GSIC AUDIO

[jj]

Ah, didn't catch that context. I must've been skimming a bit too much when reading through the thread...

Aerich, eh? I wonder, could you say hello to Vlad for me?

 

[Skeptical Greg]

If the Gee Sickos really claim that their product works on CD-R as well, that makes it even more supernatural. The 'pits' on a store-bought CD are actual physical pits. The 'pits' on a burned CD-R are simply patches of dye that have been turned a darker color. Amazing that this technology can move both kinds of 'pits' around in a pleasing way, even though they are completely different physical constructs. Surely this thing can sharpen razor blades, and cure your asthma too.

Good point.. I was thinking that the testee providing their favorite ( oft listened to ) selection was a nice touch, and that digging up two copies could conceivabley be a problem.. ( though certainly not insurmountable )

We could revisit the GSIC claims and see if CDR's are covered..

 

[LostAngeles]

Good point.. I was thinking that the testee providing their favorite ( oft listened to ) selection was a nice touch, and that digging up two copies could conceivabley be a problem.. ( though certainly not insurmountable )

We could revisit the GSIC claims and see if CDR's are covered..

I'll google it now.

 

[LostAngeles]

Well, I found this review of another product that mentions the GSIC.

http://www.soundstageav.com/

I found a GSIC poll that Wellfed participated in.

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/369589.html

Found his review.

http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.pl?forum=general&n=360880&review=1

Hee.

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/prophead/messages/11100.html

More that addresses B.S. in the audiophile community.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/viewpoint/0305/tweaksparts.htm

If the public delves deeper, the comments about various types of capacitors may be seen as either the upper echelon of exotica or dismissed as quackery. For it is only you who can decide how for down Alice's proverbial rabbit hole you will travel. At what point do you stop believing the apparent hype? Worse still, if you go all the way down the rabbit hole yet hear no difference, do you begin to question your hearing ability or the resolution of your music reproduction system. So ask yourself, is there a limit to your belief system? Or in the words of Howard S. Bacon, "The amp is a fools trap, money down a rat hole." Of course in the end what really matters is that we all....

...Hey... wait a minute...

From the golden horse's mouth:

Description/Theory: The Intelligent Chip is a "new generation," high-tech device that corrects a particular problem inherent in all commercial CD/DVD/SACD discs, including movies and video games. This problem is produced by slight fluctuations in the master clock(s) when pressing the disc. This "clock fluctuation" problem (jitter) is one reason why consumer digital discs frequently "don't sound quite right," or have a "high-frequency edge."

The Intelligent Chip is a thin, orange 1x1.5 inch rectangular wafer that automatically upgrades the disc in the player when the Chip is placed momentarily on top of the player above the spinning disc. The upgrade itself is virtually instantaneous - and permanent - the sound and picture of the upgraded disc more closely resembling the original master recording. The Intelligent Chip corrects the clock-fluctuation problem within 2 seconds, resulting in sound that is clearer/less distorted, with a deeper soundstage, more "air" and lower background noise. This improvement is especially apparent on very good discs.

(Emphaisis all mine.)

So maybe not CDRs, but who wants to watch some GSIC The Empire Strikes Back or play some GSIC Mario Kart: Double Dash or GSIC Soul Caliber?

 

[LostAngeles]

I'm going to add a reccomendation that if anyone's feeling a bit blue and wants a good laugh to read some of the rest of Golden Sound's products.

Googly moogly.

 

[Darat]

I'm going to add a reccomendation that if anyone's feeling a bit blue and wants a good laugh to read some of the rest of Golden Sound's products.

Googly moogly.

And if you think that is bad, I've just been reading some of the "Propeller Head Plaza" threads:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/prophead/messages/11100.html ...snip...

The Intellichip carries a (one or more) quantum dot QD which is activated the the CDP’s laser when spinning a disc. It emits photons at NIR (near infrared) or IR which are forced to behave as wave (not as particles) and which modify the CD’s surface by improving its optical transparency, so that the laser “sees the pits and lands better”. The QD carries a number of “charges” which are used up. The chip recognizes a treated CD so that it won’t be activated and use a charge. When not in use the chip has to remain in its protective housing, made from a non-specified transparent plastic material. A material analysis has shown that the dot (or its support structure) contains Niobium.

...snip...

Er.. er... er... well we knew it had to be quantum didn’t we?


(Edited for words, formatting, links and the kitchen sink.)

 

[jmercer]

GREAT Googly Moogly!

 

[jmercer]

Aerich, eh? I wonder, could you say hello to Vlad for me?

I'm sure he can... just don't ask him to invite Mario over for dinner.

 

[LostAngeles]

...
Er.. er... er... well we knew it had to be quantum didn’t we?

...

I have to confess, it really gets my goat and punts it off mayday's bridge when I hear this quantum crap. I read In Search of Schroedinger's Cat and went, "Wow!" at the idea of such tiny little neat things going on. I watched and am reading The Elegant Universe and my "Wow!" is even stronger.

Then these ballsacks come along and babble this "quantum" crap out of their leaking anuses and it comes very close to ruining the actual quantum "Wow."

Seriously, eventually KRAMER's going to get a claim that I can set people on fire with my mind. I won't be going for the million, I'll just be informing him that I'm off to find Sylvia, Edwards, Van Praugh, and all the other nincompoops.

That or we're introducing them to Planck's length. By which I mean, a plank suspended over a pool of man-pirhanas that they'll be walking.

