(via eSkeptic)
Audiophoolery
by Ethan WinerYOU MIGHT THINK that a science-based field like audio engineering would be immune to the kind of magical thinking we see in other fields. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. In my 35 years as a professional audio engineer and musician, I’ve seen some of the most outrageous pseudoscience sold to consumers, and even to other audio pros who should know better. Not unlike claims for alternative medicine, nonsense is shrouded in scientific-sounding jargon to confuse the uneducated, or a sales pitch will cite science that is legitimate but irrelevant. The result is endless arguments among audiophiles over basic scientific principles that have been fully understood for fifty years or more.
As a consumerist, it galls me to see people pay thousands of dollars for fancy-looking wire that’s no better than the heavy lamp cord they can buy at any hardware store. Or magic isolation pads and little discs made from exotic hardwood that purport to “improve clarity and reduce listening fatigue,” among other surprising claims. The number of scams based on ignorance of basic audio science grows every day. Surely some of these vendors know they’re selling snake oil, but I’m certain that just as many believe their own hype. I’d respect these people more if I thought they knew they were conning people!
Few of us have unlimited budgets and must spend what funds we have wisely. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to help consumers distinguish truth from fiction in order to determine what is and is not worthwhile. Experience has shown that it’s futile to claim I know what someone else can or cannot hear. Therefore, I will relate only those things that matter to my experienced ears, and explain what makes sense from the perspective of science and logic. You don’t need an engineering degree to understand the explanations that follow, though I’ll assume you’ve played with a stereo receiver and CD player or cassette deck a few times. I’ll begin by defining the four basic audio parameters so that when I describe some common audiophile scams you’ll understand why they are scams.
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The Cable Guy
The earliest audio scam I can recall is fancy wire for connecting loudspeakers, and it’s still going strong. These days vendors claim their wire yields better sound quality when compared to normal wire, and, of course, it’s much more expensive than normal wire. In truth, the most important property of speaker wire is resistance, which is a function of its thickness. The resistance must be low to pass the high-current signals a power amplifier delivers. For short distances— say, up to five feet—16-gauge wire of any type is adequate, though thicker wire is needed for longer runs.The three other wire parameters are inductance, capacitance, and skin effect. But those are not a factor with usual cable lengths at audio frequencies, especially when connecting speakers to a power amplifier. Low capacitance wire can be important in special cases, such as between a phonograph cartridge and its preamp. But high quality, low capacitance wire can be had for pennies per foot. Wire scams are very popular because wire is a low-tech device that’s simple to manufacture and the profit margin is extremely high. I could devote this entire article to wire scams, but instead I’ll just summarize that any audio (or video) cable costing more than a few dollars per foot is a rip-off.
Even sillier than expensive speaker wire is replacement AC power cords and most other power “conditioner” products. The sales claims sound logical: Noise and static can get into your gear through the power line and damage the sound. In severe cases it’s possible for powerrelated clicks and buzzes to get into your system, but those are easily noticed. The suggestion that subtle changes in “clarity and presence” can occur is plain fraud. Indeed, every competent circuit designer knows how to filter out power line noise, and such protection is routinely added to all commercial audio products. Spending hundreds of dollars on a six-foot replacement power cord ignores the other hundred-odd feet of regular wire between the wall outlet and power pole.
Some audio scams are so blatant you wonder how anyone could fall for them, like a replacement volume control knob that sells for $485. The ad copy proclaims, “The new knobs are custom made with beech wood and bronze … How can this make a difference??? Well, hearing is believing as we always say. The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.” Yes, I bet that’s just what they always say. Wood is a common theme among audiophile scams, falsely implying a relation to a fine old violin where the wood’s vibration really is a part of the sound. But a volume control knob?
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Free, But Stupid Anyway
The key to identifying most audio scams is the very high prices charged. As an audio pro, I know that $1,000 can buy a state of the art power amplifier. So it makes no sense to pay, say, $17,000 for an amplifier that is no better and may well be worse. However, some scams are more like urban legends — no products are sold, but they’re still a waste of time. For example, one early legend was that you can improve the sound of a CD by painting its outer edge with a green felt marker pen. Yes, it must be green. (I guess other colors won’t create the proper energy field.) A related legend is that cables and electronic devices must be “broken in” for some period of time before they achieve their final highest fidelity. Aside from a manufacturing defect, the notion that wire or a solid state circuit changes audibly over time makes no sense. This legend becomes a scam when you deal with a vendor who says you must break in the product for 90 days to realize a benefit. Why 90 days? Because credit card purchases are protected for only 60 days.
