Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Gear Aquisition Syndrome is a serious disorder.... FX etc

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Molly
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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Molly »

Danger Mouse wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:42 pm
robthemac wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 6:01 pm
Jay wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 5:52 pm No one in the whole wide world would buy that, come on, it's a joke...
Oh I'm sure there's a market for it. The guys who import them aren't doing it out of mere hope.
There is most definitely a market. At a mates 40th I spent a chunk of the evening chatting with a guy who had spent a fortune on his hi-fi set up. He was clearly very wealthy but most of the audio gear conversation was just him telling me how much he had spent, very little of it was on what his system sounded like.
He's probably hearing it with his eyes. Not something anybody here could ever be accused of... ;-)

I think I'd have lasted under a minute in that guy's company.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Slowy »

Molly wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 8:36 pm
Danger Mouse wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:42 pm
robthemac wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 6:01 pm

Oh I'm sure there's a market for it. The guys who import them aren't doing it out of mere hope.
There is most definitely a market. At a mates 40th I spent a chunk of the evening chatting with a guy who had spent a fortune on his hi-fi set up. He was clearly very wealthy but most of the audio gear conversation was just him telling me how much he had spent, very little of it was on what his system sounded like.
He's probably hearing it with his eyes. Not something anybody here could ever be accused of... ;-)

I think I'd have lasted under a minute in that guy's company.
I know several people who have spent between 100 and 400k on Hifi. I have a simple test: Close your eyes. If your mind tells you the musicians are definitely in the same room with you, the job is done. Bonus points if you pull back to avoid being hit by the drumsticks.

This effect doesn't need to cost that much (depending on the size of your room) but you're going to have to spend at least $40K for it to work perfectly.
As for the extra $, it's the same as the average players who own 59 Bursts. It's because they can and you can't.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by jeremyb »

The sad thing about hifi nerds is they always play such terrible music through their systems, but looking at trump we know that money and taste don’t go together…
Last edited by jeremyb on Fri May 13, 2022 7:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Danger Mouse »

Slowy wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 10:01 pm
Molly wrote: Thu May 12, 2022 8:36 pm
Danger Mouse wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:42 pm

There is most definitely a market. At a mates 40th I spent a chunk of the evening chatting with a guy who had spent a fortune on his hi-fi set up. He was clearly very wealthy but most of the audio gear conversation was just him telling me how much he had spent, very little of it was on what his system sounded like.
He's probably hearing it with his eyes. Not something anybody here could ever be accused of... ;-)

I think I'd have lasted under a minute in that guy's company.
I know several people who have spent between 100 and 400k on Hifi. I have a simple test: Close your eyes. If your mind tells you the musicians are definitely in the same room with you, the job is done. Bonus points if you pull back to avoid being hit by the drumsticks.

This effect doesn't need to cost that much (depending on the size of your room) but you're going to have to spend at least $40K for it to work perfectly.
As for the extra $, it's the same as the average players who own 59 Bursts. It's because they can and you can't.
Yep, in the case of the guy I spent time talking to, it is very much an expression of wealth. He could and he enjoyed telling people he could.

But still, a nice enough guy. He had recently upgraded his second set up and had gifted the speakers to my mate, which were $6k worth.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll spend thousands on fishing equipment he'll use for a bit, then get bored and move onto something else.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by clubhouse »

jeremyb wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 7:26 am The sad thing about hifi nerds is they always play such terrible music through their systems, but looking at trump we know that money and taste don’t go together…
I’ve spent a bit of time behind consoles in some highly controlled audio environments (ionised, temp and humidity regulated air, wave-length tuned room space, near/mid and soffit mounted monitors with phase alignment, the full 6 figure investment stuff). The system itself is only a part of the overall documentation, collation and presentation of audio data. No judgement…your money, your freedom of choice(s) to spend however you will…but I’d be curious if a large chunk of that change isn’t spent on chasing equipment solutions to band-aid over boogie listening environment issues…nice view through the panoramic, floor to ceiling windows, bummer about the refractive/reflective acoustics…

