I've watched a bunch of Audioholics' videos and I met Gene at the 2018 AXPONA. At that same show I also went to a Synergistics demonstration and saw Mr. Denney in action. Here's my take.....
I think that Audioholics is about as reputable as any of the professional reviewers out there. I take all reviews with a grain of salt but Gene approaches the hobby from a common sense perspective and I trust most of what he says. He is a really nice guy in person and he was very easy to talk to. But I am uncomfortable with calling anything "snake oil" in this hobby because it is an attack on people's beliefs. If someone hears a difference between cables, even if I can't hear a difference myself, the difference is real to them. I don't tell people what they can and cannot hear. I also don't tell people what religion they should believe in or whether or not God exists.
Regarding Synergistic, I went to the demo in a skeptical mood. I was with my audio buddy who's ears I trust. Music was playing when we entered the room and my first thought was, "this sounds really good." They were using a big pair of Magico speakers in a large downstairs room and we got good seats.
Ted did several with/without tests. For the little HFT thingies I couldn't hear the difference but my buddy could. I think most of the people in the room heard a difference. For the Black Box gizmo that affects the bass I did hear a difference but I felt it made the sound worse. Then Ted turned off the Atmosphere tower contraption and the magnificient soundstage absolutely collapsed. I couldn't believe the difference. The soundstage went from sparkling 3 dimensions to a typical, somewhat flat, representation that I heard on most every room. Nobody will ever convince me that this Atmosphere thing is snake oil. Even though Synergistics' description sounds like techno-babble, it sure as hell did something to the sound. And remember, I'm the guy who has never been able to hear a difference in cables.
I strongly suggest that anyone who brands Synergistics as Snake Oil, or anything else for that matter, to go out of their way to hear it before coming to a hard conclusion. After that demo I became much more careful about dissing people in this hobby who are selling stuff that sounds flaky. I would really like to see Gene take up Ted's offer. There's a risk when you attack someone's credibility that you may have to eat crow if they offer a challenge like this. Right now I would say the score is Ted +1, Gene 0.
