Funniest snake oil theories

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jan.didden

jan.didden

AX tech editor
Joined 2002
linearaudio.net
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DavidL said:
"I am always amused by tests, supposedly conducted under rigorous conditions, that purport to "prove" what many of us hear regardless of the "proof." It is as though statistical analysis could possibly replace one's visceral and emotional reactions to music."
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Boy, that's bad! He has no clue, AND can't reason. Mixing up apples and bycicles. And people READ him??

jan
 
fas42

fas42

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Joined 2012
mr_push_pull said:
tell me about it. during the course of a random conversation a friend ask me if I can fix his broken HDMI cable. I'm like... come again, please? he looks very surprised and I'm really not getting it. I tell him that the probability of finding a HDMI connector at the local parts store is zero and likely no-one actually sells such thing, because it's kinda difficult to solder so many close and thin wires and a new cable is less than $10. he looks at me confused and says "but I read that there's no way you can get a decent one under $80".
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Just to set everyone's mind at rest - I've mentioned my el cheapo Aldi TV music setup several times, which does some things remarkably well if I take sufficient care - it uses a HDMI cable between Blu-ray player and set ... and this is the cheapest one from local DIY electronics store, Jaycar. About $10, no-name, in a bare plastic bag ...
 
fas42

fas42

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Joined 2012
DF96 said:
Don't confuse precision instrumentation with domestic audio; audio is much simpler. Audio is not supposed to be sensitive to its environment, so to the extent that it is sensitive it is poorly designed/built - whatever the price tag. This might be expected in very cheap stuff where quality is not a major consideration, but it should not be a problem in better systems. The fact that it can be a problem is a sign of weakness, not strength.

I may build some DIY audio for myself and for simplicity choose to omit RF filters; I then may suffer the consequences. I would not expect good quality commercial audio to omit RF filters then claim that the resultant sensitivity to the RF environment and fussiness about cable quality is somehow a positive feature and a sign of 'fine discrimination' - yet this is what sometimes happens.
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Much simpler? The fact that controversy has raged for decades, about what's important, and what's not, seems to imply the opposite ...

IME virtually all audio is sensitive to its environment. Granted, I've 'learnt' to be more sensitive to some quality factors than seemingly many other people, but this has helped me to understand where a system needs to "go" to subjectively come across as realistic, and natural - rather than just hifi.

Fussiness is definitely a negative - however, making an audio system truly robust in the face of factors which so easily add audible artifacts is no trivial exercise, I've found ...
 
fas42

fas42

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Joined 2012
It appears that everyone listens to playback in different ways, noticing qualities in the sound which the person next to him is completely oblivious of ... and vice versa. So, the importance of aspects which influence sound are going to be highly variable, one person to the next ... your "important" may never be someone else's "important" ...

For example, many people here seem to be very sensitive to FR imperfections ... for myself, it's the presence of unsavoury, disturbing distortion artifacts ...
 
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