General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

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This place....

Posted by Presto (A) on March 5, 2010 at 10:01:26

In Reply to: Moderator/Buddy Circle Censorship?? posted by villastrangiato on March 5, 2010 at 09:25:48:

The Asylum is founded on contraversial topics and contrarian views.

You'll fit right in if you pissed off the DIY Audio guys.

Many sites have "know it all" teenage audiophile moderators who have very staunch Draconian terms of service, like "All claims regarding sonics must be backed up by a DBT". LOLOLOLOLOL. Right. Like everyone submits test reports showing how they went about CONDUCTING a proper DBT. So, you either "say" you did a DBT, or you can't say anything subjective about how anything sounds, which is really silly since our perceptual way of hearing makes pretty much EVERYTHING in this hobby subjective.

And yes, some fora are VERY clicky. A little group of fearful spineless turds who sit around in a little audio circle-jerk peeing on anyone who has a contrarian view or is just new. The more these guys cling together and attack people the more it seems they live in their parents basements talking about high-end audio while they listen to MP3s on computer speakers or home-theatre rigs from Best Buy. And you would have to kiss ass for months to get any "cred" with these morons - something I myself never once had the inclination to do. I just sign in with a phony moniker from time to time, stir up a large pile of shit and feathers and then promptly leave.

This place is actually quite sane (there I said it) and folks here very often share real and valuable learning experiences. If you're into computer audio playback I highly recommend the PC audio forum, although there is as much hoodoo-voodoo belief there as anywhere else in audio, so take what you like and leave the rest. Yes, we even have a few guys there who freely admit to wearing tin-foil hats to reduce the effects of RFI and various spectra of cosmic rays. (Kidding - but I'm not far off.)

I think we have the advantage in that once we admit we are insane and freely enter the Asylum, there really is far less need for all the regular phallic measurements and peeing contests. (Although some here thrive on such exchanges.) Men are men. From making the best home-made BBQ sauce to lawn care to audio systems, being an authority on a subject is very important to the human male. And then you get the odd full-fleged narcissist who thinks his contributions on the internet are a gift for all of mankind, and can't believe that some have the audacity to disagree with his opinions. Or, you get guys on a contrarian mission - guys who need to be at odds with everyone else, probably out of some need to be figthing with anyone other than the people in the 'real world' who are REALLY pissing them off. Like domineering wives or condescending bosses perhaps. We indeed have some "professional contrarians" here. If you want someone to debate with endlessly, they're your guys. You can even slowly roll your position around to match theirs over the course of a few hundred posts and they will STILL vehemently disagree with you. It's really quite fun. We also have some industry professionals and physics and electronics wizards that are incredibly helpful and informative and surprisingly humble. Perhaps pomp in their case is not required because they KNOW they're smart - who can say.

Here are some hot topics to get you started:

1) Subjectivism versus Objectivism. The debate of all time
2) Speaker cables - do they matter?
3) AC cables - do they matter?
4) To upsample or not to upsample - that is the question
5) Tubes or transistor?
6) Can digital audio finally sound as good as vinyl?
7) Has vinyl ever sounded as good as good digital?
8) Tweaks - which ones work and which are hooey?
9) The placebo effect - how much of this stuff is in our heads?
10) WAF (wife acceptance factor) I.e. equiment that sounds AND looks good!

Welcome aboard. Tin foil hats are free in the lobby. Put on your flame suit and start posting!

Cheers,
Presto

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