I’ve reposted some highlights from the article (go read the whole thing) because I’ve caught some flak for pointing out that certain products and services directed towards audiophiles like, for example, cable break-in services are obvious scams.
Bravo Mr. Ethan Winer. I really enjoy reading your article. As P. T. Barnum said “There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute”, even though there are tons of scientific articles (like this one) showing people that “The god damn wires do not make much of the difference. Even they do, but only dogs and cats can gear the difference”
Speaker cable and interconnect does make big difference, you can experiment it with different wire available in your home, power cable, battery jumper?, telephone cable, LAN cable(Cat5e, best stuff), test it out, then you will understand why some people will spend so much money on cables.
well, expensive power cord are stupid if you don’t have a good power conditioner, and power conditioner really do work, you can notice the difference. I’m from a non believer to become a believer in power conditioning. let me describe how it sound when equip a power conditioner and without it. Without it, you will hear some noise in the music, its like the vocal or music instrument tone being chop at high frequency, some my say it sound crisp (good way). after using it, the first thing notice is the “crisp” thing reduced, making the vocal or instrument become boring, plan, regular, people call it dark/quite background, but when you turn the volume up, it sound very nice and clean.
Those fancy knob is a total scam, but volume controller is a very very important thing in amplifier, faulty or cheap potentiometer will really degrade sound, this is really true. stuff like stepped attenuator really make big difference over traditional potentiometer.
Sorry, but your say-so isnt considered evidence, Sparky. Show us all a rational explanation and some data to back up your assertions. Don’t have any? Didn’t think so. Shove off…
You want evidence? Try checking Stereo Review’s DBT with a $200 receiver and a multi-thousand dollar pre/power combo. Guess what? All the assembled audiophile golden ears could tell the difference 50% of the time. Same as a tossed coin. That said, logical deduction would conclude it is humanly impossible to tell the difference between equally graded speaker cable.
Nothing is more firmly believed that that which is least able to be proved.
Believing is hearing.
It’s wise to be skeptical about what appear to be outrageous claims regarding most anything. But anyone who seeks knowledge will investigate, first hand if possible. In the case of cables and interconnects it is possible to do so fairly easily by borrowing one from a fellow audiophile or even some companies who will send these things for free home trials. I, too, was rather dubious about speaker cable. So I contacted a company that was willing to send out a loaner pair. All I had to do was return at my own expense.
To my surprise, the silver speaker cable did make a significant difference. Was it the material, the arrangement of wires, the insulation, the termination, or all of the above? I don’t really know. All I know is that the sound in my system was much more satisfying than before.
The ultimate test of any equipment which provides an aesthetic experience for the user is the user’s own response, not a set of charts. The charts might be very useful for the designer of the gear and might explain why something functions the way it does, but the charts cannot perfectly predict the response of a human being.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
oh Christ
We people can be so easy to fool. Set the idea, whether it is true or not, that a product is superior with better performance and we can feel better. If you feel better you can enjoy listening to my music in total relaxation. It’s all good until one get stressed over realizing that they were taken in. Do not be fooled a scam is scam. Save your money, give to the needy not to the wolves.
IT’S LIKE SAYING ALL CD PLAYERS SOUND THE SAME. AFTER ALL, IT IS THE SAME LASER PICK-UP MECHANISM INSIDE ISN’T IT? WELL, GO HEAR A 500$ CD PLAYER AND A 20,000$ ONE. IF YOU CAN HEAR A DIFFERENCE, THEN DON’T F…ING PONTIFICATE ABOUT CABLES ETC. BASED ON THE SAME ARGUMENT, WE CAN MULTIPLY THE EXAMPLES. ALL CARS ARE THE SAME. A FIAT TOPOLINO IS AS GOOD AS A MERCEDES. THE LATTER IS A RIP-OFF. CAN NON-AUDIOPHILES BE THAT STUPID?
