Some HOT Science From Synergistic Research

[SunTanScanMan]

  is this legal? in france consumers are protected from that kind of ambiguous warranties, and usually time of delivery(provided by the delivery service) will be what makes the clock ticking, not the buyer, not the seller. I like those guys more and more each day. what amazon does is the right way, or else you don't pretend you have a 30days return policy.
 

just to be clear do you think those also shouldn't be dismissed?

 
 
or this

 
 
 
the crystals will be what? well who cares. that is the answer. 
they are around the conducting components. the signal just like my fellow frenchmen will always take the path of least resistance and never go through those crystals. but maybe you think that is also just speculation from a guy on the internet?
and even if I went wild on the open mindness here, let's say the signal somehow does wander around those crystal, if it's quartz, then it will do what? vibrate? let's say it does, the way they are, without a special shape/cut, the vibrations from each rock would be random uncontrolled frequencies. so you can't even make this pass for the water frequency hoax we have in another topic.
and what would a mechanical micro vibration do to the sound in our headphone?
if having the cable to micro vibrate is good for sound, maybe I should just buy one of those and put it on the top of my amp?


not only do they vibrate, but they do in rhythm ^_^

 
A thought which struck me just now seeing products such as above, is to what extent we can see the consumer as part of the problem. Much of the discussions of this thread, including myself has focused on the company (justifiably in most respects) designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling such products. However, it also follows that people are buying these products. There must be 'music lovers' who in their minds try to attain the last ounce of sonic quality by attaching metal cups to the walls and rocks to cables. I'm guessing they don't have any furniture in their rooms lest they bounce the sound away... How do these people even attend music concerts in halls, without going insane thinking about how the violins don't have dust sprinkled on them, and that other people's ears must be eating the sounds which otherwise they would hear...
 
I would be equally critical upon such consumers' habits. Perhaps even more so than companies making such products? The market provides what the consumer wants right? I guess this is within a certain degree... I don't doubt the influence of marketing and advertising, as well as peer culture. All this overthinking is slightly unsettling.

 

[bigshot]

  Well, it is being sold by an established company who are staking their reputation in part on it

 
SPIT TAKE! Holy cow! You have to be kidding. They have an entirely new reputation now!

 

[bigshot]

Has anyone else noticed that Synthetic Research is absent from this thread after one post? If any of you participate in any other audio forums, please copy my picture here and post it with a link to the product page. I think other people should know about this. Don't you?

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Has anyone else noticed that Synthetic Research is absent from this thread after one post? If any of you participate in any other audio forums, please copy my picture here and post it with a link to the product page. I think other people should know about this. Don't you?

 
I've never heard of Synthetic Research.

 

[castleofargh]

  A thought which struck me just now seeing products such as above, is to what extent we can see the consumer as part of the problem. Much of the discussions of this thread, including myself has focused on the company (justifiably in most respects) designing, manufacturing, marketing and selling such products. However, it also follows that people are buying these products. There must be 'music lovers' who in their minds try to attain the last ounce of sonic quality by attaching metal cups to the walls and rocks to cables. I'm guessing they don't have any furniture in their rooms lest they bounce the sound away... How do these people even attend music concerts in halls, without going insane thinking about how the violins don't have dust sprinkled on them, and that other people's ears must be eating the sounds which otherwise they would hear...
 
I would be equally critical upon such consumers' habits. Perhaps even more so than companies making such products? The market provides what the consumer wants right? I guess this is within a certain degree... I don't doubt the influence of marketing and advertising, as well as peer culture. All this overthinking is slightly unsettling.

sure people are as much part of the problem as sellers, I remember Currawong telling me that people who want to spend money will do so anyway. and sadly he is most probably right about that.
people who are weak to something(I'm very weak to pringles myself) need be protected. or else we also can go with natural selection, but I think we gave up on that in modern society ^_^.
when a friend goes to buy a second hand car, if she or he doesn't know anything, you will go with your friend to make sure it's a legit transaction and the car actually has an engine, 4 wheels and proper papers to go with it. it's a very natural thing to do.
to me it's the same here, we are not just audiophiles measuring our audio-johnsons with our latest purchase, we are a community and we try to help each other. when I see a fellow headfier buying at great expense something not that great. it's not my problem and I shouldn't care, but I do.

 

[bigshot]

  when a friend goes to buy a second hand car, if she or he doesn't know anything, you will go with your friend to make sure it's a legit transaction and the car actually has an engine, 4 wheels and proper papers to go with it.

 
Do you think Bogart buys a used car by purchasing every one that he hears a single good about online, then driving it for himself, and returning it if he doesn't like it? I sure hope not!

