Don't go down that road. I say what I say and I mean what I say. 

 
LOL - no problem
 
No interest in a peanut butter coated 1/4" TRS to test.......

 

[castleofargh]

I understand the "no judgment until full proof" attitude you have currawong. but let's be honest, what kind of tech could hide inside that little gadget that could be expected to make an audio improvement when plugged between any amp and any headphone? go call some engineering friends and tell me all about it. even double amping get criticized so what wonder of the third type can pretend to that universal "dramatically improves headphone / amplifier performance" ?
 
with your knowledge what's to expect outside of something that would change the signature, mess up the phase of some frequencies, or play around with impedance, trying to control it or trying to change it on purpose? how many of those could be called improvement of headphone/amplifier performance without any apparent regard for the type of amp or headphone?
the plug has been "voiced with Audeze LCD-3 and Sennheiser HD 800 stereo headphones"(stereo headphones? wow I need to get one of those!!!). that's it, I can stop reading. how do we get 1 thing to improve both? well I would love to hear all about that.
ortho vs dynamic, 350 to 600ohm vs ruler flat 60ohm, even a signature trick on one would most likely suck on the other. this is ludicrous and is obviously a catch phrase to make us feel how elite and universal that thing is.
and I'm not even talking about the ludicrous tech explanation(or lack of it) and improper namings.
 
everything screams of scam, and then big shot comes in and put the last nail on an already magnificent coffin. the revolutionary plug seems to be manufactured at a bus stop with a can of coke and some sand technology. do you really need more?
you think the real tech (whatever that could be) was hidden inside and bigshot in his rage against the brand decided to hide it and replace it by sand just to make a point?
 
 as an admin should hurry and put at least a warning in the title of this topic.
if the brand has something to say, well let them come and explain how many years of R&D it took to decide upon the color of the plug. we're not trying to shift the burden of proof here. we have strong evidence vs shady marketing gibberish and they can come in anytime to say their piece.

 

[cooperpwc]

Subscribed. This is some kind of fun.

 

[RudeWolf]

I'm genuinely curious about what evidence is needed to dismiss something as being snake oil, if this doesn't do it. I'm a bit on the cynical side, but I was pretty sure that they had put a crossfeed or some kind of electronic "seasoning" inside there, but yeah... This takes the cake.
 
Should be a waking call for some.

 

[Steve Eddy]

The "more" is the material that surrounds the socket which we haven't identified, let alone know what it does.

Let's look at that from the other direction.

Name any material that could be put on there that would have any significant effect on the signal.

From an electrical point of view, it could only do this by way of the material's permeability and permittivity properties. And while we don't know ecxactly what the material is, we do know exactly what the construction of the device is. And given that, we can know that it wouldn't matter what the material's permeability and permittivity was. In this particular construction, it simply wouldn't have any meaningful effect on the signal.

But given SR's own words, this device's supposed benefits aren't electrical, but mechanical. They say it is a transducer and they mean exactly that. That its job is specifically to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. So let's just take them at their word and even go so far as to allow that the audio signal passing through this thing is causing the mystery material to move in some fashion.

Tell me, how does that translate into "...dramatically improves the sense that you are listening to an actual sound stage as opposed to music played in-between your ears"?

Unless of course you're expected to actually hear those little bits of rock moving.

Inside a rigid sealed tube.

While you're wearing headphones.

se