Some HOT Science From Synergistic Research

[David Pritchard]

I have been off  the internet for several days and have now opened this thread to read a lot of posts that are disappointing in their attitude, and lack of civility. As stated many posts earlier, I have a Synergistic Research Headphone Optimized Transducer. I have over fifty hours of listening to my audio system with the Transducer (HOT) in  and out of my system. With both my Sennheiser 800 and Sennheiser 650 headphones, I hear an improvement in the music that to me is significant.
 
Pretty simple really. For me the improvement in the music is worth the $300.00.
 
The 30 day money back offer makes it a no risk and a system educational event. Try something new in my audio system, enjoy and learn from the experiment and keep or return the product.
 
Steve Eddy has posted about this product without listening to it in his system. I find this approach close minded. Steve makes audio cables for a living. I could buy one of his cables with genuine "French Silk" material and with a 30 day money back policy. This does not seem different than Synergistic Research's marketing policy or return policy.
 
I hope headphone lovers will attend the SoCal CanJam March 28 and29 and take the opportunity to hear the Headphone Transducer for themselves.
 
I look forward to meeting CURRAWONG  and others at the convention. I hope Steve Eddy will bring his headphone cables to the meet so we all can try them. I would like to see how they compare to my stock cables and my aftermarket cables.
 
David Pritchard
575-644- one-four-six-two

 

[SoupRKnowva]

I have been off  the internet for several days and have now opened this thread to read a lot of posts that are disappointing in their attitude, and lack of civility. As stated many posts earlier, I have a Synergistic Research Headphone Optimized Transducer. I have over fifty hours of listening to my audio system with the Transducer (HOT) in  and out of my system. With both my Sennheiser 800 and Sennheiser 650 headphones, I hear an improvement in the music that to me is significant.

Pretty simple really. For me the improvement in the music is worth the $300.00.

The 30 day money back offer makes it a no risk and a system educational event. Try something new in my audio system, enjoy and learn from the experiment and keep or return the product.

Steve Eddy has posted about this product without listening to it in his system. I find this approach close minded. Steve makes audio cables for a living. I could buy one of his cables with genuine "French Silk" material and with a 30 day money back policy. This does not seem different than Synergistic Research's marketing policy or return policy.

I hope headphone lovers will attend the SoCal CanJam March 28 and29 and take the opportunity to hear the Headphone Transducer for themselves.

I look forward to meeting CURRAWONG  and others at the convention. I hope Steve Eddy will bring his headphone cables to the meet so we all can try them. I would like to see how they compare to my stock cables and my aftermarket cables.

David Pritchard
575-644- one-four-six-two

The difference being that Steve eddy doesn't make any claims about what his cables will do to your headphones soundstage or any other such nonsense, specially not after its confirmed that it is just two adapters with wires connecting them.

He just sells well built cables for a reasonable price, you can tell he doesn't believe in any of that stuff since he "just" uses OFC instead of %99.9999999 whatever OCC coper

 

[bigshot]

David Pritchard, do you work for Synergistic Research?
 
By the way, Steve Eddy wasn't the one who arranged this. It was a mutual friend of ours who is an engineer. We're just sharing the info he shared with us. I think it's interesting that you have focused on Steve Eddy and think it's a good idea to drag his business into this. He makes no claim about how his cables sound. He just says they are pretty and function properly. His business is irrelevant to the discussion we are having here.
 
Would you like to discuss my business? I work in the entertainment business and have supervised recording sessions, sound editing and sound mixing for CDs, TV series and specials, rock videos, commercials, and a feature film. I have worked as a producer and post production supervisor for over 25 years. I say this gadget is a useless gaffe. Feel free to comment on my personal business.

 

[Steve Eddy]

I'm genuinely curious about what evidence is needed to dismiss something as being snake oil, if this doesn't do it.

I guess we'll have to give a sample of the mystery material to the FBI's George Wilbur so he can identify it using his Hewlett-Packard model model 5710A dual column gas chromatograph with flame anayzation detectors.

se

 

[zachchen1996]

As stated many posts earlier, I have a Synergistic Research Headphone Optimized Transducer. I have over fifty hours of listening to my audio system with the Transducer (HOT) in  and out of my system. With both my Sennheiser 800 and Sennheiser 650 headphones, I hear an improvement in the music that to me is significant.

Pretty simple really. For me the improvement in the music is worth the $300.00.

 

[bigshot]

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

 
I'd be happy to clear that up for you...
 
The outside of the female socket is a protective covering. It's grounded along with the rest of the socket, only the two leads that carry the Left and Right signal are hot and they are inside. It's a protective shell to cover the leads so they don't get bumped. Someone has done a craft project, gluing sand to the outside of this shell. They've also attached little strips of foil to the wires. None of these things alter the signal path. They're just decorations on the outside of the protective case of the jack. They can't do anything, because they are glued to the outside of the jack, not the inside where the Left and Right leads are exposed.
 
If you want to try this same thing at home and see how it works for you, put a box of dirt on top of your CD player and scotch tape some little flags of Reynolds Wrap to the insulation of the interconnects on the back of it. Make sure none of it touches any bare wires. It might do something then (short out the connections so the plug doesn't work at all!)

 

[bigshot]

  No interest in a peanut butter coated 1/4" TRS to test.......

 
Make sure that you price your peanut butter over $300! Synthetic Research just learned that their price point was too low. If they had priced it at $800 me and my buddy might not have been able to afford to cut it open and void our return privileges. If you make a useless gizmo with about 75 cents worth of inert parts inside, for goodness sakes don't price it affordably. If you do that, everyone will be cutting it open and shooting pictures of it and revealing the emperor's nakedness on the internet!