 

[SunTanScanMan]

  sure people are as much part of the problem as sellers, I remember Currawong telling me that people who want to spend money will do so anyway. and sadly he is most probably right about that.
people who are weak to something(I'm very weak to pringles myself) need be protected. or else we also can go with natural selection, but I think we gave up on that in modern society ^_^.
when a friend goes to buy a second hand car, if she or he doesn't know anything, you will go with your friend to make sure it's a legit transaction and the car actually has an engine, 4 wheels and proper papers to go with it. it's a very natural thing to do.
to me it's the same here, we are not just audiophiles measuring our audio-johnsons with our latest purchase, we are a community and we try to help each other. when I see a fellow headfier buying at great expense something not that great. it's not my problem and I shouldn't care, but I do.

I do value very much the forums for discussions and sharing of information for the reasons, and motivations which you stated. To that end, my previous comment was NOT intended as a criticism of these said motivations to help fellow community members. Like you I do not advocate 'natural selection', and anyhow we do have laws which protects and upholds consumer rights at some level.
 
But I feel that at a certain point, responsibility must fall upon the individual consumer for their actions (e.g. the onus on them to expand their knowledge either through research or mistakes). The state or an expert cannot lead them by the hand everywhere. For there are countless examples in these forums where facts and explanations only go so far, and are even counterproductive. If we take your analogy of accompanying your friend when purchasing a second hand car - should you expect them to require your help in order to determine whether a racing stripe down the middle of the car will make it go faster?
 
Related to this, what I described as unsettling in my previous comment was that if we agree of the symbiotic relationship between the consumer and the manufacturer, then the accountability for the existence of snake oil is MUCH LESS obvious. That is, the consumer must have blame too. I find this very unsettling to consider.  
 
Then there is the possibility that the consumers' motivations for buying such products are not sound quality at all, but something else - 'comparing audio-johnsons' (says me with 4 headphones

) / peace of mind of satisfying a curiosity / peace of mind of satisfying a placebo / peace of mind.... etc  - then I find this unsettling, particularly in an audio forum.
 
 
 
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I do tend to overthink once I get started, so apologies if this has veered WAY off topic (Btw who's protecting you from pringles? In fact, who's protecting us all from pringles for that matter? Because I find that once I pop, I can't stop

)
 
Edit: added 'NOT' in first sentence.

 

[bigshot]

Too many people rely on advertorial and high price tags to determine quality, instead of using their own brains.

 

[Music Alchemist]

(Btw who's protecting you from pringles? In fact, who's protecting us all from pringles for that matter? Because I find that once I pop, I can't stop

)

 
My own body protects me from Pringles, since it can't handle junk food like it used to. I enjoy the taste, but quickly begin to feel sick. =/

 

[Billheiser]

  Well, it is being sold by an established company who are staking their reputation in part on it. ...

If it were being sold by Sennheiser or Sony or McIntosh or Wilson or Audeze or a hundred other companies, it would be more interesting.  But Synergistic Research is a company, IMO, without a good reputation.  Pretty much all their products are mysterious and are marketed with double talk that never amounts to a coherent or plausible explanation.   You have to have faith in them first before their products work for you.  That's not how real products work.  Read their circular, jargon-y marketing copy about their "Quantum Tunneling", etc., and you'll see it's gibberish.  It does effectively induce some people to buy their products.  Insert the famous P.T. Barnum quote here.

 

[bigshot]

  If it were being sold by Sennheiser or Sony or McIntosh or Wilson or Audeze or a hundred other companies, it would be more interesting.

 
The absolute WORST recorded jitter in any consumer audio product ever was a McIntosh product, so even with those names you can't be sure.

 

[bigshot]

  I've never heard of Synthetic Research.

I only know them by reputation. (smiley here)

 

[castleofargh]

 

(Btw who's protecting you from pringles? In fact, who's protecting us all from pringles for that matter? Because I find that once I pop, I can't stop

)

 
My own body protects me from Pringles, since it can't handle junk food like it used to. I enjoy the taste, but quickly begin to feel sick. =/

I'm not the one buying groceries so I'm not in control at all. if I was living in a big city I could go and try to get a dealer in the street at night when I'm going cold turkey, but I'm living in a very small village and the closest pringles provider is 30mn away by car and my hands are shaking too much to drive when I'm in need for more.
after spending years living right next to 2 stores, it feels like rehab.
hello my name is castleofargh and I am an addict. I didn't have any kind of pringles in 3days!

 

[Billheiser]

   
The absolute WORST recorded jitter in any consumer audio product ever was a McIntosh product, so even with those names you can't be sure.

OK but they've been around for 50 years with well-regarded products, that generally come with both good sound and good specifications.  You can reverse engineer them to see how they work, and be impressed.  And no claims of mysterious substances.   

 

[Head Injury]

 
I'm not the one buying groceries so I'm not in control at all. if I was living in a big city I could go and try to get a dealer in the street at night when I'm going cold turkey, but I'm living in a very small village and the closest pringles provider is 30mn away by car and my hands are shaking too much to drive when I'm in need for more.
after spending years living right next to 2 stores, it feels like rehab.
hello my name is castleofargh and I am an addict. I didn't have any kind of pringles in 3days!

Just keep one of the cans from your next purchase, and put other brands of chips in it. As long as you don't look while you're eating, you should be able to convince yourself that what's inside tastes great!