It absolutely *does* because you've just admitted it bugs you if you can't explain why something has an effect. Therefore, if you find a satisfactory explanation, then it automatically follows that you'll feel better, simply because your inquisitiveness has been satisfied!
I agree, and *if* proof that satisfies my judgement criteria [I take little of what's written in any text book as 'gospel'] becomes available, which explains why 'audiophile fuses' make a difference, then I'd welcome it with open arms.It has everything to do with wanting to understand how audio replay works so that knowledge can be put to practical effect, not just in creating better audio systems but in creating cheaper audio systems.
However, in the meantime I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, but simply relax and enjoy the upgrade, if one indeed is perceived. That's called behaving like a human being and having faith in one's senses. Yes, senses are fallible, and I acknowledge that, but neither is 'scientific proof' always infallible.
That fact should always be considered before simply dismissing our ears and senses as reliable arbiters of the truth.
I *absolutely* agree... BUT, finding a satisfactory technical explanation for it that qualifies as indisputable proof of its efficacy is quite another matter.If the fuse makes a difference/improvement beyond the placebo level then there certainly will be a satisfactory technical explanation for it. Antony TD already has his suspicions and has asked for some easily-provided information to take that further.
Anthony simply has a theory (that I'd welcome be put forward and tested), which may or may not explain what's going on, but it's no more than that, and certainly without further rigorous investigation, would not qualify as indisputable proof.
Therefore, we're back to the old 'how much do you trust your ears' thing again, as until someone nails what's happening conclusively and can demonstrate it beyond reasonable doubt, then that, together with various theories (and our ears) is all we have.
Nor me, but then neither am one to fret or get anxious about what I'm genuinely hearing, which can't currently be explained or proven.Sorry, but I am not one of those people who is happy to sit back and accept that it is 'magic' or that it doesn't matter as long as 'Wish You Were Here' sounds good to me.
If that attitude was common to everyone we would still be living in the Dark Ages and sacrificing chickens to the rain god.
With hi-fi, there is always the danger of analysing the buggery out of things, to the detriment of one's enjoyment of the process, and hi-fi forums are full of such 'victims'. The fact is, owning a hi-fi system should be FUN, and an experience to be enjoyed, not simply acting as an (often frustrating) science experiment...
And in terms of your last sentence, that statement should also be directed at those who believe that, unless something can be scientifically proven [with the limitations of the tools and knowledge available to us now], it automatically doesn't exist and/or has been imagined, because that attitude is just as bad and similarly guilty of holding back progress!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
...and I've (genuinely) heard plenty of things without being able to measure them (or rather without someone else being able to do so).
I fundamentally believe, however, that *any* real effect CAN be measured - there is no doubt about that - but the problem is we might not necessarily use (or indeed currently have) the right tools for the job.
Also, we may be looking in the wrong area in the first place, in order to find the right explanation for the existence of a specific effect, and thus reach the wrong conclusion. Think about that one, too...
In any case, the person who invents a tool (or utilises the right one currently) and can demonstrably say 'there you are', here is indisputable proof that audiophile cables or fuses make a difference (or don't), will make a fortune.
Until then, debates such as this will rage on, with nothing being 'indisputably proven' by either camp! And that, my friends, is the reality. Me? I'll continue believing what I perceive as real (with or without proof), and leave the 'fretters' to their fretting...
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Not fretting, not losing sleep, and your last paragraph I completely agree with but that is not the situation here.
The situation here is that someone who's opinion I trust says that these fuses make a difference. That means I will consider it worthwhile enough to suspend my scepticism enough to give it a try myself. If I also am happy that I am hearing a difference that is comfortably beyond placebo then I do not think it unreasonable to start asking questions as to why, since this does not conform to the standard playbook.
Maybe we will not find the answer right away, but there will be an answer. If we find it then we know how the process works. it may be possible to replicate it without paying silly money for these fuses. It might explain a lot of things previously dismissed as placebo, imagination and expectation bias.
We already have issues in this hobby with people drawing the wrong conclusions and making wrong assumptions which has got so bad the manufacturers are now pandering to it instead of devoting resources to actually making better kit, they are marketing bullshit because bullshit sells to the uneducated punter.
We need to get back to the days of the proper enthusiast who at least knew the basics of how his kit turned electrical impulses into sound and was less inclined to be mesmerised by marketing rhetoric and if presented with a bit of kit that sounded good was immediately inclined to ask 'how have they done that, then?'
Current Lash Up:
TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.
Well, that's a possibilty I suppose. Just to clarify, are you saying that anything I've been able to measure I should also be able to hear? Even the stuff at 100kHz? Do you expect other people to hear things at 100kHz too?
This seems a lot more reasonable to me. It's quite easy to measure things at 100 kHz which people can't hear. It's difficult to measure things at low levels which people can hear - or at least I find it difficult to measure them.
I'm in full agreement, Martin, with all that you've written. However, in terms of this:
Absolutely... As long as said "proper enthusiast" doesn't become mesmerised either (or obsessed) with having to *prove* or explain everything he hears before he believes it, otherwise he's in for a world of disappointment, because proof won't always be there when it's needed.
Whilst all that you've said is true, there comes a point too, when a "proper enthusiast" (not necessarily an equipment builder or designer) throws the text books, measurements and theories out of the window, and trusts the ears and instincts he was born with - and most importantly of all doesn't forget what this hobby is about, first and foremost: the enjoyment of music.
It's all too easy sometimes to lose sight of what really matters!
Marco.
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!
Indeed. Spotify through my headphones isnt hi fidelity as such but its damn enjoyable and thats more important than wondering about this, that or the next thing.
Regards,
Grant .... ؠ ......Don't be such a big girl's blouse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: democracy simply-doesn't-work.... ..... ...... ...... ................... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
FIIO K7 BT, M11 PLUS, BTR7, KA5 - OPPO BDP-103D - PANASONIC UB450 - PANASONIC 4K ULTRA HD TV - PIXEL 6 - AVANTREE LR BLUETOOTH - 2* X600 SOUNDCORE - HEADPHONES INCLUDE, FIIO, NURAPHONES', FOCAL, OPPO, BOSE, CAMBRIDGE, BOWER & WILKINS, DEVIALET, MARSHALL, SONY, MITCHELL & JOHNSTON - 2*ZBOOK'S- MERCURY BD ROM, ROON, QOBUZ, TIDAL, PLEX, CYBERLINK, JRIVER - MULTI HDD'S -
Oh my god! There's nothing wrong with the bidet is there?
“Nothing discloses real character like the use of power. It is easy for the weak to be gentle. Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. It is the glory of Lincoln that, having almost absolute power, he never abused it, except on the side of mercy".
“You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police ... yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts: words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home -- all the more powerful because forbidden -- terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”
"You don't have free will. You have the appearance of free will.”
“There's a war out there, old friend. A world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think... it's all about the information!”
***SMILE, BE HAPPY***
You are probably correct Andrew. Science may yet prove that we are still sensitive to sound even though we think we can't actually consciously hear it. Very high or low frequencies may actually have an influence on how we hear things in the range we perceive as being audible.
Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702
Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2
Main System
Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.
Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.
Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.
CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.
Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.
Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.
Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.
Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.
Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.
Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!
Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!