ELS
Active member
While there are things like "oxygen free copper airy audio cable 1000$ 100% will make your hifi sound better, no refunds" which are questionable, to say the least.
Most things you've probably been told and have thought as well, that they're entirely BS, actually have facts behind them.
First let's differentiate "Is no difference" and "You can't hear the difference". You shouldn't ever mix these 2 together, that's when discussions turn to shit because you can try however hard you can to convince someone that they cannot hear the difference, but if they feel that they do, then you're just going to make every unhappy.
Instead a more favorable way to judge this would be saying how big the difference is, for example if I say "I've heard that long runs of cable have higher capacitive load on high impedance signals, changing the sound" you could say, "yeah it often has a big effect". However if I say "The static electricity affecting the audio signal depending on what type of rug your mic cable is laying on" You could say "I seriously doubt that has any perceivable effect"
Instead of saying "Audiophool BS" at every theory that isn't very generic. There's far too much hostility in the audio world, being an enraged asshole doesn't help anyone, do you think audio engineers in the 20th century judged everything that others did with antagonism? no, yet they defined an entire era.
So back on the topic of facts:
Most ignored belief in the audiophile community seems to be 'capacitor tone', which many people think is utter BS.
If you generalize capacitors then yes it seems obvious that a simple component in principle wouldn't change much depending on how it's constructed. Yet many audiophiles disagree. Why? because they sway more on the 'feelings matter more than fact' thought process.
So in reality is it BS? No, there's dielectric loss in capacitors, and each insulation is different in linearity. Why do people disagree with capacitor tone when some capacitors like X5U ceramics are told to be "not good for audio, non-linear".
So you generalize capacitors between "non-linear" and "linear"? That isn't very engineer-like.
Still don't believe me that there is an effect?
Here's a couple articles someone made, posting pictures of curve tracer lines of various capacitors:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050222090327/http://members.aol.com/sbench102/caps.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20050223115951/http://members.aol.com/sbench102/caps2.html
Then you might say "well those lines are practically straight for most capacitors". But that's just lazy an ignorant.
The difference is there.
I've also heard a mention of removing the outer aluminum case on soviet teflon caps to make it sound "much more lively".
Do I disagree and call them an audiophool? no, I instead try to find some way I can see or hear this difference, instead of dismissing it as pseudo-science or whatever.
And if I can't, I don't say that it's absolutely certainly proven wrong, I'd just say that with all the methods I used, I couldn't tell any difference.
I don't get where all this hostility comes from. And it's not just limited to the audio world, it can be seen in every scientific discussion.
Most things you've probably been told and have thought as well, that they're entirely BS, actually have facts behind them.
First let's differentiate "Is no difference" and "You can't hear the difference". You shouldn't ever mix these 2 together, that's when discussions turn to shit because you can try however hard you can to convince someone that they cannot hear the difference, but if they feel that they do, then you're just going to make every unhappy.
Instead a more favorable way to judge this would be saying how big the difference is, for example if I say "I've heard that long runs of cable have higher capacitive load on high impedance signals, changing the sound" you could say, "yeah it often has a big effect". However if I say "The static electricity affecting the audio signal depending on what type of rug your mic cable is laying on" You could say "I seriously doubt that has any perceivable effect"
Instead of saying "Audiophool BS" at every theory that isn't very generic. There's far too much hostility in the audio world, being an enraged asshole doesn't help anyone, do you think audio engineers in the 20th century judged everything that others did with antagonism? no, yet they defined an entire era.
So back on the topic of facts:
Most ignored belief in the audiophile community seems to be 'capacitor tone', which many people think is utter BS.
If you generalize capacitors then yes it seems obvious that a simple component in principle wouldn't change much depending on how it's constructed. Yet many audiophiles disagree. Why? because they sway more on the 'feelings matter more than fact' thought process.
So in reality is it BS? No, there's dielectric loss in capacitors, and each insulation is different in linearity. Why do people disagree with capacitor tone when some capacitors like X5U ceramics are told to be "not good for audio, non-linear".
So you generalize capacitors between "non-linear" and "linear"? That isn't very engineer-like.
Still don't believe me that there is an effect?
Here's a couple articles someone made, posting pictures of curve tracer lines of various capacitors:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050222090327/http://members.aol.com/sbench102/caps.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20050223115951/http://members.aol.com/sbench102/caps2.html
Then you might say "well those lines are practically straight for most capacitors". But that's just lazy an ignorant.
The difference is there.
I've also heard a mention of removing the outer aluminum case on soviet teflon caps to make it sound "much more lively".
Do I disagree and call them an audiophool? no, I instead try to find some way I can see or hear this difference, instead of dismissing it as pseudo-science or whatever.
And if I can't, I don't say that it's absolutely certainly proven wrong, I'd just say that with all the methods I used, I couldn't tell any difference.
I don't get where all this hostility comes from. And it's not just limited to the audio world, it can be seen in every scientific discussion.
