SUMMER MUSINGS: True audiophile aspirations; recent events in the audiophile culture - end of Atkinson's Stereophile measurements, YouTube influencer legal drama.

Through my years as an audiophile, I've come across articles in magazines and online talking about hobbyist "aspirations". At audio shows, and seemingly each new issue of magazine we read, we're introduced to the latest and greatest piece or gear, the next "must have" item to consider in this never-ending path of upgrade to satisfy luxury consumeristic appetites.

Given that it's "Summer Musings" season, let's take some time to think about what I think is the most important aspirational item in all of the audiophile hobby - your room. And since in the last month there have been other events happening in audio news, let's also talk about the fact that John Atkinson has retired from doing measurements for Stereophile magazine, and the interesting legal drama around the case of an "influencer" (Michael Gefteas/The Greek Audio Geek) and social media.

SUMMER MUSINGS: "Final" ceiling absorption 😉. AI-assisted summary of Floyd Toole's thoughts on early reflections treatment & discussion on this.

Hey guys and gals, it's July and thus time to enjoy some summer jams, BBQ, and family time ahead. And of course getting into the "Summer Musings" season here on the blog!

Let's "shoot the breeze" and talk about a couple of things in this post related to discussions over the last while with room treatments and acoustics you might want to consider for your own space.

First, as you can see in the picture above, despite the self-proclaimed statement that I was "done", I just had one more little addition to add. I cleaned up and optimized my seating area a little and realized that the rear ceiling panel wasn't exactly overhead. So I added an extra 2' x 4' x 0.8" PET panel immediately overhead above the main listening position. [I also spent some time optimizing the height channels and DSP recalibration along the way.]

On Envy, "Cope", and just plain Reality in Audiophilia. More GR-Research/Danny Richie drama.

After writing the articles looking at room acoustics over the last month, I thought this would be a good time to discuss another observation about the psychology and culture of the audiophile hobby and some of the claims that people make.

As I noted last time, room treatments like the IKEA Mittzon absorption panels are far from the exciting products highlighted in magazines each month or even popular forum topics commonly discussed. While they do review realistic, non-controversial room treatments once awhile (like this), I would find it shocking if one day I opened an issue of The Absolute Sound and saw an article reviewing the Mittzon panel!

Audiophile Malls Asia: Highsun/Haiyin Plaza - Guangzhou, China. (And thoughts about China and the global order.)

Last time, we talked about Seoul's Yongsan ETLand, so moving along in my Asia trip, let's check out another audiophile mall, this time in Southern China, in the city of Guangzhou. I've been in this city before (as per 2016 post) but not at this exact location, the Highsun/Haiyin (name used interchangeably) Plaza.

It looks like in the last 10 years, this place has really become quite concentrated with many audiophile stores.

Audiophile Malls Asia: Yongsan ETLand - Seoul, S. Korea

I don't know about you guys, but I'm like one of those husbands/boyfriends/partners who sit outside surfing the web at women's clothing stores. So while "the girls" were out shopping and getting pedicures in Seoul, I decided to take a couple hours' detour to the Yongsan ETLand which is about a 10 minute walk away from the massive Yongsan subway station (take Exit 3).

I suspect in the Western world (North America and Europe), it's quite rare to find a good concentration of stores selling hi-fi hardware any more, if even this was ever the case. Unless one is fortunate enough to have a large dealer in town, audio shows seem to be the only place left to see a large number of brands under one roof. However, as you might remember for past articles (like this, this), in Asia, the concept of an "audiophile mall", or "hifi-mall" still exists, so let's document some of these places in 2026... this time, we take a peek in Seoul.

Audiophile small room acoustics: complex and essential.

In the post "What are the most important audio components?" a few years ago, I said that we need to understand the various audiophile "domains": audio hardware, room acoustics, quality of your music, and of course personal mental engagement. Each of these have a part to play in the achievement of and personal judgment around sound quality.

Of those domains, it's hard to speak about personal mental engagement as this is a highly individual exercise (and related to one's auditory acuity). The quality of the music we listen to again is related to not just personal preferences (like genre) but also what mastering quality and variants like hi-res, multichannel, and on what format (SACD, vinyl, etc.) the record label makes available of our favorite albums.

