Snake oil and tweaks that work!
To me, at least, "snake oil" is a pejorative for tweaking. I can’t believe there is anyone posting here who hasn’t tweaked their components, their room, their overall layout. Some of us go to greater tweaking extremes than others. So what? How does it hurt someone if I share a tweak I’ve employed in my system that, to me, has improved the sonics of my system. You get to decide as the reader whether that tweak has credibility for you. I want to learn from others about tweak techniques that have improved their listening experience that I may have never considered! I have benefitted a great deal from the experiences of others here and my listening experience is better for it. That and the great personal anecdotes that people share here are what make spending time here valuable to me. |
Gee, it’s almost like folks around these parts haven’t quite figured out how the internet works. When it comes to Audio Forums and those pesky little naysayer scamps, everything always starts with the very best of intentions, very idealistic like, but pretty soon the General Rule is, Build it and they will Come. 😀 Once they get a foothold in your house it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. 😛 |
hifiman5 To me, at least, "snake oil" is a pejorative for tweaking.I am inclined to agree. There are a few posters here that seem poised to pounce on subjective evaluations, chiming in with demands for level-matched double blind testing, for example. When contributors here decline, they are taunted with claims of "snake oil" or the other canard: "Confirmation bias." |
@cleeds "Confirmation Bias" is indeed the other attack. I had a neat experience the other evening. I decided to spin Elgar's Enigma Variations on reissued RCA Living Presence LP. I bought the album years ago when a great sale was being run, having read numerous times that it, as a composition, is considered to be a part of what should be in any orchestral music lover's collection. I remember playing it and not enjoying it at all. Playing lots of vinyl lately as I just got a new phono stage. Played it the other night and put down my laptop. It really caught my attention. I was liking the music this time. In fact, I was so surprised by my new reaction to this piece that I played both sides twice. Liked it both times. My "confirmation bias" would work against me liking that LP. If "confirmation bias" played such a great role in my perceptions as some here claim then I should not have enjoyed the Elgar piece. |
