• spittingimage@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Essential oils. Homeopathy. Chiropractic. Reiki. Juice cleanses. Perineum sunning. Internet accelerator software. Iridology. Faith healing. Organic food. Oil pulling. Gold plated digital audio cables.

    • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      It’s worth noting that gold plated connectors are not snake oil. Gold is a good conductor and doesn’t form a nonconductive oxide layer. That means it’s going to be more durable and won’t corrode together or apart like those old ass sheet metal tube sockets that all need to be cleaned.

    • thepreciousboar@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      Everything marketed audiophiles, not only gold plated cables, but also anything that uses vacuum tubes because “they sound better”

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        There’s a LOT of snake oil in the audio world. Especially home theater and home studio setups. I’m a professional audio technician, and some of the “audiophile” setups I have seen are just outright asinine.

        Use balanced signal for runs over ~3 feet. Use the cheapest star-quad cable you can get, and the most basic $4 Neutrik connectors. Why? Because that album you’re using to test your “hi-fi” sound system was recorded using exactly that: Cheap ¢30/foot cable and basic Neutrik connectors.

        It’s also what concert setups use. You think a concert with six combined miles of cabling is going to be paying $2000 per cable? Fuck no, they’re using the cheap shit (which was hand soldered in bulk at the warehouse workbench by their lowest paid shop tech), to run that million dollar audio system. Their money goes to the speakers, amps, and mixer; Not gold plated wire, robotic soldering, or triple insulated jackets. In double-blind tests, audiophiles can’t hear the difference between a $500 cable and a couple of plasti-dipped coat hangers twisted together.

        The people who complain about digital audio also can’t tell the difference in double-blind tests. Because modern audio hardware is able to perfectly emulate old analog gear. Google the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem for a breakdown of how we can perfectly capture and recreate analog audio with digital equipment. Vacuum tubes were groundbreaking when they were first used. But they had a lot of issues, and have very little relevance in today’s systems. They’re prone to burning out, notoriously fragile, and can be emulated perfectly.

        • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          The Norquist-Shannon rate sampling theorem only asserts that for a given maximum frequency, you only need another other given maximum frequency of sampling to represent it.

          It does not say you can “perfectly” reproduce a signal. Only that you can reproduce all fourier components of the signal that are below half your sampling rate in frequency. It perfectly does that, yes.

          But the signals that only contain a finite number of frequencies all below a certain maximum frequency are abstractions used in signal theory classes for teaching that theorem, and in engineering to hit a “good enough” target, not a “perfect” target.

          Any frequencies bouncing around the room at over 22 kHz are lost at least to something using the 44 kHz sampling format.

          TL;DR: Norquist-Shannon lets you completely reproduce signals with finite information in them. But real life sound doesn’t have finite information in it.

          • Hugin@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            It’s Nyquist–Shannon. Norquist is taxes.

            Also frequencies greater than half the sampling rate aren’t lost they fold into lower frequencies unless filtered out.

            But if you think it’s easiser to capture those room acoustics with analog equipment the non linear amplification and distortion of any analog system is going to change the sound just add much if not more then a good digital system.

            So yeah both lose or distort the signal but digital does it in avery predictable way that can be accounted for and it does have a frequency region that it captures precisely. Analog doesn’t.

            • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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              7 months ago

              Nyquist, thank you.

              aren’t lost they fold into lower frequencies unless filtered out

              If by “fold into” you mean they add noise to and hence distort the readings on the lower frequencies, that’s correct. But that just takes it further from a perfect reproduction.

              • Hugin@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                Frequency folding is the term used in DSP no need for quotes. The Nyquist frequency is commonly referred to as the folding frequency.

                And yes frequencies above the Nyquist folding frequency alias into lower frequencies. A simple low pass filter prevents this however.

                Properly filtered digital sampling produced a more accurate reproduction of the frequency range with less distortion then an analog signal.

      • sour@feddit.de
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        7 months ago

        I was buying a toslink cable recently and I shit you not, there was a gold plated optical cable…

      • EtherWhack@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I agree, but with one caveat.

        Fully analog tube amps do definitely produce a warmer/richer sound with less complicated things to go wrong. Artists like them because they are reliable, generally user serviceable, (usually just need to replace bad/old tubes) and makes each recording sound relatively unique.

        The thing is, is that it really only works during production. Unless being cut direct to a master record, the sound will get saved in a digital format to produce the user-facing media, which can include digital-source vinyls.

        Those products marketed to audiophiles try to take the digitally recorded/archived products to “try” making it sound like the original.

      • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com
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        7 months ago

        I remember buying some bits and pieces to setup my home theatre in a new house years ago, and the guy at the store tried to sell me a $100 TOSLINK cable. When I asked why a $12 cable was going for so much, he pointed out that it was the “premium” cable, to ensure the highest quality audio.

        I couldn’t stop laughing. Like their special cable scrubbed the photons before sending them or something.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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        7 months ago

        Yes. I have a love-hate relationship with those people, as someone that does unrelated analog electrical stuff. On the one hand, it’s kinda cool that somebody made these crazy parts (and found someone dumb enough to pay for it). On the other, no that’s not what my search was about.

      • spittingimage@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        One of my co-workers went for that whole hog. I remember him telling me there was no need to brush any more - just swirl oil around your mouth for ten minutes. I don’t know if it works, but brushing only takes two minutes…

        • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Well, there’s nothing wrong with using coconut oil for gum health. Some people even use it as a mouthwash because it was some antibacterial properties. It doesn’t replace the need for brushing your goddamn teeth, that’s an insane thing to think. But there is actually benefits to coconut oil for sensitive teeth (along with a change in diet), antibacterial properties, as well as the normal benefits of consuming coconut oil. It’s not all complete hogwash.

    • geoma@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Organic food? Please let me take that out of your list. Organic produce has a huge lot of benefits over industrial, to both the consumer and the environment.

    • TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Internet accelerator software is not. Once you use IDM or XDM, you cannot go back to regular single threaded downloading. They are also download managers and provide a ton of useful functions.

      Also essential oils are not snake oil. They are infinitely superior to the chemical deodorant crap we are accustomed to using. Although I do not know what purpose you mean by it is snake oil.

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        When they are talking about essential oils, they are talking about the peddling Karens and Staceys that consume overpriced lavender oil and shit with every meal and also put it into the food of their kids. And then wonder why their kid exhibits sings of certain poisoning and hives.

        • TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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          7 months ago

          consume overpriced lavender oil and shit with every meal

          Who does this? This does not happen in the East, where essential oils are originally made to use as scent.

            • TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml
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              6 months ago

              Western women apparently seem to consume it, and even make kids consume it, according to some comments in this thread. It is wild to hear something as dumb as this happens. This is akin to rightwingers eating fentanyl to defeat COVID.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      Chiropractic

      I dunno what shysters you’ve all been going to. My chiro, with his kinesiology degree and full physiotherapy ticket in addition to his nationally-recognized certification, seems to do a lot more “do these stretches and stop sitting stupidly” guidance and reeeeally isn’t interested in a “programme of wellness” grift that my friends in other regions worry about.

      • Moobythegoldensock@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Chiropractic is literally based on the teachings of a ghost while haunting its founder.

        No, really. Look it up.