Sound Quality, How far do yo go..?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by The Freedom Man, Jan 22, 2020.

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  1. The Freedom Man

    The Freedom Man The Freedom Man Thread Starter

    Location:
    Rotterdam
    Tim 2 likes this.
  2. Boltman92124

    Boltman92124 Go Padres!!

    Location:
    San Diego
  3. The Pinhead

    The Pinhead KING OF BOOM AND SIZZLE IN HELL

  4. Bill Mac

    Bill Mac Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    That one's a beauty :rolleyes:. I'd like to know how the savants at What Hi-Fi? can tell a CD sounds better by starting the CD from the beginning after playback was paused. You'd be going to a completely different track of the CD.

    I was just listening to Dire Straits S/T MOFI SACD. I paused the disc several times and then resumed playback from where the disc was paused. There was zero difference in SQ from where the disc was paused and from where playback was resumed. Total BS in my opinion.

    What's next? Will the scientists at What Hi-Fi? claim that the first track on a CD sounds better than the last track :winkgrin:?
     
    izgoblin, Kristofa, tin ears and 8 others like this.
  5. Riotvan

    Riotvan Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    So if i understand this correctly we have to playback the cd in reverse order to get to the good stuff right away? What about files? The possibilities are endless!

    And senseless...
     
  6. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    #3, #4, and #7 are the only ones that make sense. The rest of the article is bullocks.
     
  7. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Collectively speaking, this is about as dumb of as list as you get.

    Better to get advice from a Radio Shack.
     
  8. Catcher10

    Catcher10 I like records, and Prog...duh

    I thought Aprils Fools was on April 1st.......Did the date change?? OMG
     
  9. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Anything that improves isolation of one's components is valid.
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
  10. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    thanks but no thanks...I'm happy with my sound!
     
  11. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    True, but having to make a written recommendation for something, is like being the master of all things that are incredibly obvious.

    It would almost quality along the lines that you will get better performance out of your gear having it plugged in.
     
    Vignus likes this.
  12. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Not so obvious to novices or beginners.
     
  13. jenkovix

    jenkovix Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe, Hungary
    #6 is not b******. I've made some cable elevators from wood and the cable is suspended rests on rubber. they DO make a positive difference and I'll never take them out.
     
  14. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    I'm just surprised some people have actually tried stopping a CD and restarting it again to see if this holds up....!!
     
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  15. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    #5 is so fundamental it should form part of your budget if you're buying a system, that's if you want to pay and have the benefit of aesthetic.

    As for #6 I'm open to persuasion, having never tried it, but having discussed this years ago my friend may have some relevant experience. For his Physics PhD he had sensitive electronics mounted on anti-vibration stands, however he discovered vibrations in the cabling was inducing a rogue signal, relevant (?), maybe.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  16. Barnabas Collins

    Barnabas Collins Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
    I'm not squashing balls, mine or anyone else's, for better component isolation.
     
  17. Stefan Sigurdsson

    Stefan Sigurdsson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Iceland
    #5 is not bullsh*. For. ex. there is vibration inside a CD-player from the rotating transport and the transformer. It affects the laser and the crystal.
    Vibration absorbing feet is a good solution.
     
    progrocker, Tim 2 and Chris Schoen like this.
  18. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    Depending on the materials and the construction, a cable may be more or less likely to be subject to spurious voltage because of a triboelectric effect from friction between the dielectric material and the conductor when a cable is moved. It's a big issue in cabling for certain medical equipment that moves and that has low signal levels. It can be a problem in guitar cables and microphone cables for stage use. It can be a bigger issues with certain materials -- like sliver cable with Teflon dielectric -- and low level signal with high gain circuits. However it's not so much of a problem generally in home hifi -- for one thing, our cables -- other than maybe our tonearm cables -- aren't typically moving when we're listening to music. For another, the signal levels of triobelectric noise in these kinds of cables with the amount of movement we're talking about is way below probably the self-noise floor of your equipment. And lifting the cables off the floor on risers isn't going to make the cables less likely to move -- in fact maybe more likely, they'll still be coupled to the floor through the risers, if the concern is floor-borne vibration, and they'll be suspended unsupported between the risers leaving them likely to be more susceptible to airborne sources of vibration.

    If someone is really concerned about triboelectric effect noise in hifi cables, use cables with triboelectric shielding -- a semi conductive shield layer you'll find in guitar cablee, and avoid Teflon coated silver tonearm wire, and take care to route your cables in some environment where they're not subject to movement.
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2020
  19. caracallac

    caracallac Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    Why do I get the feeling that point 9 wasn't meant for publication until April 1st?
     
  20. PieterdeTweeter

    PieterdeTweeter Well-Known Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Vibrations seem not good, but do you hear bettering? I believe nothing, but will give things a try.
     
  21. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    All the things from the above link are from the 80's.
    I've tried all those things the've mention and a couple hundred more, some work/help some don't. imo.
    One really needs to try things for him/her self. I've had more than one preconceived ideal trashed.
    We're here to learn and have fun, tweak on.
     
  22. Dream On

    Dream On Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    Seven of the first 8 points seem fine to me, with the exception of the cable risers, though I have never tried that and likely never will. How much of an audible effect each would have is the question, but I think there is some logic to those 7 points. #9 just seems ridiculous to me, and I am not going to start an album from the beginning if I have to hit pause halfway through it. Or what if I throw a disc on to listen to tracks 10-12. I have to sit through tracks 1-9 first? This is just an idiotic suggestion.

    Also, I don't think there is anywhere that they suggest these are the 9 most important things to do before you do anything else.
     
    Big Blue and Tim 2 like this.
  23. SquishySounds

    SquishySounds Yo mama so fat Thanos had to snap twice.

    Location:
    New York
    ‘8 simple psychological tricks to make you think something is better than it is.’

    From the journalist who brought you ‘Starve yourself for a day before trying that new restaurant’ and ‘Drugs are better when you do them with friends’
     
  24. Tim 2

    Tim 2 MORE MUSIC PLEASE

    Location:
    Alberta Canada
    I used to say the same things when I first got into audio, Oh i've learned so much since the seventies.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  25. Pastafarian

    Pastafarian Forum Resident

    Well for a start drugs are better when you do them with friends and if I demoed the effect of isolating electronics you would be laughing at yourself
     
    Tim 2 likes this.
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