 

[Moose]

Frankly, if I were testing the geesick, I'd just want two discs, verified bit-for-bit identical, one treated. Play them for me in random order (ABBABABBABABBABAB, etc). I should be able to pick out the treated disc every time it plays. [/B]

It's been discussed before, but this is not a good idea.

Two problems:

1) Someone in the presence of the applicant must know which disk is which (not necessarily which is treated, just which is which) in order to either record the order in which the disks were played, or to play the disks in the prescribed order. If this is somehow signalled to the claimant, the test becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

2) If either of the disks can be marked so they can be distinguished, again, it becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

Bad mojo either way.

The protocol LostAngeles is considering doesn't care if the applicant can distinguish between disks (so long as treated-nontreated is properly blinded), nor does it care if the applicant handles the disks, or sees the equipment.

You really only need to isolate the treaters, the mover, and the testers during the test.

 

[jj]

I'm sure he can... just don't ask him to invite Mario over for dinner.

Uh, I think that's not an issue, unless you're going to bring Adron back out of the lesser sea, and let him rebuild his machine... And if I see Vlad and Mario together, I am going to be a bit worried, too, eh?

 

[LostAngeles]

It's been discussed before, but this is not a good idea.

Two problems:

1) Someone in the presence of the applicant must know which disk is which (not necessarily which is treated, just which is which) in order to either record the order in which the disks were played, or to play the disks in the prescribed order. If this is somehow signalled to the claimant, the test becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

2) If either of the disks can be marked so they can be distinguished, again, it becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

Bad mojo either way.

The protocol LostAngeles is considering doesn't care if the applicant can distinguish between disks (so long as treated-nontreated is properly blinded), nor does it care if the applicant handles the disks, or sees the equipment.

You really only need to isolate the treaters, the mover, and the testers during the test.

Alternately, the treaters set them up in a multidisc player. Unfortunately, the kind of mutlidisc player we'd need for this would be pretty big.

 

[Winterfrost]

... a plank suspended over a pool of man-pirhanas that they'll be walking.

Hey, let's keep this to one surreal claim at a time.

 

[Moose]

Alternately, the treaters set them up in a multidisc player. Unfortunately, the kind of mutlidisc player we'd need for this would be pretty big.

How do you keep the claimant from knowing if you've switched disks, or not switched disks?

Seriously, it's a lot easier in the long run to have multiple disks, treat them (or not) in isolation from the claimant, then simply hand them all over and let the claimant sort 'em out at their liesure.

Blank write-once CDs are dirt cheap these days.

 

[Aerich]

Aerich, eh? I wonder, could you say hello to Vlad for me?

I would be most pleased to, except --

(JJ): Yes?

I know not of whom you speak.



(out of character: I'm pretty sure Aerich has never met Vlad. Khaavren has, but according to the Dragaeran Timeline there is reason to believe that Aerich died before even Noish-pa was born.)

 

[LostAngeles]

How do you keep the claimant from knowing if you've switched disks, or not switched disks?

Seriously, it's a lot easier in the long run to have multiple disks, treat them (or not) in isolation from the claimant, then simply hand them all over and let the claimant sort 'em out at their liesure.

Blank write-once CDs are dirt cheap these days.

I was thinking like an N-disc CD changer where the treaters mark down that 1-A 2-A 3-B 4-A...N-B. My problem there wasn't just money, but how easy it is to screw up the order.

 

[TjW]

I think it's absolutely amazing.
In his review, Wellfed said:

Product Strengths: Vastly superior to non-treated discs, providing for an exceptionally more believable presentation.

And yet, he thought he would need _weeks_ of preparation in order to reliably hear the difference.
Perhaps the improvement was only half-vast.

 

[Moose]

I was thinking like an N-disc CD changer where the treaters mark down that 1-A 2-A 3-B 4-A...N-B. My problem there wasn't just money, but how easy it is to screw up the order.

*grin* Which is why you need the ultimate in high-tech gadgets: a felt tip marker suitable for writing on CDs.

The treaters simply label the 12 CDs 1 through 10, untreated control, and treated control, as appropriate, while recording the states of disks 1 through 10.

Then drop the lot into the lap of the tester, who can sort 'em as he/she/you feel(s) like.

The fewer restrictions one can place on the tester, the better the test.

And remember, JREF doesn't (or at least shouldn't) really care how you detect 'em, just that you can detect 'em without cheating.

 

[Beer Monkey]

1) Someone in the presence of the applicant must know which disk is which (not necessarily which is treated, just which is which) in order to either record the order in which the disks were played, or to play the disks in the prescribed order. If this is somehow signalled to the claimant, the test becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

2) If either of the disks can be marked so they can be distinguished, again, it becomes a 50-50 coin toss.

This makes sense, and I withdraw my suggestion.

However, I still support everything I said about needing the discs to be identical. The applicant should only have to detect the 'treatment' difference, and not have to filter out a bunch of other differences caused by possibly using non-identical discs.

 

[LostAngeles]

*grin* Which is why you need the ultimate in high-tech gadgets: a felt tip marker suitable for writing on CDs.

The treaters simply label the 12 CDs 1 through 10, untreated control, and treated control, as appropriate, while recording the states of disks 1 through 10.

Then drop the lot into the lap of the tester, who can sort 'em as he/she/you feel(s) like.

The fewer restrictions one can place on the tester, the better the test.

And remember, JREF doesn't (or at least shouldn't) really care how you detect 'em, just that you can detect 'em without cheating.

My elk, moose. Do you know what a Sharpie like that would cost?!