QUALITY AND SECURITY OF "LITTELFUSE" PRODUCTS

but there is a surprisingly large and totally unnecessary snake oil

Its hard to sell products for top dollar that are advertised to work just like all the other good ones.

Is there anyone who really believes that high end audio manufacturers are so noble as to not do whatever they can to stand out from the crowd and try to maximize sales and profits, just like everyone else? After all, it "sounds better".  We should just be more trusting and less skeptical.   So funny!

+1 to the comments just above by Ralph (Atmasphere) and Mapman.

Regarding "Does components with best spec sounds the best?":

As you appear to be implying, the answer is "of course not."  Sometimes "better" specs can even be an indication that the component will sound worse, because they indicate a misplaced priority in the design. But a more expensive component doesn't necessarily sound better than a less expensive component, either. And that is particularly true when it comes to cables and power cords, IMO. As you've probably seen, the degree of correlation between cable price and cable performance has been discussed in many prior threads, such as this one.

An excerpt from one of my posts in that thread, which relates to the point Ralph made just above:

It seems to be generally agreed by most audiophiles that cable performance cannot be either fully explained or fully predicted based on generally recognized science. It follows from that, however, that the cable designers have no way to accurately predict the point of demarcation between optimization of a given cable parameter or design characteristic and what may be overkill of that parameter or design characteristic, which will accomplish nothing in most or all applications. Therefore it can be expected that what is likely to be a significant driver of the cost of many very expensive cables is overkill of some or all of their design parameters and characteristics, which will accomplish nothing in most or all applications.

Regards,
-- Al

One thing I’ll say about some products like, Atmasphere for example, having read about and actually heard them is they do take a somewhat unique approach (OTL tube amps) that is understandable in regards to how things work and why different and there are rules one can follow to help make sure things sound excellent when integrated and set up right. Or not

That’s much different than products that may appear unique but rational explanations regarding how they sound different or better are elusive. There are few reliable rules one can follow. Fuses and wires come to mind.

But look in the end its all about marketing and whether or not customers are happy or not. if someone thinks they hear something different or better facts really do not matter much.  Except maybe to someone else.   Paying more usually only helps with this. Silly humans!

As you appear to be implying, the answer is "of course not." ...

Nope, sometimes better and sometimes not.

atmasphere
4,722 posts
04-06-2016 12:17pm

If the power cord does not have a voltage drop, has good shielding and also good high frequency characteristics, its sound quality will be as good as a much more expensive cord with the same characteristics.

Power cords are not actually voodoo, but there is a surprisingly large and totally unnecessary snake oil. I suspect this is because many of the power cord manufacturers simply don't know why their cable works.

When can we expect Atma-Sphere PCs?   Probably better margin than amps and preamps?

The pony I like is good engineering. It’s funny how the best engineers think alike about a lot of things, and respect each other’s work. For instance, Ralph Karsten (the atmasphere posting here, as most I’m sure already know), Mike Sanders, Tim de Paravicini, and, yes, Roger Modjeski ;-), to name but a few. As Ralph just pointed out in the thread on fuse directionality, knowing that a fuse in an AC circuit cannot, by definition, be directional is about as basic as electrical engineering gets, for gosh sakes.