Oregonpapa wrote,
“Its been a long time since I used a Quicksilver product. It was an initial improvement for sure. I found that it deteriorated over time. Now, with that said, you and I may not have used the same product. Was the Quick Silver GOLD an upgrade from Quicksilver?”
>>>>Uh, I’m getting a very vivid sense of deja vu. Oh, maybe that’s because I answered this exact same question only a few days ago. 😬
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oregonpapa OP
tuffy ...
Brian was a nice guy. As I shared in a previous post, Brian and I hooked up at the CES in Vegas one year and went room to room trying to talk the vendors into using Brian’s product in their demo.
>>>>>How did that work out for ya? Clark Johnson, Audio Journalist at large, went from room to room at various CES with several of my products, including the Intelligent Chip and Brilliant Pebbles, but also with other tweaks like CD treatments and that gray cloth Stillpoint ERS anti RFI crap. 😛 The usual response from exhibitors was, “We don’t use tweaks.” Frequently Clark was met with the Ooshka Ooshka look. 👀 Which, if you don’t mind me saying so too much, kind of illustrates the pretty severe gap between the industry in general and real audiophiles. How many real audiophiles are there out there? Oh, gotta be at least, what, 50. From what I can tell the high end is drying up faster than an old bottle of Quicksilver Gold. 🤠 but I digress.
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Obviously Grover needs to raise his prices dramatically in the US ASAP. Problem solved! It’s not rocket science. 🚀
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Ne devrait pas nourir les trolls. 🍔 🍟 🍦
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oregonpapa wrote,
”I’ve been asking these guys to state their intentions from day one, both in this thread and in both of the SR fuse threads. They won’t do it, because they won’t dare claim it. I can guess what their intentions are because I’ve seen it many times before. Even if they don’t realize it, they are making an attempt to destroy a terrific new product and a brilliant American businessman. As I said in an earlier post, entire societies have been brought to their knees by the closed minded thinking being exhibited by these fools.”
>>>>>The parable of the frog 🐸 and the scorpion 🦂
A poisonous scorpion asked a frog if he could get a ride on the frog’s back over to the other side of the river. The frog resisted, saying, but I’m afraid you’ll sting me. But the scorpion promised he wouldn’t sting him and asked the frog to reconsider. Finally, the frog agreed to carry the scorpion on his back to the other side of the river and set out swimming with the scorpion perched on his back. But when the frog was almost to the other side, the scorpion suddenly stung him in the back. When the frog 🐸 screamed, Hey, why did you sting me, you promised?, the scorpion calmly replied, Because it’s my nature. 🦂
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Politics? WhatChew talkin’ about, Willis? 🙄
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Frank, you’re being argumentative. I never said anything political. Only in your head maybe. Besides, did someone die and make you moderator? 😀 You’re more excited than a teenager on a first blind date.
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So he’s a day late. Big deal. Cut the guy some slack, Jack. This isn’t a NASA launch.
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Uh, Frank, be that as it may, I was not discussing politics, I did not make a political statement, I did not take some cheap political shot. So, why are you addressing me? It actually does sound like someone died and made you moderator. This is not the Dr. Phil show.
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You have to respect the Quantum nature of the product. 😛 I personally like the name of the product. It reminds me of my two favorite science fiction movies, Total Recall and Contact. 🤖
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oregonpapa OP
Geoff ...
Your last post reminds me of my two favorite horror movies, Psycho and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Have a great day, Geoff.
>>>>>I see myself as the Jack Nicholson character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Geoff Kait, audio insider
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For fazee or anyone else with a limited audio vocabulary, words starting with A through L. Feel free to use your own words to describe what you hear. Please disregard typos, they are not your humble scribe’s. 😛
Accurate - The music is unaltered by the recording or playback equipment. Ideally, to sound identical to the original music.
Aggressive - Forward and bright sonic character.
Airy - Spacious. Open. Instruments sound like they are surrounded by a large reflective space full of air. Good reproduction of high frequency reflections. High frequency response extends to 15 or 20 kHz.
