Beware the audio guru


There are a few contributors to these forums who apparently see themselves as gurus. They speak in absolutes, using words such as "always" and "never." They make pronouncements about products or techniques they’ve never heard or experienced, justifying their conclusions because contrary claims are "impossible" or "snake oil." Those who disagree are accused of being "deluded," or suffering some insurmountable bias, or attempting to further some commercial agenda. On occasion, they have taunted detractors with an appeal that they engage in a wager - one guy wanted $25,000 cash up front and an agreement drafted by lawyers. Another offered 5-to-1 odds.

I am not going to tell you who to believe. But for anyone who might be uncertain about sorting out conflicting claims here, I suggest they consider the behavior of experts in other fields. No good doctor offers a 100 percent guarantee on any treatment or surgical procedure, even if medical science suggests success. No good attorney will tell you that you have a case that positively can’t be lost, even if the law appears to be on your side. No true professional will insult you for the questions you ask, or abandon you if you seek a second opinion.

A doctor conducts his own tests. An engineer makes his own measurements. Neither will insist the burden of documentation falls upon you.

These might be details to consider as you sift through the many conflicting claims made on Audiogon. In short: Decide for yourself. Don’t let other people tell you how to think, or listen.
Ag insider logo xs@2xcleeds
supertweak
If someone really has a good mind its hard to picture them verbally stalking somebody and multiple times pasting paragraphs from thier targets listings in thier own listings in an attempt to make them a joke.

>>>>Actually it’s more than a simple case of a spelling error. It’s a grammatical error. The word is his not their.
 I had a good time last night and I'm about to hit the sack,but before I do I will give everyone an even bigger "Whoa", as you spell it, form your own words from one of your  past posts.I am not so rude or insane that I would paste someone else's paragraph onto my Post in a grand effort to make them a joke like you do.The 3rd time you've done that with me. BUT ANYWAY quoting you: "A rich man has less chance of getting good sound than a camel going through the eye of a needle.You even have a little picture of a camel over the word camel and a pic of an eye over the word eye .Do you really think this is so? I'll bet that any good high end manufacturer or anyone who's been to shows or ever been to a good audio store at any time or any place would feel like splitting a gut laughing over that one.So you mean that people with Gryphon,Pass Labs,Solution,Audio Note,Audio Research and many others like that have little chance of  getting good sound??Perhaps sound like yours??Really?Your take from the Bible about rich men's chances of getting into heaven is not applicable to Audio in the real world.So according to you people with Audio Note Ongaku's or for heaven's sake Gaku On's can't get good sound like you have? I know Clint Eastwood has Rockport Equipment that cost a whole lot of money.Can't he get good sound either.All those Cowboy shows and Dirty Harry movies must have been all for nothing.I guess he's not as smart a guy as you either,huh? On the planet I reside on all those people have great sound.Anyone who would take your opinions seriously on anything at all, after a statement like that, really is someone sad.I Don't know what purpose you serve on here.To deceive people and steer them wrong? I haven't even looked through your posts to see what other ridiculous things you have to say.All I know is you keep pasting paragraphs from my posts into your posts and then at the bottom there is always the >>>>(that you do) and then the insulting comment.You are showing everyone on here what a world class you know what you are."Whoa" is right.You have got to be joking, and please stop pasting my paragraphs onto your posts,and I'm sure if there is a God looking down that he would appreciate you not misconstruing stuff that he says either.If you post or paste anything more about myself I will report you to Audiogon.You are a rare one..

MENSA? Regarding Grammar: One would think, with such a high(proclaimed) IQ, such would(at least) be familiar with the proper use of reflexive pronouns(ie: "myself") https://www.grammarly.com/blog/reflexive-pronouns/ I will, however, admit that I completely agreed with The Tweak’s first response(in this thread/Grammar not withstanding).
Talking about a "Whoa"as you spell it.In a recent post of yours you say and I quote,"Its harder for a rich man to get good sound than a camel to go through the eye of a needle."Really??? So according to you all those people with Gryphon,Pass,Audio Research,Solution,Audio Note etc.have little chance huh? Clint Eastwood I know has expensive Rockport equipment.Can't he get good sound either? Maybe he's not as smart a guy as you, huh? Maybe all those Cowboy shows and Dirty Harry movies were for naught.After a stament like that I Don't believe anyone would ever take anything you say on here seriously.All those people have great sound.That is,  on the planet that the rest of us reside on. Are you here to steer people wrong and make fun of them.I don't know what you think you are proving by repeatedly pasting stuff from my listings onto your listings and then making a negative comment at the bottom.Do you think that other people are thinking "what a smart guy you are" over that, or do you think they are thinking "what a "world class" you know what you are and "the gall of him".If you paste another thing from my post onto your post I will contact Audiogon and I bet you won't try it again.If there is a God looking down I'm sure he would greatly  appreciate you not taking liberties with what he had to say either.

