audiophiles

[lycanbreed7]

There seems to be an abundance of products out there today that claim to improve every aspect of your sound and or your signal output. Now I know everybody has differing opinions, but I would like to see some thoughts on what some of you believe does and does not work. Anything from power cords to cables, compressors to conditioners, and passive versus active. What do you believe gives the cleanest, best, and most original sound? I know some of you may feel like this subject has been beat to death, but I am really finding myself seriously seeking that perfect sound and I think your opinions could help. So how about it, what works and what doesn't?

[bongomania]

Power cords, as long as they are a sufficient gauge, don't make a difference. The "audiophile" power cords are bogus.

Cables are a bit trickier, because on the one hand different gauges, lengths, and insulation can in fact affect the sound; but OTOH most of the claims made by cable companies are outright lies. So cables can make a difference in reality, but do not believe a word of what the advertisers try to sell you. They use bogus, fraudulent science too, so even if they present a lot of scientific-looking "data", don't believe them. Use your ears instead.

Compressors are covered in depth in the FAQ linked in my sig, so be sure to check that out.

Power "conditioners" are mostly no different from a cheap power strip, just in a rackmount box. They are useful as rackable power strips, but 99% of the claims made by the manufacturers are lies or half-truths. If you have a modern amp, all the power conditioning you need is already built into the amp, and the "extra" in the conditioner doesn't help. Be sure to search on the word "conditioner" in the Amps forum, as there is a lot of very useful information there.

Passive versus active is also discussed in my FAQ, and there is a vast amount of discussion of that subject in the Pickups And Electronics forum, so go read there.

To read about "Sonic Maximizers" and "Enhancers", search in the Effects forum. The short version IMO is that they can help a muddy/dull cheap/old amp sound brighter and stronger, but they don't help if your amp is already good-sounding.

As far as "best" sound, there's no such thing, because we all have different tastes.

As far as "cleanest" and "most original", I'd say a low-capacitance cable into a relatively high-fidelity amp and cab would get you there... But whether that sounds good to you in reality is a whole different question, that only you can answer.

[Philbiker]

Good speakers. Competent cables. Good amplifiers. Good source components.

Speaker placement means more than any other single factor in creating good stereo sound. www.stevehoffman.tv discussion forums are interesting.

[MIJ-VI]

Equal loudness contours and audiometry - Hearing test on-line

This hearing test measures the relative sensitivity of your ears at different frequencies.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/hearing.html

According to this ^ I can't hear north of 8kHz and thus don't need to $pend dough on audiophile anything!









--------

EDIT: An additional on-line hearing test:

http://www.rnid.org.uk/howwehelp/hea.../?from=/check/

[Herbie 80's]

I can hear all of the frequencies on that chart. Neat-o.

For my loud needs I use a Ross PA head with two 12" speakers, one behind me, and one infront of me. Both of them are on the ground, and pointed towards me. I love this set up.

For my more audiophile needs, I use an external preamp connected via USB, into Sennheiser HD 485 headphones. It's a cool set up, but after listening to music in FLAC and WavPack so much, I can't listen to anything in lower rate mp3's without giving me a headache.

I encode everything in Wav, FLAC, FLAC 24/96 (wow, Jesus, that stuff sounds good), and WavPack.

[Pilgrim]

IMO "good quality" is good enough.

No matter how much time and money you spend on audiophile stuff, the final sound depends a lot on the acoustics of the venue, the size of the crowd (sound bounce) and the mix of the band. So don't get terribly carried away, as there's not much point in creating a sound that the audience will never hear.

Hmmm...my left ear drops out above 4 KHZ. Right ear is good thru 12 KHZ, but I have to cheat up a few dB.

[korybaugus]

The best speakers I've ever encountered are Green Mountain Audio. They are so good I decided to become a retailer. They make supposedly good speakers(wilsons,dynaudio, harbeth, martens, pmc) sound broken and artificial.

Besides speakers and amplifiers, the next biggest difference is in interconnects and after that would be speaker cables. Power cables and conditioners are a more subtle, but I've definitely heard a difference.

[Linas]

Originally Posted by Herbie 80's

For my more audiophile needs, I use an external preamp connected via USB, into Sennheiser HD 485 headphones. It's a cool set up, but after listening to music in FLAC and WavPack so much, I can't listen to anything in lower rate mp3's without giving me a headache.

I encode everything in Wav, FLAC, FLAC 24/96 (wow, Jesus, that stuff sounds good), and WavPack.

I encourage you to download an blind A/B testing program. While most of the stuff i download is FLAC, its only because i have the hard drive space for it. I thought i would be able to tell the difference between FLAC and V0 or 320kbps Mp3s, but using the blind A/B test, i really couldnt. YMMV

The one thing that is going to have a greater effect on the sound of your system aside from maybe speakers, is how your room is set up. Speaker placement and dampening are essential to achieve great sound. I recommend everyone to watch this video on audio myths. Its an hour long but well worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ

[Deepak]

Most audiophile products do work - in that they relieve the jingling of money in your pocket when you're cranking it to 11.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by lycanbreed7

I would like to see some thoughts on what some of you believe does and does not work.

There are really two separate questions implied there:

There's the Does It Make An Audible Difference? question. And then there's the Is That Difference An Improvement? question.

If you can't reliably, repeatedly, and objectively prove that some gizmo makes a Difference, there's no point in even asking whether or not it makes an Improvement.

I'll say that again: If you can't reliably, repeatedly, and objectively prove that some gizmo makes a Difference, there's no point in even asking whether or not it makes an Improvement.

[ggunn]

Are you trying to start a fight?

The bottom line is that hearing is subjective and there is no way to measure the veracity of a lot of claims of improvements in sound that a lot of audio and audiophile equipment manufacturers make. There is no way to measure "transparency", "tightness", etc., and gear makers can use such terms to tout their wares without fear that they can be disproven.

Do these manufacturers sometimes (maybe often) take advantage of this ambiguity to try to separate you from your hard-earned dollars? Yes, without question.

I have no quarrel with folks who claim to hear a sonic difference in, say, power cables. I personally do not buy it for a second and I will never spend my money on something like that, but if it's worth it to you to buy exotic power cables and you are convinced that it makes a difference, then be my guest. Whatever floats your boat, but there is ample evidence that says if one spends money on something, then one is predisposed to perceive a positive result from that expenditure. Understand, though, that there are folks who will not give up their position that such things have an effect even in the face of data from verifiable double blind testing that suggests otherwise.

So there is no objective answer to your question. My standard response is this: If you hear a difference then it's real to you.