Ambience - Impression of an acoustic space, such as the performing hall in which a recording was made.
Analytical - Highly detailed.
Articulate - Intelligibility of voice(s) and instruments and the interactions between them.
Attack - The leading edge of a note and the ability of a system to reproduce the attack transients in music.
Attack (2) - The time taken for a musical note to reach its peak amplitude eg. notes will tend to sound more defined rather than blended with other notes.
Balance - essentially tonal balance, the degree to which one aspect of the sonic spectrum is emphasized above the rest. Also channel balance, the relative level of the left and right stereo channels.
Bass - The audio frequencies between about 60Hz and 250Hz.
Bassy - Emphasized Bass.
Blanketed - Weak highs, as if a blanket were put over the speakers.
Bloated - Excessive mid bass around 250 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies, low frequency resonances. See tubby.
Blurred - Poor transient response. Vague stereo imaging not focused.
Body - Fullness of sound, with particular emphasis on upper bass; opposite of Thin.
Boomy - Excessive bass around 125 Hz. Poorly damped low frequencies or low frequency resonances.
Boxy - Having resonances as if the music were enclosed in a box. Sometimes an emphasis around 250 to 500 Hz.
Breathy - Audible breath sounds in woodwinds and reeds such as flute or sax. Good response in the upper mids or highs.
Bright - A sound that emphasizes the upper midrange/lower treble. Harmonics are strong relative to fundamentals.
Brilliance - The 6kHz to 16kHz range controls the brilliance and clarity of sounds. Too much emphasis in this range can produce sibilance on the vocals.
Chesty - The vocalist sounds like their chest is too big. A bump in the low frequency response around 125 to 250 Hz.
Clear - See Transparent.
Closed - A closed-in sound lacking in openness, delicacy, air, and fine detail usually caused by Roll-off above 10kHz; in contrast to Open.
Congested- Smeared, confused, muddy, and flat; lacking transparency.
Coloured - Having timbres that are not true to life. Non flat response; peaks or dips.
Cool- Moderately deficient in body and warmth, due to progressive attenuation of frequencies below about 150Hz.
Crisp - Extended high frequency response, especially with cymbals.
Dark - A tonal balance that tilts downwards with increasing frequency. Opposite of bright. Weak high frequencies.
Decay - The fadeout of a note, it follows the attack.
Definition (or resolution) - The ability of a component to reveal the subtle information that is fundamental to high fidelity sound.
Delicate - High frequencies extending to 15 or 20 kHz without peaks.
Depth - A sense of distance (near to far) of different instruments.
Detail - The most delicate elements of the original sound and those which are the first to disappear with lesser equipment.
Detailed - Easy to hear tiny details in the music; articulate. Adequate high frequency response, sharp transient response.
Dry - Lack of reverberation or delay as produced by a damped environment. May comes across as fine grained and lean. Opposite of Wet.
Dull - See Dark.
Dynamic - The suggestion of energy and wide dynamic. Related to perceived speed as well as contrasts in volume both large and small.
Edgy - Too much high frequency response. Trebly. Harmonics are too strong relative to the fundamentals. Distorted, having unwanted harmonics that add an edge or raspiness.
Euphonic - An appealing form of distortion that generally enhances perceived fidelity, often ascribed to the harmonic elaborations of some valve amps.
Fast - Good reproduction of rapid transients which increase the sense of realism and "snap".
Fat - See Full and Warm. Or, spatially diffuse; a sound is panned to one channel, delayed, and then the delayed sound is panned to the other channel. Or, slightly distorted with analogue tape distortion or tube distortion.
Focus - A strong, precise sense of image projection.
Forward(ness) - Similar to an aggressive sound, a sense of image being projected in front of the speakers and of music being forced upon the listener. Compare "Laid-back".