Calm down, supertweak, the reason I cut and paste your quotes is so you and others reading will see what I’m responding to and why. Otherwise folks would have to figure out the particular post, I’m responding to. It might be buried way down the page by the time I get around to responding, should I choose to respond. Capish?
Congrats tweak, your first post was deleted, you are off to a good start!
Notice how easy that is to read, you know with actual spaces between punctuation and everything ...
Most, or all of these people commenting on my grammar, which is at least quite good, are obviously friends of the above.Nobody really thinks that all these characters are really so concerned about someone's grammar and syntax.They are obviously his buddies or himself under a 2nd username concerned over making somebody a fool. I've bought hundreds and hundreds of items on ebay etc.After this I've decided I will stick to that.When people like him lose Audiogon  enough people like me, your amps and speakers take a hell of a lot longer time to sell, if they ever will. I think its called shooting yourself in the foot and others too.The whole (Audiogon)actually suffers over ones like him.Like I say if something isn't fun I head elsewhere.I am never traumatized in the least over world class.....I know who I am and insecure idiots who like to make fun of people Don't change a thing with me.Its a GOOD LIFE and it will stay that way.I make good decisions.

Re:dill.My first post was doing fine until some person with multiple identities on here caused somebody to cuss.Wrong again with you.Are you ever correct on anything? It must be hard.

RE:Geoffkait.So you paste a whole paragraph of someone else's to give you the opportunity to do your >>>> insulting one liner remarks after the arrows thing.Sounds about as believable as OJ Simpson's innocence years later after he and his buddies raided the sports store with a bunch of deadly weapons.Yeah right.

@supertweak.
 I can absolutely guarantee that none of the people you accuse of being related or a close knit circle is correct.
For the most part GK goes out on a limb at times and yes can definitely be obnoxious to boot.
But he does have valid points on occasions even if he chooses his verbage strangely to some.
Everyone posting here has had disagreements at one stage or another.
There is no "clique" that I am aware of.
However delusions of grandeur and lofty pretensions do not go far either.
Post removed 
If we can get back to the subject matter now......a couple of things come to mind. As a specialized counselor my wife does a lot of work with brains....that is of course, while they are still in people’s heads. Even though our anatomy may be similar, we all have our own neuro pathways that are unique to ourselves. No two people are alike and moreover, those pathways change over time. Most likely any two people will never hear the same thing in the same way even if they have "perfect" hearing.

One of my other interests is sailing. If you think there are disagreements over audio, you should get around a bunch of sailors! Despite the fact that we are cruisers and not racers everyone lives by the adage that any two sailboats traveling in the same direction are indeed racing. Even with all that competition at the end of the day we all get along and respect each other for being on the water and enjoying such a wonderful sport and lifestyle.
I think we should all consider these characteristics when it comes to audio. We may not agree on the best equipment but we are all involved in the cool hobby of listening to high quality music reproduction.
Supertweak
So now you are trying to correlate what occurs in the forum threads with the demeanor of people who sell equipment here, many of whom do not frequent the forums and at times do not even know they exist?
That is just a false basis for not doing business on the for sale side of this site imho.
The truth is that folks need to be far more wary of the many ridiculous statements made here. Anyone who fights for truth and asks folks to prove or stand by and demonstrate their ludicrous claims is just a healthy skeptic.

Beware anecdotal testimonial too-good-to-be-true “evidence” like “this TC paste and this SR fuse was better than the most expensive component upgrade I ever did.” If it is too good to be true then it probably isn’t - either the person making the statement is a befuddled but well meaning fool or a scammer looking to make $149 profit off of a $1 fuse.
Not that Geoff Kait needs me to defend him but it’s pretty easy to check his feedback on the other side of the site, a staggering, to me, 3587! These forums are supposed to be fun, an exchange of ideas sure from time to time some arguing. But let’s lay off attacking the credibility and integrity of people we don’t actually know.
The Yanni vs. Laurel thing pointed out how people can hear the same input differently. (I am a Yanni.) The results are very consistent. It follows that differences in perception can translate into different preferences in a sound systems. I don’t think anyone disputes that.

