Things they want me to believe

[Wildings]

1. My new interconnect has a break in period.
2. My solid state headphone amplifier needs to "warm up" for half an hour.
3. Monoblock amp must sit on $150 rubber feet to reduce vibration.
4. A $400 power cord will make my gear sound better.
5. I need to elevate my speaker wire off the floor with little stands.
I have no electrical engineering knowledge, and have had modest audio systems over the last 45 years. I have recently encountered the above proposals. I do believe different interconnects may have discernable audio characteristics (with headphones), but the rest seems like Snake Oil. Am I rightfully skeptical?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Short answer? Yes.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[j_garcia]

Short answer is, you came to the right place Welcome to AH.

If you believe those claims, I have a bridge to sell you too

 

[Wildings]

Short answer is, you came to the right place Welcome to AH.

If you believe those claims, I have a bridge to sell you too

Thank you!

 

[Wildings]

Why would Burson advise warming up their headphone amp for half an hour before use, or leaving always powered up (no tubes)? What is their agenda ...as I already would have purchased before reading their recommendation?

 

[j_garcia]

To give the carburetor time to burn off the carbon build up and stabilize

Honestly, no idea what difference leaving a SS amp on would make. I don't warm up my gear.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

People will say a lot of things to sell you gears.

Naturally, they want people to believe that the more something costs, the better it must sound.

Would people spend $6K on a Pre-pro if the store tells them that they could just spend $600 on an AVR to get the same sound?

They want you to buy everything they sell, which means all kinds of wires, cables, power cords, line conditioners, and 20A receptacles.

 

[lovinthehd]

Who particularly is filling you with all this nonsense?

 

[Wildings]

The warm up advice was in the instructions that came with a Burson amp. The cable break in period from a salesperson at a large cable company. Suggestion to elevate speaker were off the floor from an article in Stereophile, the rubber supports for $140 for solid state monoblock as advertised in Audio Advisor catalogue, same re various power conditioners and cords. What is a skeptical novice to think?

 

[lovinthehd]

Well, never even heard of Burson but as I mentioned before, not a headphone guy at all. Large cable company? Which one? What was the purpose of raising speakers from the floor....to put tweeters at ear height or some decoupling nonsense? Rubber supports for an electronics box for $140! I have some amps that are rack style and didn't come with rubber feet, I just added those from my collection of such and no way would I spend $140 on something so simple. Power conditioners are mostly nonsense, as are after-market power cords. I think the novice should spend more time researching here than shopping and reading reviews?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Only thing usable on Stereophool are the measurements. Ignore the rest.

 

[Wildings]

Well, never even heard of Burson but as I mentioned before, not a headphone guy at all. Large cable company? Which one? What was the purpose of raising speakers from the floor....to put tweeters at ear height or some decoupling nonsense? Rubber supports for an electronics box for $140! I have some amps that are rack style and didn't come with rubber feet, I just added those from my collection of such and no way would I spend $140 on something so simple. Power conditioners are mostly nonsense, as are after-market power cords. I think the novice should spend more time researching here than shopping and reading reviews?

The article suggested elevating speaker wire off the floor (few inches on little telephone pole thingies). Burson makes a reasonably well respected headphone amp that sells for about $900. My speakers are spiked, amps racked, and cables and wires just run neatly and separate from stock power cords, which are plugged unto the wall and no ground hum. Electrical engineering is not a subject I could study easily. Trying to get a sense of where truth ends and nonsense begins.

 

[slipperybidness]

The article suggested elevating speaker wire off the floor (few inches on little telephone pole thingies). Burson makes a reasonably well respected headphone amp that sells for about $900. My speakers are spiked, amps racked, and cables and wires just run neatly and separate from stock power cords, which are plugged unto the wall and no ground hum. Electrical engineering is not a subject I could study easily. Trying to get a sense of where truth ends and nonsense begins.

Yeah, and the guys telling you to do this voodoo are NOT EEs either!

They rely on pseudo-science and throwing in some technical terms here and there to trick the ignorant. As soon as someone that knows better comes along and asks to see the measurements, they come back with "trust your ears".

If something is audible, it will be measurable.

 

[Wildings]

Yeah, and the guys telling you to do this voodoo are NOT EEs either!

They rely on pseudo-science and throwing in some technical terms here and there to trick the ignorant. As soon as someone that knows better comes along and asks to see the measurements, they come back with "trust your ears".

If something is audible, it will be measurable.

That sounds reasonable....but is everything measurable...sense of soundstage, instrument separation, "fullness".. .? I am a headphone user, and I think these qualities are real yet subjective.