Full - Strong fundamentals relative to harmonics. Good low frequency response, not necessarily extended, but with adequate level around 100 to 300 Hz. Male voices are full around 125 Hz; female voices and violins are full around 250 Hz; sax is full around 250 to 400 Hz. Opposite of thin.
Gentle - Opposite of edgy. The harmonics (of the highs and upper mids) are not exaggerated, or may even be weak.
Grainy - A slightly raw, exposed sound which lacks finesse. Not liquid or fluid.
Grip - A sense of control and sturdiness in the bass.
Grungy - Lots of harmonic or I.M. (Intermodulation) distortion.
Hard - Too much upper midrange, usually around 3 kHz. Or, good transient response, as if the sound is hitting you hard. Uncomfortable, forward, aggressive sound with a metallic tinge.
Harsh - Grating, abrasive. Too much upper midrange. Peaks in the frequency response between 2 and 6 kHz. Or, excessive phase shift in a digital recorder’s low pass filter.
Headstage - The perception of the Soundstage while listening to headphones.
Highs - The audio frequencies above about 6000 Hz.
High Midrange (High Mids, Upper Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 2kHz and 6kHz.
Hollow - Recessed mids.
Honky - Like cupping your hands around your mouth. A bump in the response around 500 to 700 Hz.
Imaging - The sense that a voice or instrument is in a particular place in the room.
Juicy - Sound that has joie de vivre, energy and life.
Laid-back - Recessed, distant-sounding, having exaggerated depth, usually because of a dished midrange. Compare "Forward".
Liquid - Textureless sound.
Low Level Detail - The quietest sounds in a recording.
Low Midrange (Low Mids) - The audio frequencies between about 250Hz and 2000Hz.
Lush - Very Rich/Full.
Lush (2) - A "lush" sound has a sense of warmth and fullness. Notes are more authoritative and have a sense of life about them. It is a sound free of any sibilance or brightness. It does not mean colored, however. It is an open and inviting sound enveloping the listener into its soundstage. (source: unkown headfier)
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jetter
Geoff, wtf has riled you up?
>>>>Jitter, I suspect you actually don’t know. 🙄
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If brass is such a great material how come brass cones are way down the list of cones? Oh, wait, did I disturb your concentration?! Let’s see, we got ceramic at the top, then what? High carbon steel. Then aluminum, then brass. The only thing worse than brass is carbon fiber. Do they make even ceramic screws? That’s what I’d like to know about. Do I see a new product on the horizon? 👀
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Whatever happened to the magnetism explanation for why brass screws work better than steel? Did that like just disappear? Brass is way down my personal list of materials. I did not mention lead, either, which of course is the absolute worst.
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mapman
Be sure to merely tighten the screws first and see what that alone does before going off the deep end there. Works much like resetting fuses with or without quantum goo.
>>>So I take it you don’t buy into the whole magnetism theory of steel screws. Uh, oh, did I just go off the deep end? Quantum goo? So you figured as long as you wanna be on this thread you might as well act like the pseudo skeptic you are? Nice touch!
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Everyone should be treated with respect, even the pseudo skeptics.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. - Old audiophile tweak manufacturer axiom
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willemj
In Europe, consumer protection agencies have gone to court in comparable cases to argue that this is consumer fraud - and won their cases. Contract law in many EU countries stipulates that products have to be fit for purpose, so sellers may have to demonstrate that their products work as claimed. This would involve expert witnesses such as physics professors. Maybe they will ask Geim and Novoselov. I am sure they would be interested in this completely new version of graphene.
>>>>>One wonders what those esteemed physics professors would have to say about Mpingo discs. The Intelligent Chip. Tiny little bowl resonators. The Teleportation Tweak. Silver Rainbow Foil. Coloring the outer edge of CDs purple. Directionality of wire. Directionality of power cords. Differences in SQ among fuses. The Schumann frequency generator. The Red X Pen. Ultra Tweeters. Lessloss Blackbody. Crystals. The Tourmaline Gun. Demagnetization of CDs and LPs. Would the esteemed professors have a good laugh? Would milk squirt out of their noses? 👃🏻👃🏻 👃🏻 👃🏻
Besides, it’s not a new version of graphene. Try to keep up.