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by robthemac »

clubhouse wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 10:48 am
jeremyb wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 7:26 am The sad thing about hifi nerds is they always play such terrible music through their systems, but looking at trump we know that money and taste don’t go together…
I’ve spent a bit of time behind consoles in some highly controlled audio environments (ionised, temp and humidity regulated air, wave-length tuned room space, near/mid and soffit mounted monitors with phase alignment, the full 6 figure investment stuff). The system itself is only a part of the overall documentation, collation and presentation of audio data. No judgement…your money, your freedom of choice(s) to spend however you will…but I’d be curious if a large chunk of that change isn’t spent on chasing equipment solutions to band-aid over boogie listening environment issues…nice view through the panoramic, floor to ceiling windows, bummer about the refractive/reflective acoustics…
Agreed. Have a cheap system in my modern minimalist living area, then the serious system in the gimp cave downstairs.
Jops wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by clubhouse »

robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 11:06 am
Agreed. Have a cheap system in my modern minimalist living area, then the serious system in the gimp cave downstairs.
Serious gimp cave…nice, man! Sounds a little like Torquemada meets Régine Zylberberg and Adam West-Batman…we should talk, sounds like a party to me :mental:

Back in the day, a story was told (probably apocryphal) by an older and really good audio engineer disparaging ‘audiophiles’…

IIRC, a seminar was organised by a reputable hi-fi magazine for some critics, journo and respected ‘golden ears’ cats. One of the items, which was the point of the experiment (it was a all a set-up to test a hypothesis), involved sitting the gathered in a small, acoustically tuned auditorium acknowledged for its ‘musicality’, in front of a set of very high end stereo speakers with a curtain behind them where the rest of the hi-fi system was kept.

The audience was assured that every controllable variable had been taken care of to insure that all the listeners were subjected to the same listening experience and they were asked to listen critically to a song track that was then played for them. They were asked to note their observations of the listening experience.

After some deliberate bashing and crashing about with some muttering and serious talk behind the curtain, the guinea pigs were then asked to listen critically to the same track again and note any difference from the previous experience they perceived.

The results were collated. All listeners noted differences, and there was. All were wrong…eloquently describing the phase inconsistencies causing eq shifts, variances in DAC, subtle changes in the mastering compression, blah, blah…everyone missed that the tracks were exactly the same except that the first was played back in stereo and the second in mono… :shh:

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by robthemac »

clubhouse wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 12:55 pm
robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 11:06 am
Agreed. Have a cheap system in my modern minimalist living area, then the serious system in the gimp cave downstairs.
Serious gimp cave…nice, man! Sounds a little like Torquemada meets Régine Zylberberg and Adam West-Batman…we should talk, sounds like a party to me :mental:

Back in the day, a story was told (probably apocryphal) by an older and really good audio engineer disparaging ‘audiophiles’…

IIRC, a seminar was organised by a reputable hi-fi magazine for some critics, journo and respected ‘golden ears’ cats. One of the items, which was the point of the experiment (it was a all a set-up to test a hypothesis), involved sitting the gathered in a small, acoustically tuned auditorium acknowledged for its ‘musicality’, in front of a set of very high end stereo speakers with a curtain behind them where the rest of the hi-fi system was kept.

The audience was assured that every controllable variable had been taken care of to insure that all the listeners were subjected to the same listening experience and they were asked to listen critically to a song track that was then played for them. They were asked to note their observations of the listening experience.

After some deliberate bashing and crashing about with some muttering and serious talk behind the curtain, the guinea pigs were then asked to listen critically to the same track again and note any difference from the previous experience they perceived.

The results were collated. All listeners noted differences, and there was. All were wrong…eloquently describing the phase inconsistencies causing eq shifts, variances in DAC, subtle changes in the mastering compression, blah, blah…everyone missed that the tracks were exactly the same except that the first was played back in stereo and the second in mono… :shh:
I've spent enough of my life arguing with audiophiles about the inability for people to distinguish between most components.

Better to spend money on the gimp-related items rather than DACs and cables etc.
Jops wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Danger Mouse »

robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 1:47 pm
clubhouse wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 12:55 pm
robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 11:06 am
Agreed. Have a cheap system in my modern minimalist living area, then the serious system in the gimp cave downstairs.
Serious gimp cave…nice, man! Sounds a little like Torquemada meets Régine Zylberberg and Adam West-Batman…we should talk, sounds like a party to me :mental:

Back in the day, a story was told (probably apocryphal) by an older and really good audio engineer disparaging ‘audiophiles’…

IIRC, a seminar was organised by a reputable hi-fi magazine for some critics, journo and respected ‘golden ears’ cats. One of the items, which was the point of the experiment (it was a all a set-up to test a hypothesis), involved sitting the gathered in a small, acoustically tuned auditorium acknowledged for its ‘musicality’, in front of a set of very high end stereo speakers with a curtain behind them where the rest of the hi-fi system was kept.

The audience was assured that every controllable variable had been taken care of to insure that all the listeners were subjected to the same listening experience and they were asked to listen critically to a song track that was then played for them. They were asked to note their observations of the listening experience.

