Is the snake oil slowly retreating from the Hi-Fi industry?

[CageyH]

I get my hearing measured every year at work. At the moment, no problems to report as I use decent ear protection when required.

The thing that makes me laugh is all the older guys who buy these superb systems when they retire. They won’t hear the benefit of most of it.
HiFi is a cruel hobby for that. When you are young with awesome hearing, most people don’t have the means to buy a superb system. As you get older, and hearing deteriorates, you can.

 

[theone8181]

I found the snake oil https://www.headamp.com/products/kimber-kable-axios-copper-headphone-cable?variant=28220606382144

I get my hearing measured every year at work. At the moment, no problems to report as I use decent ear protection when required.

The thing that makes me laugh is all the older guys who buy these superb systems when they retire. They won’t hear the benefit of most of it.
HiFi is a cruel hobby for that. When you are young with awesome hearing, most people don’t have the means to buy a superb system. As you get older, and hearing deteriorates, you can.

I tested this at work, bearing in mind I'm 34, I could hear ~20khz, the audiophile (who is only 37), couldn't hear past 16khz but swears blind stuff sounds different (it might well do if he's missing a quarter of these range).

 

[CageyH]

You also have people who swear super tweeters, which operate above the audible range of most people, make a huge difference. Apparently you can sense the difference so it gives you a better listening experience.

 

[Pottsey]

You also have people who swear super tweeters, which operate above the audible range of most people, make a huge difference. Apparently you can sense the difference so it gives you a better listening experience.

There is some truth in that. You do feel the music which is why so many deaf people like to listen to music even though they cannot hear it.

 

[CageyH]

Interesting. I can understand that you can feel the lower and mid frequencies, but the less powerful ranges that exceed 25kHz and top out around 30kHz?

First of all, is the recorded material and system capable of reproducing this frequency range?

 

[chorse]

I get my hearing measured every year at work. At the moment, no problems to report as I use decent ear protection when required.

The thing that makes me laugh is all the older guys who buy these superb systems when they retire. They won’t hear the benefit of most of it.
HiFi is a cruel hobby for that. When you are young with awesome hearing, most people don’t have the means to buy a superb system. As you get older, and hearing deteriorates, you can.

Most occupational hearing tests bottom out about 200hz. As this is 'useful range' for speech.

In addition to the obvious, ear shape/room size etc are also big factors when compared to audio cable quality.

Might be worth spending some of the cable money on custom mouldings/room treatment.

 

[CageyH]

Cable shielding can be important if you have a noisy environment. Don't underestimate the importance of a "quality" cable. Just bear in mind that quality does not always equal the retail price.

 

[-Ad-]

Well that was a fun read over lunch

Some impressive trolling / delusion, but some posts certainly made me laugh.

Where's that popcorn.

 

[CageyH]

My favourite example of expensive cables is an old video of QED making a set of “signature” speaker cables on YouTube.
These used to sell for a lot of cash. I watched the video and thought to myself that looks RG-8U cable, so found some pictures etc. and could not find a visible difference. I knocked a set up, and they worked fine as a speaker cable....

 

[ubersonic]

has the hi-fi industry been forced to become more "honest"?

Sadly not, they're currently trying to scam people with "audiophile" grade ethernet cables for their DAC. Which perform the same (or sometimes worse) as an Amazonbasics cable, yet cost £70-700 depending on brand and the amount of snake oil.

 

[Gray2233]

Sadly not, they're currently trying to scam people with "audiophile" grade ethernet cables for their DAC. Which perform the same (or sometimes worse) as an Amazonbasics cable, yet cost £70-700 depending on brand and the amount of snake oil.

You mean like this: https://www.artisansilvercables.co.uk/network ?

Only £800 for a "silver" 4.5m cable.

This isn't even the most expensive one I've seen.

Then there's the £350 headphone cables, which is more expensive than some of the headphones people plug them into. I saw a guy on Head-Fi awhile back who spent that much for cables he was plugging into some HD600's he'd bought for £250.

 

[ubersonic]

You mean like this: https://www.artisansilvercables.co.uk/network ?

Only £800 for a "silver" 4.5m cable.

Yup.

It's sad that trading standards aren't jumping all over these companies

 

[Gimpymoo]

You mean like this: https://www.artisansilvercables.co.uk/network ?

Only £800 for a "silver" 4.5m cable.

This isn't even the most expensive one I've seen.

Then there's the £350 headphone cables, which is more expensive than some of the headphones people plug them into. I saw a guy on Head-Fi awhile back who spent that much for cables he was plugging into some HD600's he'd bought for £250.

All of these measures add up to as near to bit-perfect, ultra-low-jitter replay as possible.

The result?

Music simply becomes more vivid and real sounding. Ultra-pure transparent music, packed with every bit of low-level detail, superior tonal accuracy, timing and dynamics.

I am sold.

 

[Broken Hope]

Got to love how digital cables still have so much snake oil, boggles my mind that you can get HDMI cables that cost hundreds, yet my £7 ones from Amazon are premium certified with the hologram and QR code, meaning they pass all the tests from the HDMI org.

 

[chorse]

As one cable seller puts it.... "you need to apply my 10% Rule. Spend 10% of your budget on the hardware and 90% getting the best out of it! "

 

[CageyH]

As one cable seller puts it.... "you need to apply my 10% Rule. Spend 10% of your budget on the hardware and 90% getting the best out of it! "

So my ipod connected to a Bose sounddock with an £4000 cable should sound awesome?

Where do I buy one?

 

[Flibster]

So my ipod connected to a Bose sounddock with an £4000 cable should sound awesome?

Where do I buy one?

I was thinking a £25 CD player, £25 amp and a £50 set of speakers all off ebay, and then £900 worth of interconnects, power and speaker cable. Should be amazing.

 

[CageyH]

I am a great believer that there is no point in buying a better cable than used in the recording studio.
Usually these are pretty basic balanced cables, but the golden ear types don’t always agree.

 

[DXP55]

I was into the HiFi in the 80's - nothing expensive but my highlight was a Audiolab 6000 I think along with a Logic DM 101 and small speakers - We (wife) really enjoyed our music and worst thing I did was sell the amp for "surround sound" - I have never been a big film watcher so to be honest it was wasted.
But the point of this is in those days in the 80s there was much more magic you could do to improve the sound and one in particular still stands out.
It was in one of the HiFi mags - something like HiFi answers - To get better sound they found that if you turn all the screws in the door hinge so all of the slots in screws were horizontal there would be a massive improvement in sound quality.
Now unfortunately I can't even have the radio on as my hearing is only about 50% or less (Clay shooting with no ear plugs) and music sounds so tinny with hearing aid I don't bother - same with TV - all women seem to whine in horrible high pitched voices.

I do miss quality music.

 

[kitfit1]

all women seem to whine in horrible high pitched voices.

Well, as a 62 year old 3 times married personage...................the whining your refer to has nothing to do with hi-fi or snake oil. It's just a natural ability that all women have......................if and when you get to my age you will know this as a fact. It also will never change for the better, no matter how much you spend on a USB cable