Audio nonsense


In this wonderful world of audio that we journey through folks selling stuff have sometimes been inventive in what they claim. In your trip down this road what sticks out as the most ludicrous thing you’ve seen someone try to sell? 
 

I can point to 2 things. When I first saw a Tice clock in a store I thought it was a gag. Next- Peter Belt. 

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I will only add about headphones, that i OBSERVED that my room acoustic was done when i did not want to hear my SEVEN different types of headphone anymore...They are no more needed for sound quality superiority at all...

Based on my experience, I would agree that headphones have different characters, so using them as absolute reference is not an absolute standard or might be confusing, but as for a tonal comparison to speakers alone (or better to live music, which reminds me my ancient observations - like when after sitting 12 feet away from Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet - I realize that my speakers sound different. LOL) I do find headphones (especially studio/monitor grade ones) very useful which may have, most likely, to do with a better phase reproduction (especially for live music), lack of crossover, smaller transducer size and therefore smaller physical deformations, and, above all, the lack of the room reflections). Also, our individual "favorite headphones" have a valid individual psycho-acoustic reasons behind it.

Addressed to the anti-tweakers: 

If your true intent is to prevent people from being taken advantage of-- if that is your sincere impulse and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that product xyz cannot and does not work-- deriding others is a very unskillful way to go about it. 

 

 

 

@eworkflow 

"In short, listening, adjusting/experimenting to A/B comparing, and ending up with YOUR acceptable compromises, is the only process worth trying; disputing or arguing it here is a complete waste of time. Reporting it, however, should be encouraged and appreciated, not ridiculed"

Thank you for this.

Everything I have ever tried has made a difference of some sort.

Whether or not I cared for the difference is a different story.
 

Let's never underestimate those two above observations for two below reasons:

1) If we make a single change to our systems, even if it is not audible at this moment, our next upgrade (such as a new speaker or even a more minor component), might be differently affected by that exact change now. In short, an audio path is a chain of mutually-interactive components where each emphasizes the inate problems or advantages of all each other components (in a specific listening room!) and is in reality never guaranteed to have the same absolute result totally independent from all other components.

2) Throwing big money on our audio setup may often be equivalent to being able to buy a supercar, but not having the proper training/experience/objectivity to "drive" it. After all, audio paths are too often maintained on the basis of bigger-must-be-better, which can be simply "attested" by their ticket price. The real audio value, however, is not determined by words and numbers, but by our never-objective ears. Sadly and quite easily, we may end up like drivers in those Youtube videos of idiots damaging their supercars. Objectively, the above comparison is quite accurate: there are plenty of people out there with great means who lack ear training and sufficient hearing ability to pursue optimal component matching.  

That's why audio forums are important and useful exchanges of subjective facts and must resist the dangers of creating and maintaining "audio absolutism" cults.