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geoffkait
Everyone should be treated with respect, even the pseudo skeptics.
You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. - Old audiophile tweak manufacturer axiom
to which oregonpapa OP replied,
^^^ Yeah George, but what do you do when you have several people constantly crapping in your honey??
Frank, please don’t start confusing me with George. 😛
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deeperthought
So based on this information (i.e. the 2 facts above, what do you know in can NOT do? Can’t improve the conductivity of connections perhaps? (refer the links I provided). Can’t reduce oxidation maybe? (ditto). Can’t provide an interface with almost zero resistance ?(links, Randy, read the links).
>>>>>The medium is not graphene so would have some resistance, no? Thus the resistance of TC would not (rpt not) be zero. It also remains to be seen that molecules dispersed/suspended in a medium actually behave exactly like real graphene, which is a two-dimensional contiguous material. In other words, if you chop it up is it still really graphene? 🙄 |
Anybody with a little TC left after use I will purchase. I only need a teeny tiny smidgen. I have very few connections, you know, what with the battery powered portable system. No power cords, no ICs, blah blah. The batteries, that’s about it. Yes, I know the batteries need to be replaced before the stuff has broken in. 😃 I also need a teeny tiny bit of TC for my new LG video system power cords. I suppose I could scrape some Graphene off my Head Graphene tennis racket....😳
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Actually unplugging and plugging produces a degradation in sound, all things being equal. The delicate mechanical/electrical interface takes at least a couple days to reestablish itself. Nice try, though. 🤠 This is also why oft times cable comparisons are invalid.
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dbarger
Oh, ok Geoff. Thanks for straightening me out on that. I just started this audio thing 40 years ago... I depend on wise people like yourself to tell me what I hear.
>>>>>That probably explains why all the old timers in the hobby have such fabulous sounding systems, because of their superior experience and knowledge. Cough, cough
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shadorne
“ use it on your unicorn to help with the dander”
I rubbed it all over my unicorn and it sure is fine and dandy now!
>>>>>>Whoa! What?! Sexual harassment in the workplace?
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You don’t say? 😳 That’s very observant of you. 🤠
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Take’s a lot of energy correcting, moderating, admonishing, fending off, and damage controlling the trolls, don’t it? 😛
In the sweet old country where I come from
Nobody ever works
Yeah nothing gets done
We hang fire, we hang fire
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theaudiotweak
On the cd topper I would say that the change is electromagnetic shielding or absorption and it could also be absorbing stray light bouncing off the cd edges and bouncing around inside the chassis. Less light emission inside means there will be less error correction required and and a less corrupted signal which means better sound. I have a cd topper that covers the top and the edges to virtually eliminate light scatter being read.
A couple of things. One is that much of the scattered light problem occurs right next to the laser on the data side of the disc.which is why coloring the data side near the spindle hole of the CD is effective. Of course, one could line the entire inside of the transport with absorbing material, you know, like turquoise colored paper.
>>>>>>Black actually is not that great an absorber of infrared light (above 700 nm) which is invisible. Colors don’t absorb outside the visible part of the spectrum. And turquoise or green absorbs visible RED scattered light, which is somewhat below the nominal wavelength of the CD laser, 780 nm. So what about the scattered light above red, above around 700 nm? The band between say, 700 nm and 850 nm.
The turquoise won’t work for near infrared. Nor will black. Not to mention the color black should never be used on the label side or the outer edge, only on the inner edge, the part that touches the spindle. It should also be mentioned that the color of the CD label graphics also affects the sound. Thus, a lot of experimentation is actually necessary to arrive at the ideal combination of colors for each CD, depending on colors used in the label graphics. Too much experimentation for this dude. I just use Green, Black and Orange.
