[ot] Audiophiles,I hate em. lets make fun of em

[Angstrom]

I hate these fools, Audiophiles with their 'golden ears', yeah right!
this site collects real adverts from Audiofools, for example this one is for a volume knob, a wooden knob, like a door handle .. yes, just a piece of wood. but .. that knob costs $485 !!!

Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect…really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear…way better sound!!

more audio fool adverts here
http://www.ilikejam.dsl.pipex.com/audiophile.htm

not convinced ?
how about a length of audio cable that costs $30,750.00

I spotted this on boing-boing BTW

[spiderprod]

i guess you have a point .that much of money for a pice of wood , it must be coming from the moon for this price .
the last version of sound on sound magazine has an aws900 console on the cover .
they say it's a console for home recording , at £58k you got to be some kind of arab prince to get this console for home recording .

[Chris J]

Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved. Here is a test for all you Silver Rock owners. Try removing the bakelite knobs and listen. You will be shocked by this! The signature knobs will have an even greater effect…really amazing! The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear…way better sound!!

thanks for this link, it's so funny.

[noisetonepause]

THIS ROCK KEEPS TIGERS AWAY!

[Chris J]

There's a few mastering engineers that could be included in this list

[ikeaboy]

THIS ROCK KEEPS TIGERS AWAY!

i gotta have one gime gime

[decrepitude]

I agree with the sentiment here, almost.

Does the general audience care about fidelity? Barely.

Granted, the CD buying public can recognize bad audio like feedback or noise, but the majority are completely inept in concepts such as frequency response, mpeg artifacts or even musicianship for example. But the level of minutia that some audiophiles are so concerned with will never be appreciated by anyone other then the audiophiles themselves.

But to give credit where credit is due, audio engineers have fought off the eventual digitization of thier beloved analog realm more vehemently than any other group of professionals in creative media. Even mastering engineers are starting to feel the crunch now. With the proiiferation of $99 (or even free) plugins which accomplish loudness maximizing, parametric EQ and multi-band compression (and now even virtual analog warmth) which would have been cost prohibitive to own ten years ago, is easily within the reach of anyone with access to the internet.

The bottom line is a song must be pleasing to listen to - this is paramount. To me, this has more to do with substance and content than it does with noise floor and frequency response. For example, I adore some of Lenny Kravitz ealier work, because he leaves the dirtier, grimier elements (like noise) intact in the tracks.

I have heard songs by bedroom producers that by most audiophile standards is top notch, but nevertheless does not move me.

All in all, I know where Angstrom is coming from. Audiophiles can be as annoying or aggressive as religous zealots sometimes.

[telekom]

It's the placebo effect. And I don't mean Brian Molko's band. I mean how many people are going to spend $1500 on a six foot AC power cable and then say it DOESN'T make a difference. The thing which audiophiles really need, and which cannot be bought, is a good pair of ears to discern the difference between an average stereo and an expensive one. After that it's cosmetic. If our ears are good enough to spot a difference caused by a power cable, then maybe we should spend more time concentrating on music quality rather than hifi fidelity.

I love the intelligent chip. That is such a hilarious pile of nonsense.

[robin]

It's the placebo effect. And I don't mean Brian Molko's band. I mean how many people are going to spend $1500 on a six foot AC power cable and then say it DOESN'T make a difference. The thing which audiophiles really need, and which cannot be bought, is a good pair of ears to discern the difference between an average stereo and an expensive one. After that it's cosmetic. If our ears are good enough to spot a difference caused by a power cable, then maybe we should spend more time concentrating on music quality rather than hifi fidelity.

You often find that audiophiles have a second system that is done of a normal budget for when they are slumming it. It's the spec of these systems that are probably worth aiming.

Also if your playing dance vinyl through any of this euipment (esp. Trax haha) then you should just save your money.

[Chris J]

I love the intelligent chip. That is such a hilarious pile of nonsense.

yeah, love it too, can't help quoting

The Intelligent Chip is a one inch square, bright orange plastic wafer that, when placed on top of a compact disc player for 2-3 seconds, upgrades the disc (CD, DVD or SACD) being played at the time. The sound of the upgraded disc has more detail and articulation, better dynamics and an absence of "digital harshness." Voices are more human-sounding and less synthetic. The upgrade is permanent. Inside the white translucent Intelligent Chip case are two ultrathin, clear polycarbonate sheets, one on each side of the Chip. The manufacturer's product brochure states, "The Intelligent Chip should be put back into the packing case after using, because the packing case can protect the quantum material of the Intelligent Chip, preventing them from leaking."

[noisetonepause]

THIS ROCK KEEPS TIGERS AWAY!

i gotta have one gime gime

You need two for it to work properly.

I've got four and I've never even seen a tiger!

[D K]

ha! silly audiophiles...
hey, did you see that new midi controller?
and that firewire audio interface?
and that software upgrade?
does reason sound better than live?
damn, i'm going to the store!!!

p.s. i've got this great set of knobs to sell ya lol!
cheers
d

[Angstrom]

ha! silly audiophiles...
hey, did you see that new midi controller?
and that firewire audio interface?
and that software upgrade?
does reason sound better than live?
damn, i'm going to the store!!!

p.s. i've got this great set of knobs to sell ya lol!
cheers
d

Hmm, Live is quite an expensive program yet it records audio, sequences it, runs virtual instruments ... and much more.
Yet it costs just slightly more than an audiofools doorknob.

I don't think we are in the same league here. One of the above is worth the money and discussion, the other is a doorknob.

The equivalent would be to buy a Live Uber-Ear edition for $35,000 that claims "esquisite etheriality and transcendent highs twenty times beyond the sampling frequency. Uber-Ear edition Audio engine coded to from military grade binary digits. Smooth bass transitions between non sequentially related harmonics due to proprietory gold plug emulation"

IE a load of marketing bollocks makes it cost 100 times more than the same thing without the marketing bollocks.

Sure, Vintage Analogue synths are overhyped and overpriced .. but you can't tell me they compete with a $35,000 speaker cable in the world of nonsense. for $35,000 I expect a particle accelerator shuttling the audio round my system!

[ethios4]

That's awsome!
I want those knobs for my UC-33!!

i just went to a science museum to shoot some video, and they had an exhibit there that was most impressive. A table with 2 blocks on it. One block has a kind of brick texture to it, and is about 8cm on a side. The other block is bronze and about 4cm on a side. They are exactly the same weight. When you pick them up, though, the smaller one feels much heavier! Even if you hold in your mind that they are the same weight, and think about it carefully, the smaller one always feels much heavier. The muscles in the arm even react differently when picking up the smaller one. Crazy mental effects!

[protocol]

Finally a thread about iPhiles..., erm, ...