The 'Interface' - Steve Eddy?

[shuang]

I stumbled across a device called 'The Interface' at www.q-audio.com

It makes some interesting claims:

"Designed specifically for high-performance, high-resolution home audio and/or home theater systems, the InterFace addresses the inherent weak link common to virtually all single-ended (RCA) interfaces; the tying together of the power and signal reference grounds of each component via the interconnect's ground lead/shield.

The InterFace very effectively addresses this problem by eliminating the common ground path between single-ended components so that each component references only its own local ground. The result? Each component is allowed to operate at its optimum, allowing you to hear what your system is truly capable of."

I don't really understand that some device like this could really help, especially at the listed price of $US575.

I tried a Google search but can find no information or reviews to back up its claims.

Seems to be associated with a Steve Eddy who I see posting often in this forum? Beyond giving some useful DIY advice, he seems to have penchant for dissing other products like Bybees that he has no personal experience with.

Not sure what makes his product any different? In fact maybe they are competitors, since each seems to make claims to improve the quality of a line-level signal passing through it? At least I can find considerable reviews / posts backing the Bybee claims.

Has anyone had experience good or bad with this product?

[SY]

I haven't used Steve's product, but I have used the guts of it, the Jensen balanced input transformers. They work as advertised. And unlike the Bybee stuff, they're based on sound science and engineering and produce a measurable (and in the case of my system, audible) difference.

And, no, I haven't tried every perpetual motion machine or healing crystal out there. But they're sold on the basis of LOTS of testimonial evidence; there's no shortage of gullible people out there. Credophilia lives and multiplies.

[dhaen]

Of course like all good salesmen, the figures he quotes are the best his can do vs the worst others are likely to do, so the results will vary from installation to installation.
This does not detract from the fact that there will be a real improvement.
The same, or better improvement could be gotten by employing real balanced interconnects (properly done), rather than Steve's pseudo's. His solution is however, elegant.

[millwood]

Originally posted by shuang
Has anyone had experience good or bad with this product?

The InterFace untilizes ... 3/8" thick Bolivian rosewood compression-coupled ....

(emphasise mine)

No need to try, shuang. How dare its inventor even think about using Bolivian rosewood in high-end audio? After reading the chip amp forum for 10 seconds, any half-serious audiophile will realize that only egyptian maplewood can reproduce sound to the true satisfaction of all audiophiles within twenty million milky way years.

[dhaen]

Millwood,

You dissappoint me That you can find nothing better to critisize than the case material. I could find no reference to the wood making any difference other than the appearance.

Where's the slightly abrasive and rational wit that we have come to know and love? If the engineering has shortcomings, why not attack that

Ah, I know the problem: Steve should have used MillWood

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by shuang
Seems to be associated with a Steve Eddy who I see posting often in this forum? Beyond giving some useful DIY advice, he seems to have penchant for dissing other products like Bybees that he has no personal experience with.

What I "diss" are BS technical claims. You don't need personal experience with something to address BS technical claims. And so far, there's not a shred of technical evidence backing up any of Bybee's technical claims.

Not sure what makes his product any different? In fact maybe they are competitors, since each seems to make claims to improve the quality of a line-level signal passing through it? At least I can find considerable reviews / posts backing the Bybee claims.

So what? I can find reviews/posts backing up Peter Belt's claims that placing photographs of yourself in your freezer will make your system sound better.

The efficacy of line level isolation transformers has been proved technically for nearly a century now. It's not as if these things are anything new. But again, there's not a shred of technical evidence supporting any of Bybee's claims.

I don't consider Bybee any sort of competitor and have never advised anyone against trying them for themselves nor have I ever impugned anyone for using them. If using Bybee's products results in someone getting more enjoyment from their system, I say great!

I just think it hurts this industry as a whole when manufacturers market their products using BS technical claims. And just because I might address the BS technical claims made by a manufacturer doesn't mean I think the product itself is worthless.

In the past I've addressed the BS technical claims made by Eichmann concerning his Bullet Plugs and I still think the claims are BS. But I actually like the Bullet Plugs as a product and in fact I'll be using them for a new product I'm working on.

se

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by dhaen
The same, or better improvement could be gotten by employing real balanced interconnects (properly done), rather than Steve's pseudo's.

Sorry, you lost me here. My pseudo what? I'm not making any interconnects at this time.

se

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by dhaen
Ah, I know the problem: Steve should have used MillWood

Ouch!

se

[dhaen]

Originally posted by Steve Eddy


Sorry, you lost me here. My pseudo what? I'm not making any interconnects at this time.

se

I was referring to the effect that your transformer balancing has on unbalanced cables. My mind inserted the term Pseudo-balanced. Technically accurate or not, the system is neither balanced or unbalanced.

[Steve Eddy]

Originally posted by dhaen
I was referring to the effect that your transformer balancing has on unbalanced cables. My mind inserted the term Pseudo-balanced. Technically accurate or not, the system is neither balanced or unbalanced.

Ah, thanks.

I don't recall claiming that the InterFace balances anything. I've only said that it can provide better common-mode rejection than typical electronically balanced interfaces even when fed from an unbalanced source. Which it can. And not because it balances anything, but because the common-mode rejection of a transformer isn't affected to the same degree by source impedance imbalances as typical balanced inputs are.

se