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The laser’s real wavelength, the one that’s 780 nm, is invisible and not affected by color. Not by green, turquoise, blue or black, etc. The best you can do with green or turquoise is absorb some of the lower sideband - the stuff below 700 nm. It’s a cheap laser and even cheaper photodetector so just about anything that can get through will get through. Anyone not follow raise your hand. |
The wavelength of the CD laser is nominal 780 nm, solidly in the near infrared spectrum. But the laser is not monochromatic, it has a bandwidth due to its quantum nature and also to its cheapness. That bandwidth probably extends from, say, 650 nm to 900 nm,with most of the energy centered at 780 nm. The reason green or shades of green works is because it absorbs the scattered laser light in the region 650 to 700 nm, the red portion. If you could see inside the transport while the CD was playing you would see the color red, because as I said the lower sideband of the light is red. Most of the light inside the transport is invisible, I.e., greater than 700 nm. Even with some absorption of red light most of the rest of the scattered laser light is free to travel around inside the transport and perhaps get into the photodetector. The photodetector will accept any light within its bandwidth that is more than 75% of full reflected power. At least that’s how I see it.
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Uh, I’ve only had a turquoise tray masking product for like 12 years. Hel-loo! Do you think these hands have been soaking in Ivory Liquid? 😛 As you can probably image I have a similar product for Blu-ray discs.
Pop quiz: But what about the invisible scattered light, the stuff that’s not amenable to colors?
Extra credit - guess what color the tray masking is for Blu-ray,
multiple choice:
a. Turquoise
b. Blue
c. Red
d. Yellow
e. Black
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theaudiotweak
The tray assembly and surrounding parts have been treated for years. My comments were to color not just the tray but all the other surfaces that refract light. The whole damn innards of the chassis if possible.
Actually the trays haven’t been treated for years, except by me. Or if they have, not correctly or not completely. I’m not referrring to Marigo CD mats and similar. Maybe you don’t understand the question.
But what about the invisible light? I’m not getting anybody to bite. By the way you’re using the word refract incorrectly. I already suggested treating the entire inside of the transport. Let’s see, was it yesterday? 😀 Besides, you still have the sticky problem of the invisible scattered light.
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theaudiotweak wrote,
”The tray assembly and surrounding parts have been treated for years. My comments were to color not just the tray but all the other surfaces that refract light. The whole damn innards of the chassis if possible.”
>>>>>Tom, no offense but you are confusing the terms diffraction, refraction and reflection. Refraction occurs when light passes through a different medium such as when light passes from air through glass. Diffraction occurs when light strikes a slit or sharp obstacle such as a diffraction grating. Reflection occurs when light strikes a flat surface such as a mirror or when the CD laser strikes the flat metal layer of the CD. It’s the reflected light that enters the photodetector. Obviously it’s a little more complicated with the pits and lands. The CD red/infrared laser undergoes refraction passing through the CD polycarbonate layer, and changes wavelength, the light changes back to its original wavelength when it leaves the polycarbonate and reenters the air.
You still haven’t answered the fundamental question - what about the invisible light? You can paint the entire CD player turquoise and the majority of the CD laser scattered will not (rpt not) be absorbed by the turquoise color. It’s invisible!
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theaudiotweak
oh Geoff you ass ume everyone else is ignorant..We made our own mats years ago that address many issues no others ever did or have since. I treated my entire PS audio transport tray and laser housing long ago with paint and AVM
>>Mats are exactly not (rpt not) what I’m talking about. Don’t you read comprehensively? Still no answer on the subject of the invisible light. I guess you decided to ignore the question. The AVM stuff is irrelevant as it doesn’t address scattered light.
If the laser is ever so slightly out of alignment or focus their will be refraction of that light ..Are the pits on the disc optically perfect in shape? Will a scratch on the disc not refract light? You understand refraction the same way you don’t understand shear waves in solids. Just forget IT.