Hahaha!!! The performance of a superior car can be measured scientifically under controlled conditions, better acceleration, measured with a watch, higher top speed etc, smaller turning circle, greater down-force and traction. Tests applied to audio cables are never shown in marketing materials; that is because the resistance of the same grade of copper or silver is the same at the same temperature. If buying expensive cables makes you happy be my guest. Perhaps everyone who is miserable becomes materialistic and a marketeers fool. A good quality cable with good terminations is all that is necessary; in fact the quality of the contact connections is going to be the limiting factor in determing the total resistance of your connections. Mmmmm what about all the wires inside your amplifier, I wonder if they are all even copper! How thick are they, are they coated in teflon dielectric and cryogenically frozen to directionalize them too? Soaked in the blood of virgins? What about all the electrical components? Are they “audiophile grade”? People are fucking stupid. Use your head? Did they teach you any physics as a teenager? V=IR?
So called audio purists are for the most part very ignorant people at least when it comes to subjects such as physics and associated principles . This exclusive club of morons should be made to take a mandatory course in metallurgy first before being allowed to own any audio equipment .
RAW OXYGEN RICH COPPER SETS THE THE STANDARD OF CONDUCTIVITY /INDUCTANCE /CAPACITANCE ETC. THE STANDARDS WHICH ALL OTHER METALS INCLUDING NOBLE GOLD SILVER OR PLATINUM AS WELL AS OTHER SOLDER ALLOYS ARE COMPARED TO AND THEREBY RECEIVE PERFORMANCE COMPARISON SPECIFICATION QUOTIENTS .
Oxidation is the enemy of signal transfer period … end of statement , The industry realized long ago the value of corrosion resistant alloys for exposed connections ….. wow …. nickel plating over copper , now replaced by the awe inspiring incarnation of a few microns of gold or silver perhaps even platinum over any number of brass /bronze /copper alloys.
Well if one was willing to polish the copper every few days one would be still better off at maintaining a greater signal transfer than the reduced signal transfer parameters that the other NOBLE alloys produce . BUT and its a big BUTT horse`s ass sized , even though the NOBLE alloys transfer less signal than RAW COPPER , they remain more constant because they oxidize at a lesser rate.
The idiot who buys a 20K CD player ought to take it apart first to see how many dissimilar alloys lurk within which in some cases precipitate corrosion in certain environments … Assuming that a a 20K CD player is built entirely out of 10 karat gold wiring components and devoid of soldered joints EG all connections made in 10 karat screws to clamp each connection { no gold solder, it is a different alloy that would get thrown in the mix } then and only then it might have an advantage over the 500 dollar unit that is build with a hodge podge mix of alloys and solder alloys . Tie this expensive boat anchor to a preamp that is not built to the same degree of purity and what have you got?
Yes … it is true that great sounding audio cannot be purchased for $50 bucks per component .. but it is very much achievable for less than 5K even in 2013 deflated dollars … more than that is fluff.
By the way there is nothing more sorry looking than a golden eared donkey who has not had an hearing test but claims to be able to hear frequencies that BATS hear when you make them tell you if they hear the tone that has been playing for 30 or more seconds and he the donkey is still waiting for the tech to turn the signal generator on.
Approaching this from a musician and engineer viewpoint … music is not about pursuing alloys properties that magically make recordings sound indistinguishable from live or studio recordings , even at that level fidelity has limits.
No equipment will ever do fidelity justice to an acoustic instrument played well … reasonably close yes .. but that is all … audiophiles miss so much about the music they supposedly listen to while they are so engaged in trying to hear the skin effect of the wiring they chose to patch all their components together… for those of us who can play instruments the notion of faithful reproduction is not a quest it cannot be done yet and we know the best have tried to make it happen … those of us who can play instruments enjoy listening to music over reasonably clean systems and settle for the emotions that music stirs in a persons soul , we have been aware for a long time of the fact that no laser or phono cartridge can make a difference in how music evokes those emotions as long as the percentage of distortions fall below the levels at which all humans can distinguish.
By all means lets never stop the pursuit of better means of producing high fidelity equipment but to dispel any notion that progress has been made one has to look in the direction of those who still want a space heater called a tube amp an think it superior to a MODERN TRANSISTOR AMP…
THERE IS NO HOPE as long as those who are clamoring for vinyl to supplant cds have their way … these guys are the ones that can hear the different skin effect of a signal over a gold plated conductor over that which is produced over an unoxidized not plated PHOSPHOR BRONZE connector.
This is the sort of stuff that cannot be made up , next there will be an outcry for returning to cassettes ….. cannot stop laughing