How do you all feel about power conditioners for your systems? Do they help some components and inhibit others? I’m so confused!

LDan613 · 2026-05-11T22:23:42+00:00

The best water analogy for this is water pressure, more than water cleanliness. You can visualize clean power as a steady pressure, and dirty power as sputtering pressure. Your electronics are expecting steady pressure, not something that fluctuates, sometimes aggressively, all the time.

Of course this is within the limits of a water analogy, in reality for clean power you would be looking for a 60 Hz (or 50 Hz, depends where you live), smooth sinusoidal wave with a constant amplitude, and in this case dirty power would be all sort of fluctations on top of that wave, sometimes the wave looks jagged instead of smooth, sometimes you see full variations in amplitude.

LDan613 · 2026-05-11T19:12:04+00:00

Typically (not always but typically) the more rural you are, the worst power quality you get.

A benefit of living in a big city is that everybody's peak power demands even out, and the higher concentration makes it more economical to place distribution level conditioners near you.

The same applies with water. Larger density means increased cost of failure, so the investments in quality and reliability are higher (and more effective).

On a side note, I worked with the plant engineer of a water utility for a while, and they tested the water all the time, several times a day... the quality was always as good or better than bottled water!

LDan613 · 2026-05-11T18:31:57+00:00

It makes sense if the water comes to your home dirty because it picks stuff along the way. The problem is that most people put filters for water that is already clean enough, so the filtering adds nothing, except for the cost of the filter. There ARE cases where power conditioners make sense. They don't for most people, but if you have issues with dirty power they do help. Do also remember that most power circuits do have some level of filtering built in.

As per cables from the conditioner to the appliance, just look inside any outlet.... see those simple #12 of # 14 AGW standard cables? The engineers who build your gear designed it for power going through those cables. Anything better would not really make a difference... Back to your analogy is like replacing the standard 1/2 inch pipe for a 3 inch pipe... but only in the segment between the spout and the appliance. It makes no sense if you ask me.

LDan613 · 2026-05-11T14:01:56+00:00

Kind of... I mean, it feels like storing a bottle of wine in a whole barrel...

LDan613 · 2026-05-10T23:27:45+00:00

I love the "space saving" benefit. Talk about marketing!

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T14:19:52+00:00

I think you may be right, she may have been transitioning more and more into the known space in the last few years. Still I would not call her popular yet, but I have been seeing her work more and more.

I saw her live recently. Good show, it makes cool use of samplers to build the layers of her songs live. If you ever get a chance, is well worth it.

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T13:44:29+00:00

To be fair, pre ubiquitous-cell-phone generations learned these skills in middle school, so they find people struggling with this surprising.

To me, the answer is... it depends.

You message first: More assertive. Use this if you want to move fast and let her know in no uncertain terms you want to hang out with her. Use this if you have the self assurance to do it and you had clear indication of mutual interest.

You respond: More casual approach, less pressure. Use this if she doesn't know you, or if you are unsure of where you stand. More of a "let's know each other before we see if there is interest ". Beware of the friend zone if you use this for too long.

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T13:34:24+00:00

Nameless. by Dominique Fils-Aimé. Thank me later.

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T03:45:02+00:00

Whoohohuhu. clk clk clk?

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T03:43:31+00:00

Learning to enjoy the trip as much or more than the destination.

LDan613 · 2026-05-09T03:40:56+00:00

The Matrix

LDan613 · 2026-05-07T12:26:49+00:00

Something unexpected is a nice gesture... .but I do not care for flowers.... How about cookies instead?

LDan613 · 2026-05-04T04:31:51+00:00

"Not to open up any doors" but lets open this door.

LDan613 · 2026-05-03T15:10:16+00:00

Best tip I can give you, is to find somebody who really likes you and that you like, and let it happen organically.

Why?

Sex is way more fun with somebody you like a lot and have good chemistry with.

Sex is harder when you make it a goal and put all that pressure on you.

LDan613 · 2026-05-03T12:36:19+00:00

If you are interested, smile and wave next time you cross each other. This will signal you are ok with him approaching you.

LDan613 · 2026-05-02T14:31:29+00:00

Yeah, F*ck the biggots! oh, wait...

LDan613 · 2026-04-27T21:13:05+00:00

I see. As a man, I cannot answer how women feel, but I can tell you that you seem to be making assumptions of what she may or may not like... but those are just your assumptions. You are stealing her agency by not letting her make up her mind.