 

[lovinthehd]

The article suggested elevating speaker wire off the floor (few inches on little telephone pole thingies). Burson makes a reasonably well respected headphone amp that sells for about $900. My speakers are spiked, amps racked, and cables and wires just run neatly and separate from stock power cords, which are plugged unto the wall and no ground hum. Electrical engineering is not a subject I could study easily. Trying to get a sense of where truth ends and nonsense begins.

LOL cable lifters! One of the silliest things in high end audio. Right up there with resonance dots, tibetan singing bowls and other nonsense. Any cable company selling those I wouldn't buy anything from; not a fan of the silly cable companies like Audioquest, Nordost, Kimber, etc either.

A headphone amp for $900 sounds very expensive, can't imagine what makes it worth that much. Get a pretty nice powerful two ch amp for speakers for that much...but I'm not a headphone guy, let alone the cost of your headphones (just looked it up). Don't like speakers clamped to my head.

You have spikes on your speakers to grip the carpet? That's what they're for.

More interested in the non-headphone part of your setup....

 

[j_garcia]

That sounds reasonable....but is everything measurable...sense of soundstage, instrument separation, "fullness".. .? I am a headphone user, and I think these qualities are real yet subjective.

No. Nobody has ever proved any of those hilarious "tweaks" add any benefit at all. Any tweak where they cannot give you some kind of verifiable proof is called Snake Oil. They're the new peddlers traveling along with the rest of the circus.

I've tried many different things just to hear for myself. So far, it has all been smoke and mirrors.

 

[Wildings]

LOL cable lifters! One of the silliest things in high end audio. Right up there with resonance dots, tibetan singing bowls and other nonsense. Any cable company selling those I wouldn't buy anything from; not a fan of the silly cable companies like Audioquest, Nordost, Kimber, etc either.

A headphone amp for $900 sounds very expensive, can't imagine what makes it worth that much. Get a pretty nice powerful two ch amp for speakers for that much...but I'm not a headphone guy, let alone the cost of your headphones (just looked it up). Don't like speakers clamped to my head.

You have spikes on your speakers to grip the carpet? That's what they're for.

More interested in the non-headphone part of your setup....

Slightly above average stuff...use more as HT these days. Definitive BP 2000 main front and same brand rear, high front, center, and sub. Just Sony processor/ multi channel receiver. I like headphones for music, and have owned various gear set ups...tubes and solid state. Use Tidal premium to stream, and J River. We have come a long way since MP3 files...although some say the difference is not audible to the human ear.

 

[Bucknekked]

1. My new interconnect has a break in period.
2. My solid state headphone amplifier needs to "warm up" for half an hour.
3. Monoblock amp must sit on $150 rubber feet to reduce vibration.
4. A $400 power cord will make my gear sound better.
5. I need to elevate my speaker wire off the floor with little stands.
I have no electrical engineering knowledge, and have had modest audio systems over the last 45 years. I have recently encountered the above proposals. I do believe different interconnects may have discernable audio characteristics (with headphones), but the rest seems like Snake Oil. Am I rightfully skeptical?

Wildings
Welcome to the forum and hope to see more posts from you. If there is a last bastion of opinions against the evils of snake oil, you have found it here on the AH. You may roam the fruited plains of the internet and see all manner of tripe and folly presented in the name of audio science. That (poop) don't fly here and there's many a soul who's wandered in to these parts and received a rather rude awakening.

I think your 5 listings are a good approximation of leading sleezy ideas. I could list 5 more without even having to look around. All junk science. All expensive. None are measurable. But, oh boy do they have adherents and acolytes.

Welcome to the AH !

 

[Wildings]

Wildings
Welcome to the forum and hope to see more posts from you. If there is a last bastion of opinions against the evils of snake oil, you have found it here on the AH. You may roam the fruited plains of the internet and see all manner of tripe and folly presented in the name of audio science. That (poop) don't fly here and there's many a soul who's wandered in to these parts and received a rather rude awakening.

I think your 5 listings are a good approximation of leading sleezy ideas. I could list 5 more without even having to look around. All junk science. All expensive. None are measurable. But, oh boy do they have adherents and acolytes.

Welcome to the AH !

Thank you for the welcome. I am not yet in the camp that "if you cant measure it, it doesn't exist".

 

[mtrycrafts]

Only thing usable on Stereophool are the measurements. Ignore the rest.

Imagine how much paper they would save and printing ink.
Perhaps then they may go out of business for lack of subscribers.
Hey, what a thought.