It's always tempting of course to get excited about audio hardware - the latest toys. For example, recently, I heard that Andrew Jones has another ported box speaker design with paper/fabric drivers, this time with a coaxial tweeter+midrange that's based on field coils / electromagnets, paired to the permanent magnet woofer at something like USD$34k. While I'm sure this could be a compelling design for many, I think we can also recognize that these days, as equipment fidelity has improved significantly to the point where a simplistic "high price = high quality sound" equation no longer works, it's maybe wiser to direct our attention to the other domains.

This then leaves the very important issue of sound room acoustics, an area that we can all to some degree optimize (see also previous discussion on the sound room). I have heard it said that the sound room is the "foundation" from which we build our hi-fi sound system. As with any project, without an adequate foundation, no matter how great the rest of the system may be, you can only achieve a ceiling of performance dictated by the limits of that foundation.

In this post, let's dive a bit deeper into the importance of typical domestic small room acoustics and general principles around achieving good sound quality.

MUSINGS: On high-end audio component prices, inflation, April Fools and peak "greedflation"?

 

Let's consider how over the last while even audiophile magazines have wondered about the High-End Audio Industry's escalation in suggested retail prices for their products.

A year ago, Stereophile attempted to answer "Why Hi-Fi Prices Have Risen". To be fair, I think Jim Austin in the article made some good points about inflation, tariffs, etc. I'm glad that the article also acknowledged the fact that for years now, each generation of "high-end" audio products seemingly have also been just getting more expensive, untethered from inflationary expectations.

Grab a nice beverage, have a seat. Let's talk about prices in audiophilia. Is it true that the "high end" has become much more expensive?

[Some of these thoughts will trickle into the psychology of other luxury products beyond audio. Also, we'll be talking about dollars and cents in this post. Since most audiophile goods are priced in US dollars, let's use that through this post, with early April 2026 currency conversion as needed.]

Visit to a "more subjective" leaning friend. And something like Synergistic Research "Transducers" (HFT, GCT, ECT...) to try.

Hey everyone. I'm still waiting to finish the measurements and write-up of the USB DDC boxes discussed last time (a few things I need to double check on!). In the meantime, I thought I'd share some thoughts and pictures with you of a visit I made to a friend, Paul's, place. You'll see that he is much more of a "subjectivist" than I am.

Above, we see his listening room which is capable of multichannel playback as well for music and movies. He's a multichannel enthusiast who values the immersive experience and has a large library of surround content in PCM and DSD - great to see!

Clearly, Paul is a Linn fan with almost an all-Linn system. He has front Linn Akubarik Exakt (Katalyst) active speakers, an Akurate 225 center channel, and a pair of Akudoriks as rear/side channels. Over the years, he has been experimenting with Linn Space Optimisation and wrote an article about his experiences (he contacted me after he saw my tests with Linn SO last year).

Images from San Francisco: Audio Vision SF, B&O Flagship Store, Amoeba Music. Question of greater importance: music or gear?

It's an interesting experience I think to pop into local "brick and mortar" audiophile stores when traveling (like this, this, this over the years). This past week, I've been in San Francisco visiting family. We happened to stay within walking distance from what I think is the most well-stocked audiophile gear store in the city - Audio Vision San Francisco - located in the Nob Hill neighborhood. They're opened on weekends, closed on Tuesday, and by appointment on Mondays.

Chatting with the salesperson, I was told the store opened about 26 years ago. I suspect most audiophiles will be impressed when you walk into the store and see their selection of gear sitting in the hallway!

Audiophile Potpourri: December 2025 web traffic among audio sites, price of cables poll, and flashback 2014 while looking ahead.

Let's have some fun this week on miscellaneous topics.

Occasionally, I'll highlight items I've either written or found on audio discussion forums I think would be good to share. One reason I decided to start doing a blog beyond just contributing to forum discussions was precisely because while the public forums are great for interactions with community members, meaningful posts often become obscured behind pages and pages of chit chat, irrelevant responses, and sometimes unpleasant arguments.

[I've unfortunately witnessed situations where very meaningful threads are closed off prematurely based on the bias of moderators. Even worse, threads with useful discussions might be erased entirely from existence which I feel is an slap in the face of well-meaning participants who put their time and efforts into thoughtful reflections. This is nothing new in the audiophile world; for example last year Stereophile scrubbed their website of all public comments accumulated over decades!

