Strongest placebo ever

[magiccarpetride]

I've recently decided to be open-minded (for a change, so I'm now into cheap-ass tweaks. A friend managed to talk me into this story how, due to certain piezo-electrical properties, some crystals can affect low voltage circuitry, blah blah blah. To cut the long story short, I took some of the crystals that my wife has lying around in her studio (rose quartz and amethyst, mostly), and installed them on the AC power cables and interconnects, etc.

Listening impressions: weird. It's not that I could hear any new, previously unheard details, it's just that the well known details in well known songs appear to contain more depth. Not depth in the sense of deeper soundstage, but depth in the sense of deeper sound, sound with more sparkle and presence. In general, more enjoyable sound quality.

I'm sure it's nothing but a very strong placebo verging on self-hypnosis, but I'm still curious if anyone else had ever experienced something similar. Also, I must insist here that I'm not all that prone to placebos, as I've demonstrated, on more than one occasion, that glitzy, ultra-expensive hi fi gear can leave me totally cold. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not easily falling for good looks when it comes to hi fi gear... That is, until now.

[Stratmangler]

I'm sure it's nothing but a very strong placebo verging on self-hypnosis .....

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

[sburrell]

I took some of the crystals that my wife has lying around in her studio (rose quartz and amethyst, mostly), and installed them on the AC power cables and interconnects, etc.

[Thing Fish]

AS above. I can't wait...

[synsei]

I read your post with interest Alex and it set me thinking...

I hope you don't mind but I took your idea one step further and it was so successful I'm thinking of patenting the result...

PREPARE TO BE AMAZED BY...


-<{}{}{}{}>- The Stereode -<{}{}{}{}>-

[Alex_UK]

Interesting thread (as always, Alex!) I've never tried Amethyst/Quartz in a hifi context, but I always used to have a small selection of amethyst around my computer monitors in the CRT days, as I was told by someone "into" crystals that they absorb the energy being kicked out. On the other hand, I also recall vaguely being told to be careful about quartz, as this can amplify the energy.

Maybe try with just the amethyst, and then just the quartz, and see if there is any difference between the two?

PS - this is NOT a pi$$ take - I personally am not sure if I believe in the "mumbo jumbo" around crystals, but given that I think they look lovely, I was always happy to have some on my desk whether they did any good or not!

[magiccarpetride]

PS - this is NOT a pi$$ take - I personally am not sure if I believe in the "mumbo jumbo" around crystals, but given that I think they look lovely, I was always happy to have some on my desk whether they did any good or not!

I personally tend not to buy into any of the more refined tweaks. But I was proven wrong on a couple of occasions (the last one was when I finally caved in and cleaned my contacts -- holly excrement, what an improvement!)

With crystals, I'm on a fence. On one hand, despite the rationalistic explanation that they do indeed possess piezo-electrical yadda yadda yadda, me thinks that these properties might be too feeble to truly affect anything. So, I'm not denying the works, I'm just skeptical about the magnitude of the proposed effect. Can we really truly hear it?

On the other hand, I just can't afford to ignore what my ears are telling me. Why would I? If it feels good, I'm not gonna kibosh it just so that I can claim that I'm a man of principles.

[magiccarpetride]

I think you've hit the nail on the head.

A sophisticated person is someone who can entertain a thought without necessarily accepting it.

[Werner Berghofer]

Can we really truly hear it?

Without any doubt: of course! Place one of the crystals on your Beresford Caiman DAC, but not before the DAC has been burnt-in for exactly 666 hours. For best results make sure the crystal was broken out of the rock by a nude virgin in a cloudless full moon night.

I can assure you: the new sound experience will blast through your skull.

[Tim]

I don't want a crystal Werner, but can I borrow some of them there nude virgins?