Black Friday and New Year Sales: Audiomania Experience

Our showroom on m. Elektrozavodskaya

In the 28th issue of the Sound podcast, we discuss the New Year sales and deal with the topic of the double-blind method , which many questions came up in the Russian-language iTunes.
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Dmitry: This year Black Friday was held in Audiomania. It began on November 26 (2015), on Thursday evening. I wonder how it went.

Timofey: It should have started, to be sure. This year something went wrong. At 19 o'clock nothing started for them. And at 20 o'clock nothing started. I doubt that next year the official website of the promotion will be needed.

Our own activity has brought quite good results even without an aggregator site that gave errors on transitions. A person clicking on our banner, instead of getting to our site, got on some page with the inscription “Oh, something went wrong.” This is already a familiar thing after the past and the year before last.

We decided to actively work with our site , made a lot of good offers and due to this we got good sales at the time of the start of the action, when we (and some other projects) were simply not on the site aggregator. Other projects were present, something worked, something did not work. In general, it was fun.

Dmitry: If to clarify, then this is such a large aggregator of all kinds of goods that can only be in Russian e-commerce and are sold at a discount on Black Friday. If you look from the point of view of acoustics and audio, what products that are most interesting for promotion can be noted on this day? What causes the greatest interest?

Timofey: Traditionally, the interest of low-cost electronics of the middle segment, which after serious discounts becomes available to a wide range of people, not only the middle class, but everyone. The situation is similar with acoustics. This time we decided not to display the products of the “ Do it yourself ” section and various accessories so that the most interesting products were more noticeable.

On the one hand, it turned out, on the other hand, we received feedback from some buyers that they were going to buy speakers and cables, and on our Black Friday these products were not announced. In addition to this promotion, we hold a New Year's sale, which takes place in December. This is a much longer tradition. In the framework of this action there are cables and everything else. Discounts are always good.

Dmitry: This is interesting. Black Friday, one way or another, is associated with Western culture and Christmas. Here, an interesting approach to the Russian realities and the restructuring of the action on New Year's Eve, adaptation to our features.

Timofey: Yes. By the way, about the traditions in general. This year I noticed an interesting thing. In the previous two years there were a lot of skeptics - companies that did not take this event very seriously, that it was possible to get new clients there.

We are often asked about why all this is needed at all, what is the point of trading in a minus or zero. In fact, on Black Friday, we get a lot of new customers. We are talking about people who have not previously interacted in any way with our company.

Unlike other major players who are interested only in the first order, we are interested in the customer on an ongoing basis. Black Friday aftertaste lasts a long time. We continue to work with these people, and they buy goods without discounts. There are, of course, people who are chasing after discounts and buying only in this way, and without discounts they are not interested in anything.

Fortunately, a large number of people are no longer interested in discounts, but in goods and specific offers. This year there was just an insane amount of vendors on Black Friday’s official website. This was not the case in the past, especially the year before last. It turned out that companies that rely on large traffic did not really receive it. The effect was not as predicted.

I have already spoken about this, and next year it is not at all the fact that we will participate in this project. We will make discounts, of course. We will not part with our tradition. Our hot price , which is traditionally held in December, will continue. Black Friday is likely to fade away.

Global negative about the stock as a whole in the market comes from all sides. And from the side of buyers, because many sellers, instead of making a discount, simply put a price alongside, and crossed out the old one as a price before the discount. This is stupid.

It would seem, looking at the experience of previous years, it was possible to draw conclusions that this approach does not work. People all understand this perfectly. There is a search engine cache, there are regular customers who come to the site, looking at prices. When the action starts, people understand that nothing has changed in prices except for their display on the site.

Dmitry: Well, in many respects I had to struggle with the wave of this misunderstanding and to prove that the prices are really real.

Timofey: By the way, we don’t have to prove. This has never happened before. Maybe there were a couple of questions from people who are far from the topic and saw some expensive product at a discount, and did not believe that the discount was real. What is the problem? It's easy to check.

Now there are no problems with this, so we have no such questions. If we put a discount, then it is real.