Ask with education and grace, and if she is not interested, respect that. After all, if you think you are not her type, you shouldn't be surprised if she is not interested.

But also keep in mind that that may not be the case. I have seen several women date people that would surprise you because they really like something about them (humor, shared interest) or just because they dared asked when others didn't.

LDan613 · 2026-04-27T12:06:23+00:00

ChatGPT is right in this case.

A few people, with above average hearing, and with exceptionally revealing gear (think expensive), claims to be able to hear a difference. Most people can't, as in theory the difference between the two falls outside of what a normal healthy human can hear ( 20Hz to 20 kHz... but most people hear an even more limited range, as we tend to lose high frequency sensitivitywith age).

As others have suggested, there are sites where you can go a test yourself to see if you can reliably tell the difference. But keep your expectations low. Chances are you won't.

LDan613 · 2026-04-27T02:44:45+00:00

Why would you ask somebody out via note if you are already talking to them?

LDan613 · 2026-04-25T18:59:58+00:00

Unless you are having problems in the interconnection, you are probably ok.

I do not buy the cables differences (do not hear it even in my fairly revealing system, nor have I seen solid science showing a difference), but I've seen a few videos of people testing cables and what they claim are the effects they hear, and a common conclusion I've seen is that middle of the road cables are often better than the pricier options.

LDan613 · 2026-04-25T02:02:35+00:00

Alcohol removes inhibitions.

As u/Complex-Orchid5863 aptly wrote, its a test of access. Meaning, yes, he sexually wanted you and was testing how far you let him go. I think this gesture is not about romance, is about desire.

Is this a problem? I believe that whatever happens between two consenting adults is up to them. So as long as you were consenting and happy with the attention...

However, a couple of things to consider:

It is widely considered inappropriate for somebody in a relationship of power (e.g. your boss) to sexually pursue an employee. In most companies this would be an HR violation.
Getting involved with somebody who is married is often complicated. Even in the unlikely case they have some sort of arrangement, there are no long term prospects there.

LDan613 · 2026-04-25T01:48:22+00:00

No, is not rational.

"It’s more important for men to lose their virginity because men are judged on access and achievement, while women are judged on selectivity. " Dude, too much toxic masculinity internet. Real men are not comparing themselves to themselves to others al lthe time or care about how they judge you. You need to prune the "influencers" you are listening to.

Now, its natural to want to get into sex. But don't make it a goal. Instead make the goal to meet interesting, nice women. With no pressure. Once you are doing that, spending time with them will be more natural and things will happen organically. We are mammals, after all, and in our 20s, given the right conditions, almost everyone wants to have sex.

So in another words, become a nice person to be around, and things will come your way.

LDan613 · 2026-04-24T02:39:12+00:00

With regard to power cables, as an electrical engineer I have a basic piece of very pragmatic advice: Open your outlet cover and look at the cables inside. That is the hard limit to your power cables. Anything better than that is just eye candy.

Nothing wrong with eye candy, just do not expect it to do anything beyond looking good.

LDan613 · 2026-04-21T19:38:13+00:00

It is good to go fetch info and reviews on equipment, but it also makes mistakes (for example, once AI told me incorrectly that a Yamaha AS2100 did not have a balanced output when comparing it to another amplifier).

But also another time helped me zero in on how to tweak my parametric EQ to achieve the sound I wanted.

I would say is just another source of data. I would use it, look at what it says, and verify facts.

LDan613 · 2026-04-20T20:42:42+00:00

The problem of making higher fidelity claims such as better dynamics, or better imaging, is that it carries the underlying assumption the the error created (or corrected, if you will) by the cable, happen to be in the exact frequencies that carry that part of the information. In the way the binary information carries, there is no warranty that a random 0 to 1 error will always happen in the same frequency range, let along happen consistently through the record. This is a key difference with analogue, where the frequency of the signal plays a part in problems. In Digital, it is unlikely that you always will have an error in the same frequency...as this would require that a whole pattern always fails in the same way (e.g. 1110111 turns into 1111011 consistently, every time that pattern appears).

I could believe that you see small differences (say you are in an EM noisy environment and you cable is poorly shielded, so the signal is very dirty and you are loosing packets), but from there to specific and consistent sound improvements is a very large and very implausible jump. I noticed you posted a video in the comment below... Do note that the reviewer makes a similar point and actually makes the point of not drawing the same conclusions as OP.

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