A máfia do Audio

Hoje descobri isto:

Following my participation and attendance at the 2016 AXPONA Show, I wrote several posts reporting on a series of power demos held in room 450 by the high-end cable company Nordost of Holliston, MA. This morning I opened a FEDEX letter containing a 7-page “CEASE AND DESIST LETTER”. It describes and quotes from the articles that I posted. Per the DEMAND contained in the document written by attorney Rodney E. Gould, I have removed the original posts.

The letter also demands a retraction “prior to the institution of litigation”. This post is that retraction. Some of the statements made in the posts of April 18, 21, and 22 are described as malicious and libelous in the “CEASE AND DESIST LETTER”. Therefore, I wish to retract those statements because they were unsubstantiated.

Mark “Dr. AIX” Waldrep, Ph.D.



Isto é parte daquilo que ele escreveu:

“I witnessed the power cord demo. Here’s what took place. The Nordost representative only swapped the power cable on the CD player – he did not swap any cables in the preamp. Here was the procedure.

He would turn off the CD player, unplug the power cable and plug in a seemingly better quality cable. As the cables got progressively more expensive, I was sitting in the front row and personally witnessed the representative increase the volume on the preamp from 58 to 61 (the preamp had a digital volume display that was easy to read when you’re sitting 5 feet away). This increase took place when the representative got into the $1000 and up power cords.

There was also another curiosity. The representative would play the same tracks generally for an AB comparison – but he continually seemed to be stumbling through the same CD to find the right track. In the beginning, he was playing Track 1 (again sitting 5 feet away gives you a clear line of sight to the display). Around the same time that he increased the volume on the preamp ever so slightly, I also noticed that the CD player was now on Track 7 – but it was the same exact song.

I can assure you that I did not go into the demo looking for any kind of tricks. This was my first audio show and I was genuinely curious if I could detect a difference. Needless to say, the volume increase was disheartening and I certainly won’t be buying any expensive power cables. I’m glad I learned that lesson early on in life.”


Os textos originais ainda estão disponíveis aqui:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:B51LpQguWEEJ:www.realhd-audio.com/%3Fp%3D5656+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ijzHv62vjpcJ:www.realhd-audio.com/%3Fp%3D5659+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us


Estes tipos são uns anjinhos...

Foi pena o Waldrep não ter filmado a cena; nesse caso a faca mudava de mão...

Duas pessoas observaram os seguintes truques usados para enganar o "painel de avaliação":

- o volume foi aumentado no pré-amplificador da primeira para a segunda faixa

- Waldrep identificou uma mudança de volume formulou a hipótese de que o volume de duas versões consecutivas da mesma música eram diferentes

Pergunto-me quantos dos presentes na sala terão notado que a diferença mais óbvia (e provavelmente a única) quando os cabos foram trocados foi o volume?
Tenho certeza de que aqueles que pensaram em possíveis causas eram ainda menos...

Sou levado a pensar que os audiófilos gostam realmente de ser enganados, pois tendem a aceitar todos os tipos de absurdidade concebida pelos departamentos de marketing e pelas revistas simultaneamente descartando por completo qualquer tentativa de avaliar criticamente o desempenho de um ponto de vista técnico (lógica e ciência ficam de fora).
Muitos parecem ser seguidores dedicados desta ou daquela marca, crentes do atributo tal e tal, adoradores de "ouvir como o juiz final"... mas saberão eles realmente ouvir?
Aparentemente não.
Preferem acreditar nos ouvidos e naquilo que lhes é dito pela indústria, na marca e no preço (independentemente do potencial de desempenho).
Parafraseando Mark Twain, "relatos de uma crise económica foram grandemente exageradas"... os consumidores têm dinheiro a mais e não parecem dar-lhe muito valor.
Agora vou ali comprar umas mini-"monitoras" da Raidho (marca da Nordost) por 15.000€...pelo preço devem ser full range (20-20.000Hz), com capacidades dinâmicas ilimitadas e quantidades de distorção negligenciáveis.

R

Aqui perto num mercado, pelo menos ainda ouço graça da voz de um cigano:

" aaai, não quer levar esta blusa de um cigano mais ou menos sério como eu? "

o costume...!