No need for anger. We all understand your shear waves. 🙄 I don’t scratch my discs. Besides, that’s a silly argument since the whole issue involves light reflection not refraction. It’s the reflected scattered light that gets into the photodetector. It’s reflected light inside the transport that makes it glow red. Duh! |
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By the way, I painted both ends of my new LG TV power cord with product. Noticed much improved picture. For the UVa Duke game in HD I noticed more solid colors, more vivid colors, more solid and darker black, more shimmer and gloss on the court, very natural face color. Super duper.
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Tweaks are not all expensive. Obviously some are more expensive than others. I sell over 30 tweak products, only a handful of which are more than $50. My complete isolation system for components is less than $50. Hel-loo! And there are many other examples of inexpensive tweaks. In fact, some of the most iconic audiophile tweaks are not expensive. I.e., less than $100. File under Stocking Stuffers: Audio Prism Green pen, Mpingo disc, the Super Intelligent Chip, Shakti Stone, Silver Rainbow Foil, Vibrapods, Small DH Cones, Nordost Anti-static Spray for cables and CDs, aftermarket fuses, Auric Illuminator CD Treatment, Cardas Caps for RCA input/outputs, Deoxit Contact Cleaner, Daruma III roller bearings, Herbies Audio tube damper, etc.
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Ah, yes, the old last tweak syndrome. I know it well. You start off with some footers and wall treatments and maybe some Vibrapods. They next thing you know you're into the more advaced stuff. You know, fancy fuses and expensive interconnects and power cords. "Hey, this stuff is great. My system never sounded so good. I don't think there's anything I can do now to make it any better." 😛 |
shadorne
You are correct about trust. I would add the power of suggestion and expectation and then you have it all in a nutshell.
>>>Well, actually we can test to see if expectation bias or placebo effect or any other psychological effect is at play. We can eliminate them through careful and thorough testing. Having said that, if results of controlled blind tests are negative, you can not (rpt not) say the thing under test definitively doesn’t work. It ain’t easy McGee. But it’s just silly for skeptics to claim that controversial tweaks are figments of the imagination.
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Whoa! What the ding dong?? I just heard surround sound coming from my LG Smart HDTV. I was watching the All Star hockey game. Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!!
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Uh, Lizzie, aren’t we forgetting something? It’s your signature piece, you know, the cylinders for toilet paper rolls.
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I have the opposite theory of audio and tweaks from Elizabeth. She’s a tweak miser and a spendthrift on the system, has no problem dropping big bucks. 🦌I’m the opposite. I spend almost nothing on the system but a boatload on tweaks. My entire system cost $25 used, including Grado SR60 headphones and portable Sony Walkman CD player. But tweaks, including all the things in this room and other rooms, have cost as much as $10K. See the difference? At the same time I’m a big fan of free tweaks. Nothing wrong with them apples.
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So, I guess you won’t be able to tell whether it’s the TC or removing the door from the panel, no? 😳
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I’m sure you forgot a long time ago. 😳 Too much water under the bridge. 🌉
You never put your toe in the same stream twice. - old audiophile saw |
The question is, how can anyone know what a panel box door sounds like when the sound keeps changing over time? I never said that removing the panel door didn’t affect the sound or wasn’t a good idea. The sound is always changing. The sound is changing even if you’re doing nothing, which most people probably aren’t. You never put your toe in the same stream twice.
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Yikes! Double yikes! 😬 Somebody help me out. What in tarnation is he talking about?
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Ya gotta love it when communication breaks down. 😬
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Whew, that was a close one! 😬 Catastrophe averted.
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It’s probably lack of experience that someone would argue that electrical “opens” are the problem, or a problem, since anyone who’s ever used these contact enhancers to any extent, such as your friend and humble scribe, knows they are very conductive and can create shorts when used too aggressively, you know, such as going down too far on tube pins. But not opens. Recall that one issue that Silver, Silver/Gold and graphene contact enhancers address is incomplete contact due to micro imperfection of metal surfaces. I’m not referring to contact cleaners such as Deoxit.
This all just illustrates that pseudo skeptics will think of ridiculous arguments in an attempt to stop the train of progress. 🚂 All aboard! Toot, toot!
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