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GSIC marketing corrections

Since Geoff is using my picture of the chip on his site, I thought it would be appropriate for me to correct some inaccuracies in his description of the chip.

First of all, it's not a "plain green plastic sheet" where the disks are mounted on. The green square is a typical and unremarkable PCB-like material made of some kind of woven fabric impregnated with some kind of resin. Think of fiberglass if that helps.

Second, there is NO "unusual quilted surface" on the disks. What you are seeing (as if the obvious needs to be pointed out) is the surface of the PCB-like material forming its own impression thru the very thin disks. Folllow the lines of the weave and even in the very poor photo, you can easily see they extend thru the disks. If Geoff had truly "popped the case" he would have seen this along with the lack of battery, electronic board and control codes, whatever that may be.

I realize that this is a small thing and doesn't say anything at all about whether the chip actually does anything, but I think it's important to at least try and not be deceptive about the physical nature of the device. I mean if someone can't even accurately describe the construction of the chip in the first paragraph (after supposedly popping the case) how in the world can the rest of the "paper" be taken seriously?

For those of you interested in a down-to-earth view, here's what the disks really look like. The NiNb side is rolled foil and the copper side is vapor or electro deposited aluminum bronze. The disks have been stamped out of a larger sheet with a punch press and the overall quality of the material is extremely poor. The deposition was found to be random and wildly varying in thickness (relatively speaking of course) and the shape-memory nature of the aluminum bronze probably identifies the material as a temperature sensitive switching contact that causes the foil to bulge when it attempts to return to it's original shape in response to a change in temp.

The idea that the 5 major elements in the disk are independent of each other and are indications of "quantum material" is simply not true. They're alloys, and they serve a specific purpose as an alloy and there's nothing mystical about it. There's the suggestion throughout all of Machina Dynamica's "papers" that the mere presence of these elements is somehow proof of quantum material. But it's because the brain trust over there can't see the forest for the trees and can't seem to understand how important the word "alloy" is. The ~2 percent Nb is alloyed with the nickel to give it a mechanical property condusive to extremely thin rolling - without the Nb, the nickel would work harden to the point of losing the ductility needed to roll it that thin. This is just basic mettalurgy and has nothing to do with containing quantum dot arrays and quantum lasers.

Anyway, here's a shot of the Ni side, sans quilting:-)

And here's a shot of the bronze side - notice the unevenness of the deposition.

And here's a shot of a cross section after slicing and dicing.

The key to solving the great chip mystery is to find the manufacturer of the material and find out what the application for it is. I should have an answer on that one shortly. This is an "off the shelf" material guys that had an original purpose. Any discussion about the "way it works" is completely moot, since Geoff or anyone else cannot say with honesty and integrity, that the quantum material even exists on these disks. I'm amazed that anyone would go that far into a dubious explanation without first estblishing the fact that the arrays and lasers they use in their explanation even exist.

Am I the only one that thinks it's odd that degreed physicists would take such a sloppy approach to the truth? For 200 bucks, anyone can get a complete physical analysis of these disks from any one of hundreds of labs across the country. It's one thing to say that science is stuck in a rut (it probably is at some point) but that doesn't mean you can run around throwing up wild ass theories without doing even the most basic leg work. If you wanted to know why a cable sounded so good in your system, the first thing you'd do is find out if it's copper or silver or whatever, find out what kind of dielectric is used and what the terminations are made of. Why is this chip any different? Is it because the truth is too scary? Is the explanation of a couple of simple common alloys not high-tech enough to sell them? I mean if it works, it works, right? Why not just be honest about what it is rather than creating a totally unsubstantiated fairy tale without having even the most fundamental understanding of what it's made of?

I'm really shaking my head at this whole debacle, and not because I believe it's a farce. It's true that I listened to treated disks and didn't hear any change, but someone I trust sitting right next to me claimed he did. I truly and honestly don't give a rats ass if someone wants to spend money on it - if they believe it's improving their system, great. What really bothers me is the lack of simple honesty from the sellers of this thing. Do they know if there's quantum material in the disks? No they don't, yet they sell them based on that "fact." Do they know that their quantum lasers and quantum arrays have the effect on the polycarbonate as they claim? No they don't, yet they sell them based on that "fact." Have they taken even the most menial, basic steps to understand the composition and possible alternate uses for the material in the disks? No they haven't; they rely on internet anectdote to prove their marketing claims using photos posted by people who think they're being dishonest. They're using sources that have to follow them around and correct them everytime they take information from that source and use it deceptively for their own gain.

Thing is, the chip could still work and be very ordinary in its makeup. Why are they so afraid of that? So what if the disk is nothing more than a contact that lights up on your car's dashboard when your engine overheats? If it makes your CDs sound better, who cares where it came from?

I just don't understand how degreed physicists are so blatantly incompetent when it comes to "reverse engineering." Why can't they see how simple the approach to reverse engineering a piece of material with no moving parts is? Is it that hard to fathom, that first you need to prove the existence of the quantum material and then prove the effect? I know it's more fashionable to compare yourself to Gallileo and run all over the Asylum with a persecution complex, but geeze, how about a little common sense instead? You want to know how the chip works? Take the freaking thing apart! What's so hard about that? Between Curl, Clark and Geoff, there otta be 200 bucks to spare for a certified, traceable analysis and with all their combined experience with the military industrial complex, they should have tons of personal contacts to get the heavy stuff done for free.

I really just don't get this part of audiophilism - for all the smart people that seem to populate these boards, no one seems to be able actually do anything when push comes to shove. It's not too much to ask for some kind of rational explanation for things like the chip, and by rational, I mean something based on real research. It doesn't have to be so in-depth that you need to buy your own SEC, but just make it real - make a real attempt at knowing what's in that little disk and don't run around talking about quantum this and quantum that when you don't even know, and haven't even attempted to find out, if there's any quantum material in them to begin with! I would've thought they'd have taught that in college, but I guess not.

Doesn't this crap just make you want to scream?

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Topic - GSIC marketing corrections - Allan 03:13:24 06/21/05 (225)
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