After some deliberate bashing and crashing about with some muttering and serious talk behind the curtain, the guinea pigs were then asked to listen critically to the same track again and note any difference from the previous experience they perceived.

The results were collated. All listeners noted differences, and there was. All were wrong…eloquently describing the phase inconsistencies causing eq shifts, variances in DAC, subtle changes in the mastering compression, blah, blah…everyone missed that the tracks were exactly the same except that the first was played back in stereo and the second in mono… :shh:
I've spent enough of my life arguing with audiophiles about the inability for people to distinguish between most components.

Better to spend money on the gimp-related items rather than DACs and cables etc.
Even when you get close to the level of separation Slowy talks about, often you're just getting to listen to, in infinite detail, just how badly your favourite music is recorded, mixed and mastered.

"Can you hear just how incredibly sharp the clipping sounds on this brickwalled album? You won't get that level of detail with cheaper speaker floor spikes" etc.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll spend thousands on fishing equipment he'll use for a bit, then get bored and move onto something else.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Bg »

...and this is why I'm grateful for having tin ears :) The closest I get to Hi-fi is through DT-770 Pro's. Shove your spikes up your jacksy.
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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Slowy »

Danger Mouse wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 4:32 pm
Even when you get close to the level of separation Slowy talks about, often you're just getting to listen to, in infinite detail, just how badly your favourite music is recorded, mixed and mastered.
And this is the paradox awaiting you at the top of the heap. Your gear does indeed become so revealing that you can only find a small handful of recordings that don't make you wince. (Jazz at The Pawnshop anyone?).

I suspect the obsessive audiophile doesn't actually like music very much. They're just chasing the sound in their heads and will go to any lengths to pursue it. Every upgrade satisfies for a while, then the doubts and questions start again.

Of course as guitarists, we could never understand such behaviour.
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by robthemac »

Bg wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 5:08 pm ...and this is why I'm grateful for having tin ears :) The closest I get to Hi-fi is through DT-770 Pro's. Shove your spikes up your jacksy.
DT-770 ain't nothing to sniff at!
Jops wrote: Sun Sep 18, 2022 7:46 am Spring is the comic sans of reverbs anyway.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Bg »

robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 6:19 pm
Bg wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 5:08 pm ...and this is why I'm grateful for having tin ears :) The closest I get to Hi-fi is through DT-770 Pro's. Shove your spikes up your jacksy.
DT-770 ain't nothing to sniff at!
I have 2 pairs, because 250 ohms doesn't always cut it, 70 ohms come into play.
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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by clubhouse »

So beyond a vague price-point the whole exercise dissolves into a pissing contest on who’s spent the most money on the biggest/most miniaturised, most technologically advanced/esoterically contrived audio microscope…with, I suspect, few instances of the assemblage being used in appropriate ‘clean room’ conditions. Again, if you’re wealthy enough to pursue particle physics in the realms of diminishing returns…have at it, I say…just, please do it properly, is all I’d whinge about…like the cats with the LHC/CERN and get the environment right.

None of them talks about the concrete mass they sunk into the foundations to absorb ground waves or the base isolation and diffusion materials used to tame a feral 200Hz frequency build up in the back corner of the room. It’s not as sexy as dropping a casual $7K on a hand carved, 24C gold wired, jewel-ruby stylused, lignum vitae turntable cart…

Eliminating all the peripheral crap between the media and the listener, in the way headphones eliminate most of the environment (except for the psycho-acoustic metaphysical environmental influence otherwise eliminated by VR sets or listening with your eyes closed in a sensory deprivation tank?), the next “format shift” could be the development of DNCs (digital neural convertors) where the listener plugs a wireless node into a connection in the brain stem to stream audio/visual data direct :lolno: …sell your shares in JBL, B+W, Genelec, Adam, etc now…you read it here first :roll:

Hell, maybe spend a few thou each year hosting some live performances at the pad instead of amassing a mess of blinking boxes and cables and share the experience of real music, untainted and uncoloured by the recording media complex, loud and direct…but they probably do that as well (let’s hope) anyway :mrgreen: …I suspect though, that it’s more about the quantifiable ($) measure of competitive perversion…right on.

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Re: Forums have been slow, how about a 'In the mail' thread?

Post by Slowy »

robthemac wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 6:19 pm
Bg wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 5:08 pm ...and this is why I'm grateful for having tin ears :) The closest I get to Hi-fi is through DT-770 Pro's. Shove your spikes up your jacksy.
DT-770 ain't nothing to sniff at!
Agreed. Sniffing is for RATs
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

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