Absolute Sound Golden Ear Award Winner! Elusive Disc recommended!
"Irrational, But Efficacious", the System Enhancer Disc from Ayre Acoustics, Inc. is excellent in breaking in components and cables, integrating sub-woofers with other loud speakers and features both a short and full glide tone sweep. "Tune up" your system in under 20 minutes!
The main tool is a five minute glide tone, that when played through your system at a moderately low listening volume, will improve its sound. While we don't have conclusive proof of the mechanism involved, we suspect that it functions by demagnetizing residual fields that build up in your components over time. We recommend playing this track on a periodic basis, from perhaps once a week to once a month. We put this track at the end of the disc so that it can be easily played even if the system is unattended. The other tracks have more specialized functions.
The tracks on this disc were created digitally with 88.2 kHz, 32-bit resolution. Enhanced resolution transfer to the 44.1 kHz, 16-bit CD format was performed using 0.5 bits of dither with a triangular probability distribution function for maximum fidelity.
"I played "So Do I" on the system... I then played the Ayre disc's one-minute "Short Guide Tone," then played "So Do I" again. I have not had a good night's sleep since. I am flabbergasted. I heard a lower noise floor. Things were quieter and smoother: less metallic/electronicky, with better microdynamics, and just overall more listenable. I had a greater sense of the flexion of the pick in the attacks on guitar strings... Everyone I have played this demo for has been floored, and three have since bought the CD."- John Marks, Stereophile Magazine, December 2010, Vol. 33, No. 12, Page 54
"My advice: Buy Ayre's Irrational, But Efficacious! from a venfor who will provide a money-back guarantee even after you've opened it, and try it out."- John Marks, Stereophile Magazine, December 2010, Vol. 33, No. 12, Page 54
Selections:
Short Glide Tone: This 60-second track contains a 45-second glide tone that sweeps from 5Hz to 20kHz, preceded by 5 seconds of silence and followed by 10-seconds of silence. This track offers a quick system "tune-up" for those times when you just can't wait five minutes for the full glide tone.
White Noise: Uncorrelated stereo white noise with a peak level of -12 dB. White nosie is purely random in nature and is chiefly used with test instruments for specialized measurements. The track lasts for 180 seconds and features a 2-second fade in and fade out.
Pink Noise: Uncorrelated stereo pink noise with a peak level of -6 dB. Pink noise is low-pass filtered to achieve equal energy in each octave, and is also commonly used with test instruments for specialized measurments. The track lasts for 180 seconds and features a 2-second fade in and fade out.
Brown Noise: Uncorrelated stereo brown noise with a peak level of -3 dB. Brown noise is low-pass filtered to closely mimic the spectral distribution of music. This signal is excellent for use in breaking-in components and cables. The track lasts for 180 seconds and features a 2-second fade in and fade out.
Mono Brown Noise: Identical noise signals in both channels. This track can be very useful when integrating sub-woofers with other lous-speakers. The track lasts for 60 seconds and features a 2-second fade in and fade out.
Out-Of-Phase Brown Noise: Opposite-polarity brown noise signals in each channel. This track can be used to minimize the actual sound levels when breaking-in equipment, due to acoustic cancellation between the channels. The overall sound level will be minimized when two loudspeakers are placed as close together as possible.
Full Glide: This 300-second track contains a 285-second glide tone that sweeps from 5Hz to 20kHz, preceded by 5 seconds of silence and followed by 10 seconds of silence. Please be sure to play the entire track without interruption. Try it, you'll like it!
