5 DUMB THINGS Audiophiles Believe!
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- Опубліковано 30 кві 2024
- #audiophile #dumb #hifi
5 Reasons your HIFI sucks!: • 5 Reasons Your HiFi SU...
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My favorite audio tweak is wine, three or four glasses of it. I suggest you spend minimum $20 per bottle though.
Try bourbon, you only need one!
Liquid tone control. Works every time.
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Beer, or gin and tonic, for me.
There’s some good quality wine in the $12 range
I don’t care what anyone says. I’m enjoying my Sith Audio Audiophile Coaster. It helps to isolate the glass so that the bass energy doesn’t get lost in my drink. My system sounds very musical now.
Not to mention your drink stays fizzier for much longer. That alone is worth the investment, even before the sonic improvements it makes to the system.
Yeah, yeah, rub it in. We can't all afford fancy coasters.
I've tried other coasters, but until I tried the Sith Audio version I was never a believer. Now I'm looking to spend even more than the $99 (I got it during the Labor Day sale) I spent on the Sith.
Theres been fake ones going around and less it's made with the patented s quark, you my friend have been had. The s quark design features a 80/20 density to air ratio that is only obtainable by a unique manufacturing process called "squarking" so if you have a fake one I believe it's all in your head.
Yep 🤦♀️😆
Not only Speaker placement can have substantial impact on sound quality but objects near the speakers can play a role, buddy of mine was going crazy when he couldn’t figure out a slightly distracting noise he was picking up from his stereo, said he tried everything he could think of before asking me to come over and give a listen, poor guy was in tears ready to buy a new system so I go over and he cranks it up after going around the room to each speaker I bust out laughing and tell him the problem it was a little glass figurine sitting near one speakers picking up vibration causing it to rattle Ahahahaahah!
So, not a "Golden Ear" then?
This is funny, and I have a similar story. I was painting a room, so I had everything pulled away from the walls, masking where needed, and when I am all done, I had the kids help me peel off the masking. I replace everything once the paint was dry and go about my business. A few days later, I turn on my stereo and it sounds like one of my woofers is blown out... a fluttering rasp as if the foam was shot. Grille comes off to inspect and everything is fine. What the hell? Turns out my 3 year old had stuck a small piece of masking tape in the rear port, and it was fluttering like the reeds on a two-stroke carb. That 3 year old is now 18 and he's totally into music. Because of that story being told over the years, his listening space is completely sterile... nothing stays in the room that isn't glued down. He's a bit obsessive about it, and I have considered some harmless sabotage as payback.
@@MJLUCEY-sd1mqwell, he did pick it up tho… sooo….
Similar issue at my buddies place. Had a very distracting noise when trying to listen. Tried several things.. cranked the volume and that helped some but could still hear it. Finally, put his bratty kids outside and everything sounded good.
@@user-nw4uf6lg3t 😂😂😂👍
Being a audio engineer i always chuckle when "audiophiles" buy gold cables, knowing that the signal runs through hundreds of meters of plain audio cables during recording and mixing
The quality of the signal is cumulative. So just because the studio degraded the signal, does not mean that the person in their home should degrade it further.
Also, the studios do not use hundreds of meters of plain audio cables. Perhaps there are exceptions. But their "plain audio cables" are not available in Walmart or Home Depot.
My ear tells me which cables are better than other cables, just as my ear tells me which speakers are better than other speakers.
The notion that cables do not matter tells me that @cryptogaming9935 is either lying about being an audio engineer, or he is the reason that so many great songs are released by studios with sub-par sound quality.
I knew a guy once with (arguably) more money than brains. He had *at least* 50K in his system at the time, but rarely played it because he could always find "one more thing" that he wanted to improve -- and once he identified what it was that needed an upgrade, it bugged him so much that his system became "unlistenable" until he bought the new thing. Rinse, lather, and repeat and it's quite easy to see how he had so much invested in his gear.
I knew that there was no test I could perform that would convince him otherwise (his system, by this point, was quite good and incredibly enjoyable to listen to). It was sad, actually, because what should've been an enjoyable experience had turned into a perpetual exercise in frustration for him. From then onward, I've gone with the mantra that the best system is one that's being listened to. They all sound the same when they're powered off.
Been there and done that !
In the end I realised I was obsessed with audio quality and lost the enjoyment of the music I was so passionate about.
Now I am enjoying my music with an IPhone and earbuds with a Bluetooth speaker for the home.
@@TrevorDodd-ev1sxthat's all it takws. My best system is my car stereo. 😁
Yes I have the T-shirt, but thankfully recognized my illness that had become obsessive, so pulled the plug on buying upgrades, my ex used to call it 'Upgradeitus' never a better description in my opinion, always chasing that elusive ultimate part that will make your system better than ever lol, easy to fall into that trap, the first sign of it is watching UA-cam videos about a new better than ever Amplifier, or a brand new version of a pair of speakers you've always wanted, then having bought those supa dupa speakers, then you suddenly realize you need to upgrade your speaker cables to get the best out of your new supa dupa speakers 😅😅 on and on it goes 👍
yep just like all woman look the same with the lights turned off.
The funny thing is that you think that 50k for a stereo set is some outrageous amount of money. It is not. You all guys are right saying that cables cannot make a difference. In your cheap audio system, they don’t, because there’s no way you can hear a difference in a 5k system (or even a 10k system). I know because I have had a cheap system for most of my life.
But in a real hifi system, rest assured that a lot of things make a difference (while others don’t, for instance hi-res music or 24bit, audiophile ethernet cables, audiophile streamers)
I was kicked out of an audiophile Facebook group for saying someone’s $350 8 feet speaker cables were snake oil. And I have an electrical engineering degree.
@General Lao I can smell buyer's remorse lol
@General Lao if defying laws of physics floats your boat, then be it!
@General Lao Yep, thats what we studied and trained for, unlike you
What is the conductivity of snake oil?
12. Unless of course it's pure vegan snake oil, then it's 42.@@bacarandii
While at uni I had a Saturday job at a top-end HiFi centre, it was the time of overpriced cable becoming a thing, and the commission on these cables was astronomical, one of the tricks was to have a resistor in line with the standard cables to make the boost in gain when the "premium cables were swapped in.
The mumbo jumbo cable sellers sell, is unbelievable !
Are cables important, sure.
But as long as you are playing at regular day to day volumes, a regular 240v cable will be good enough, if it's shielded.
@@Grumpy_old_Boot You dont particularly need to shield a cable carrying 40 Volt signals that wont be amplified.
@@mycosys
It's still good to have shielded loudspeaker cables, especially if they are lying next to some active 240 volt AC cables.
It frustrates me the amount of headphones out there with god awful cables, and to replace them with ones that aren't super stiff or rubbery and awkward to use, you either pay hardly anything and get garbage, or have to pay over $100 for a nice cable that the headphones should have come with. My Sundara has a terrible cable, so does my DT 700 Pro X, and I have a Focal Radiance on the way and I hear even Focal cables aren't very good. The Sennheiser ones like on the HD58X are alright though.
@@Grumpy_old_BootNo amount of shielding will suppress 50/60 Hz AC on a speaker line, sorry. I'm an EMC engineer so I know a few things about this.
YES to your comment on room acoustics. Almost no listener addresses this seriously. Mechanically treating your room acoustics FIRST will save you tons of money in the long run. Good treatment will cost as much or more than a component. That is probably the biggest barrier to investment. So much good stuff in this video. Thanks Ron!
why not just use headphones?
In my opinion, room treatment is the best investment ANYBODY should do before changing anything to their system. It took me 10 years to convince my friend to change his crapy DIY subwoofer driver for good ones and do some room treatment... since we have done all that, he just can't get over how better his system is and how much he loves it now!!! Treat your room people!!!
My favorite was the speaker cable (sold by the meter - no fitted connectors) with little arrows all pointing in one direction. The arrows had to point towards the speakers because "The electrons flow better in this direction". Forgive me if I'm wrong, but speaker signals are AC. And of course I'd be surprised if electrons preferred moving through copper wire in one direction!