While I acknowledge the right of a website's owner to do such things, that doesn't make it any more palatable. I certainly understand the need for moderation in removing nonsensical, trollish, unethical, or crude statements that add nothing to promote thoughtful discussions.]

Speaking of forums and websites, I thought here in early 2026 it would be fun to explore website traffic numbers of some of the most common audiophile/audio sites using a common metric. One can get monthly visit numbers from Similarweb for free, a well-known website traffic tracker.

As if higher prices always correlate to fidelity: Stereophile's Defense of Luxury Audio & the false Binding Statement of High-End Audio.

Hublot Big Bang Unico, ~US$20k+ depending on model.

Hey everyone, I just got back from the wonderful trip to Central Europe and figured I'd extend some thoughts expressed in the previous article: The Luxury of Sound and Time: Audiophile products, the Rolex and Timex Analogy.

That article went online October 12th and I was surprised to see Stereophile posted their article “In Defense of Sticker Shock” on October 17th written by Rogier van Bakel featuring a fancy looking, but inexpensive quartz wristwatch as the title image; what synchronicity! I assume his article must have been published in print/e-magazine earlier than when it showed up online.

I see the article pretty much opens with this statement:

Say “$10,000 DAC” and watch audio-forum commenters descend like pigeons on a dropped hot dog, flapping and furious.

Yeah, that's probably a fair observation! However, I think the first question we must ask ourselves is: “What’s wrong with that?”

The Luxury of Sound and Time: Audiophile products, the Rolex and Timex Analogy.

Left: This certified authentic Used Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Watch, with the Model Number: 126598TRU, has a Yellow Gold/Diamonds 40 mm Round Case with Screw Down Crown and a Gem Set. This Men's Rolex Cosmograph Daytona has an attractive Diamond Pave Dial with Gems Dial Markers. The certified Swiss tested Rolex Automatic Movement will keep perfect time for you. The elegantly designed Rolex Yellow Gold with will look great on your wrist.

Right: Timex Men's Waterbury Classic Chrono 40mm Stainless Steel Quartz Dress Watch with Leather Strap. Reviewed to be one of the best well-priced mecha-quartz watches.

If we plug in the phrase "Rolex vs. Timex" into Google, we'll see that there have been a number of articles written about this topic aimed at wristwatch hobbyists that compare and contrast things like history, the products, features, and prices (like this). For the purpose of our discussion here, the actual brands are of could not too important; these are mere archetypes - Rolex the Swiss brand that caters to the prestige luxury market, while Timex is an American company (originally started as the Waterbury Clock Company in 1854, these days American-Dutch) known to produce mass-market time pieces for the "common man"; to satisfy the needs of kids, the athlete, and yes, even dipping its toes into the luxury market though nothing like the Rolex brand price-wise. As per their classic slogan suggesting the device is meant for the conditions of daily life, the Timex - "It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking."

Over the years on this blog, I've touched on the ideas behind luxury products - here and here for example. We've also discussed the wine-tasting pursuit compared to audiophilia, but I think there is an even better analogy we can make when we look at something like the wristwatch collector (horophile) hobby. Since both audio products and watches are products of technological evolution, I believe there are similarities when it comes to the trajectory of these products, the industries behind their production, the consumers who buy them, the way they are portrayed in advertising (including in reviews) and social sentiment.

So grab a comfortable seat, maybe get a nice beverage, let's take some time to think and discuss...

Do loudspeaker footers make a difference? Inexpensive aluminum alloy "isolation" footers.

As you can see through my posts, I'm obviously not averse to trying out "cheap audio guy/gal" products. 😏 I trust that this is completely consistent with my perspective on audio hardware for the most part being mature technologies, refined over decades already. For the high-fidelity audio reproduction pursuit, we can achieve excellent quality at very reasonable prices. Many (not all of course) of the "high-end" stuff that go for very high prices are clearly targeting a luxury crowd without necessarily achieving better fidelity. And some products, like what we'll be talking about in this post, I believe only demand "low-tech" solutions anyway.

China is the de facto consumer manufacturing powerhouse of the world in the 21st Century and we'll often find interesting and inexpensive products by mail order from places like AliExpress or Temu. Possibly worth trying some of this stuff if tariffs or shipping charges aren't too high for your country (eg. the de minimis suspension in the USA could take a big tax bite out of easy access to inexpensive goods). Technologically mature products made of standard materials at reasonable quality do not need huge price tags. For example, in early 2024, I grabbed this Nordost-like cable which worked out quite well and I believe performs equivalently in the ways that matter.