Dmitry: In this light, New Year's sale is a promising and good thing that will leave a longer effect. Which categories other than make-it-yourself products should be included in this promotion?

Timofey: All categories are interesting. I think that people who are indifferent to Christmas and New Year's sales simply do not exist. Everyone wants to buy something for a more "tasty" price. December is a great time for this. We are also actively moving in the direction of professional equipment and musical instruments . Who often happens on our site, already sees it.

We have a lot of completely new brands that we have not previously engaged in. I think in the next 2-3 months we will have a lot of musical instruments. Already appeared guitars . In general, we are moving in a new direction. Of course, this is not very easy. There are always some pitfalls, but I think everything will work out.



Dmitry: This is interesting. The main thing is not to stand still. Development always requires some effort. On the other hand, the process itself is enjoyable.

Timofey: Yes. The main thing is that this development is consistent with the concept of business. Peas for 28 rubles, we will not sell. We are just about music and audio: home, portable, professional. We are still Audiomania. We will never be an aggregator or a supermarket. This is not in the plans, we do not even discuss it.

Dmitry: Then we will return to a very specific topic in the world of audio and sound. There are many questions on the double-blind test. People are interested in what we think about this and how we evaluate this approach, what is its meaning, what is the secret.

It seems to me that it is worth pushing off from the approach as a whole, which allows you to evaluate this or that acoustics, the sound of this or that instrument with your ears. Is it worth it to do in showrooms, come to the shops? Or is it worth relying on your own instinct, taking it from friends, using some other approach?

Timofey: Regarding the topic of audio, I don’t know whether blind tests are necessary or not. Most often they talk about it when someone tries to prove something to someone. For example, a skeptic tries to prove that different cables sound the same, that anti-vibration accessories do not work, that the speakers sound the same, that MP3 is no different from lossless, and so on.

There are still useless tests that a static picture through one HDMI cable corresponds to a static picture through another HDMI cable. The main problem of all these tests is the preparation and conditions for the testing itself.

All this is at the amateur level. It is very difficult to adequately conduct this test. For example, you can put expensive speakers and equipment and check the difference in the sound of some cables, but at the same time take as a source of musical material, which is obtained from MP3. It does not make sense because this musical material will sound equally bad.



Former AV Cafe. Now - one more showroom of Audiomania on m. University

Dmitry: It seems to me that this should be taken as a scientific experiment, where certain conditions must be met for its “purity”.

Timofey: Of course, any experiment must be "clean." I heard how people took household testers and tried to measure cable resistance or inductance with them. This is such a nonsense. Devices have a certain error. It is foolish to use a device to measure the difference with a large error, which is within the limits of this error. It makes no sense.

Even if we take anti-vibration accessories that we give people to try home, in particular Cold Ray cones, there are situations when a person comes home, puts them under equipment, turns on, listens. He does not immediately understand whether there is a difference. We can provide them for a week or two, and within this time a person listens to music and understands that there is no difference, and decides to return the accessories to the store.

What happens next: a person removes cones from under the apparatus, turns on the music to make sure that he is right. At this point, he realizes that something from the music is gone, and he is no longer ready to return the accessories to the store.

Plays a role and the situation, and what is heard and how to listen. A psychological question also exists, especially when two people try to prove something to each other. When talking about the different sound equipment with some cables, for example.

Dmitry: Still, a double-blind test should be taken as a laboratory experiment, an experiment in a vacuum, when people are trying to prove their concept and understanding in the heat of their argument. This leads to separation from the specific realities of life that allow a person to live or not to live in comfort in accordance with his taste wishes.

In pursuit of the truth from one direction or another, which most likely does not correspond to the reality of both one and the other, people simply come to be detached from any practical application.

Timofey: Yes.

Dmitry: That is, there is no particular truth in this.

Timofey: On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, no. The double-blind method, when even the person conducting the experiment does not know which cable and source is used in this case, of course, this is correct. Another question is that often these experiments are not carried out in order to select a component.

