Oh, I absolutely have NOT had the opportunity, but after I get some other projects done, I'm going to see if Gene would back me doing a test of the Synergistic products. However, I will not be doing them at CES or any other sales driven demo.
You may need to buy their product because I predict they are not going to give it to you to review. Do you know why most reviewers always say great things about products? Not the advertising dollars because the
reviewers don't care. They say great things about it or nothing because they know if they get a reputation that they will go after a product, they are officially unemployed as a paid reviewer. As in nothing to review==not a reviewer.
Let me give you an example. I was laying out a job in northern CA and wanted to say hi to the service department and sales. I was at the desk of the national sales manager of this leading subwoofer manufacture. He catches a call while I was there. I hear the one-way conversation. "Unfortunately we don't have
any of those to review as they are all out, call us in 6 months." I asked him to explain why. He told me he would NEVER let that (in his words) lose cannon review their product. He had a reputation. So here you are posting on a public board saying that you highly doubt you are going to hear any differences in a Synergistic product. You are coming off an article talking about how Simaudio was unethical. Synergistic Research isn't going to give you their product Marshall. I know I would be very careful too who reviews a product I manufacture. You will have to have Gene buy it or talk to a dealer friend that carries it.
By the way, I was quite aware of my own psychological bias, that I believed I would not hear a difference, and so I worked very hard to hear and not hear differences at a few point. My take away...what a load of crap.
I wonder, did Denny or one of his demonstrators do the same for you? "I'm going to flip a switch and you're going to hear a difference."
So are you saying you didn't hear an Ethernet cable difference? If not, then their approach didn't work.
Years ago Richard Grey said that their product helped Plasma's color (10 years ago) to be more "vivid". They flipped a switch back and forth. 10 people were standing around it saying they saw a difference. I did not. They asked me 5 different times if I was sure. I kept saying "no". I don't see it. Reexplaining what I should see, I sated again and again, I do not see a thing. My guess is no one wanted to say they didn't see anything. Suggestions don't work well with me.
Nordost has a demo too. I'll PM you about my experience. We will leave it at that.
I don't know the name of who did the demo at Synergistic. They simply did whatever I told them. As in "Put that front one back up, now take it off again, back up." Or "Turn the field on, now off, now on." As I said, zero difference on the digital, a small but noticeable difference on the five inch power cord. So I have a little more faith in my ear. I know better that a resonator CANNOT work. But I am convinced that it factually does work. Putting it another way, I don't think anyone is walking out of that room thinking "those resonators don't work at all". There were lots of people expecting B.S. yet we heard what we heard. It wasn't all that subtle. This year I am going to re-listen and close my eyes.
I think there is a variation of how easily people fall for things. While I am not perfect, I have heard thousands of things and I come into the listening session without any expectations. Many times I hear nothing (Pure Direct comes to mind) even though it should sound different to me.
Allow me another example. A guy bought a expensive amp from me a year earlier. He was complaining that he lost "openness and clarity". There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. I got him an RA. This undisclosed brand checked it out and told me there is positively NOTHING wrong with it. They had it on the bench for days, took it home, etc. They said they are sending it back saying : NPF (No Problem Found). I said the HELL you are! Switch out a capacitor or something. Put a note on it: "Main power supply cap replaced". Then replace a cap that didn't need replacing.
My customer gets his amp back, calls to to tell me how INCREDIBLY it was. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than when it was brand new. It was all in his head. NPF would have resulted in him saying the problem was still alive and well. So I understand a subset of the Audiophle community are... well.... easy victims.
