im saying you cant say something doesnt work etc if you havent tried it
I know, and Iâm saying we all (have to) do this all the time!
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You personally might feel that way, but itâs unreasonable to generalise your thinking to everyone.
We each have our own personal ârulesâ that we use to assess what we think is reasonable and what isnât. For example, I donât feel any need to test the claims made for astrology, homeopathy, or a flat earth (to pick a few examples) before saying that I donât believe they have any objective reality or value. Others may have a different point of view, which is up to them; I simply donât agree with it. So what?
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Every single one of us does this, and thereâs nothing wrong with that.
If Ethernet hardware did in fact work, there would be demonstrations of that by now. Someone, somewhere would have conducted a proper blind test and shown that they could successfully identify the difference between different cables or switches. The fact that this has never happened in the entire history of this debate is compelling evidence.
Heck, YOU could perform this test and embarrass all the skeptics. If youâre so confident that your switch makes a difference surely you can tell the difference in an unsighted test, right?
Havenât you ever wondered why nobody who manufactures, sells, or owns this hardware has ever done this? I have a theory about why that isâŠ
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Just because someone says that XYZ âworksâ, doesnât mean that others have to try XYZ before they have the right to explain why they donât believe it works.
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To add some levity and to underscore the importance of blind testing:
Years ago a blind taste test of Belgian wines (yes, itâs a thing - no, theyâre not very good) was done on a Flemish talkshow. The idea was to find out if the wine makers could identify their own wine.
One of those wine makers was a Flemish politician. During the taste test he exclaimed âthis swill is definitely not my wine!â
Guess what happened at the unveiling of the bottles?
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This is my favorite:
In a sneaky study, Brochet dyed a white wine red and gave it to 54 oenology (wine science) students. The supposedly expert panel overwhelmingly described the beverage like they would a red wine. They were completely fooled.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html
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The one I liked was the psychology lecturer who served cat treats at his wine and cheese parties to see if anyone would notice. He got asked for the recipe lots of times. If you expect it to be a canapé it tastes like a canapé.
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Placebo is a powerful drug.
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I wish it were that simple. But there are many senses, opinions, expectations etc. involved when we test or buy new audio gearâŠ
I remember boosting the bass and 1k in an EQ and absolutely 100% heard an increase in the amount of bass and a lot more snap and clarity in snares and vocals. It was just what the track needed. It sounded perfect. It was⊠in bypass mode the whole time.
From that point on I have never underestimated the power of placebo.
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Of course, for extreme streamers, Paul Pang recommends four audiophile grade switches in series as the most obvious ethernet topology for the streamer who has everything.
This has the added bonus of guaranteeing very high levels of wife acceptance in your living room.
Itâs a little above my pay grade but key components in the switches seem to have been âcrystalâ optimised:
Before:
After:
You can read about all the benefits here:
Extreamers?
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I canât believe he is actually suggesting that port configuration. He has the signal jumping from port 1 to port 7 on the bottom switch and then again having to traverse all the way from port 7 to port 1 on the top switch. Surely he wants the more direct signal path by using adjacent ports on each individual switch! Think of how much farther the signal has to travel the way he has it wired! Iâm amazed that the system is even listenable in its current configuration!
(thatâs sarcasm in case it wasnât obvious)
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What is supposed to be the benefit of all those switches in series?
Well, you can, on the basis that the whole idea doesnât make any logical sense.
In fairness, I guess it depends on which premise you start with - either thereâs a logic to how ethernet works, and itâs worth pointing out that thereâs quite a lot of agreement on that point, or thereâs some sort of yet-to-be-determined, unknown to scientists, physicists, and electronic experts, quasi-experiential force at work here that only a small handful of people can comprehend or (afford to) experience.
Iâm choosing to refute the latter premise as almost 100% unlikely.
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Ultra-pasteurization of signal?
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People are so gullible.
At least it looks good.
For best results Paul Pang advises spending 2x 1,199 USD on a Dual Run, of 2x his audiophile switches:
This creates another buffer, and provides even lower jitter values, even lower phase noise,⊠which will make your music sound twice as good.
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