People are trying to get subjects to determine which component or cable is more expensive and which is cheaper. This can be compared to wine, when people are given bottles without labels, two glasses are poured and asked to say which wine is more expensive and which is cheaper. At this moment, the meaning of the test is replaced by the interest of the person who conducts this test. But does it really matter which is cheaper and which is more expensive?

I have always wondered why this particular question is asked to people who participate in the test as subjects. If I like some kind of wine, I drink it and buy it for the holidays. What is the difference, it is expensive or cheap, if I like it. A similar approach can be applied to acoustics. This is a subjective thing: there is taste, and here is the ear.

I listen to music to get some positive emotions. I want to get the maximum of these emotions and for this I buy some, perhaps, expensive equipment. There is marketing, and everybody understood perfectly well that not necessarily a better thing would cost more. There are cases when a cheap product is quite good quality.

This may be part of a brand development concept. In my opinion, we must try. If we really conduct such tests, then our task should not be a comparison of expensive and cheap, our task should be a comparison of what is better and what is worse.

All this is very subjective and the result is suitable for a particular person. At this moment it turns out that the very meaning of the experiment is lost. How to draw conclusions if you sit ten people, and five will say that they like one option, and five - that the other? What does it mean? Does this mean that an expensive cable is bad or a cheap cable is good, or acoustics, or a source? This does not mean anything.

Dmitry: This means that one person liked one set of equipment, and another - another. These are quite rigid restrictions, and here we are talking about such acoustic individualism, when a person cannot spread his personal opinion and convince everyone that only he is right, and everyone should like only what he likes.

Timofey: That's the thing. I am quite skeptical about the idea of ​​conducting such tests. You need to understand what we conclude. Suppose we are testing sources or DACs, or even usb cables. It would seem that everywhere is a solid figure, but there are nuances. For example, few people know that audio is fed over a usb cable using a specific protocol, which is different from the protocol used to transfer normal data. This is not what people think. They believe that the cable is digital.

We have already talked about this, but, nevertheless, I repeat, there are no digital cables. Any cable is an analogue, and the figure is just a representation of the information at the entrance to this cable and at the output. Therefore, there can be no digital transmission in the cable. This is only an interpretation.



New Audiomania website

I had such a funny argument with one friend on the forum. I told him that the equipment may sound differently if we replace the network cable from the complete to the decent one. He said that this could not be, because all network cables carry 220 of the outlet to the equipment. And if you need to use a good cable, then it is necessary to carry out power from the power line. And only then it makes sense, otherwise it is impossible, because noodles can even go to the outlet.

Indeed, not necessarily a very high-quality cable can go to the outlet. To do this, there are surge protectors that plug into the outlet. And already from the network filters connect the equipment with decent cables. A person from the forum said that this would not work.

He had a rather active subscriber base, and a lot of people supported him, naturally without experience in such an audition. I say to him: “Well, come. I will turn it on to you, you will listen with your ears and then you will tell with yours. That there were no questions, we will connect one option, we will connect another option. And then you will say what you think. "

He came and listened. And the conclusion was: “Yes, there is a difference. I do not understand why. I thought there is a 6th grade high school physics. I thought that was enough to explain what was going on in the wires. ” Unfortunately, physics of the 6th grade is not enough, it is true.

He hears this difference, he does not understand how to explain it. He wrote about this post, that he did not understand anything, but he heard the difference, and asked him to forget about it quickly, because everyone just said that this was not the case.

Dmitry: Living in a new reality is not very familiar.

Timofey: And this, by the way, is a classic. I have old acquaintances who still listen to the acoustics acquired many years ago. They think it's great. Every time a conversation comes that you can come to us and listen to something, I warn them that there will be no way back.

On the one hand, it’s great to learn something new, on the other hand, it is always quite a serious danger, because a person finds out that there is something much better, and you’ll want to throw away something that is at home.

Dmitry: Well, yes, it is already necessary to transport old friends to the garage.

Timofey: But this immediately entails additional costs and time. If the person did not know about it, he would have existed perfectly well further. As Zhvanetsky had: “You will think all your life that she loves you, and she will tell you this, and you will not know the truth, and you will live happily ...”.

