Comments on: Every Audiophile Review Ever

By: Kiran Jonnalagadda

Kiran Jonnalagadda — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 11:58:00 +0000

I wish I could say Apple makes better stuff, but my MBP is just over two years old and looking like it will die any day — with a failed GPU, just like the MBP I had before this one. All my Apple gear becomes dysfunctional just after a year. My Apple power adapters blow up every 10 months or so, my Macs die by the end of the third year, my Airport Express (now on the second), Apple keyboard, Magic Mouse — all dead or dying.

By: Sven Terje Bang

Sven Terje Bang — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:19:00 +0000

Ah, but of course. :-)

By: Sven Terje Bang

Sven Terje Bang — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:18:00 +0000

But the terms lossy and compression usually refer to a specific way of discarding audio information, such as with mp3. I am not implying CD is a perfect format, I’ve listened a lot to higher bitrate recordings and they do sound better. But for most people I gather the distinction would be marginal.

By: John Ohno

John Ohno — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Apple makes mid-quality stuff, charges top dollar, and then pays for top-quality advertising. Apple used to make top-quality stuff — in 1979.

By: haineux

haineux — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 23:53:00 +0000

Archimago, I said, “Monoprice cables have large ferrite cores on them, which might make them inconvenient in cramped setups.”

That’s why I said they are 99% as good. Because they can be annoying to use because of the bulky ferrite cores making them hard to install.

By: Jack_Walker

Jack_Walker — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 13:56:00 +0000

In the hi fi shop I worked at? Yes. Do you have examples of your experience in a hi fi shop that you’d like to share?

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 07:00:00 +0000

It is the expectations, not the product that produce the difference. Fraud upon yourself is still fraud.

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:57:00 +0000

“Along came Monster with a heavy cable with heavy rubber insulation and gold RCA plugs. Monster solved a big problem”

Do you seriously think that they were the first to offer this?

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:56:00 +0000

Ah yes, the “THEY LAUGHED AT EINSTEIN” refuge of a pseudoscientist.

The vindication of one technology doesn’t justify free energy cranks and it certainly doesn’t make the field of “audiophilia” entirely credible.

By: Archimago

Archimago — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:52:00 +0000

eeyore:
In what way is CD “lossy”? Sure, sampling could have been higher and bitdepth a bit more but I do not believe you can use the term “lossy” to describe the technology as we normally use it these days to describe MP3/AAC.

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:47:00 +0000

You’re confusing “audiophiles” (a consumer segment) with audio engineers.

By: Archimago

Archimago — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:44:00 +0000

Whaddaya mean $5 HDMI cables 99% as good as $100 HDMI cables?

They are absolutely 100% as good!

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:39:00 +0000

3DMark scores are at least an objective metric. Audiophiles are very prone to the placebo effect and what “their ears” say about a product versus any benefit.

By: C W

C W — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:33:00 +0000

“Why all the audiophile hate?”

Because the industry and its fanbase are generally prone to pseudoscience and wankery.

By: BillGlover

BillGlover — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 05:11:00 +0000

Awesome. I had stopped looking. I’ll ditch me shuffle.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 04:54:00 +0000

The fact that you’re still using the same phono, preamp and cable that you bought over thirty years ago is a big clue as to the reason why phony “improvements” are constantly being promoted and sold.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 04:49:00 +0000

They’re ridiculed because they behave ridiculously. Audiophilia is The Emperor’s New Sound System, coated with a shiny gloss of pseudoscience that bears no relation to real physics or electronics.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 04:42:00 +0000

Well, no.

By: Marko Raos

Marko Raos — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:17:00 +0000

“Lossy” in relation to what? Newflash – any recording is by its definition “lossy” unless you can capture the original sound at quantum level. Digital adds another layer of “lossyness” to the inherently analogue phenomena of sound. And CDs are extra lossy on top of that cause they work at 44.1khz. Dig up the history of CDs (hint, wikipedia) and learn why today’s video and audio gear works at 48khz standard rather than 44.1 that cds have.
As for what “compression” is… we could go into some methaphysics on that.

By: Marko Raos

Marko Raos — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:09:00 +0000

Well placebo effect does produce real, measurable, quantifiable results… Just because something is placebo it does not mean it is fake, in fact, quite the opposite. So where does this leave us?

By: Marko Raos

Marko Raos — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 21:01:00 +0000

I can see that coming handy…

By: Marko Raos

Marko Raos — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:57:00 +0000

Up to a degree… similar to hi-fi equipment, yes. It is a pretty shallow logarithmic cost/quality curve. At one point (usually pretty low) any increase in quality is so miniscule to be almost unquantifiable. (tho some would argue that with the very VERY best of wines it does turn exponential at some unspecified point)

By: Samuel Agboola

Samuel Agboola — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:50:00 +0000

There is a difference. Audiophiles obsess over differences that many wise people would argue cannot be heard. No one disputes a big pair of speakers sounds different than a tiny pair. We do dispute that silver cables sound different than copper ones.

Audiophile culture – which I know – deliberately blurs the difference between measurable difference and audible difference. Hence a huge emphasis on the appearance of products. As they don’t sound better they have to look awesome to justify the expense.

Audiophiles are not alone in their misguided beliefs. Wine people, coffee people and other all believe they can detect differences they couldn’t if tested properly.

I’m not down on being into stuff. I’m just down on dishonest reasons for doing so. Buy that Krell amp because it looks cool, sounds great and plays loud. It’s a luxury. Don’t pretend it’s capable of magic, or that in a double blind level matched test you’d be able to reliably able pick it out of a lineup including vastly cheaper kit. You wouldn’t.

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Thanks to both… ordered two of them.

By: EvilTerran

EvilTerran — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:47:00 +0000

And a micro-SD slot! And it plays WMA, OGG, AAC and FLAC! And, unlike shuffles, it has a screen!

(disclosure: my only relationship with Sansa is my ownership of a Clip+)

By: bolamig

bolamig — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:41:00 +0000

Audiophiles think that spending money to hear a sound that isn’t really there is a good use of a dollar. I would too if I were made of money. Much of the audiophile hate comes down to envy, wishing that I could afford to waste my resources on self deception.

By: Ray Perkins

Ray Perkins — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:48:00 +0000

Any audiophile that listens to mp3s should have their crystal-aligned cables revoked.

By: robuluz

robuluz — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:00:00 +0000

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

By: Flugfrei Jones

Flugfrei Jones — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:00:00 +0000

i’ve carried a crkt folding knife for 10 years now (lost 2, this one is ~5yrs old) .. good steel, and engineered well (you can actually take the knife down with screws into it’s 20 components or so, and then actually REPLACE them.. although i haven’t had to) .. so if you’re in the market for a tactical spork, crkt would be one of the first companies on my list. (might i suggest you just get them a knife, though? lol..)

By: bobcorrigan

bobcorrigan — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:11:00 +0000

I wish to endorse and celebrate your use of the word “woo”. It looks especially good sans serif. Woo.