Similarly, for this post, let's look at this set of aluminum "isolation" footers which we can easily source from places like Amazon, AliExpress, and Temu:

Price: only about US$25 for a set of four as shown above - available in matte silver, black and gold. I bought two sets of the silver color for my pair of Paradigm Reference Signature S8 v.3 speakers for less than $50 total from Temu among other trinkets in that shipment. 😆

SUMMER MUSINGS: What could possibly be wrong with the High-End Audiophile Industry?! 🤔 (The supplier side of audiophoolery.)

Alas all good things end including summer, so this will be the last instalment to my "Summer Musings" series for the year. For completeness, since we talked about the "audiophool" consumer hobbyist last time, let's make sure to address the other side of the coin when it comes to audiophile silliness - the supplier - manufacturers, and the media that sell us stuff.

As a pre-emptive comment against sounding like a grumpy old man who doesn't want audiophiles to have fun, let me just say that this commentary is not against "having fun". If fun means enjoying your music, trying out different hardware, exploring the various sounds you can achieve at all kinds of price points, I'm totally on board with that!

However, freedom to do all kinds of things obviously doesn't imply that we shut down our brains and accept that "anything goes!". Many things can be a lot of fun at the time but not good for us, the hangover could be nasty, and regrets more common than we might want to admit. So if there's foolishness when it comes to the Industry itself, let's make sure to think about that and come to terms with it for ourselves.

In the recent post about audiophoolery, Solderdude and Mikhail wrote the following comments:

Solderdude 18 August 2025 at 23:13

I have often wondered how many snake-oil sellers actually believe in what they are selling and are equally 'misguided' by their hearing (they are human after all). Examples could be Paul McClown and Danny.

Some, for sure, are just unscrupulous money grabbers (think Machina Dynamica and absurdly priced cable sellers).

And, oh boy, most audiophools as well as audiophiles usually have plenty of money to spend on their hobby and being human and lacking actual knowledge are very easy to 'hear' things that aren't there just as they are equally fooled by optical illusions.

Some might simply have fallen for the same 'perception effects' and fully believe in what they are selling. Are these sellers also unscrupulous ?

Perhaps only the ones that sell their wares at way too high margins for what it costs to manufacture ?

Mikhail 19 August 2025 at 07:18

Should we start calling this sector of the audio industry "alternative engineering"? If there was Federal Audio Administration they would require putting labels like "Claims not verified by double blind testing" and "This product is not intended to actually improve the sound of your audio system" on their products.

Interesting points. Let's talk about this.

SUMMER MUSINGS: Who/What is an "Audiophool"? (And old quad album mixes.)

Hey guys and gals. This week, I thought it'd be fun to just talk about something that was brought up over at the Audiophile Style forums in this thread "Who or What Is An Audiophool?". Seeing that there were a number of comments already, I figured why not jump in over the past week and engage?

Doing this brought back memories of the early 2010's when I would spend more time on the forums to chat with fellow audiophiles. As you can imagine, over time with work, family life, having fewer questions to ask as I progressed through the hobby, and turning to writing articles here, my time on the forums have significantly been reduced. I'll still pop in once awhile but not like in the early 2010's to read and participate.

So this past week, as you can see from Page 6 of the thread onwards, it was fun to get back into the weeds a bit and liberally engage. Over many pages, we got into quite a few topics including ideas around blind testing, importance (or not depending on whose opinion) of objective measurements, anecdotes, human behaviors, the role reviewers play in the Industry, examples of bizarre pseudo-science, why we enjoy audio as a hobby, JG Holt's interview from 2007, personal values, anti-vaxxers, agreeing to disagree, ASR, website traffic numbers, quotes from Richard Feynman, what is knowledge, etc.

SUMMER MUSINGS: Multichannel and the audiophile - recent articles and thoughts, 2025 update.

Preamble: In this article, I'll clearly be supportive of multichannel/Atmos music playback for audiophiles. This in no way should be seen as disparaging to those who feel that 2-channel stereo is completely adequate if not optimal for their listening! Simplicity, space considerations, availability of content, budgetary factors, perceived artistic intent, subjective preferences always play into the personal choices we make.

