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Do you believe in Magic?

Audio Magic, that is.

Let's say that Magic is any effect not explainable by known physical laws. Every audiophile is familiar with debates about Audio Magic, as evidenced by endless threads about power cables.

I recently had an experience that made me question my long held skepticism about Magic. On a whim, I bought some Stillpoints ERS Fabric. I installed it in my preamp (which is filled with noisy digital circuitry) and a reclocker (also noisy) and...

Something happened. I don't know what exactly, but something. Two things in particular seemed to change... the decay of notes, and instrument timbres. Both changed for the better. But where did this change occur? In my listening room? Or in my mind?

If the change was in my listening room, then Magic exists. If the change was in my mind, then Magic does not exist.

One of the great Ideological Divides in audio is the divide between Believers and Skeptics. I honestly don't know if I'm a Believer or a Skeptic.

Do you believe in Magic?

Bryon
bryoncunningham
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Let's not forget brilliant pebbles, teleportation tweaks, and magic dots.

The very essence and lifeblood of a huckster.
bryoncunningham OP
904 posts
 
03-12-12: Geoffkait
My box contains ideas. Apparently your box really does contain a beetle.

I will give you credit for one thing, Geoff. That was funny.

But that's where my praise stops. Throughout this thread, your responses all have the same quality of being NON-responses. They are a series of ambiguous remarks, elliptical arguments, rhetorical questions, non sequiturs, inside jokes, and so on. Talking with you is an Alice in Wonderland experience. That's not a compliment.

And that is why I say you are an obscurantist. As to whether you are also a huckster, as Audiofeil suggested, I don't have an opinion. A huckster deceives and is aware of his deception. I honestly don't know if that describes you. You may be a huckster, or you may be a True Believer. If you are a huckster, then this whole conversation has been Theater in service of promoting Machina Dynamica, and the joke is on me. If you are a True Believer, then your obscurantism isn't an act of deception but an act of...

I don't know how to complete that sentence. If you genuinely believe in the products you sell, why are you an obscurantist? There are a number of other manufacturers who contribute to Audiogon who are patently NOT obscurantists...

Ralph Karsten of Atma-Sphere
Bobby Palkovic of Merlin
Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio
Duke LeJeune of AudioKinesis

These manufacturers offer open and accessible information on a range of subjects within their expertise. When asked direct questions about the products they design, they do not hide behind the facile excuse that "You need a PhD in electrical engineering to understand my design." And for that matter, there are a number of regular Audiogon contributors who DO have PhD's in electrical engineering, and so far as I am aware, you do not provide THEM with substantive information about the products you design either.

That leaves me wondering, in the words of another philosopher...

Do you muddy the water, to make it seem deep?

Bryon
sabai
2,027 posts
 
Tbg, The empirical method and the scientific method are not the same at all. In the realm of medicine, science includes clinical evidence in the form of "double blind testing" but it is based on "studies". The latter open the door for cooking the books to serve those with "special agendas". Empirical truth is based exclusively on clinical evidence. Science rejects empirical evidence as "proof" because science states this form of evidence is merely "anecdotal".

I don't understand what you mean when you state "I think your discussion of mercury in fillings was engineering not science." Please clarify.
sabai
2,027 posts
 
Geoff, I note that you completely sidestepped the content of Byron's comments by diverting the discussion to ERS paper and by indulging in other polemical digressions. Frankly, I thought Byron's comments about your statements being obscurantist were spot on.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Byron C - So, a died in wool skeptic continues to post long, drawn out diatribes full of attacks, veiled attacks, straw man arguments and innuendo. Geez, make your posts a little less verbose and a shade more bitter and you'll be right up there with Audiofeil. But, seriously, don't you really think that some investigation on your part regarding these controversial tweaks would be in order? Investigation, that's something they still teach in graduate school, correct?

As another philosopher once said, "There is more in heaven and Earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy."
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