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In Reply to: My thinking on this... posted by Jim Austin on May 13, 2005 at 08:46:26:
your "thinking" again - aye ?Jim ... i read your otherwise excellent (written, not content) "as we see it" article - and a few things accured to me. First - you labeled the GSIC as "snake-oil" yet you never gave it the time of day - you never listened to it.
Second - you go on to say that those that are hearing differences with the GSIC are being fooled by there own brains; that a market segment exist fueling by the natural human failure in justifying hearing some items (not all?) as truth.
I certainly dont buy into that hog-wash, but what strikes me as kinda-lame is that you and stereophile could have easily dismissed the product on a factual basis - by doing a review on it. Would you not be doing your readers a great service by actually reporting on experience with said product in question, calling it "snake-oil" because it porved to be just that?
So let me get this straight - you never reviewed it - you never heard it - you THINK you know otherwise what is going on in people brains that have indeed taken the time to hear it, and in this post you THINK that SACD players make "great" transports?
BTW - i did buy the GSIC to review for myself, at least what I "think" (pro or con) has some relationship to reality.
Follow Ups:
What I mean about using SACD as a transport is just that there's no reason why it wouldn't be just fine with a good, jitter-rejecting DAC like the Benchmark. I'm not saying it would be brilliant, or special, just that it would serve this purpose well. Also, I didn't say I haven't heard this setup--I have--only that I haven't bought one yet.As for the chip, no I didn't try it. Why? What if someone told you (just making up something dumb here) that you could turn on the oven in your kitchen by waving a stick around in the den? That you could make your bed by rattling your keys and winking three times, or making a funny symbol in the sand with your index finger? Would you try it? It's just that there's no possible--no conceivable--mechanism by which this thing can work. Maybe it's my scientific training, or maybe it's just my worldview, but--though I am in most respects very open minded, accepting of all sorts of human differences--I just don't believe in magic, and magic is precisely what it would take for this thing to work. Furthermore, I didn't want to give them any of my money. Maybe they would send me a free review sample? Well, maybe, but I'd feel very foolish asking for one, for the reasons listed above.
> > Furthermore, I didn't want to give them any of my money. < <That is a key point, one which i can totally agree with.
Even i had issues handing over cash for such a wierd product. Even if it did work, the cost per disk was rather high, but you pointed that fact out in your article.
However - $25 dollars is not going to make or break me, a good bottle of wine that i will gladly pee out is about the same price, going to a movie is going to cost me about the same. Hell - $25 wasted on a movie is always a possiblity - given the quality of movies today - and not once have i recieved a refund for paying for such crap entertainment.
I dont expect a refund. $25 gone .....
So - in reality it is a matter of principle with you. That i can understand - that i can relate - and that i can justify!
But you never said that in the article!
What i do not understand is your dismissal or limited view that for those that can or do hear a difference - they could not be legit under any circumstance.
Still - IMO - the very least you could have done is put your money where your mouth is - forsake principle in order to save your readership the cost of forfitting $25. Are you not there to help your readership?
You never know - happy Stereophile readers upon learning that you saved them $25 may actually have put that money back into renewal?
OR ... maybe they will buy more GSIC based on experience, even it you think you hear a difference - thats a good thing no?
Is there a difference? ... well between us ... we both agree that in theory it seems hocus pocus magic bullshit ... that we have in common ... yet only one of us is certain to comment on practical terms ... while i and others listen and try and understand it based on first hand knowledge and experience ... you continue to "think" and ...
TB1
A matter of principle? I suppose, in the same way that believing that when I let go of a paper clip it will fall downward is a matter of principle. There's no mechanism for interaction, no known force that could explain it.As for my having an obligation to help Stereophile's readers, I dealt with that obligation in the way I thought was most appropriate; the result was what I wrote. I do not believe that my responsibilities extended to wasting my time testing a product that is transparently fraudulent, by design.
BTW: I've tried most tweaks that don't come with too high a price tag: power conditioning, power cords, EMI reduction, cable elevators--anything with a conceivable mechanism of affect, I'll try it, as long as it doesn't cost too much. My main interest, after all, is in affordable audio, so the question in all these cases is whether the effect is noticeable in a modest system.
My conclusions: Shakti stones make no difference in my system; that EFI-reducing paper (can't remember what they call it): no effect. Power treatment (PS audio): subtle but unmistakeable effect. Power cord (PS Audio): obvious, positive effect (much to my surprise). Cable elevators: no effect.
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