What I have trouble with is the commercial contingent making claims that product “X” sounds so much better than product “Y”. Not to mention that “X” us usually much more expensive and a recently released product. These “reviewers” couldn’t pick “X” out of a line up if their life depended on it and they refuse to try because their wallet depends on it.

There was a video posted on another audio site of the Stereophile crew doing a parody of audio forum people and their knowledge. What was ironic was that the Stereophile guys actually bring less technical qualifications than some of the people they were mocking. On hearing tests alone, Floyd Toole’s research shows that the “pro” reviewers were less adept (consistent) at picking out the same speakers than “enthusiasts”.

I agree with the OP. Your own evaluation plus commons sense will get you more value in audio than reading audio magazines that are essentially marketing copy masquerading as a “review”.

Everybody gots themselves a little tiny Dunning-Kruger inside.

All it needs is the right stimulus to get it up an’ a’ goin’.

When we each reach our limit on a given thing, we move from safe ground to unknowns, or not fully fleshed out stuff..where ’facts’ and ’suppositions’, or things inferred, begin to mix..and then that moves over to the level of full unknowns as we get further off our knowledge base.

Where exactly that occurs in the given mind, is individual. We tend to play all things safe, it’s a life and being alive thing.

Fear first. It’s how the body works.

Survival first and foremost and all others things are ’allowed’ to ’be’ after fear is satisfied. No heartbeat, no body, and the rest means nothing. Fear first. Fear wants assurances and facts, otherwise it upsets the body and then the whole edifice is messed up, chemically and otherwise. We are wired for this as our primary filter in thought, ego, body, and so on. Love is in the mix, of course, but fear and desire are the primary filters for the body and the hindbrain. Everything runs through them first, foremost, always, in every heartbeat. When they are settled, reason can emerge.

Except for the point that the reason and logic centers were never meant to run all the time, it’s too energy taxing so they were designed to come up, solve a problem and then go back to sleep. The danger of first answer found, which can easily and often is, incorrect. The brain is half in - half out, half conscious, half subconscious instinctual automaton. importantly, it is run by the unconscious and that unconscious is more potent and intelligent than the conscious mind but - is driven quite differently.

Be conscious of the design and don’t make the first answer found mistake that we are literally wired for. If you look at politics and Machiavellian manipulations in all areas of the world, this is what you see. The manipulation of this fundamental hindbrain phenomena. So all those logic and reasoning suppositions and projections become paramount in the body’s constant scan for survival.

It is estimated that 97% of the population live in this mental state as primary function and 3% are not of such wiring. That the 3% are more mentally aware and awake more of the time.

It’s a complex subject, but we can see that when we get into even the slightest aspect of a subject that is multifaceted. Argument ---is the norm.

It can be no other way.

This is the danger of science and engineering that touches the edges of our collective and individual reality frameworks, it is rife with insistence in facts, when it is, in reality... [reality is] fundamentally all theories that are subject to change.

The less a person knows in this [given] area the more the fundamental of the human body insists on the projection of knowing. To get it right, the person has to be more aware of the vehicle they occupy, and this is a very weak area in scientific engineering. Lack of awareness of the bottle the being is in ...and how deeply it affects the drive, projections... and outcomes. Ie, bad facts, bad projections, that temporarily work, but end up circular and in a blocked corner.

Good science, by aware people, can sweep the blocking false end points away. They end up fighting with those who insist on the blocked end point, as it is 'safe' and a 'known' thing. this mentality...it can't project into the complex new.. so the new must be false. The cry of the weak position, about charlatans and whatnot.

Eg, in case you did not know, Einstein received death threats from other scientists, when his original relativity works were proposed. It's not the science, it's the humans in the science.

Post removed 
I have an old former surfer friend (he was a friend in to 60s, and not since) who's an "actual" guru in Hawaii. Lots of followers, and it's been interesting to see his strange guru path..smart guy, formerly great surfer...it's all too weird. 

You can learn from other people by the way, and to dismiss that fact is odd, but experience and some logic can often make you less susceptible to hyperbole and agenda based falsehood.
wolf_garcia
I have an old former surfer friend (he was a friend in to 60s, and not since) who’s an "actual" guru in Hawaii. Lots of followers, and it’s been interesting to see his strange guru path..smart guy, formerly great surfer...it’s all too weird.