After 25 years of collecting multichannel content since the early days of DVD(-A) and SACD, currently about 15% of the albums on my music server are 3.0+ multichannel. With hopes that this continues to grow, of course!

Every once awhile I'll look over some of the posts I've made over the years to see if there's anything substantial I might revise or provide an addendum for. Most of the time, it's just for historical review to consider my thoughts back then, but sometimes, I'm encouraged to see how nicely things have changed over the ensuing years. Such has been the case for multichannel audio, so I thought I'd make this post as a review and pointer to the topic of multichannel music as an audiophile.

The first time I wrote a post titled "multichannel and the audiophile" was back in 2019, also during the summer - "SUMMER MUSINGS: Multichannel and the audiophile. MCh streaming with a TV Box. And Thoughts on the Future..."

As you know, things have changed since then with the advent of "Spatial" streaming thanks initially to Apple Music's push into the territory, the "chicken or egg" concern I discussed around not having enough multichannel music content has been addressed very nicely. As expected in that 2019 post, streaming came in the form of lossy EAC3 compressed audio. While we didn't quite get the 1+Mbps 7.1 data rate I was thinking about, EAC3-JOC Atmos with 5.1 bed channels at 768kbps is still high bitrate for audio and an excellent-sounding standard that's hard to fault. In my own testing, this bitrate has generally been "perceptually transparent" compared to an equivalent lossless TrueHD-Atmos encode using Dolby's reference Media Encoder (recent version 3.7). I'm sure there are some edge-case killer samples where TrueHD would audibly beat EAC3 (similar to killer samples like jangling keys with higher frequency details or detailed hand claps used in lossy compression testing), but I believe differences would be hard to spot even in volume-controlled blind listening side-by-side with actual music!

Of course, if you have access to the lossless TrueHD-Atmos Blu-ray or download, go grab that over the EAC3 version as a more accurate representation of the intended Atmos presentation potentially with higher number of bed channels like 7.1. I just don't think we need to get neurotic over the high bitrate lossy vs. lossless divide.

Part I: Topping DX9 "15th Anniversary" Limited Edition DAC & Headphone Amplifier - build, features, listening impressions & subjective luxury.

As many audiophiles will remember, the well-known DAC chip maker Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) suffered a massive fire at their factory back on October 20, 2020 in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. This resulted in a shortage of their chips for awhile until they rebuilt the plant and started offering devices again by the end of 2021.

In June 2021, AKM issued a "last time buy" notification for final stock of a number of their products. This included their top-of-the-line DAC chip, the AKM AK4499EQ which was initially released in January 2019 and had made its way into a number of devices over the ensuing couple of years. By later 2021, some devices like the HiFi Rose RS150 had to transition to ESS. With 4 channels, a published THD+N of -124dB (mono mode), 137dB SNR in stereo (140dB mono), DSD "direct" (volume bypass), this chip remains a formidable converter even in 2025 with newer generations of AKM and ESS chip DACs. While audiophiles and manufacturers like to talk about discreet DACs like R2R stuff or custom "Ring" DACs, or DSD-processing DACs (like Meitner products or Playback Designs), while I'm sure they sound great, there is no evidence that these are capable of achieving better objective resolution than state-of-the-art converter chips from semiconductor companies with significant R&D resources.

For comparison, based on company specs, the current premium DAC chips are ESS's ES9039PRO rated at -122dB THD+N mono, and 140dB SNR mono. And AKM's current flagship, the 2-channel AK4499EX DAC released in 2021 listed as THD+N -124dB and SNR 135dB stereo (138dB mono). The AK4499EQ as a 4-channel DAC is a much more complicated chip than 2 AK4499EX's because it also incorporates the sigma-delta modulator internally while the AK4499EX needs to be fed 7-bit modulator data at 5.64/11.29MHz from a separate source like the AK4191EQ ΔΣ Modulator!

So, basically, as a single chip, the discontinued AK4499EQ after only about 1.5 years in production, remains the highest performing device among its peers after all these years; on paper at least.

And that's why I bought one of these for my system - the Topping DX9 "15th Anniversary" Limited Edition DAC & headphone amplifier (US$1299, CAD$1900, depending on tariffs you might do better ordering from China through AliExpress):

This is Topping's flagship DAC, released in late 2023. It's said to be limited edition due to the restricted number of DAC chips; I connected with Topping and was told in total they made about 1800 units.