It's entirely possible that a cable can be designed and even manufactured with some intentional aspect that allows it to be stated it is directional. So yes it could be legit it being stated. However, this is basic 101 marketing and doesn't mean it bears any difference whatsoever, and likely doesn't.
@@jamesfoo8999Those "aspects" have names. Mostly a "snake oil".
@@jamesfoo8999 nonsense
Arrows on cables are for future reference. One wouldn't wish to run a cable a different direction other to the way it's already been burnt in! I once thought I burnt a cable in the wrong way direction only to discover now that the cable has already been burnt in. I'd be better off leaving it, and in the future, just run it that way.
If one actually experienced the difference, one know why!
Disparaging comments usually come from those for whatever reason are unwilling to take the punt.
@@totalplonker824 The disparaging remarks are coming from intelligent people.
cables matter, capacitors matter, transistors matter speakers meeter, yes DAC is matter, a computer is a matter,cd player is mattered if you have one.......and so on......
For a long time I was struggling to find the perfect sound and could never realize why I was never satisfied. I tried amps, speakers, different audio sources, speaker placement, but nothing was working. Then I realized that as a child I used to hit plastic caps with a hammer. As a teen I went to loud concerts and would headband near the big speakers. In my twenties I attended Formula One races without hearing protection. I realized my hearing just sucks and no piece of equipment is going to make my biological limitations any better!
I think purified air makes everything sound better, less interference with the sound waves. Arctic air is the best, makes the sound crisper and airier.
I use a humidifier to add more weight to the high frequencies! In fact, my EQ system takes humidity into account and will stop and start the AC unit accordingly😄
Hey, if the best water for vodka comes from Arctic ice, I'm with ya 100%.
Do people living closer to the tropics hear things “warmer”?
@@techsamurai11 Bless your electronic don't deteriorate faster. I live in hot and very humid country.
Now I understand the 8 track on my snowmobile sounding so fine.
Fairly new watcher and I do love your videos. This one was hilarious, and you nailed it about the crazy stuff people tend to say or spew on the internet.
Watch any of his videos from 3+ years ago..
Ron, you make excellent points. There are a number of things that do need to be questioned/checked/called out in this thing we all enjoy; called listening to music.
I hope that a discussion will be had - about why more speakers should be designed to play close(r) to the wall - and how this a good thing! For myself, I need good tonal balance with as much bass extension as is reasonably possible - this is personally more important than even soundstage. Though the good news is, I think, that good quality bass and enough bass extension - is part and parcel with good soundstage.
Indeed. I know open baffle speakers and Magnepans or Martin Logans can sound GREAT in the right room where they can be pulled out far, but most people don't have that "right room"...Or even if they do, there is too much risk in leaving such speakers out if you have pets or children that might topple them.
@@rosswarren436 Yes, open baffle speakers are necessarily different than most other types of speakers. For lack of a better name "box speakers" can be designed to work "with" room lift, and therefore can (or need to) be placed closer to the wall. This can avoid a bass hump or boom that can result with a speakers that is designed to be placed far(ther) from the wall.
@@NeilBlanchard Sadly, I wished most speaker manufacturers will revisit the acoustic Suspension design. I have a pair of vintage ADS speakers that are just that, and the bass is phenomenal with those. Tight, throaty, but not boomy and with depth. Good example was the day I first played Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on vinyl no less and never heard Mick's drum kit so cleanly, clearly etc than I did that day when the speakers were first installed into my system. Even the, that was with the old BPC receiver, but they do better with a slightly older NAD 7240 receiver (they are 6 Ohm speakers). All I have done is put them up off the floor on milk crates so are about 15" off the floor. The big complaints from others likely stems from them being right on the floor is they can be boomy (the L810 "bookshelf" speakers).
I've heard Audio Note speakers at NY Audio Show a few weeks ago. They are actually supposed to be placed by the wall and close to the corner as well... Very good presentation in a barely treated hotel room...
@@johnhpalmer6098 Arendal. Anyone?
I have a great audio system, but my room sucks.
I placed my Bowers & Wilkins 805d3 's as far from the wall as the lady of the house accepts in our living room, technically it is not enough but the sound stage is decent. I also don't have any room treatment in the way most Audiophiles think of, like absorbers en deflectors. But I do have carpets, sofa's, furniture, lamps, potted plants, curtains. 😬
And I have one trick up my sleeve my wife does not realises😁 As a hobby photographer I have made some large canvas prints of some of my own photos, and I have placed 18mm thick felt behind these photos 😅
And because I dont have a separate listening room that's al I can and want to do, because ultimately it is way more important to enjoy the music than breaking my head about the last 1-2 % of sound stage.
Your video on speaker placement changed everything for me years ago and I HIGHLY recommend everyone watch and follow it as it's gospel truth. My Cornwall IV's are about 6' from the back wall in the sweet spot.
I have to say regarding EQ, having a Room Correction system like a MiniDSP makes a world of difference as it adjusts spectrum freqs and timing based on the mic measurements of the room. Of course you can EQ to taste AFTER that room correction but then what you'll find is album to album that tone will vary based on the mastering. While a perfect jazz album may sound beautiful, put on a Todd Rundgren/Utopia album and your top notch system will sound all wrong. So then what? Chase the tone album to album? Maybe.... but it comes with a dash of insanity.
I always thought "Perfect Pitch" was when you threw an accordion into a dumpster and it landed on a banjo!!😂
You don't need perfect pitch to mimic music. Relative pitch is the same skill, but you can't identify the notes, just the relationships. Not only that but after embarking on relative pitch training myself, not only did my musical ability improve, but I found it much easier to discern lyrics and follow baselines and melodies than I did before. In my own experience, training my ear did make it easier to hear details in playback music.
I'm close. Perfect pitch would drive me nuts. Everything would have to be just so. Tuning down a half step wreaks havoc on my note orientation in the worst way. Perfect pitch would bee too much drama.
Training your brain. The ear works the same :)
@@RennieAsh Yes, but not your conscious brain - the auditory cortex has specialised neural hardware dedicated to both pitch and harmonic detection, directly connected to the auditory nerve. Saying ear is a lot easier ;)
When you're trying to tune a room full of instruments together, absolute pitch doesnt matter but gee relative pitch is important XD (Synthesist world problems lol)
Front firing port allows for easy room placement. Reducing problems associated with having the speaker close to the back wall. With that said, most speakers have rear firing ports so that one can depend. Even if it's front firing you don't want it "against" the wall but it definitely doesn't need the distance a rear firing port speaker needs.
Good point! Been building speakers for some time now.Time Arrival is critical.Voice Coil alignment is the way to build speakers without complex crossover designs,that simply try to compensate for the design flaw.
Nothing beats an active system! That is why studios all use monitors with active crossovers!
@@Montreal_Audio_Systems although I imagine the biggest drawback is that it's more expensive. Such crossovers seem to be guaranteed to cost at least $200.
... I still want an active system anyways.
I demand more black and white porch jamming Ron.
I noticed a HUGE improvement when I switched from snake oil to unicorn farts. Taste the rainbow.
I purchased a speaker system for $1500.00 years ago at a high end stereo store. The sales person was talking about the "transparency, the coloration" of the sound. I didn't understand how you can hear all these things that have nothing to do with sound. I brought the speakers home and set them up and played a cd of classical piano and noticed what sounded like a cone rubbing at one note that was playing. I brought it back to the store amd setup the exact cd with the cd at the point where i can hear the cone rub. He couldn't hear it. He can hear the transparency and the coloration but, not a simple cone rub. He did have the speaker replaced just to make me happy.
Cool! btw for info; Perfect Pitch is the ability to recognise specific pitches without reference point. What you described was playing by ear - so someone with PP would not necessarily (e.g.) be able to recreate complex chords and accompaniment and someone with a good ear and good relative pitch might be able to do just that - though if from memory might play it back in a different key. PP is an advantange in some things, a massive advantage in a few niche things, and possibly an annoyance in others (e.g. if playing in a different tuning or using a transpose function).
