We recorded the sound in 24/96 so listen on good headphones or your reference stereo to listen for differences. Can you hear it?
I'm not sure about YouTube but when I upgraded the power supply for my Bluetooth from a generic wall wart to a Teddy Pardo linear supply it made a night and day difference.
Super low ripple from a linear power supply vs a nasty wall wart has to make a difference. All an audio amp is simply a modulated power supply. Modulate junk and you get junk. As for a TT, not sure.
Yes, but cleaner source and you can still hear it. We may look into other channels but YouTube is really the best channel to be on given the wide audience. We may decide to post the files.
It’s not advertising. We did not get paid by SR. We thought we would record the sound differences of the LPS and let people decide for themselves. What’s wrong with that? We are planning to do this for many manufacturers.
Given the choice, I would choose a good switching power supply over a linear one. The reason for this is to get rid of a major source of 60Hz hum and it's multiple harmonics which pollute in the audio band. The AC power transformer in a linear supply (even a torroid transformer) is also a major radiator of hum components into the electronics). Moving transformers physically around in the chassis in a new design is a routine step to minimize radiation, but it is next to impossible to eliminate. An excellent example of a linear supply making matters worse is in the case of the ProJect Phono Box RS2 which I purchased recently. In the Stereophile measurements, the 'upgrade' linear supply performed worse than the stock switching supply. In something as sensitive as a phono preamp where voltage levels are so low, and gain so high, 60Hz hum is something you don't want. Good switching supplies can easily outperform linear ones. Pro-Ject Phono Box RS2 phono preamplifier Measurements Once the AC line voltage is converted to DC - well, pure DC is pure DC and cannot possibly influence sound quality. Good switching supplies can supply DC which is more pure than a linear one.
Errr, a linear PS has about 3mv AC ripple. A switching PS has at best 30mv AC ripple and cheap wall warts more AC ripple. A switcher with linear output would be low AC ripple. Never seen one but may exist. That is what Stereophile must have measured, but it is linear output.
Agreed. Jeff Rowland, Soulution, Berning and many others have been using SMPS in their best gear for years and it performs admirably. Like any maturing technology, over time it eventually surpasses what came before it. David Berning's daytime job is designing SMPS for the defense industry. Ask him where the SOTA in PS now resides.
Just look at almost any amplifier measurement on Stereophile and you will see 60Hz pollution. Look at almost any amplifier which uses a good switching supply, and you won't see that. In power amplifiers especially which have unregulated B+ supplies, 60Hz pollution is next to impossible to get rid of and transformer radiation is just as difficult. It is easier for a preamp using a linear supply to reduce the 60Hz pollution, but a good switching supply will always be better. What you seem to not realize is that the power transformer, even in a preamp, is a major source of 60Hz (or 50Hz) noise into the electronics - and this has nothing to do with 'ripple'. You need to spend more time in the design lab actually designing this stuff.
Very interesting video, there are noticeable audible differences that cannot be accounted for by variation in normal human hearing, at least I can hear a difference. I find it hard to believe that the Absolute Sound is collaborating with SR to “fake” any of these videos, there’s a lot at stake! Most manufacturers of cables and like product offer a trial period, as they understand the controversy surrounding these products. Try it, if you don’t like it return it. But I think there’s a bigger problem not having anything to do with cables! If you spend $10,000 on a preamplifier, it may measure and sound the same as a $3000 preamplifier, but no one says anything. I’m not saying this happens all the time but I’m sure it has happened. Maybe cables are the same thing people who can afford to spend on cable will spend! I’m not doubting any alleged sound improvements, I sure heard a difference in the video. I’m just saying we need to keep everything in perspective. It doesn’t make sense to hold cables and like product to such a high level of scrutiny when other components in the system are not criticized in the same way. (Or maybe they are, and I haven’t noticed). By the way, I have no vested interest to make any particular statements, I’m just a hobbyist trying to understand.
