Funk Firm - Houdini - Spamming and Scamming Warning

I will be interested on your thoughts of the last couple of tracks.

I am discussing the DL103 results/issue with AK. I think he is going to try and replicate it to see what happens.

Like multiple nerds said straight off the bat. The compliance of the device changes with every cart/arm combo.

Perhaps a couple of versions to suit heavy/ light carts?

Continuing to be open and honest, AK has asked me to send back my Houdini so that he can understand what is going on with it.
There is a chance it could be defective, so those needle drops may not be worth the band width they have taken up.

I am going to disable the sharing until I know what is going on.

I think (and I know) that Houdini does make a difference. The issue is that if you have already optimised your cartridge set up, then there is less for a Houdini to “correct”.
I have read some very positive reviews. I have seen that one chap has bought two.
As stated earlier in this thread, one size does not fit all.

I am hoping that there is a fault with my Houdini (maybe it got damaged in the post?) as it is much cheaper than a new cartridge.
The reality if the situation as it stands is that I am not going to invest £300 in one right now, and I am a bit of a Funk Firm fan boy.
If AK finds a fault with the one I have, I will give it another shot. If not, has anybody got a brand new ART-9 they want to sell me cheap?

If my unit was faulty, then be prepared for some more needle drops of the differences.
I have to be honest, in my opinion using the digital files to listen to something that improves analogue is akin to critiquing a reprint of the Mona Lisa.
You get a flavour for it, but it is not 100% like the real thing.

Cagey, I really appreciate all you are doing here - it is an interesting experiment. However, I've seen more than a little hyperbole from the manufacturers regarding this product then when it takes the pepsi challenge, this one seems to be faulty.

I'm going to reserve reserving my judgment.

They are superb mate ... Please feel free to pass that on to him.

I'll have a look at it...sq is probably the best I've heard ripped from an LP

Cagey, there's F#ck all wrong with it, its just an excuse to use if anyone doesn't like the rips.

For the 9 files i provided, all of the Houdini files are version B.

Thoughts please

Saying You May have pushed it too far with the weight of the cart is really the same as funk firm admitting they hadnt fully considered the effects of cart weight variance on the function of the product...

If the screws were touching, the rubber peeling or the bonded-in inserts loose then there might be a case for saying something was up. You seem like a thorough guy, so it strikes me this is just a get out of jail free card from FF in case they don't like the results.

Well done comparative rips can't be ignored, certainly not in a sea of marketing rhetoric. They stand as unbiased data points.

The screws were not touching with my 103. I checked. I very much doubt that they were touching with my AT33 either, as I used the same mounting methodology as the 103.

There are not many cartridges that are that heavy, so it is outside of what is expected to normally be used.

Have you heard a Houdini first hand, or just the high quality rips?

I think part of the issue is that once you get to a certain level of quality with a turntable, it is as with everything else, a law of diminishing returns. A Houdini may be awesome on a budget deck, but on a well set up deck, it may add very little.

Who knows?

I have been listening to my system for the last few days, using various different cartridges, but using my headphone set up.
The blurring/wandering of the mid range is not there.
I am using my Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear headphone amp and my HiFiman Sundara, so I am pretty sure that I would hear it if it was happening.

I am sure if I put the Denon “fat boy” 103 back in, it would be there, but I am not going to try it.
I am actually more impressed with the difference it makes on headphones. Maybe there is less distraction as I can isolate myself easier.

Anyway, to aid Arthur is defining the issue, I have cheekily offered to swap the FB103 for the ART-9 he owns, but does not like.
What is the worst thing that can happen? He will say “no” and tell me to F@%* O££.

I need to listen to some more tunes....

It would of ot was dedicated to the heavy cartridge.
I reckon the "Fat Boy" will be off to pastures new soon. I am hatching a plan to buy myself a better cartridge.
I have too many that don't get used.

mean while over on funks facebook page a statement has been made by Arthur.