Thank you for the correction.
@@Newrecordday2013 Thank you for the Video!
My college jazz instructor has perfect pitch and it drove him nuts when we had a chart arranged in a different key than the original he had in his head. He told me that it was an advantage at moments but he’d rather rely on his relative pitch if he had the choice. As a musician I have found it true, not having perfect pitch isn’t a hold back at all. AND, when one ages it can go away…. Relative pitch hangs around, especially if it is a learned skill. Thanks for the comment and putting the correct information out here. 👍
Yep. Also a problem in baroque music with old pitch of a' = 415 Hz vs modern a' = 440 Hz. And then there is scordatura sheet music, which sends PP folks up the wall. Looks like normal music (more or less, never mind sharps *and* flats in the key signature) but is actually a fingering chart. There are advantages of being non-pp.
@@danielgeiger7739 definitely. I used to obsess over that until I understood the down side and realized that just having pp alone doesn’t make someone a musician. Yet the myth persists lol.
My wife left me because she was say'n something about how I listen to music more than I listen to her. I dunno tbh I wasn't really paying attention. However, when she left me she didn't shoot my dog but rather ran over him w/ her car. She later came back and took EVERYTHING from me; she even took the ice trays in the freezer. What kind of a sick b!tch takes the f#cking ice trays??!!
Well she could have recorded her words and you'd certainly listen then, riiiiight?
I never smoke weed ... but when and if I ever do .... Hands down! the best audio tweek money can buy.
How would you know? What strain would that be? What terepenes?
Any drug does this, alcohol (yes, it’s a drug) does the same thing…perception change.
@@cuttinchops nope
@@dyerstrayts1734 please elaborate
@@dyerstrayts1734 yep
As far as speaker placement, do sealed speakers need to be further away from the wall as well? Mine are approximately 18” away due to space limitations.
boundary interference will happen no matter how your speaker is designed
Ha! I was just thinking I needed an equalizer to deal with the issue in my system!
Anyone have any suggestions to right the problem I'm having with my Fluance speakers while being mated to a Topping E30 and Aiyma A07? They sound overly analytical and having little bass.
I haven’t spent much time with fluance speakers lately but I do remember them being very bright when I have heard them. What models do you have?
I am closer to 80 than 70, so I have been around for a while. My favorite bit of idiocy is the idea that cables need "breaking in" to achieve their optimal performance.
All they need is a sufficient gauge to carry the signal and sufficient shielding to not bleed that signal over longer runs....well that, and decent connectors to transfer the signal to the loudspeaker.
Don't forget about the lunacy behind cables that have to have a certain direction to them. The first time I saw that I thought.. do people not really understand how alternating current works. There is no direction!
How about the notion that a specific cable can boost frequencies? "This four-thousand dollar cable can bring out the mids, making female vocals more forward."
That and cryo treatment.
Didn't you know the crystals need to set in the cable?
the one thing that will solve everything is a fallacy that I've fallen into in my journey. Thanks for articulating it so eloquently.
Are you adjusting your room acoustics for the facial hair? … or vice versa?
Serious speaker system developer here. Words can hardly express how much I agree with you on EQing to help correct a deficiency caused from physical design flaws. Correct the deficiency at it's source is most logical. This is the main reason for the practice of R&D. Earlier in your discussion you touched upon a natural ability of my great uncle, perfect pitch+. He could listen to a new complex orchestra performance via radio. Hearing it only once and then play it perfectly on his electronic piano style organ.
I still don't have his specific ability to do that.
I really do enjoy your review videos. As well, your knowledge and experience.
However, once again..
I do believe your points are a bit detached from the reality of most music lover's lives.
A large percentage of music loving people, do not have the luxury of available space to pull speakers out into the room. Or have a dedicated music room.
Most people have to work their music systems in, with very limited options.
Acoustic treatments are often, a path most people can not take: because they rent apartments or rent homes. Or, are not financially feasible.
Some people also have young children, or enthusiastic pet; without the luxury of a dedicated music room.
I have an idea.
How about reviewers, such as yourself: make some suggestions regarding loudspeakers and gear, which would work well ( provide good sound) in real world apartments and homes; in closer proximity to walls.
Seems like that would be a much more productive problem solving path.
Thank you for your time and efforts. Informative and entertaining .
I have to agree a 100% with you many peoples living situations don’t give you an ideal environment have ideal settings most reviews don’t try their set ups in difficult environments. I’d love to see what you would do Ron. I have a 4.2 configuration and it’s amazing but it took a great deal of time and configuration to achieve.
The instant gratification of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) is a tough thing to overcome. It's easy to think that upgrading to the latest/best new piece of gear will do all these wonderful things, but when you've already got good gear, but a bare room with no treatment or placement, you haven't even heard what the gear you currently have is doing. It's not about how much you spend, it's about how you spend
I went thru Guitar Acquisition Syndrome years ago. Terrible disease.
@@hgbucheri feel it, there's still bass guitars I would love to own one day, but i dont play bass enough in any fashion to even consider paying the $4000-8000 for each of them... Especially when im left handed...
Personally speaking, I find the release of GAS to be even more gratifying.
I have PTGAS. Post traumatic gear acquisition syndrome... *shakes uncontrollably*
I have my turntable attached to a cork base which allows me to float it in distilled and ionized water. It’s self leveling (obviously) and is next to my integrated amplifier which has speaker connections utilizing solid copper rods (10mm) to the speakers. I experience very little signal loss because of the copper rods so my speakers receive every frequency known to man… and then some. The speakers have been modified by using a vapor deposition method to apply a super thin coating of titanium, producing compounds of hydrogen along with boron nitride. This gives an outstandingly flexible and yet nimble surface for sound waves to be produced from almost before the signal is received by the speakers themselves. The speakers are suspended over the floor by a series of opposing rare earth industrial magnets. I don’t use a CD player or streaming because I don’t believe in gimmicks.
I really do love the outro music in this video since someone has been listening to Pink Floyd's obscured by clouds and when you're in way too many times and trying to turn it into something even better which you've done the outro music is awesome so where do I find a copy of it I'd like to own that sound and play it in my presence of my own ears thank you very much
The three most important and significant audio tweaks I use are fail safe, fairly simple, reasonably common and readily available, they are mathematically based and scientifically proven, through many year's of blind listening sessions, although these important tweaks are time sensitive and mood dependent, they can be measured quite easily, when perfectly applied in just the right sequence, audio navada can be achieved with or without EQ with the combination of kind Weed, Willie and Whiskey.
The problem about blind test is, you get 20 audio engineering student ABX 20 cable in lecture room and listen to different. But do not tell what to listen for. Start telling everyone no difference, a Z-cord will sound just fine.
Saw that one coming...although I was expecting whiskey first...or wine is some cases. And yes, it is a joke, but yes it actually does make a difference as you relax, it changes how your jaw opens your ear canal among other things. Try listening while clenching your jaw, and then with your mouth open and see if it makes any difference. YMMV...
