Snake oil thread

So they also wave other crystals around to ward off evil spirits?

Angry ghosts made my nfb-11 sound bad. I ran out of amethyst flakes the previous day.

 

At least it sounds like it's DIY snake oil, so a dishonest manufacturer isn't profiting from it. (Well, depending on where he got the quartz, I guess.)

 

Of course it is! Life all about piezo magic.

Clear quartz. I had a fascination for crystal balls once. Every time I saw one It looked at me like a puppy wanting a new home. They are quite expensive, and even though I had a few at quite expensive, I could never afford a really clear one.

Yep. Crystal Balls. Mumbo Jumbo, if you want to call it that.

But, Honest, I promise: I never used them under the hifi.

At least, not after the first time they rolled and the whole stack fell over.


.

 

I need to start an elbow licking company, and charge for theorical lessons.
People will say: I still can't lick my elbow, I want to quit!
Then, magical snake oil salesman in me will say: don't worry, to get a taste of success, lick other people's elbows, that will help you to don't give up and achieve your goal (25 bucks for that my magical elbow buddy).

Of course, that's nothing compared to some audiophile cable companies, I'm a good fella (unless you want 300€ neutrik connectors, VAT not included, of course.)

 

I'll buy in if it gets a good review on 6moons.

Oh! 9suns, 6moons!

 

In 6moons argot, sirupy chocolated honey glazed liquid mids and the upper register equivalent of glass flies rubbing their legs together

 

A new favorite : cable burn in machine

http://telos-audio.com.tw/2017/09/28/qbt-cable-run-in-machine/

I leave you with this quote:
Let us try to explain our technology in a more illustrious manner. The process is analogous to loading software for computer. By running in the cables using different frequencies, we are able to maximize the frequency response, improve the performance and minimize the shortcomings of the cables.

 

Does that mean that I can maximize the frequency response, improve the performance and minimize the shortcomings of my computer by loading some software? Quite often, the very opposite happens.

Not only is this product crap from the initial-premise, fractal wrongness point of view, but I would never buy anything from anyone whose punctuation is so bad.

okokok... Cable burn in. Lets make two adapters: one mains plug to RCA, the other, RCA to light-bulb holder. I doubt that would be legal, but perhaps we can put it all in a box that somehow keeps 110/220v away from fingers?

Whoa, look at this product!

It renders even them speechless

Truncation seems to be the name of their game.

Telos Audio: Making Synergistic Batshit look reasonable! Since 2006.

 

Folks this is on special: set of 4 footers just $1,125, produced by Fo.Q company from Japan sold by cableco.
https://www.thecableco.com/hem-25.html. What's on the picture would cost you just $2250. They must sound beautiful!

 

You know it's snake oil when you see: Save $600 on Three Sets of Fo.Q HEM-25 Footers

Pretty tight margins, poor people

 

http://acousticrevive.jp/portfolio-item/power-conditioner/

A $230 block of wood you plug into a socket, conditions your power. Oh yea!

 

"The amusingly named Fo.Q company..." Get it?

I wouldn't be surprised if these could cause a subtle audio benefit after reading Barry Diament (mastering engineer extraordinaire IMO) talk about coming up with and marketing this concept of vibration control. His were not expensive. I have never seen any knockoffs that weren't crazy expensive. I've thought about trying some DIY version, but never got around to it.

Is it snake oil if something works but is priced crazy high? I hadn't really thought about that before.

 

Humour me, genuine question, promise I am not taking the piss- but do you have some links where people explain when vibration reduction helps for solid state gear- preferably with some nice objective testing? Beyond some mechanical vibration from transformers, I'm having a hard time figuring it out.

(I do use a bit of inexpensive but hopefully effective stuff under my tube amp, though, for obvious reasons.)

 

Isolating a turntable = easily explained.

Isolating tube gear = still explainable.

But yea, I never bothered to isolate my pure SS gear.

 

No links for "where people explain when vibration reduction helps for solid state gear- preferably with some nice objective testing?". I don't think Barry Diament worked like that. I have a foggy memory of Barry Diament discussing the "ball bearings in cups" concept he came up with, in a thread on the Steve Hoffman Forum. I don't remember if he had much of an explanation beyond, he tried it and liked the results. He said something like: Interested people could get ball bearings and cups for a small amount of money and try it themselves. It would be easier and quicker than trying to prove/understand what he liked about all of this. I know Solid State came up (over and over) but cannot remember what Barry Diament said about that other than "try it for yourself".

Barry Diament has a lot of credibility with me when it comes to his judgement of sound. I have greatly enjoyed his mastering work for years. When he freely offered information on SHMF I found it really interesting. Some vocal members finally hounded him to the point he just quit posting. He had been very kind and generous throughout. It was sad to observe.

Other questions just came to mind:
Is it snake oil if someone you respect offers nothing other than their subjective opinion?
Is it snake oil if someone does not make a cent (nor other benefit)?
(Not directed at you @Kattefjaes . I am just having some "What is snake oil?" thoughts today.)

 

AUDIOPHILE Snake oil is in the eye of the beholder I think.

In my case "snake oil" is mostly a non issue because of my spending preference... most of the controversial stuff is far more expensive than I'm willing to pay so I don't care... which is to say that I'm pretty happy with where I am on the diminishing returns spectrum TYVM. I do have SVS soundpath "feet" on my two subs and I believe they make an appreciable difference but I can tell you that one (otherwise well respected) poster on another forum just won't leg go when it comes to his opinion on the matter. So I do see both sides.

 

No worries- I was asking, because I genuinely wondered. Maybe this is a job for paging @atomicbob or similar..

Bob, if you see this- if vibration isolation benefits solid state gear, how does that work? All I can think of is stuff like mechanical vibration from transformers, possibly involving beating and resonance in an annoying way- and that's a stretch.

Not sure I agree with that. At all.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2007/nov/16/sciencenews.g2

 

Fo.Q pronounced Fock You which is close to ... Well, people get it now if they didn't already.

 

Yes, Ethernet cables work. Good quality, slightly more expensive Ethernet cables work as well. But 10k Audioquest Ethernet cable is still bullshit and snake oil combined.

 

The hilarious thing about "audiophile" USB cables is that some of them are worse USB cables than plain old Belkin.

Same goes for some of the wanky power leads. I wish I could remember which pricey brand it was that were yoinked off sale after someone discovered that they were made of crappy materials and electrically unsafe.

This will have to do in the meantime:

https://gizmodo.com/371536/300-audiophile-grade-power-cable-is-really-worth-15