ADDC: "measure the unmeasurable"!?

[UnixMan]

Have a look at this site:

Measure not measurable signals with the greatest precision

This guy claims to be able to measure signal differences produced by a number of things that subjectivists claims are audible, but (until now?) nobody have ever been able to detect with any instrument (things such as effect of audio cables, power-plugs insertion direction, etc).

Have a look at these incredible results:

Facts and figures

If these extraordinary claims/results are true and trustworthy, this may be a real revolution in the audio world!

More info from the site (not much, unfortunately):

How the ADDC measure works

F.A.Q.

[Conrad Hoffman]

I've been measuring the unmeasurable for decades. This is just marketing BS because it doesn't describe what the measurement is. A heck of a lot of words that might impress somebody somewhere, but very little actual content. He says another site is coming, so I wouldn't get too excited until that shows up with a real explanation.

[wwenze]

Nordost promised something that can measure differences in a cable.

We are still waiting...

Why the ADDC measure should give better results than all the other ones which are already used in the audio, video, medical and other fields?

This is already a dead giveaway that this is audiophile bull. It is supposedly useful in the money-sucking medical industry, yet the creator decides to market it as an audio product first.

And also, the mastery of the English language on that page...

[UnixMan]

Originally Posted by Conrad Hoffman

I've been measuring the unmeasurable for decades.

interesting. What kind of measures have you done? Can we see some results?

Originally Posted by Conrad Hoffman

This is just marketing BS because it doesn't describe what the measurement is. A heck of a lot of words that might impress somebody somewhere, but very little actual content.

very little actual content, indeed. But figures with results does look quite impressive, don't you think so?

If it really works "as advertised", one may make some real money out of it. Can you blame him if he don't want to give it away for free telling too much on a web page?

Originally Posted by wwenze

This is already a dead giveaway that this is audiophile bull. It is supposedly useful in the money-sucking medical industry, yet the creator decides to market it as an audio product first.

And also, the mastery of the English language on that page...

There is no product to speak of. The author did it in his spare time as a hobby project, and did it for audio. I guess that only later he have recognized that his work may find useful applications in other fields too. AFAIK, he's still trying to find a way to market it...

[Conrad Hoffman]

Here's some cap comparisons for you using a differential bridge method- Measured Differences Between Capacitors for Audio Applications Wander the rest of my site if you like as well.

I find differential comparisons are the most powerful tool. Done right, there are almost no limitations in resolution. The two generalizations I can make (and I hate generalizations) are that no two electrical components or completed systems are so identical that I can't tell them apart by measurements, and it usually doesn't matter near as much as people like to claim.

The mistake most people make is assuming the usual measurements they hear about like response and THD are the only ones possible. The ways of examining signals and transfer functions are almost unlimited.

[mickeymoose]

As my eyes (never mind my ears) glazed over I was hard pressed to find out what ADDC stands for.
As most of these "audiogurus" do not play a musical instrument why would they care about distortion. I am, however and forever, left to ponder the THD+N on my violin
Help! E

[SY]

Originally Posted by UnixMan

very little actual content, indeed. But figures with results does look quite impressive, don't you think so?

No, I don't think so. As you said, content-free.

[revboden]

Measuring everything on the technical side of sound reproduction is easy. The thing that is hard to mesure is personal preferences.

[DF96]

I'm sure we can forgive him the weak English, as it is not his mother tongue. However, pages of content-free woffle would presumably be much the same in his native Italian. Or did all the information somehow escape during translation?

My guess is that this is some sort of input-output comparison (Hafler test?). Almost everything seen will be due to filtering. Once that has been compensated away, what is left can be difficult to interpret because differences which annoy us and differences we don't notice can look the same to a meter or a computer.

[simon7000]

Originally Posted by wwenze

Nordost promised something that can measure differences in a cable.

We are still waiting...

Audioxpress November 2009