@@sjhorton1184 yeh blind drunk and slack jawed
I’ve been an audio enthusiast for decades. I had a 10 band EQ in the 80’s because they were popular, could never get the system to sound correct with it. EQ’s used by people with no clue will certainly make your system sound crappy. Set up and yes some room treatments are crucial for how the system will sound. I now have an integrated amp without any tone controls at all. And my system sounds great.
that´s real ,my better system doesn´t have tone controls and sounds perfect in most of the recordings no matter the source type but i have components with a quality that sounds good in flat and being a relative modern tube amplifier didn´t came with a phono input but i bought a chinese tube pre-amp for 35 € and it´s working perfect with one of my turntables using a high output cartridge it delivers a incredible good sound but when younger i had the luck of my father buying a complete Revox system and already having a good system i received the top-end components from the 76 pioneer catalog, that i only when beeing sick of seeing everyday for two decades the grey system in brushed aluminium, in the 90´s i bought a entire new system in colour black and i was better in what concerns to my economical condition so i bought what i thought it was a good system and tried at least 3 till i kept one till today, the equalizer it´s a funny component ,i had a real good equalizer but i almost never connected it ,the funny thing is when using cds for the first time i had to use equalizer or the cd would be the less good sounding component in my system and was a expensive cd player , normally i hear people comenting that did the test of asking some friends to listen to a song and then say wich was the cd and wich was the cassette ,well , normally the cassette always sound better for the fact that if one uses an average cassette deck the sound will become more dynamic and not so compressed as it sounds the cd. I having a lot of music in cd and records when listening to music i always make a recording on cassette with my favorite songs for diferent types of music that i own ,it´s to me more simple to hear first my favorite songs and when wanting to listen to the whole album i hear it but the cassettes are always available when wanting to hear diferent types of music , maybe in 2017 i started to use spotify and made playlists of diferent types of music ,that when i want to hear it´s just a matter of starting my computer and listen to those playlists and with time i change songs on those playlists add or remove songs that are not sounding that good to me because i hear them a lot of times and making the recording of cassettes not so often and when wanting to record one i already improved the list of songs i wanted to hear or by listening to new albums on spotify i started to spend more money on records or cds , but the only deck i tried and found it with enough quality to be heard in direct source was the pioneer CT-93 also the CT-95 but i prefer the CT-93 that uses the design of a tradicional cassette deck and compared to others it as a higher quality output and a wider spectrum of frequencies on the recordings, but in my 76 system i still use a ZX-9 from nakamichi , a pioneer CT-959 and the CT-F1000 that after all these years with regular maintenance still sounds perfect and having a cd player that i recognise as being excelent the PD-73 also have other to my main system with the transport and functions in two modules but i bought it to make cds sound better with my direct amplifier sound ,it´s a CEC or chuodenki i bought in mid 90´s. I remenber at the time friends telling me that the rega cd players are incredible good "you have to try one" , after all these years mine is the only that still works as if it was the first day i used it ,others or are stoped with problems others work but not all cds play there and look real bad ,mine still looks new ,even the PD-73 from pioneer still works perfect and delivers great sound without having to make a repair ,just tune the laser more or less from 10 to 10 years if it needs to be done but being a 80´s cd player now it needs some attention, in 2019 i ask a friend who repairs electronic devices , if it needed a new laser or engine ,he told me that it was still ok but to buy a new laser because when in need of one they stoped being sold but i found one in a componets store for 400€ ,i phoned my friend and asked him if it was that expensive ,he replyed that they are very rare to be found now and in his catalog of parts it costs 300€ and this in a catalog from 2014 ,i bought it but the original one still works perfect after being tuned, equalizer is always needed today with digital sources mainly if one hears rock music ,the guitars need to be improved on the equalizer normally in the 2khz frequency, wich in spotify is a frequency that is played higher ,maybe why it sounds on the amplifier and through some HPM-150 relativelly good
Sound treatment in your room is the most major thing you can do to improve your sound. If people haven't treated their rooms and are blathering about different cables, they have no idea what they are talking about.
What do you think of the Dynaudio 801 Diamond speakers with the Imodium tweeters?
Do they block shitty sound?
@@drh3b ha-ha they make it more solid
I added my second sub this week right beside my other sub, they are the same models. I am moving this sub I think to the other side of the divider between them. HOwever when I plugged them up it sounded horrible. So I played with the gain, checked my crossover then finally reversed the phase to 0 instead of 180 and they hit like they were supposed to. Why did this happen? THey aren't facing each other but are in a corner side by side, for now, is it the air pressure? THey sound great now but that phase really threw me for a loop
A perfect example of sound cancelling. Timing and direction matter.
I caught the audio bug in 1973. Luckily (more or less) I went through most of these phases and have settled down with incremental changes for the past 20 some odd years. I probably wouldn't have changed anything if not for a divorce and being without a system for a few years - heck I probably still wouldn't have a DAC. The part I loved the most about the Mo-Fi "debacle" was all those _golden ears_ who could hear those digital stair steps anywhere apparently missed it here. Bwahaha. Me? Yes, I have cable lifters. *Not because it sounds better.* But, because I have woven cloth covered braided cables and a dog. You try vacuuming/plucking dog fir out of -fur tumbleweed catchers- braided cable for an hour and suddenly those lifters are a godsend. BTW, _orphan hearts_ are still the best option for a properly setup phono stage. Beany baby blood is basically the beyond meat substitute.
Remember in 1973 when building your own DIY speakers was all the rage? If you had a table saw and some plans from Popular Science magazine, or Popular Mechanics, you were in the game.
Built some of my own designs that would have Danny Richie climbing the walls! Did not know about crossover design, driver placement, phase response, and edge diffraction. 2 foot tall cabinets with 12" three way coaxial driver all the way near the floor, and added a horn tweeter all the way near the top. Phase response and comb filtering on those would be terrible! Everyone learns lessons in this hobby and will make mistakes, it is part of the journey, and fun.😏
Now here's a dedicated audiophile.
LMAO! Finally, a practical real-world use for cable lifters! I have a long-haired cat and feel your pain...
Run some tape along them :)
@@zulumax1 I've seen some speakers that had nice woodworking but was really poor in terms of speaker design .
And then there's the speakers that have decent design but never got a coat of paint lol
Hey Ron. Great video and excellent points, though I do have a couple of issues. Regarding eq, I agree that using eq to fix system problems is not a good fix. However, w.r.t. tone controls/loudness compensation, I feel that these circuits, properly designed, can enhance the enjoyment of recordings needing a bit of fixing (tone controls) and making listening at low levels (loudness comp) more enjoyable as well. Tone controls/loudness comp are not evil when used sparingly, as long as they are defeatable.
W.r.t. speaker placement…..yes, well out into the room is best but unless you have a dedicated listening room, it is hardly ever practical. I can’t think of a room in our house where pulling speakers 3’ or more out into the room would make sense unless I had to rearrange the furniture every time I wanted to listen to something and then put it all back afterwards.
Totally agree, and it's worse if your living room is one, small, 2 is a pass through to the kitchen/bathroom, and it has 3 doorways, one being from the front hall, one to the original bedroom that's next to it, and then the kitchen in the back of the house.
However, I AM thinking of flipping the room around and replace my old wall furnace (gas) in the process, thus making the layout of an awkward, and small room better. However, still can't pull the speakers out into the room much more than before.
With speaker placement- I agree and most people are in the same boat. Very few people have a dedicated room just for their audio. So is there a question regarding the realistic action of reviewing audio components in a dedicated listening room as very few will benefit from the results ? Am I wrong?
Loudness for low level listening is specifically designed to correct the hearing features of the human ear. With low level listening some frequencies tend ‘to disappear’ compared to listening at a full volume. The (preferable adjustable) loudness setting repairs that problem and boost these frequencies.
@@MarijkeWillemsen990 some speakers socks at love volume I listen low at night with my system and I might have to turn even lower the quieter the night gets
I use the Cardas formula works very well all you have to do is plug in the width of the room and it'll tell you how far from the front wall and how far from the sidewall the speaker should be and as soon as I put them there OMG the sound just opened up beautifully, and also the best thing to stop speaker vibration from going into your equipment and back into the speakers is the Townshend podiums isolates vibration down to 3 HZ when I put these under my speakers it was a revelation, after was unbelievably better.
OK, is that song about buying an EQ going to end up on lossy Spotify? (Where it might benefit from a little EQ?)
I think you did a great job in channeling Tee-Jay the Stereo Bargainphile!
I was at a hifi show in the eighties when some bloke was putting little stickers on CDs and people swore blind they could tell the difference, he was selling sheets of them for £££. Complete and utter snake oil but people still fell for it. I realised then that audio was full of huxters.
Back then, a green magic marker had the same effect.