>>>>>Dude! It wasn’t Uncle Stu, was it? Uncle Stu (RIP) posted over on AA mostly Tweakers Asylum for many years.

You can learn from other people by the way, and to dismiss that fact is odd, but experience and some logic can often make you less susceptible to hyperbole and agenda based falsehood.

>>>>Yes, people can learn, if they they are capable of learning, which I find many people actually aren’t. I guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. 🍪

Only quote facts. - old audio expression
"There are a few contributors to these forums who apparently see themselves as gurus. They speak in absolutes, using words such as "always" and "never." They make pronouncements about products or techniques they’ve never heard or experienced, justifying their conclusions because contrary claims are "impossible" or "snake oil.""


Hmmm...I smell the whiff of a strawman, so I hope you could give some more detail because of course I could be wrong.

I’ve read, and been involved in, a number of threads in which some people are voicing skepticism against other people defending some high end audio claim.

But I don’t recall many...or even any...people speaking in the absolutist terms you are writing about. (Certainly that wouldn’t apply to me even when I’m being skeptical).

Admittedly I may have missed such posters, or perhaps forgotten someone making such absolute negative claims. But I’d like to actually see an example or two. (These days I don’t just take someone’s word on what a skeptic may have argued, because I see skeptical arguments, mine very often, continually depicted inaccurately on this forum...)

No true professional will insult you for the questions you ask, or abandon you if you seek a second opinion.


I couldn’t agree more strongly!

And that of course goes for anyone who is seen as, or presents himself/herself as a "guru" making claims for a product, tweak, or just dispensing high end audio "wisdom." Generally speaking: beware gurus!

In short: Decide for yourself. Don’t let other people tell you how to think, or listen.


Absolutely. But on the other hand, don’t go overboard with that attitude to another form of close-mindedness: "nobody can tell me anything, I have my own opinions!" We want to remain open to information or arguments others may make, so we can modify our beliefs if warranted. Agreed?

*(And, again, I don’t know that I’ve actually seen anyone here telling other people "how to think, or listen.")


IMO, after reading some of the posts here, the thread should have been titled "Beware the Blowhards".

Dave
prof
... I don’t recall many...or even any...people speaking in the absolutist terms you are writing about ... But I’d like to actually see an example or two ...
If you keep reading the forums, I'm confident you'll recognize those who speak in absolute terms.  I'm not going to single anyone out beyond what I did in the original post.


dlcockrum
IMO, after reading some of the posts here, the thread should have been titled "Beware the Blowhards".
I was trying to be polite.

I think this may be relevant to this discussion - When I had my first real opportunity to do a recording as a drummer back in the late 70's, I was shocked to hear a rather large disparity between what I thought I played and what I actually played.  I realized that, while I was playing, I was hearing what I thought I played.  It was only through a long period of playing and listening to playbacks was I able to train my ears to hear what I was actually playing as I was playing it.  I think other recording musicians may be able to back me up on this one.  Hearing is not a microphone to speaker process.  Little physical movements of the earbones and eardrums are translated to impulses which then filter through our funhouse of a brain, which may distort the reality of the impulses to a god-knows-what degree.  Just like eyesight.  That's why anorexics look in the mirror and see themselves as fat.  It's not what they see, it's what they think they see.  This is getting complicated.  
Part of how to not be a turnip, or the follow up from my last post.
Seek comfort and you die ...and condemn your children, and children’s children.... to being turnips....ever downward, ever less alive, ever less human:

Brain over brawn?

Previous research found correlations between large brain size in species and complex social structures, living in challenging environments, and an ability to learn lessons from peers—also described as "culture".

But no studies have been able to conclude whether these factors are the cause of brain expansion, or the result of it.

With colleague Andy Gardner, Gonzalez-Forero developed a mathematical model to measure whether being confronted with ecological and social problems has a measurable impact on brain growth, and if yes, how much.

Model "brains" were presented with ecological challenges—finding prey in bad weather or in tough terrain, for example, preserving food to protect it against mold or heat spoilage, or storing water amid drought.

Social challenges were introduced too, to test the influence on brain growth of cooperation and competition between individuals and groups.

Interestingly, cooperation was associated with a decrease in brain size, the researchers said—probably because it allows individuals to rely on each other’s resources and to save energy by growing smaller brains themselves.

