The manufacturer claims some technical problem - vibrations, deleterious magnetic fields or whatever. I mean, it's just a very curious phenemonon. But a more rigorous attempt to vet the claims of products like this (and power cables etc) would be informative for those consumers who do want to see more than marketing and anecdotes before bothering to order anything. Otherwise, how do you know you aren't just fooling yourself? As the great scientist Feynman said 'and the easiest person to fool is yourself.'Īgain: if you or someone else doesn't care at all about what any measurement might say and will only ever rely on your subjective impressions, that's up to you of course. So if this Magic Brick is supposed to change anything about the amps performance, the signal output changes at all, there should be ways of measuring it. If it doesn't measure differently they have nothing to show but if they just rely on the marketing they can count on some portion of audiophiles 'hearing a difference' no matter what product they create.īut in the interests of increasing the relevant information about a product: magazines like Stereophile have been providing detailed measurements for amplifiers for decades. If something like this 'magic brick' comes along, the way many audiophiles work, it's not actually in the company's best interest to measure the product.

I'm not suggesting everyone has to become a scientist or engineer themselves when buying any product. Bummer for us audiophiles I know, but head-in-the-sand approaches to facts like those aren't exactly our most dignified way forward). Human perception suffers from many biases. So, despite all we know about human biases, listener/sighted biases in particular, you are magically immune? (Hint: no, you are not. it all worked decently and consistently for the better, for $40 bucks.' Conrad Johnson, Audio Research Classic, whatever. 'There is NO fantasy in listening through the brick on a tube power transformer. Homeopathy - sugar pills sold as if they were medicine- has a huge number of satisfied customers too. Lending out equipment, tweaky stuff included, can benefit the manufacture as there are always some portion of people who will hear things that aren't there. 'That's what auditions and return policies are for. You think there is no snake oil anywhere in the industry? How would you know? Every audio product/tweak anyone has dreamed up has found buyers. How dare someone suggest such a thing, right? I actually suggested forms of evidence t help us from not getting ripped off. MF makes that abundantly clear almost every month in his column or in reviews.įirst, nowhere did I automatically dismiss everything in audio as a rip-off. If it wasn't effective, people wouldn't have bought over 40 years.Īutomatically dismissing everything in audio as rip-off garbage just means you will not trust anyone ever, and you're experience as an audiophile suffers as result. Now, though? $150 is way too much, but since there ARE no others in the market, one would have to build one after sourcing the materials, OR do it oneself, which to some, is worth $150 of their hassle and time.Ĭould he have measured it now? Yes! Would it have made a measurable difference? Yes! Is it worth it now to hassle with such a small issue now? No, not really. it all worked decently and consistently for the better, for $40 bucks.

There is NO fantasy in listening through the brick on a tube power transformer. It's a silly exercise, and my scientific method for this issue. Trust is a key component here.ĭoes it mean it's worth the hassle of measuring it? Not really. One person listening, hearing it and saying this is worth X bucks to invest in this remedy. The review is what made me purchase both units, the measurements were icing.Īnd no, my attesting to that finding is just that. But that is on me- and yes Stereophile provided measurements. Both came with 30 day return policies, both measure great AND sound great. Hence my recent purchases of the Benchmark HPA4 and PS Audio Stellar Phono. I trust my ears and measurements all at the same time.

That's what auditions and return policies are for.

Brick rigs wikipedia