Can you hear what? I heard Ted Denney speak at the beginning of the video for three minutes, uttering absolute nonsense the entire time. Except for the names of SR products, not one other single thing he said was accurate. He also claimed that SR uses the demo room in which the video was shot to do double-blind testing, but then proceeded to do nothing of the kind. What he presented was an audio show-style product demo in which he state or implies to us in advance what we’re going to hear and how much better we’ll like each successive product. What utter nonsense. Contrary to your own preamble, you’re not educating your readers or viewers, rather instead leading them into purchases of SR’s expensive nonsense products. The entire advertorial, fronted by you, is shameful and a disservice to audiophiles. The other thing we don’t know anything about is how the entire, carefully structured video was setup. Without knowing the setup in order to confirm that the alleged comparisons were honestly provided, the video is absolutely just an advertorial, the sole goal being the sales of SR products. There’s no education taking place in the video. Ted Denney thinks he can generate a Schumann wave with his little boxes? The whole notion is utterly foolish and speaks to a lack of technical knowledge, and utter lack of engineering knowledge, and an utter lack of physics knowledge. It’s just Ted Denney using random bits of science jargon strung together in intriguing sounding ways to help him seem astute while pitching his overpriced nonsense. @LeeS - in my opinion, one of these days a non-UL/non-CSA product produced by SR is going to zap some hapless end user right into an emergency ward at their local hospital. It’ll happen not because the people at SR are evil, but because they’ve substituted belief for actual knowledge. That’s a dumb and dangerous thing to do when playing with electricity. My advice is to stay away from SR products.
I will never understand why you try to find the worst in people. The demo here is simple, if you hear a difference then great consider a better LPS. If not, then move along. No one is forcing anyone to buy anything. Ted even offers a money back guarantee. As for setup, no other variables were changed here.
“people”? Plural? Nope. You’re confusing me with someone else. 99% of my public posts on SHF and my private replies to PMs end up in product recommendations, speaker placement changes, technical support of some sort, and over the years compliments paid to dozens or hundreds of different products produced by dozens and dozens of different companies. Far from trying to find the worst in people, I can clearly show that I unequivocally try to find the absolute best in audiophiles, in their existing systems, and among the choices of components they’re considering. My very long list of posts supporting various SHF members is painfully public. My equally long list of demands upon products that I assess and compare includes a stringent requirement that those products stand on their own, without the aid of crafty pitches and without any group of listeners knowing for sure which of a selection of competing products being compared is being heard at any given time during a listening session. I give credit where it’s due - every time, and without hesitation - but call out glib pitchmen who offer nothing but products constructed of feints, dodges, and unfulfilled promises. Ah… the money-back guarantee. It’s an old ruse. Pitch, pitch, pitch with the reassurance of the psychologically persuasive money-back guarantee. It’s an ancient scheme that is, in my opinion, emphasized more often by hucksters than by product makers who have no need to emphasize such a thing whether they offer it or not. I don’t believe it - not because I think you’re personally being deceptive or colluding with SR or Ted Denney or anything of the kind. Far from it. I think you’re an enthusiastic and experienced audiophile who makes a respectable living in the publishing business. Rather, I don’t believe it because it is impossible for me to trust a carny-like pitchman. Listening sessions that are prefaced by a guy pitching his products and telling us that we’re going to hear different things produce useless results. Useless, in my opinion, like the products themselves in this case.
Thank you for putting to words much of what I was thinking. And why anyone would trust their own safety from any non-UL / non CSA product (regardless of manufacturer) is beyond me. In addition to potentially getting ‘zapped’ there’s also concern over fire.
What do you mean "WE"? Who is "WE"? Who else is there with ya LeeS? Are you a dealer who carries that Quantum Mechanics PhD Physicist Ted Denney's things?
You implied the test was faulty or fraudulent in your first quote. I was there and made sure the only changes were with the LPS and cable substitutions. Our video editor was also on hand watching the changes as well. I can assure you that the test is a pure A/B. I can also confirm that the dual microphone array and SoundDevices settings remained the same throughout. Indeed I set the levels on the 722 myself and no one else touched them during the recording.
I am sorry, the video has all the marks of a sales pitch and is in no way scientifically valid. To have the salesman start by saying, "You're going to hear the difference" would invalidate ANY test. To have him announce what you are hearing each time would invalidate ANY test. My impression is, that is the sort of maneuvering that @Agitater was objecting to, and I agree with him. I happen to be a PhD scientist who worked in statistical modeling. But it doesn't take a PhD to tell a sales pitch from a scientific test.
But certainly not scientific, which would mean changing only one variable, which would mean BLIND including to psychological factors. Discussion about what you're going to hear invalidates any test. Ah well 99.99999999% of audio listening tests are unscientific (or "faulty" to use your word) so why should this be different. People believe what they want to believe anyway.