"We find that increasingly difficult ecological problems expand brains, but social demands fail to lead to human sized brains," Gonzalez-Forero told AFP.

But why did human brains grow more than those of other animals living in challenging environments?

Probably because of culture—the ability to learn skills from others rather than having to figure everything out for ourselves.

"So, our results suggest that it is the interaction of hard ecology and culture that produced the human brain size," said Gonzalez-Forero.



Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-human-brains-big.html#jCp


To be comfortable, to seek comforts and be ’happy’ in the middle of the herd and be accepted... is to condemn your own genes (and your own daily expression in motion) and their expression... into the downward spiral of automaton and idiocy.

The action, the future, and the growth of humanity... and most specifically, growth of the individual...is that place where the darkness of the unknown begins..the edges. When one is there, and communicates about it... the condemnation, screeching, ridicule, and rejection from the middle of the herd..becomes the loudest.

One is dumbing on down, the other is -stepping on up.
So what’s it gonna be? Comfort and peace, suckling and quiet, or the future and the growth?

I’ve been on that path of being in constant discomfort, and on the edges of it, reaching into the darkness, since I was 12 ...and realized it was the only way out of ’death by simplicity and comforts’. I will not walk down the road - like everyone else. There’s nothing there.

If you look carefully and wisely enough, everything in this life and world is pointing you right at this understanding. It should not take a scientific article to make it real in your mind. That would not be the correct method and way....as it would be the dead automaton way (life as a spaceholder for inactivated genes?). Making everyone else lift your load, you see... which is exactly the problem the article itself raises.

And much more, of course. It's only a simple post on a forum...
This is getting complicated.


The closer to the edge you get, the the more of the self the problem consumes. It’s the mental equivalent of attempting to reach light speed. Just one way of expressing it that might help.
Your post is also highly revealing more of the true nature of the Laurel vs Yanny issue that was recently brought to light.

And is part of how we create our own sensory input filter and apply previously cognated aspects to our new cognition, as a short cut in time, in order to posses a faster form of sensory recognition in the given moment. Ie we pull from our library of heard and seen things, when we encounter the new.

This is why some say that cables make no difference.

They’ve wired themselves to be aurally ’blind’. Seriously.

Then the insistence that fuses make no difference, even when a purely engineering and scientific analysis says the opposite., and such analysis supports what people say they hear.

Negative proofing keeps the middle of the herd safe, and makes everyone else lift their load. Additionally, it kills and dumbs down the edges of the herd via directed force..all when the edges of the herd --is what is actually keeping the middle of the herd alive.

Being on the edges of the herd forces one to contend with the projected violence and insanity that pours out of the middle of the herd. Even though the middle of the herd sees it as the opposite.

Throughout the full encompassed, er, scope of this..er..mess...the human system of life is borne.

Which has the more raw deal? The edges where the action is but one is constantly attacked and torn down by the middle, or the dead minds and lives of the middle - who have no idea how dead they are?

"This is getting complicated!" you sez...

"Good!" the universe says, as it grins, and gleefully picks up a pointed stick -and pokes it in your I.
Note that there is no actual engineering or scientific analysis proving that allegedly "better and way more expensive" fuses make a difference relative to a working stock fuse IN THE SOUND OF THINGS. They're exclusively supported by "claims" of hearing things, which in my experience (extensively testing and comparing the damn things) is just silly when these claims , although possibly sincere, don't take into account what fuses actually do with their tiny meltable wires. Hyperbole driven opinions don't do any favors for the often sales driven purveyors of fringe tweaks, a fact lost on many when large profits or insecurity by listeners come into play, "Mom, I spent 150 bucks on this fuse so I MUST hear better cello tone and an expanded soundstage or I'm simply unworthy...schedule a session with my therapist now..."
🐑
wolf_garcia
Note that there is no actual engineering or scientific analysis proving that allegedly "better and way more expensive" fuses make a difference relative to a working stock fuse IN THE SOUND OF THINGS. They’re exclusively supported by "claims" of hearing things, which in my experience (extensively testing and comparing the damn things) is just silly when these claims , although possibly sincere, don’t take into account what fuses actually do with their tiny meltable wires. Hyperbole driven opinions don’t do any favors for the often sales driven purveyors of fringe tweaks, a fact lost on many when large profits or insecurity by listeners come into play, "Mom, I spent 150 bucks on this fuse so I MUST hear better cello tone and an expanded soundstage or I’m simply unworthy...schedule a session with my therapist now..."