I bought this unit from the usual retail channels and have no affiliation with the company.

Multichannel/Atmos 3D Audio Walkthrough. The idea that DACs sound about the same. Countercultural & honest audiophiles?

Hey audiophiles, I've been wanting to do this for awhile now. Back in 2021 when I wrote about "Spatial Audio" music streaming on Apple Music, in the back of my mind I was thinking it would be pretty cool to not just listen to the music and consider whether this kind of content is worthy of audiophile exploration, but to actually fire up a DAW (digital audio workstation) and play around with Dolby Atmos myself to create a little something that I can also use as a demo or to help with set-up in my own room.

Nothing too fancy of course since the intent is to demo spatial capability rather than wow the listener with overly complex sounds or movements. It's also a fun way for me to learn how to use the software and to go a bit deeper into 3D audio - beyond just expressing opinions on the consumption side.

So, over the Spring Break with a little more time available, I bought a copy of DaVinci Resolve Studio 19 (currently US$300) and got to work on figuring out how to author some 3D audio content. The price is very reasonable for such a powerful piece of software which I plan to use in other audio/video projects. Other packages that allow Atmos audio mastering include Avid's ProTools, Steinberg's Nuendo and Cubase, Ableton Live, Apple's Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro.

Once I figured out how the Fairlight "audio console" module in DaVinci Resolve worked and got the immersive pieces authored, a friend who works in audio professionally helped with the Dolby Media Encoder (US$400/year subscription) side to bring the track over to Dolby Digital Plus / EAC3-JOC, TrueHD-Atmos, and AC-4 IMS.

MUSINGS: Trust, empirical testing, and evidence in the Audiophile hobby. And the Double Blind Test (DBT) strawman argument.

For this post, let's spend a little bit of time thinking about "levels of evidence" in audiophilia. This is important because it helps determine how we gauge the veracity of the articles we read and how we build confidence as we create our own internal models of the topics covered in this hobby.

Inevitably, if we stick around this hobby of audio gear and products long enough, we'll come across the abbreviation 'DBT' - that dreaded Double Blind Test; that seemingly ultimate methodological scientific "gold standard" in human research to tell us whether an intervention or change in our systems actually resulted in a worthwhile difference.

But do audiophiles actually throw around the comment "You need to do a DBT!" very often? Or insist that "I don't believe that unless a DBT proves it!". The answer is 'NO!'- of course not!

Let's start by zooming out a bit and thinking about the very big picture...

Frustration of the Euphonophile Salesman. Audiophile evaluation methods & intentions.

Through February 2025, and with today's third post of the month, I've been exploring the current audiophile culture with videos from contemporary YouTube channels. While never exactly the same among participants, we can see "archetypal" characteristics shared among personalities in this hobby.

We've talked about the technical channel that presented facts but also blurs boundaries into unusual beliefs to make sales and justify products, the subjective-only hobbyist channel willing to do listening tests (great!), and today let's talk about the audiophile who appears to insist on purely subjective-based evaluation, rejects objective measurements, and is a salesman in the Industry.

I'm talking about OCD Hi-Fi Guy who's quite an entertaining fellow. He calls it like he sees it - "no BS" - I can respect that to a point. His name is Mike "Mikey" Powell and he runs a company called 11 Stereo. His followers are known as the "HiFi Tribe" and in the videos, we see promotions of the companies and products that he represents including Playback Designs DACs and Fischer & Fischer speakers, prominently mentioned among others. 

Every once awhile you'll see on my blog a reference to something on his channel that I found entertaining - like this post addressing the interview with Machina Dynamica guy. His use of diction suggests an intelligent fellow but I suspect he comes across a bit "spicy" in his language for many audiophile gentlemen and gentleladies. At other times, some of his viewpoints around politics and towards other cultures might be unpalatable.

If you watch his videos, I think it becomes quite clear that his moniker is inaccurate because he is neither "OCD" (his answers are far from perfectionistic), nor is his philosophy towards audio particularly "Hi-Fi" (high fidelity). Let's have a deeper look at this with a recent video that's entertaining, yet highlights the frustration that I think some salesmen might experience online these days as they try to assert unsubstantiated beliefs.