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Welcome to the High End. Please Keep Hands and Feet Inside the Ride at All Times
This is why, after more than 25 years, I only flirt with the Hi-fi hobby:
The Andromeda Reference, part of the Moon Evolution series, is Simaudio's flagship CD player. As such, it's a showcase for the company's latest and best technology, and they've gone all out in its execution. The double chassis is a perfect example. Sim began by separating the power supplies for the digital and analog sections, then designed each around an optimized, purpose-built toroidal transformer to minimize thermal, electrical, and magnetic leakage, and loaded them up with copious amounts of capacitor storage. Next, they shielded the transformers from the circuitry, and mechanically isolated the transformers and the circuit boards from each other and within the power-supply chassis. Then, to ensure that any residual power-supply noise was truly isolated from the audio signals, Sim put both supplies in their own chassis. The analog and digital power supplies each has its own umbilical to the CD-player chassis.
More than twelve thousand dollars later, and whaddaya got? 16 bits, 44.1khz sample rate, just like my $200 Emerson had in 1983. Just to add frosting to the lunacy, the reviewer starts comparing it all to vinyl. Because we all really know the true hi-fi benchmark was set in 1957, donchaknow?
Remember when CDs first came out? Remember the claim that coloring the edge of a CD with green magic marker would give you noticeably better sound? Remember how putting a brick on top of your amp would give you noticeably better sound? Remember wires with rectangular cross-sections for digital, round for analog?
At some point, you just have to back slowly away and leave those people to their fate.
I remember hitting Pro Audio (a store next to campus at The Ohio State University) and seeing some set-up they had. The whole thing was something like $75K - and I honestly couldn't tell too much of a difference between that and my component set-up and large Kenwood/Pioneer speakers.
Then again, my hearing's been a bit damaged, but still...
Posted by: ronaprhys on February 2, 2008 01:08 PMI'm pretty sure that I could sell a "magnetic alignment service".
What is "magnetic alignment", you ask? Well, you know how iron filings will spontaneously align themselves to magnetic field lines? And how you can identify the direction of the Earth's magnetic field by looking at the alignment of iron particles frozen in lava-based rock?
Well, it turns out that the metallic fibers in your A/V cables behave in much the same way! If you align these fibers properly then the signal flows much more cleanly, with less need to "jump" between individual fibers. This jumping across nonconductive space saps signal strength, introduces noise, and decreases overall tonality and dynamic responsiveness.
Most manufacturers don't bother to perform magnetic alignment; they claiming that it's a "miniscule benefit at best", but this is a lie. In fact, magnetic alignment is a process that MUST be performed by hand, by a well-trained technician. It takes years of practice before someone can learn to properly align a cable's filaments. Manufacturers very much do not want this; they want their techs to be interchangeable parts, easily fired if they cause trouble or expect to be paid what they deserve. They don't perform magnetic alignment because it saves them money. And, of course, they'll pooh-pooh the idea if you ask them about it; after all, are they going to admit that they're not selling top-quality products?
Send your cables out to us and let our well-trained expert technician (with over 30 years of experience in the AV industry!) improve your cable's performance to a degree that you can't possibly imagine.
The apparatus consists of a bar magnet duct-taped to a hair dryer. The hair dryer "moltenises the cable core", whereupon the bar magnet's field "aligns the filaments in sequence". I'm thinking that I'll charge $10 per linear foot, per individual cable aligned. Sure, it costs, but you want the best sound possible right?
Posted by: DensityDuck on February 3, 2008 09:19 PMOk you guys are so good it's just scary. Get thee to Monster Cable! There is a Job for You!
Posted by: scott on February 3, 2008 09:38 PM