 

[bigshot]

  I'm genuinely curious about what evidence is needed to dismiss something as being snake oil, if this doesn't do it.
 
Should be a waking call for some.

 
There is a lesson here even for people who smelled a rat on this "product" from the very start... It's clear that for some audiophiles there is *no* acceptable level of evidence that will make them realize that their subjective impressions might not be a good reflection of reality. We have one poster here who has seen the blatantly obvious tear down photos and is "waiting to audition it for himself" and another who has seen clearly that this is an inert plug extender who still believes that it is a "major improvement in all areas of headphone performance". That's like a husband coming home and finding his wife in bed with another man and brushing it off saying, "Well maybe they were both sleepy and that was the only bed available..."
 
The real lesson here is how pervasive and how deeply entrenched outright fakery is in the high end audio business. It doesn't matter if the snake oil comes with a 30 day guarantee, it's still snake oil. Those who are interested in getting good sound out of their systems should take this as an object lesson to learn from. The things it teaches us is that subjective descriptions of "major improvements" like "tighter bass, better detail, extended decay of notes, and improved soundstage" can be based on nothing but expectation bias. A subjective impression isn't proof that a product is worthwhile... it's a claim that requires supporting evidence as proof.
 
This is a 14k gold plated example of expectation bias in action. It's also a 14k gold plated example that high end audio manufacturers and dealers are not necessarily your friends, even if they smile and act polite while they are cashing your check. If I had even a scrap of faith left in stereo salesmen, the first thing I would do is to check to see if any dealer I do business with stocks products by Synergistic Research. If they do, I would send them an email with a link to this thread. If they still list Synergistic Research products in their catalog in 30 days, I would make it a point to never do business with them again.
 

  The 30 day money back offer makes it a no risk and a system educational event.

Boy howdy! You can say that again!
 
By the way... would you be willing to refund me the $300 for the HOT in the photo? I've gotten all the learning from of this educational event that I possibly can now.
 
(not expecting to get a "yes" on that)
 
I'm hoping the $300 loss taken on this little tear down project opens other people eyes and helps them save tens of thousands of dollars. If it does, it's worth it.

 

[Claritas]

The difference being that Steve eddy doesn't make any claims about what his cables will do to your headphones soundstage or any other such nonsense, specially not after its confirmed that it is just two adapters with wires connecting them.

He just sells well built cables for a reasonable price, you can tell he doesn't believe in any of that stuff since he "just" uses OFC instead of %99.9999999 whatever OCC copper

If only hadn't made any objective-sounding claims, you'd be fine with it, maybe give it a try. Good on you for keeping an open mind.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Make sure that you price your peanut butter over $300! Synthetic Research just learned that their price point was too low. If they had priced it at $800 me and my buddy might not have been able to afford to cut it open and void our return privileges. If you make a useless gizmo with about 75 cents worth of inert parts inside, for goodness sakes don't price it affordably. If you do that, everyone will be cutting it open and shooting pictures of it and revealing the emperor's nakedness on the internet!

 
Now someone just needs to examine their other products, ranging from a few bucks to five figures.
 
This is actually the first release by the company that I never took seriously. At least some of their product lines (such as Galileo LE) have a stellar reputation among certain groups of affluent audiophiles, but as you so eloquently stated below, such stature warrants scrutiny.
 

A subjective impression isn't proof that a product is worthwhile... it's a claim that requires supporting evidence as proof.

 
This just might be the ultimate truth in the audio industry.

 

[bigshot]

If only hadn't made any objective-sounding claims, you'd be fine with it, maybe give it a try. Good on you for keeping an open mind. 

 
Speaking for myself... If I wanted pretty cables, I would buy pretty cables. I have pretty sterling silver knives and forks to eat with, but they don't work any different than my everyday stainless. I don't understand your point.

 

[bigshot]

   
Now someone just needs to examine their other products, ranging from a few bucks to five figures.

 
You can do that with your own money this time! We've taken the fall for your benefit once, don't expect us to deliberately lose money again!
 
Personally, I wouldn't give this guy another penny. If he is willing to do it once, he'll do it again. Credibility is zero in my book.

 

[esldude]

  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.

Yes, I had exactly the same idea about crossfeed and such.  Also have the matching idea that if this isn't enough to dismiss a product as snake oil is anything?
 
I believe that for a considerable number of well heeled audiophiles the answer is nothing will convince.  If they put it in, get a subjective listening impression then nothing changes their mind.
 
Wish I had the link handy, but a DIY audio forum had a huge long running thread about some expensive filters.  They were tested by professionals in every way imaginable up into the gigahertz range.  Then cut open and there is nothing in it either.  Tested exactly like the nothing it was.  The claim is one of those quantum level effects.  And even then at least as many defended the product as 'sounding clearly better' as derided it.  That product is still available for sale some few years after that thread. 
 
So the wake up call works both ways.  Don't think you can convince people with facts when they have built a subjective experience at odds with what is physically impossible.   The more cynical need to study this situation and use a different more effective approach.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  You can do that with your own money this time! We've taken the fall for your benefit once, don't expect us to deliberately lose money again!
 
Personally, I wouldn't give this guy another penny. If he is willing to do it once, he'll do it again. Credibility is zero in my book.

 
Yeah, I understand how this HOT thing destroyed their credibility for you. It's just that, until now, at least some of their products garnered consistent satisfaction from a significant number of users to the point of arousing my interest...which makes me all the more curious about testing out said products the proper way. Looks like if I ever want to do so, I'll stand to lose far more than a few hundred dollars.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Speaking for myself... If I wanted pretty cables, I would buy pretty cables. I have pretty sterling silver knives and forks to eat with, but they don't work any different than my everyday stainless. I don't understand your point.

That's more what I was getting at yes