You probably should have included in your first sentence, “...that there is no actual engineering or scientific analysis proving that allegedly “better and way more expensive” fuses make a difference relative to a working stock fuse in the SOUND OF THING” the caveat, “at least as far as I know.” Since not only did HiFi Tuning provide the evidence in measurements but also subject listening tests that correlated with the measurements. Also, there is the sticky evudebcecwe have that NASA began testing technically advanced fuses as early as 20 years ago. I kind suspect NASA probably did a careful engineering and scientific analysis of various fuse options, at least in terms of technical performance, don’t you? A clever fellow would probably be able to track down some NASA fuse analysis reports, no? How ‘bout reporting back what you find out?
Fuses are known to be odd order harmonic distorting in their current clamping, and this translates to forms of inconstant non-repeating odd order harmonics.

The ear is INORDINATELY sensitive to this sort of distortion signal.
It is how we stay alive as a human animal. Core. Critical. Absolute in value. the snap of a small twig, the rustling of the grass, the thup thup thup of the padded foot of the predator approaching, the breath of the tiger, the change in the bird song...we are wired for it. Core.  Our ears and associated brain aspects never sleep. As long as we are alive, our hearing is on. Like the heart, it never stops.

Some of us have these skills undeveloped or absent, some of us have it still... and overdeveloped, even.

Prove it! Besides in one direction fuse distortion is audibly much lower. So you’re trying to tell me odd order harmonics are directional? Hmmmmm....
cleeds,

If you keep reading the forums, I’m confident you’ll recognize those who speak in absolute terms. I’m not going to single anyone out beyond what I did in the original post.


Hmm...

1. I’ve been active on this forum for years now, and don’t recognize or recall anyone making the type of absolutist claims you’ve depicted.

2. What I HAVE seen, almost routinely - and especially applied to my arguments - is misrepresentations and strawmen. Every time I say "I’d like to see some better evidence for that" or "here are reasons for some skepticism about that claim..." it’s translated into "you are dogmatically dismissing the claim as impossible while having no experience with the claim in question."

So I’m going to have to remain skeptical on these grounds, until I see more evidence that anyone is making the statements you are attributing to them. I don’t deny it; I just have reasons to not simply accept your OP as accurate.

Of course, I certainly agree that anyone who DOES make absolute claims isn’t being very reasonable and should be regarded with caution.


prof, I don’t mean to start a fight, but isn’t that what religious skeptics or doubters frequently say, “I just want to see some evidence.”? Your self proclaimed position as a sincere skeptic looking for the truth is not exactly bolstered by your recent statement that after all was said and done with your battle with vibration isolation you were not able to hear the fruits 🍌 🍉 🍎 of your labor. As I’m find of saying, a real skeptic would perhaps be more aggressive, you know, roll up his sleeves and dive in, kind of what MG was suggesting all along. A lot of these subjects, isolation, RFI shielding, directionality, Tuning I suspect, I don’t know that much at all about Tuning, usually turn out to be more complex than they do at first blush. I don’t suppose you tried to visit Tuneland to seek answers to your burning 🔥 questions.
Geoff, you don’t seem to have a clue how critical thinking and consistency works.

The way you think I should operate when being skeptical is the opposite of being skeptical! No wonder you push teleportation tweaks!

I have a very heavy, expensive, delicate turntable. The isolation shelf is a major contraption. I was not able to listen to the turntable before I had my rack re-built to accommodate the turntable (which included adding the layering/isolation components).

Therefore I had no before and after to compare.

And now that I have the shelf and turntable set up, how in the world am I to do any practical back and forth testing? Listen...take disassemble the turntable taking it off the shelf, take the shelf off, put the turntable back on and listen again? Then if I want to switch back to compare...do all that again and again? That would of course be absurdly impractical, not to mention the last thing I want would be my delicate turntable risking mayhem every time I had to disassemble the system and put it back to do any such back and forth.

And what am I going to do if I wanted to blind test it; yell out to my helper "ok, I heard it with the isolation stand - now disassemble the turntable and take it off the stand!"

As I’ve said: sometimes - often even - blind testing for some differences may be impractical to impossible in a domestic setting. So in no way do I say everyone needs to be doing this, including myself.

BUT...as I wrote before...I therefore scale my claims to the level of evidence I have. I don’t have any tests or evidence that my isolation base altered the sound of my vinyl playback vs no base. So I simply don’t make the claim either way.