The thing that gets me, is that many folks get into disagreements about what and what doesn't make an audible difference in a system. Until something has been blind tested in a controlled environment, it's all opinion. I do take a slightly different tack with your stance on EQs. Several years ago, lots of reviewers both professional and not, were enamored with a very small pair of Andrew Jones designed Pioneer speakers that were selling for about $100. I bought a pair and didn't like them at all. They had very little treble to my ears. I even asked my wife to listen to them, and with no prompting, she said the highs were not there or muffled, and she couldn't care less about a stereo. An EQ may have helped that, but I didn't take the time to find out and returned them. It's all subjective.
I was in a high end audio store and saw some $20K speaker cables as thick as a king cobra. Never mind that the components on either side have not so special wires conducting the signals. So do these absurd cables modify the signal somehow? Maybe increase the resistance? Same goes for power cable and internet connects.
I can now hear the drumsticks cutting the air on their way to striking the kit now that I have the latest DAC chip made by NASA, its the same chip they use in their Hydrotrythermalneucluatide module
My pet peeve, they don't get that digital signal won't play without a dac ,everything already has a dac & if there was a "BETTER " dac you would have to disable the dac in line before it first
Ron lives in Texas and doesn't own a real cowboy hat?! C'mon now.
You got me with the guitar tuning, I was thinking you had no musical ear, then you drop the bomb about it being out of tune lol 😆 fantastic video, for me I'd say super expensive power cables and speaker cables are just a ripoff, even low-signal RCA cables past a certain basic quality point of view 😃 thanks for the great video, greetings from Texas
I had a set of speakers that i didnt have the space to bring away from the wall and the bass was muddling the mids, i solved it by having a separate sub take over the bass which helped a tonne, these issues could of been solved if i had the space to move them away from the wall but im in a cramp space im utilizing having the sub take over the bass balances everything out. i find the thing that makes the most variation in sound from what ive experienced is the speakers or headphones and how you set them up in a room. everything else may make noticeable changes but not normally as substantial. Dacs and amps i feel come second afterwards as they can make a noticable and sometimes even a much better sound than playing though a basic source. though i havent had a lot of experience trying other dacs and amps.
Your buddy Danny is a huge proponent of cables ( including power cables ) and speaker cable risers. I would like to see a video of the 2 of you discussing the subject.
Room treatment is definitely the proper way to deal with room anomalies, but most people aren't going to spend the money on those professionally made and aren't going to take the time to build their own. But more so, they aren't going ( or aren't allowed, lol ) to put them in their room. The biggest anomalies are in the low frequency range. With multi subs, a Minidsp ( approx. $235 ), a calibrated mic ( about $100 ) and REW when incorporating not just equalization but also time delay can bring a huge improvement. Was the best few hundred bucks I've ever spent on audio ( for music and movies ). Improved bass is a wonderful thing.
I enjoy the your videos and all you put into helping us in the great journey of audio. Keep it up.
Yes, they are golden ears and also tin ears.
Listening is the most brain tricking experience.
I myself was proud of my listening acuteness, 'till discovered (after listening (sooo fine sound!!!) for several months my own AR5 speakers had blown tweeters!!!! 🤣.
That turned me into very prudent.
@@QKLICKER
The AR-5 tweeters crossover at 10,000 Hz so you really don't miss too much when they fail because all of the sound above 10k are harmonics. I am 76 and have great difficulty hearing the the tweeters in my AR-3a speakers. (The same driver as the AR-5).
The only difference in the speakers is that the AR-5 uses a 10 inch woofer and possibly loses about a half octave of low bass.
You should argue with idiots, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
I was always skeptical whether or not moving my speakers away from the wall would make a difference in the way my setup sounded. Then one day I tried The L.O.T.S... Ok Ok Ok all I can say is this... HOLY S**T what a difference!!! Sounds like a totally new system. I actually love my speakers all over again. Thank you so much for your videos!
Dude, this is what it’s all about!
It is easy to align best distance from wall for each channell separately without additional measurements and microphones just using most complicated and amazing device - ear and even much more amazing - the brain. . Unfortunately because something is still needed and it is a trusted noise source audiphiles who proudly got rid of any noise in system have no such chance
Adjusting the placement of speakers in your room is like all new speakers. Move mine around every few months. It has saved me thousands of $ in new speakers!
@@Newrecordday2013 and the recommended distance is how much and if you can't have that then what's the minimum?
My sonus Faber speakers maybe front ported but there's still well away from the front wall.
Generally speaking, I agree, but do still contend that there is something to the PrAT thing in how it conveys the recording without causing it to just tumble out in chaos fashion.
I moved up to the Rega P6 in 2020 and noticed it presented the music I was well familiar with with clarity and the overall pace was much more coherent than it ever was with my old low end Kenwood table. Both were belt driven, but the Kenwood had a hollow plastic plinth and was a semi auto deck with an ultra low mass straight arm of 8.5", the Rega has a foam core with a stress skin veneer, better motor and a low mass RB 330 arm that is a true 9" arm, and the Neo power supply/speed change. It is a much better table than the old one for sure.
That said, and as others have said, not all of us can easily pull our speakers out into the room as you like to do as we don't have a dedicated listening room.
I used to have an EQ, but it was ditched years ago to essentially simplify the system back down, but in the ensuing years, a tape deck and a R2R were added, and yes, I have a digital front end too, mind you it's over 20 years old and still works.
One big mistake is too many not only shove the speakers up against the wall (I have mind out about 15-20 In from any wall at minimum as that's really about as far out as I can go with the living room in its present configuration) and just set the speakers right on the floor. Most "floor" speakers will benefit from some short stands to bring them off the floor by several inches8-15 or so inches, depending on speaker height.
As to the "golden ear", yeah, it's like saying you are a "savant" when you are not as likely those that are a Savant are autistic, though the numbers are small compared to the rest of us that are not. In other words, its kind of tantamount to saying you are a little bit OCD when you likely aren't
I have been skeptical of a lot of the claims that so many "neurotypicals" fall for which kind of saddens me.
I just watched your video and have to say I agree with what you shared! I have seen it or should I say heard it all for many years! There are some things so called Audiophiles believe like buying snake oil etc. That will fix everything! Speaker placement is probably the best thing you can do to create that Soundstage and Depth in your room! I would like to say Physics has a definite effect on Speakers! I have a pair of Green Mountain Audio Imagos that I helped the designer Roy Johnson Tweak to my Golden Ears! He sat down on the floor in my room and switched in and out different capacitors and ask me what I liked etc. When testing speaker drivers with the fancy machine he had said that I could hear more than the machine could differentiate in the high frequencies area in decibel levels! Such as below a half of a decibel! Anyway, Roy was a Physics Genius and came up with a Transmission Line designed Cabinet that produced incredible Accurate Bass down below I think 30 he at incredible specs! Now to the Specifics! My speakers have little green dots placed on each Mid range driver! There are 2 speakers! 1 mid and also the dome has these! The speakers also have Outboard Crossovers with 10-20 pounds of Sand in them! ALL these things are Physics oriented and DO make a difference! Just my take on some of these things that can make a difference! Larry in Colorado
my list
1 special power cables
2 shock absorbers under amplifiers ( not tubes ) and CD players
3 re-clocking digital CD signals
4 speaker cables thicker than 2,5 mm^2 and shielding
5 hdmi cables above 100 euros (assuming you use 4K UHD
all of the above makes a difference, no matter how small, but it does. whether or not it's worth the money is another matter, but you seem to imply these things simply do not exist and do not effect sound in any way whatsoever? if that is indeed what you are saying, that is simply not correct.
@@andyboxish4436 it is indeed what I say, and no one ever proved it otherwise. What you will find are people playing around with that stuff and then testifying they hear a difference. ( many of them also are at an age they can not hear above 12 k Hz anymore) That is not proof. It is like placebo's for some they work. Always open for measurable proof.
