Recent equipment you hated, thought overpriced

Mapman wrote,

"Well, anyone can do a Google search on "Quantum Audio Tweak" and decide for themselves about that."

Really? How, pray tell, can they do that when, as you believe, very few if anyone understands quantum mechanics?

Actually things are even worse than that. If you've been following the ongoing debates, there seems to be very little consensus on a great number of audio issues, including tiny bowl resonators, directionality in wires, extremely low frequency generators, why high end fuses sound better than stock fuses, why high end cables and power cords sound better than stock ones, why demagnetizers and deionizers improve the sound of cables, CDs and LPs, crystals in room corners and other locations, Mpingo discs, colorization of CDs and why systems frequently sound harsh and distorted at medium or higher volumes.

I've liked some Ayre products, but not the K-5XE[mp] preamp. Do not understand the enthusiasm.

Plinius. Though in fairness, it always sounds good (often very very good) in others' systems, just not in mine.

Oy vey!

GEof, from the forums, at least we both seem to like a lot of the same music.

I'll leave it on that positive note.

FWIW, I sell nothing and have no vested interests in this discussion.

this is seriously funny to read. IMO most equipment including tweaks are seriously overpriced. But this was discussed in detail in previous posts. R&D, materials, price point competition, market, estimated number of pieces to be sold, seriously underestimating the intelligence of the consumer, greed, the actual intelligence of the consumer, all contribute to the price of the piece. Most tweaks are due to the equipment manufacturer failing to accurately design and construct their equipment correctly in the first place. If one needs vibration platters, then the equipment wasn't really constructed correctly. If changing cables make that much of an audible difference, then the circuit design in the from/to equipment weren't really designed correctly to handing the capacitance/inductive impedance of the cables correctly. So, for tweaks, it really does come down to how good the original piece was designed and constructed. This does not apply to room correction devices. That is serious magic and experts with correct equipment are needed to tell you what your room is actually doing and what is needed to correct it. I can tell you that I have A/B compared equipment and can hear audible differences. But for high end equipment, there is really no jaw dropping differences. I have heard seriously good and seriously expensive equipment playing great music, and we disconnect one set of interconnect cables and insert another set and it was as if we changed speakers. Wow! what a difference. And the original set up was wonderful sounding also. I can't really think of equipment that I purchased and hated or thought overpriced because if it was overpriced in my opinion, I wouldn't buy it anyway and I typically would hear the equipment in my system first before purchasing it.

But, it is good to read accounts of others and their opinions about equipment and tweaks, both good and bad. I actually value the opinions of most of the people posting here. The people that go out of their way to insult others? well, I don't care for that at all.

enjoy

Geoffkait said.. "My guess is people are suspicious and superstitious."

Yeah... and some people used to think the world was flat and masterbating would make you go blind!

I'll call it for what it is...ignorance..plain and simple.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,Horatio". (W.Shakespeare)