Matt O'Donoghue ·
Arthur has decided to release a statement regarding recent attempts to demonstrate Houdini through use of digitised samples of analogue recordings in Houdini vs non Houdini setups.
So here goes...
My declared aim since day 1 has been to steadily improve the state of the art in analogue
This came about due to the following:
At school my math master John Shuttleworth was collectively, a renowned pro reviewer, a recording engineer and he owned a record label.
Taking me to recording sessions, he taught me what good recorded sound was (and boy were they good!)
Owning Meridan records, you’d be mistaken (as was I) in thinking he would laud records. Instead he surprised me in the way he disparagingly dismissed this most popular form of music reproduction, referring to them unflatteringly as groove grinders.
Then again, one merely had to hear the difference between his master tape and the record.
“Why did they sound so different and so poor?” That question has underpinned what has turned out to be my life-long obsession to improve the state of the art, and not just for the elites, but for the masses.
A physics degree has served me well for along the way I have been confronted by endless, negative forces continually attempting to thwart my efforts.
40 years on, I’m still here, as are my original ideas. Not one diluted. Why, because I’ve relied on my physics and never sold out. And, that, my friends, brings me neatly round to Houdini, a product that has, so soon, garnered, oh, so many new, (well intentioned?) attacks.
They do say “The path to hell is paved with good intentions”. Really? Let’s see.
I knew Houdini would be in the firing line. Convention be damned, it is my most contentious idea to date and you lot don’t like it. - Any wonder it languished in a drawer for 18 years!
Then again, I’ve been around even longer. It’s my job and I do actually know what I’m doing.
Houdini delivers.
That being the (my) case, how is it then that we claim the differences are night and day, whilst on your side of the fence, you maintain it makes little difference?
How is it we have many users who swear by it?
Mass hypnosis? Trump-esque (Rega-esque, Linn-esque) idolatry or evangelism?
Forums are great for vitriolic attacks. Houdini was no different. Shoot first...Oh, and while you’re at it, don’t bother asking questions.
No one wants to be collaborative; only confrontational. I deal in facts, not personalities. With such a reception, I’ve left you alone. It is only now things have started to veer off-piste, with so-called “facts”, “results” presented, that I have to step in.
The bottom line to the answer is in fact a question:
“Why, when we have CDs, streamers et al, do we bother to listen to records, with all their vagaries, ticks and pops?”
Because for all its failings, analogue has an as yet undefined quality that our brain picks up on. We (our brains) CAN tell differences. The frustrating thing is we still have not got to the bottom of how our brain assimilates these differences, aural resolution, brain refresh rates plus a whole lot of other mumbo jumbo, the technology just isn’t to hand, but we can’t deny that you put a record on and go “I like that”.
Our hobby is just that. We are listening to ANALOGUE.
Enter Houdini. Suddenly everyone, with as much gay abandon as they can muster, positively rushes to digitise it! “Joining the dots” is suddenly taken “as read” as OK. Needle-drops are deemed as the “fair” approach; downloadable A-Bs for everyone to hear and evaluate. And the results contradict honest listeners findings. Is it because the product is poor?
I did caution: “The path to hell”...that being the case, I now turn it around and throw it back.
Seeing they are SO good, using said self-same technology as in these needle-drops, I think you should similarly digitise your entire record collection and throw those bits of 12” plastic in the bin. What possible objection can you have to that?
Unless, of course, you agree that what you’ve done in reality is thrown the proverbial analoguebaby out with the bath water.
Digitising the differences as you have done DOESN’T WORK! How could you think it would?
I know this. We’ve tried it ourselves. I am not so stupid as to miss out on an opportunity to makes sales from what would appear to be a simple home download. We HAVE carried out our own experiments, exhaustively. Hence why to date our marketing does not include this.
Science has rigour attached to it. Not only here but elsewhere, the approach adopted and presented as a fait acomplis, has lacked scientific rigour. Where’s the check and balance?
The employed technology is not up to it, something all too easily verified.
The ultimate check and balance here is in fact a simple, straight A-B, best exemplified by using two identical arms on one deck.
Might I suggest, Funk’s two-arm SDG? A deck with immaculate credentials.
For arms, perhaps a couple of modest, old, RB 250s?
To compensate, only fair we use two VERY High-Resolution cartridges. AT 760SLCs? If you wish but at a whole £40 each, I put forward as ideal, Audio Technica’s AT 95Es.
Jumping up, plugging and unplugging from the amp. I’m lazy: Throw in a simple switch box. And there we have it: 1 deck. Bo!ngs. Achromat. Houdini. RB250s. AT 95Es, 1 Switch.
As for the record(ings)? Something with dynamics to really drive the rig.
Then it is down to listening: A? B? Including my claim of turning up the wick.
Clearly I’m talking from a privileged, elevated position because I’ve done all this. Fortunately, the kit can be heard for yourselves in Catford, in our listening studio.
Bring your own records. The tea is on us.
Too far? Don’t know / trust the system? OK. I’ll go one better. I’ll bring the kit to you.
In your own system. No smoke. No mirrors. The results to be made public.
Here’s the problem: Following member’s highly vitriolic initial post, this offer was already made weeks ago. At the time it was vociferously (and highly offensively, (why?), I have to add) rejected! Any wonder I’m suspicious of motives?
Yes, you WILL hear the differences I have cited, and that others have heard.
Oh. It’s a budget system and so it doesn’t impress you. You’d expect differences under those circumstances, maintaining that top notch kit would detract from Houdini’s efficacy.
Here’s the thing. Funk DOES also make some of the lowest resonance, highest resolving, sweetest sounding arms available.
Does Houdini perform less with Funk’s FX3 fitted with exotic cartridges?
Better cartridges merely provide more texture. AT95s give you that in spades already.
That leaves only the arm question. Bottom line: The differences are equally valid with FX3, gimbal, SME V, Graham, uni-pivot and so on. I’ve tried them all.
The answer then is “No. It doesn’t dilute the results”. You can do the test open or blind.
The results are consistent, instantly, immediately and irrevocably apparent and they stand.
THAT is the way to evaluate, by listening to a deck and NOT via a data-limited, synthesised digitised recording, because now we have the proof: In this setup, you can repeat the recordings when you’ll have double data sets to evaluate. The live A-B and the recordings. Unlike using a Studer, Nagra or Revox of old, when the comparisons would be equivalent to the record, these commonly decodable recordings will be found to fall short. Period.
I do assure you, if ever you wanted proof that analogue is qualitatively different to the current, general state of the digital art, this experiment demonstrates it. I’ll leave you “scientists” and “engineers” to make your excuses, explain the differences in the results.
What started out as another of my offerings has very quickly become politicised for reasons unknown, but I do have my own ideas.
The path to hell is paved with good intentions. Well, I can tell you, by your arrogance, you have caused genuine harm.
Sadly, making friends under these conditions is hard.
In the words of Labi Sifri, the higher you build the wall, the taller I become...
I have to say it’s pretty lonely up here!
I can only repeat, my JOB is to improve the lot of the analogue world for the greater good of us all and, by elimination, conning people is not in that brief.

Keep well and safe.
Kind regards,
Arthur Khoubesserian