Who else here is frugal?

mahgister
Like I said you are absolutely right on all counts... I have known already that electrical pollution and noise in the room and house were stupendous unbeknownst to most or underestimated by all...But even for me it is amazing how the lost by this plague has destroyed the potential of my Hi-Fi system...I dont even speak about the other 2 plagues: resonance-vibrations, and acoustical treatment of room...

>>>>I wrote almost twenty years ago the primary malady that crystals offer a remedy for is vibration - not (rpt not), as often assumed, RFI. When you assume something you make a fool of me and Uma Thurman.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “But I’ve used the crystals wherever RF can interfere with the signal - Schumann resonators, near small vacuum tubes, on power supplies, on top of CD players. So the crystals MUST be absorbing RF.”

I didn’t say my portable CD headphones system was the result of frugality. That’s the irony of my post. It was the result of avoidance of NOISE and DISTORTION. After all, you really only have three factors involved when you cut to the chase: the signal, noise and distortion. Minimize noise and distortion and you maximize signal. Make sense? So, in my portable system what I am doing without is noise and distortion.😛

There is no substitute for signal to noise + distortion ratio. 🤗

While it is true my entire system costs only about 10 dollars, not counting tweaks, I am definitely not (rpt not) frugal. The reason I opted out of the typical audiophile system - my previous all tube Class A headphone amp and the World’s most modded Oppo 103 and Sennheiser HD-600 - was actually due to sound quality. Or at least the expectation of that possibility. That’s right. Sound quality! No more AC house power, no more AC Ground problems, no more power cords, no more interconnects, no more digital cable, no more speaker cables, no more huge transformers, no more fuses. No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks. 🧐 Now, see if anyone can guess which system sounds better, my all tube Woo Audio + Modded OPPO system + Sennheiser HD-600 or my SONY WALKMAN CD Player + SONY MDR-700v headphones. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, ”Are you out of mind?”

hombre
stereophile’s Michael Fremer just reviewed a pair of amps that cost 170,000.00 dollars. You can probably find it on their website now.

>>>>>>I suspect he’s had his 👁 👁 on those for a while. Wink wink

Is $170,000 the top of the Dart Zeel line? 😳

Thanks much for the idle speculation. 

One wonders if the dance craze The Frug back in the 50’s is somehow related to frugality. Maybe trying to teach frugality to wayward youth. 🕺🏻