Things You have mentioned are just entry level to audiofoolery. The rabbit hole is deep and it starts at burning in the power cords, goes trough esoteric tweaks such as "quantum" fuses, cable lifters or magical "room treatments" or ground conditioning, and ends where the magic starts: Schummann resonators, shun mook mpingo discs, various resonators and tweaks that goes full feng shui. I could talk about this all day long, i run local (Polish) channel on testing audiovoodoo claims
Great stuff, Ron, love your channel!
Nice video yet speaker placemeant always depends on the room and speaker tuning.
many studios have their speakers mounted IN the wall. It eliminates any effects of the edges of a speaker and effects of the baffle (the panel the speakers are mounted to) and the bottom end is getting a boost which means drivers have to work less for the same spl. In my room i have to put the speakers as close to the wall as possible or i get bad peaks and nulls in the Response. With threatment the acoustic characteristics don't change they just get dampened..
My horn subwoofer for example works the best in a corner which is the best placemeant in my room anyways. The corner acts like an extension of the horn and makes it more efficient.
@@rabarebra idk about him mate. I certainly would soffit mount my speakers if possible. If not as close as possible.
Hifi is and will be crazy questions. A hifi geek is never satisfied but a music lover likes the situation.
Hi, I'm new to this channel and did stumble across it by accident but you did make me laugh! Everyone's an expert on something nowadays and for the most part "audiophiles" are just sad people who need to justify spending large amounts of money on their hobby and in an effort to make themselves appear important and knowledgeable, feel the need to impart their "knowledge" to a wider audience. Forget the electrical equipment, what about the primary equipment - your ears? High frequency hearing loss with age happens to everyone - EVERYONE. What you can hear from any particular audio setup is not what you will hear from it a year later. Your ears will have changed. Perhaps if you rub your ears with the snake oil instead of applying it to your elevated oxygen-free speaker cables it will help? There are many people in this world who will always prefer pseudoscience over facts; that's why we have astrology for instance, but if someone wants to spend a huge amount of money on audio equipment then it's harmless enough and at least keeps the equipment sellers in business! Keep up the good work!
I am 71 and have been, until recently, somewhat concerned with any speaker system that didn't have a relatively flat response to beyond 10,000 Hz. Six months ago, I had a hearing test with an audiologist that showed my hearing drops off somewhat dramatically above 6600 Hz. I no longer have this obsession and now just enjoy the music through my speakers without regard to the speakers high frequency extension.
Tried to download the song, Shot My Dog In The Face. Couldn't find it in the iTunes store?
Being a musician for years, i have no problem with a 31 band eq, like a Clark Technic's unit. Yes the product is old school now. but people seem to always use an eq wrong. Rule of thumb in a live situation with said unit is to subtract a bad frequency or so i was taught. Never go above the centerline on the graph. With my stereo at home i treat it the same way.
This is so true, if you want a perfect example of the ridiculous 'word salad' that self proclaimed audiophiles use for complete snake oil, look up reviews for audiophile cable lifters. They are literally $300+ stands that hold your cables off the ground, supposedly having clearance all around the cable improves sound quality. Depending on the length of your cables, you might have to buy dozens of these too. It's so laughable.
😂
All eq does is fix tonality issues. It does not fix jack outside of that. The end. Good luck in fixing that wonderful 3% distortion at 3khz.
Well I've been around for a while, and into audio since the 70's.. I never had good audio system but I was introduced to fine audio by the way of friends and neighbors who had exceptional audio equipment and audio sense so it became a natural for me in knowing the size and location of speakers I'm just now trying to figure out how and what system to buy.. I've got a Nikko amp 130 alpha and nikko preamp get this Nikko 25 EQ.. these are at least 30yrs old...ok I just had to put my two cents in , no relevance?
Thanks again Ron, enjoyed this!
p.s. saw a headphone review of Senn's HE-1. the reviewer talk like the biggest audiophile, saying all the catch words etc.. seem like he was really close to pitch perfect hearing...then I saw his other review of a amp and he was mad that it didn't have a volume control ?? he didn't know the difference between a Amp or Preamp or Integrated amplifier LOL... no I didn't subscribe to his channel :)
I heard Sith Audio are developing Audiophile bottle air. Apparently it is less dense than 'normal' everyday air, so offers less resistance to sound waves. How cool is that!
I swear I can hear extra warmth in the top end. It's fixed my system. worth every penny!!
Or you could move to higher altitude.
I find I prefer the Extra Premium Dense Air, as the sound waves propagate faster making my tube amp's bass faster while keeping the mid-range liquidity.
Excellent points. Good jokes, too.
I agree with your point about room treatment.
One thing that has always confused me is when someone demonstrates their system for you they crank the volume to max.
No one listens to their system at max volume, just as no one drives their hotrod around town at wide-open throttle.
"...shaking their tail feathers" was priceless, Ron! Thanks for the mind picture. You the Man.
It's worse than you thought. There used to be a website/forum called AudioAsylum. I was a member. At first, it was a bunch of us that discussed home brew equipment, speaker placement, tube rolling, blah-bla-blah, etc. Members went out looking for actual scientifically substantiated information. And even sources of higher quality coupling capacitors that actually did something useful for amplifier performance.
Then, well, someone decided that if copper wire for interconnects was good, silver plated was better. I said, "Woah, stop, you are wasting your money, that silver plated wire is for RF circuits where skin effect makes it actually useful. Audio frequencies and direct current penetrate far deeper into the conductor". "Pshaw, you don't know what you are talking about. Why my amplifier never sounded better." Then not to be outdone, someone else decided having their transformers rewound with silver plated wire was all that an a bag of chips. Let's not forget about the clowns that replaced the power cord on their equipment with 10 or even 8 gauge cables. I asked, "What about the 14 gauge wire in the wall?" No reply. Someone else decided removing the shrink wraps on his filter capacitors in the power supply was just the thing. The reason, older amplifiers sounded better because the old filter capacitors were just bare aluminum. Really? That's why? Of course it did wonders for his system. I'm not joking. I gave up and left right there.
After a few years I decided to see what was going on so I signed back on. At this point people were taping some kind of super-duper crystals to their 8 gauge power cables, 4 gauge speaker cables and wall plugs, completely neglecting the 14 gauge wire in the wall. Others had these same crystals mounted up in the corners of their listening room, again, I am not kidding. And yes, not suspending your speaker cables above the floor was tantamount to blasphemy. The original group had been replaced by morons and soothsayers. Last time I looked a couple years later it was gone. I guess they spent so much money on Super Power Crystals, rewinding their transformers and buying the next weird gadget to make their lash-up sound better they could not afford Internet any more. Too bad.
Ahem... his name's not Ted, and he's not my cousin. His name is Jimmy, and he's my uncle. And with a flashlight, a pair of pliers and a roll of duct tape Jimmy can fix anything. Just sayin'.
P.S. - I love this video.
Pace, rhythm and timing is very real. I owned a system where I could barely sit still listening to it such was the speed and dynamics etc. I now own a valve based system which just doesn't do that. Its slower, smoother, bass isn't punchy, it has its own virtues but it practically sends me to sleep. It's a completely different sound. Also, as for burn in, I sent this valve amp away to have the power supply upgraded and when it came back I could have cried. It sounded lean and thin and just awful. It sounded broken and had no bass, it just wasn't there. I was gutted. So much for expectation bias. Fast forward a few weeks and the bass, although slow and soft, is overwhelmingly there. F***ed if I know what that's all about but it happened
@@HungryMoosey what a load of bollocks . And a £100 mini system amp sounds the same as a £9000 amp I suppose. I'm sure it has exactly the same damping factor, grip on the speakers, and dynamic headroom etc too. Perhaps if I hook up my radio alarm clock to my speakers I'll get the same sound too
@@HungryMoosey as is psychoacoustic phenomenon which can't be measured. I've actually no interest in being right or wrong. I've also no interest in converting anyone to my own thinking. Was just sharing my own experience of two things which did sound different. I didn't imply 'better' at any point
@@HungryMoosey you must have misread. I was implying that my earlier system was better. My new one sends me to sleep. Which I quite like aswell btw
System matching ,room treatment and great recording ×speaker placment is the key my experience from an old HiFi guy for over 50 years. Never buy on line always listen too a set up in a hifi shop for several days and if possible try it at home conclusion seldom i made the wrong choice.
