Chord GroundARAY - brilliant or bollocks?

Then we can close the forum, really. (There is no hifi gadget in the world where we don’t know in advance that someone will say it works for them)

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Yes, confirmation bias works both ways! That is why listening under conditions that remove the influence of bias is the only way of knowing if there is truly a difference, however Richard has requested that we don’t divert this thread to a discussion of the primary way of doing that.

Of course if anyone is convinced that something is beneficial to their music listening experience, and that the difference represents good enough value for money to them, than that is good for them - they pay their money and are happy. Ditto the reverse - they save their money and are happy. But if people are interested in achieving maximum fidelity to the recorded sound, or are interested in paying only for things that make a positive difference to the sound rather than their brain creating a difference, then it is important to remove bias, or as far as practicable - and what others say who have not done that is potentially misleading, however interesting.

N.B for avoidance of doubt, as I have indicated in previous posts I have no belief as to whether or not this product genuinely does improve the sound, and I accept on the basis of the reports so far herein that three poeple have tried and found it positive for them (their ears, brains and systems) whether or not the cause is physical or psychological, and none reported the converse. But I am interested in what it actually does and how it does it, so far too little being known, and the manufacturer’s info couched in the terms used doing little to dispel scepticism!

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It’s not clear though, why you need to tell other people they are deluded.

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I didn’t and your partial quote of what I wrote is misleading

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I wish I had golden ears but I don’t (or, in the spirit of the thread, golden anything!), but sadly…

:laughing:

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Best thing here is to put aside whatever preconceived ideas you may have (such things being what they are, this may be easier said than done) and try one of these at home in your own system for yourself, then come back and let us know how you got on.

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Personally I give up :exploding_head::woozy_face::chicken:

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Please guys, focus on the Chord ground sound impressions, if not this thread will be very soon closed, as some Ethernet threads already or the recent Innuos PhoenixNet. It would be sad.

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Thread coming down on the side of ‘brilliant bollocks’ it seems.

G

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It’s always difficult to keep cylinders dust free. But I suppose the silver colour would do a nice job of hiding any dust. Perhaps there’s a market for little woollen dust covers, like tea cosies for Ground ARAY. The machined grooves are worrying - from a dust perspective.

I’ve got one coming on demo. 5 pin DIN.

By the end of the day, I’d say.

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You’ve identified a whole new area of hifi tweakery! Tea-cosies for network switches, streamers, cartridge headshells, preamps… (But not power amps unless fan cooled with clear vents.) of course it then begs the question what is the best fabric, insulating material etc…?

Not sure why - after all, the discussions are polite, many at least are thoughtful, and most are meaningful with respect to consideration of the core thread subject (different aspects of the subject of interest to different people).

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People have different interests when it comes to hifi. Some are simply looking to spend money on anything that (hopefully) improves their listening experience, and others are perhaps more interested in how and why audio technology works in general, and enjoy discussing anything that involves that - regardless of the outcome.

IF you ask me, which you don’t, then internet forums are really more suitable for the second category. Forums are discussion environments, and discussions require varying and sometimes opposing views so that together you can investigate and debate what is actually true and what is not. Sometimes this involves heated discourse, sometimes it doesn’t.

If “we” as a forum are only a shopping conduit, then why would we even have to discuss anything? If everything is subjective and everyone should just try any devices at home and keep discussions to a minimum, then surely we don’t need a forum? Every member could just visit their dealer or order a GroundARAY online and judge for themselves.

The same would apply to most other threads on the forums that pertain to a specific device or type of device, such as cables or switches etc.

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Any forum is an exchange of ideas (‘a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged’). It’s a shame to get it ‘no platformed’ because you find it tedious. Look how much energy it’s soliciting? For the most part it’s been really good natured.

Questions? Sure. Discussion? Of course. It’s what the forum exists.
But it does seem to read like you are making a preconceived judgement before you’ve even seen it or heard it. Hence why I suggest that you do so as you are obviously very interested in it. Have you asked someone from Chord about these devices? Just repeatedly saying in a thread that something can’t possibly work because you don’t see or understand how it could, does border on thread-crapping, which is where I have to step in.

FWIW, I don’t think you need to order anything here in order to listen to it and then judge whether it’s something worthwhile for you.

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I didn’t say that this product can’t ‘work’, only that we cannot conclude if it does much or anything based on subjective listening tests alone, whether it is done by other members or by ourselves.

So when people step in and say they have personally tested it and confirm that it works, then i feel it is reasonable to ask for the testing methods and to explain why certain methods of testing are more conclusive or reliable than others.

If we have reasonably established that a device does have an objectively determined effect on sound, then we can discuss whether it is also worth the money, or if more cost effective alternatives are available that provide the same desired effect.

Didn’t you say that you gave up? PLEASE, let corresponding action follow your words, rather than continuous trolling.

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I always struggle with the concept of ‘can i really hear a difference or not’.
But if things did not make a difference we would all be listening to music through string and paper cups - whether that’s about boxes cables or otherwise.
I always find a change in speaker cable makes a difference - I don’t always assume it is for the better and take time to decide which I prefer.
I also recognise that technology changes over time so products continually improve and sound (hopefully) better, despite any preferences or judgements I have.
My beginning Naim system definitely sounds better than the Technics I had before - and my friends can hear it too.
What did surprise me was changing the extension lead - something that comes before any of the sound equipment and something I had always thought of as snake oil territory. Nothing expensive or technical - but whole sound was changed to the point I took the foam out of the speaker ports and it still sounded rubbish.
Changed it back and back in the foam needed to go. So i have heard first hand how things we think make no difference can in unexpected ways.
Happily I made some speaker bases to get them a little off the floor and I was able to take the foam out of the ports because the bass boom much reduced.

The point is, at risk of repeating myself, that if people say it works for them, then it works for them, whether you agree, or not.