That you can not recognize the reasonableness of this speaks volumes.

(A lot of this changes for manufacturers, though, who could in many more practical cases produce iterations of an item - with and without tweak X - and compare them in a listener-bias- controlled fashion).








Objectivity is a state of mind in a purely subjective reality. Everything in this place runs through a subjectivity fundamental filter.

Objectivity is merely and agreed upon individually derived mindset. Objectivity only exists in your mind. It’s a convention. A concept. A projection. Nothing more.

Anyone who thinks objectivity is a real thing, really needs to get back to psych 101 class and get mentally slapped about and around for quite a while, until they let go of that fundamental logic error. :)

Everyone agrees on orange.

In reality there are 7 billion interpretations of orange, and not one of them is the same.

Ear/brain combinations are far worse in this respect, regarding the level of individuation of differences.
It's like i always said, never believe what you hear you'll hear, only believe what you hear, hear?


@prof - sorry, I just filed your last angst ridden post under Whatever. I have a sign over my desk, Never Argue with a Pseudo Skeptic. 
The fuse does only what fuses do, they don't provide any part of the tone of any device unless they're blown, in which case they do have an effect in that things shut down so there's simply no tone at all. The "inconstant non-repeating odd order harmonic" issue isn't an actual thing, nobody needs to worry about that or shell out big bucks simply because somebody coated the fuse case with graphene or fairy dust. It's a fuse.
If anyone on here things ‘measurements’ tell the whole story using the BS argument ‘if you can’t meaure it...’ then quite frankly they aught to be made to listen to The Backstreet Boys full volume 24/7 for a month. 

The good Lord gave you ears to judge. Use ‘em. And trust ‘em
Never trust a poster who says ‘prove it’. He’s an imposter!  If you have doubt, you DISPROVE it sweetie, I’m too busy enjoying the music. 

i trust my ears the way I trusted those records I co produced and mixed that went on to sell millions and allowed me to invest in hi end equipment starting me on the journey to reproduce the sound I heard in the studio and on those Records with the sound in my listening room. I wasn’t out to prove anything to anyone but myself. I just wanted to feel the joy outside of booking Abbey Road for the pleasure. 

I read the mags fed on the churnalistic BS and realised eventually that I was being lied to. I was being conned by HIFI gurus who wrote extensively in these mags and often contradict led themselves all over the place. 

Epiphany moment. It starts with the amp. When that fell into place I knew I was getting closer. I ended up with one of the least popular amps probably on planet hiend. Not because it isn’t amazing but more because the company have absolutely no idea how to market it. No I’m not revealing which amp because they named an edition after me due to my ( they said) uncanny ability to get more out of it than even they could. It’s one of those tweaker amps with near infinite options. 

BTW I also auditioned a fuse. Yes it improved the sound. Go figure!

@onlyqualityhifi I won't disparage the humble fuse anymore...

I understand what you say about the amplifier, but it may only exaggerate the garbage in scenario, to bigger garbage out. IMHO... A.

🐑
amg56
@wolf_garcia How can you say such blasphemy about a fuse!

>>>>I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears you’ve been following the wrong sheep. 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑🚶🏻‍♂️
Just needing to vent: If you don’t like it, don’t believe it can work, haven’t tried it, or can’t measure why it sounds like that(whatever the, "it" might be): DON’T tell me I can’t trust the ears that have kept me alive(in a number of scenarios), and allowed me to enhance the listening enjoyment and performances of a number of grateful music listeners and musicians, in a number of venues(home/hall/etc), while making a living(over a few decades). Not to mention: the countless hours of relaxation and enjoyment, that they(and music) have provided. I’ve tested and trust them WAY MORE than your opinions/beliefs! Your tastes and senses are not mine, and I refuse to miss anything, based on whatever narrow road you may be traveling(whoever you are). Whatever piques my interest: I’ll watch, listen, taste, touch, or smell it for myself, thank you.   Happy listening!
Postscript: Please, don’t get me wrong. Over the years, I’ve also used a wide variety of test equipment and measurements, to confirm, set up and test whatever my senses have registered, wherever/whenever applicable/advisable. Trust, but verify!
The term "guru" implies a one way learning process. The guru preaches and others listen and learn.

It works much better when everyone is willing and able to learn from each other.

"What kind of guru are you, anyway?"