Now I have to make power cables with the blood of Beanie Babies. Just because. Thanks!😂
An audiophile I respect actually said that sound treatment doesn’t matter. As if physics, when inconvenient, may be ignored. I’m working on sound treatment now and already have positive results. I knew he was wrong and that actually ignited me to go find out. Physics is real, no doubt about it. 😊
Part of the fun of my audiophile journey has been living in 4 different high rise apartment buildings with my system over the last 2 years. It sounds completely different in each residence. It has been very eye opening.
I already found this when I was 9 years old by simply clapping in different rooms and/or different positions.
How does a fully grown adult ignore this?
@@JoelHernandez-tz3vk
How does a grown adult ignore this?
Implementation of a proper ITD Gap, thus elevating direct energy prominence relative to the reflected energy...
Methodologies include speaker placement and proximity, listener location, sidewall geometry and treatment.
I type this ... but I've a feeling maybe it was a rhetorical question...
Maybe your friend was mainly a headphone listener
Golden ears don't hear better than anybody else, but trained ears can identify issues faster and describe them better.
I also enjoyed the comments on PRAT, EQ, speaker placement, and the "magic" component that fixes everything.
As a audio engineer you are 💯 percent right
@@lerrynhawke3375 Myth Number 11 ''Trained Ears".
Fair point. I wonder if woman can hear better than men though. My wife can, with ease, discern when I've changed something in my system (and not by looking a bank statement). She has no interest whatsoever in hifi and isn't prone to blowing smoke up my posterior
Great point. Never miss the chance to tell your wife she's awesome. Since the majority of audiophiles are men, I was only talking about men. Yes, there are differences between the sexes. Women have greater hearing sensitivity, especially at high frequencies, and their brains process sounds faster (good mothering/nurturing skills). During the first half of the menstrual cycle, their hearing becomes more "masculine" due to high levels of androgens. Men are better at sound localization and detecting signals within complex sounds (good hunting skills). Men's brains are better at localized tasks (more grey matter) and women's brains are better at organization (more white matter), which benefits their language and communication. Men tend to lose hearing above 2 kHz and women lose hearing between 1-2 kHz, so men hear vowels better and women hear consonants better. Women can make fantastic audiophiles if they chose to pursue the hobby, but most women are only into the music, not the hardware.
Ears can be trained to hear more, thats something i have improved over the years with many hours of listening
great vid just wanted to say is that I use an equalizer on all of my equipment to bring out certain sounds that you will hear in the music like I can adjust thr eq to bring out more of the vocal parts of song i like to hear what they are saying and some record comp have engineers and they all master the music differently like for instance being of hispanic nature when growing up a lot of my music was a lot of percussion in it but the record co. that recorded these records most of the times mastered these albums horriblly they were pressed poorly they always sounded like they were flat no bass too much treble vocals were lacking by using an eq it helped bring up the missing parts of the song I never used an eq to improve my speakers sound but like i mentioned to bring more of the music ,that is why i wonder why we have all these unboxing vids of people with a new TT and hooking them up to powered speakers some do not even have a treble or bass setting and how they say it sounds great wow I bought newer albums today and a lot of them are bass heavy ,another thing audiofools have said that using a stacker type of TT will sc ratch records as they fall on top of each other that is far from the truth ,first the lead in groove is raised and then u have record label I have tested this out for 2 years straight so far no difference at all the only way they scratch is when you handle the records to play the other side all you got to do is just as when you are using a manual TT how careful you are being it is the same way when you are using the stacker carefully!!!! and a good automatic will do a better job of placing tonearm on record than a human can, it is a pain to listen to a manual TT after working hard at work and come home play a record sit down to relax only to get up again to lift tone arm or change record ,I have a lot of automatic TT.s the audiofools say that there is a lot of rumble that you will hear from a automatic ,I had a pioneer manual if I remember a pl-518 or 512 i don't remember late 70's but i ciould hear more rumble on that TT than i do on my Dual 1009sk BSR 610 and a garrard at-60 theses turntables had a lot of isolation on base than the manuals due to the springs they had ,I know thge bsr's were meant for the everyday person but some are fantastic like my bsr 610 it has a counterweight antiskating which works so well i can place the tone arm on any smooth surface type of record or a laser disc and it will not move at all it stays where it was placed ,I got a audiotechnica lp-120 TT it was 268.00 and the antisjkating is sucky on this thing and on my project debut 3 the antiskating on this one is not that great it will move and not stay where it is placed and this is priced at close to 300.00 ,I say instead of being brainwashed into thinking of what they say test it out yourself I was once an audiofool,really mental !!!! anout it never let records touch each other anything over 2 grams was taboo what a doofus i was I have debunked everything I was told ,some of my great listening times are played on tt's that have a heavier track force JRo
You're awesome. Dealt with the sort/s you describe for my entire life. Often have more money than sense - types. These wet-blankets of self-aggrandizement impair actual progress on every front. As an engineer working with some extreme cutting edge technology - I'd like to extend a professional courtesy to you to take what I call the "Spectrelayer Challenge". You pick the music and I show you what AI-centric processing at it's best can do. Spectrelayer Rocks (put a dot between those 2 terms and browse on over). I'll increase the 25MB upper limit to 100 as a professional courtesy. Very best wishes with this channel!
Pangea makes a cable for your power amps/receiver that's (supposedly) a drastic improvement to the sound quality. I figured that if that's the case, imagine what it could do for my refrigerator! So I removed the IEC connector and spliced one end into my fridge. Now, at first I was skeptical. But then I noticed my Schiltz beer appeared colder and tasted better. Heck, I even started pouring them in a glass and telling my friends it was Budweiser! Next, I'm going to use it on my miter saw. Yepper, my Harbor Freight special will cut wood like a Milwaukee when I'm done. Watch for my review!
I would certainly consider running silver cable all the way to the power company.
I don't think anyone who has purchased these has ever seen how a house is wired. At least they can rest assured that the last 3ft of cable is of the finest quality.
if this was true could you imagine the drastic improvement in picture quality of your LED flatscreen TV?
@@David-ik8wj Those power cables attract women too.
Yep, as a licensed electrician, I get a kick out of the whole esoteric nitrogen loaded oxygen free power cables. All crap!! They look nice and probably won't hurt anything but the wall is wired with 14 gage solid copper wire. Probably made in China and not even close to pure copper. If you have a 20 amp circuit you have a 12 gage wire probably wire nutted to another one in the next box. Your amp and preamp have transformers and power supplies to regulate the power. The wire makes virtually no difference. If you are really worried you can get a Furman or other power conditioner. They can make a difference if there is bad RF interference or issues with the actual power fluctuating.
@@kurtburkhardt9364 I agree with using a power conditioner 100%, but mostly to protect your equipment. I'm a former electronics tech, and currently a hobbyist. An amps power supply converts mains power to flat DC for the amp circuits to feed on. No AC or RF passes unless it's a poorly designed power section.
So now we have an electrician, and a tech agreeing for anyone reading this.
The thing audiophiles often say that cracks me up is they can hear sound qualities in speakers and amps that exist well outside the range of human hearing.
The things you don't hear can be the building blocks on what you do hear. As an example......how does a supper tweeter increase bass depth or mid-bass definition ? Can it be a fundamental within playback towards the present time ?
