Referring to the discussion which started under the September issue heading of “Stein Music Harmonizer and Magic Diamonds, Magic Stones and magic flutes”, I would now like to continue it under the General section heading so that the thread/discussion does not get subsumed after the month of September has passed on. I think the subject is important enough for a serious discussion.
Quotes already on the subject :-
Submitted By: jdmccall56:-
“Of all the things under the audio sun that Sam could write about, he chooses to devote most of a month's column to this voodoo doo-doo. Is it any wonder normal people think audiophiles have a screw loose? Was it all a joke? Er, I'm sorry...a yoke?
Submitted by JIMV:-
“I am of two minds about this sort of thing. I am naturally skeptical in most situations as I like to experience something prior to trusting in it. On the other hand science, a useful tool to be sure, is often deified and it's limits ignored. I recall the articles where Mikey and Stephan reported their experiences with a vinyl demagnatizer, and Sam's column concerning the "mumbo jumbo" was really compelling.
I guess I trust the three individuals' reports enough to want to listen to those accessories if I were in the market. Then I would trust my ears.
Trey”
I agree with Trey.
To ignore people’s observations and experiences (in audio and regarding listening) OR, worse still, use mockery and ridicule in order to dismiss their experiences, is to ignore clue after clue after clue – reaching back over the past 30 years – ever since Jean Hiraga (Editor of the French Hi Fi magazine Revue du Son) first described being able to hear different cables sound different.
I personally don’t know Sam Tellig, and I personally have not had experience of the Stein Music device but I AM able to recognise (from their descriptions) when other people have actually heard improvements in their sound.
We all (and it does not matter who they are) will take notice of what other significant people (significant to them) describe. Let me clarify myself before people do the usual knee jerk reactions. I am NOT saying that everyone should believe everything everyone says but enough significant people in the world of audio have described hearing improvements in the sound from doing things which should (technically, acoustically) not have had any effect at all.
This has been happening over and over again these past 30 years – to name but a few :-
Cryogenic freezing.
Colouring the edge of CDs.
Directionality in wires.
Dieter Ennemoser's C37 lacquer.
Shun Mook devices.
Harmonic Discs.
Shakti Stone.
The lacquer which Sonus Faber use on their speaker cabinets (which they claim is 'friendly to audio').
Nordost ECO 3 liquid.
Applying a demagnetiser to LPs and CDs.
Small size !! Room resonance devices – (such as the ART synergistic devices or the Franck devices).
Aiming a hair dryer containing Tourmaline balls at a CD.
The Schumann Resonance device.
The Less Loss Blackbody device.
The Stein Music device.
And, any one, or more, or all of the following descriptions of the improvements heard could be selected as representative of what people have been experiencing.
>> “Reduction of stridency to upper midrange and lower treble bands, a minimization of the "glare" - This is clearly discernable with bronze instruments like cymbals, which were at once rendered with a more "creamy" voice, and had more focus.
While the lowest registers are not any deeper, they are clearly more defined. Picking or fingering of strings in bass runs becomes much more apparent and discernable, allowing a greater ease in following complex bass lines and seemingly faster rise times, with clearer decay and fall off.
More "space" between instruments, and greater "air" around them, a more focused soundstage, with greater specificity to images. Staging is typically slightly wider, deeper, and taller, with heightened "illumination" of the rear left and right corners of the soundstage. The result is an overall perspective that is more honest, more faithful to reality, with better focus and more realistically sized.” <<
In my experience, reviewers do not lightly describe their experiences when they are fully aware that their experiences will probably trigger reactions of ridicule and mockery. They only do so when they believe that their experiences (of hearing improvements in their sound) could be of considerable interest to others.
For over 30 years you have had people’s descriptions of hearing improvements in the sound from any number of diverse devices and techniques.
Surely the time should have been reached long ago for members of the world of audio to start asking serious questions of WHY and HOW ? AND attempting to find some answers.
Regards,
May Belt,
PWB Electronics.