@@jackkan5987 in real life, noises produce echoes in the higher frequencies, that, even if we cannot "hear" them, affect perception with their presence. back in the day, many cheap stereos had a "bass boost" button on them. that bass boost button did not actually add bass - what it did is allowed the stereo to recreate the upper frequency echoes that, if bass was present, would exist, and the human ear kind of assumed there was bass because it noticed the presence of these higher frequency echoes. it's stuff like this that knowitalls don't get - instead of becoming curious, they just dismiss stuff and pat themselves on the back for being smarter than everyone else, while always mentioning their engineering background. sad people
#6. That I need special speakers for Jazz only. Or Rock. Or Classical... #7. That XLR connectors will sound better on my stereo because Pros use Balanced inputs in studios. #8. That spending twice as much gets you 2x better sound. #9. That there is a better option than Sith Audio Accessories. #10 That 24 bit masters sound much better than 16 bit.
ok then why does the ohms meter on 200 read 10 or 13 ohms on some sub speakers I have, why not 4,8,16 etc? totally confused by this any tips or advice would help, drinking more beer did not solve the issue. awaiting stronge advice and ridicule for this.
word salad terms like "tubey", "holographic", "liquid"...
I used your LOTS system and ill never move them out of middle of room! EVER! People can’t believe the sound from my Encores!
Heck yeah!
For most people, whatever floats your boat and you get enjoyment from it then that's all that matters. I read in a audiophile magazine that using there signature line cord which is 99.99% OFC ( oxygen free copper )with gold plated contacts for superior electrical contact to elevate your audio to newer and higher levels ! 24 inch power cable starting at $149.95 and if you need 1 meter (39" ) a low price of $199.95 plus shipping !!!! Also to put that ultimate AC cable into a AC duplex , well ,how about a gold plated phosphor bronze AC wall duplex socket for $49.95 ( this duplex offers 250,00 volt standoff and low loss dielectric properties ! ). I guess I could have a crappy amp and replace my line cord and my stereo would be considered high end stereo ! One last thing, this audio magazine sells a headphone and preamp that doesn't use a hybrid tube or transistor design. If you are yearning for that golden age of high fidelity there 5 tube amp sells for a mere, stingy low and very affordable price of $7999.00 plus shipping ! I must say I know two people that buy into this non-sense and they are my age late 60's. If they can hear over 10kHZ they are lucky. But again if it makes them feel happy then so be it.
Weed is the best purchase you can make to get that joyous p r a t!!!! 😂
Just got off of a forum that said ethernet cables matter.... I'd love to hear your opinion on that.
from an IT pro ... those cables have 5/6/7/8 versions which are suited for certain speeds. nothing more. never buy exotic versions, ever.
maybe they do matter but I just don't use streamers do IDGAF
@@andyboxish4436 spoiler alert.... they don't
You need to stop making it sounds like your stereo is the only thing in your house or apartment. 99 percent of people don't have enough space to put speakers 2 to 3 feet into a room. Even the owner of Tekton said that is wrong.
Its a simple thing, generally if you do not have the space, do not expect your system to perform optimally. Or get a nearfield monitor.
@@markwinston3119 not according to the owner and engineer at Tekton.
@@jerrypowers7671 engineers at tekton are not end all be all. There are many more engineers, speaker designers and audio companies that recommend pulling out speakers away from boundaries.
@@markwinston3119 no you and reviewers know better. Lol
@@markwinston3119 they suggest 2-3 feet? Show me a company that recommends this.
Being able to play a melody after hearing it is not "perfect pitch". Perfect pitch means you can tune the central A of a piano to 440 Hz (*) without reference, or means you can say the instrument is out of tune when that note has become 444 Hz.
Being able to play a melody after hearing it in the proper key is relative pitch and every student admitted to (BA Level) conservatory should be able to do that on paper in their "solfège" admittance exam.
That quality however is meaningless in the audio domain. Many musicians hear note or chord or scale or key patterns, not sound quality. In the 1800s, a Wagner hater was asked to read a score of Wagner's music by a fan. The man started reading it and after some time looked up and said, "hm, Wagner's music is more beautiful than it sounds." Just the note patterns on paper.
While some musicians go to great length to have a beautifully sounding instrument, others don't and in listening most are focused on the notes they hear and how this interprets a composition than how it actually sounds. Or, many musicians are worthless in judging sound quality. And, when older, a lot of them are hearing impaired. Imagine playing on the row in front of the brass section and the trombone having to play fff (loudest) - that's 140 dB.
(*) 440 Hz is today's standard. It was different in the past, just like frequency distances differed between the notes in an octave. People with perfect pitch would hear that and either revel in it for presumed historical accuracy or shiver in mental pain.
I’m soooo glad you covered this topic. There is a guy who’s name rhymes with “ikey” , who claims to have this $$$$$ sound system., who also pushes the “BS”. From speaker wire bridges, acoustic isolation feet, and weights that sit on solid state equipment. Yeah he is a piece of work.
Oh I almost forgot about the guy who can tune your Denafrips Ares II by loosing and retighten the screws.?! Then he taps on it…🧐🤔🙄😵💫
Lol that screw guy puzzles my brain also
You, forgot magic crystals to set on all your pieces of gear at a couple grand each. My pet peve is POWER CORDS! Some how a six foot cord is going to magically change the AC power. I do kinda get a laugh outa speaker wire bridges.
There are about 10 Mikeys ....
I use Russ Andrews power cords that use Kimber Kable, and I can confirm they improve sound. These cables are 8TC so that's 8 live + 8 neutral + single earth, when the individual cables are in a weave it helps cancel interference that's coming from the mains. That interference is especially a problem for class AB amplifiers and also DAC's where it eventually travels to the analogue side of the DAC. The other improvement in the cables is the dielectric used (Teflon) , plus the copper core are high purity copper. I've demoed these cables to people visiting my house where I switch them out with a standard £5 IEC cable and improvement is immediately obvious. Anyone who says power cords make not difference has at least never tried the Kimber Kable based ones. I have no connection to Russ Andrews and even buy my cables second hand from eBay.
No. You're deluding yourself. Interference from the mains must be filtered with electronics. A cable will carry anything it receives, unless it's defective.
It's fine, though: if you think those power cords are better, they are. Because they make you feel better.
Please stick to your Quality Analysis Format for your Presentations! You are not Hillbilly enough to pick on the strings!
Fact!
OK, So I think there is a lot of truth in what you said. Someone did mention relative pitch in the comments and as a musician my self who has learned relative pitch pretty well. I believe critical listening is something that has to be learned and not something everybody is born with. So been able to pick up minor differences is not something everyone can do and them minor differences can be big differences to those who do a lot of critical listening. Having said that I also think a lot of people listen with their eyes and just because something looks cool they think it will sound amazing. Also I totally agree its about the sum of parts and matching them.
Its probably somethign also best learned as a child when the auditory cortex is still developing, its something automatic, not something you think. (music education is SO important)
This is so true 😂😂😂 people spend thousands and thousands for some things that they can’t hear but believe it’s there.
Amazing video bro. Top notch stuff. Well done.
I am happy with my sound. Some basic things I took care of, without going into audiophile territory and with almost no costs:
- removing speakers from corners and placing them in front of normal wall instead (also further from wall)
- removing record player further away from electrical installations, as it was causing hum at higher volumes
- properly grounding record player and pre-amplifier
I paid around 1200 bucks for my setup and it is my end game. I enjoy the sound and I dont need a better one (actually I heard better ones and didnt always liked them at all).
I am a music guy, that is why I have been a sound guy, DJ, Auditorium Manager and have a sound company. That said, I don't necessarily have better ears than many Audiophiles. Particularly because I have been in very loud environments, not always using hearing protection. (you should always use protection for long exposures over 90DB) I know OSHA has charts about that...Good sound is a combination of environment reasonable quality components used so they complement and are compatible with each other. A great amp or power cable will make little difference (power cable no difference ever) if bad speakers or placement don't allow for a proper sound stage. If you take the time to do a little research an set your system up so it sounds good to you and has a good fairly even frequency range it's great. Perfection is impossible, get what you like, enjoy the music. That is the whole point anyway.
Technically crossover issues can be fixed with and EQ. Unless the speaker is purposefully engineered to have a fucked up phase relationship between the transducers with ... you know ... like another EQ inside the speaker.
Speaker placement depends on the room, it's treatment and the speakers, obviously.