Maybe the person was happy with everything, but here he learned that there is a completely different life, and his favorite music sounds absolutely not the way he used to. He will have to urgently buy other equipment.

Dmitry: Often such discoveries take place during personal listening in a particular store, showroom or boutique, which is specially equipped for competent listening to acoustics.

Timofey: Yes.

Dmitry: Now there are more such opportunities than seven years ago.

Timofey: Recently there was an exhibition Moscow Hi-End Show. Traditionally, such exhibitions on Hi-Fi and Hi-End are held in hotels, where every hotel room is some kind of company. The hotel room is not designed to listen to something there: the configuration of the room itself and a lot of extra things that can not be dismantled or endured.



Digital acoustic proofreader DSPeaker Anti-Mode 8033S-II

We always use a digital acoustic equalizer - a device that is placed in the gap between the source and the amplifier. A special microphone is connected to it. The microphone listens to what is produced at the output, and corrects the signal.

This is not an equalizer, it is a much smarter thing that makes different adjustments at different frequencies. It so happened that before the exhibition we sold all acoustic correctors, and we had nothing to bring. This is not a very pleasant situation. On the other hand, we were occasionally scolded that we, unlike our neighbors, use such devices. It's like doping in sports - you can't use it.

This time we did not use it, and the impressions were similar.In fact, there is a difference, there are better conditions, there are worse conditions, but to hear how this or that acoustics or equipment with this acoustics sounds is not necessarily possible in a specially prepared room.

Of course, in each room with different equipment, with different sound material, the equipment and acoustics sound differently. Starts to play dishes in the closet, even the walls begin to play and play along. This is inevitable if we are not in a specially prepared room.

Our showrooms, for example, are not drowned out. They look like ordinary rooms, only devoid of plates, glasses, spoons. This does not interfere, but in general, the listening experience is similar to the one that a person will receive at home.

Returning to the topic of tests, which, as a rule, begin with a dispute between skeptics, audiophiles and music lovers, it is worth saying that quite often at exhibitions we hear opinions of ordinary people who went into the next room and listened to the equipment for 3-4 million, and then came to us and heard the equipment for 100 thousand.

They do not understand why you need to pay 4 million for that equipment, when the equipment for 100 thousand sounds better. From the height of my experience, I would advise not to prove anything to anyone. There is no need for this. You have an opinion, someone has a different opinion, and let it remain so.

A dispute is perhaps a good thing, but it’s not really easy to conduct a truly full-fledged blind test. It is not always easy to ensure a proper level of training and to select equipment and materials so as to keep the experiment clean.

All this is more than subjective, and an attempt to prove that the equipment sounds better with a cheap cable has the right to exist. It really can be true.

If you draw a graph of sound quality, nuances and impressions of the price, then at some point the graph will change dramatically. Investing in these nuances will greatly increase. Each small share of the improvement in this sound has to be paid in quite a large amount. It is a fact.

I would advise to always remember this. In the lower price range with a small increase in the amount of money, the sound quality increases significantly. The place where the chart starts to bend in the direction of increasing prices is the most optimal investment of money, I think.

Dmitry: Now the development of technology is at such a level that it makes no sense to spend millions. For reasonable money, you can get quality that is already sufficient and high. It allows you to enjoy using a good source, source data and material. Many people forget about the material and try to compare it on MP3 versions.

Timofey:Yes. In fact, it all depends on the task. If you plan to put the equipment in the room in which the designer worked, in which everything is beautiful and well matched to each other, it is impossible to put the usual black speakers there. Acoustics is an element of the interior, if it stands and can be seen. You can not ignore it. At some moments you have to overpay for the design.

Dmitry: This is a compromise. Depending on the specific tasks. If it is more important for a person to enter something in a pleasant interior and observe some color preferences that do not always allow the manufacturer to buy the product in its original configuration, maybe something has to be ordered additionally.

Timofey:I really like the comparison with the clothing market. There is a girl, she sees some beautiful dress in the window, comes in and buys a gray blouse. In our theme in the role of a gray blouse, as a rule, black columns, despite the fact that now there are a lot of colors and a lot of interesting things.

For example, the acoustics of Penaudio look quite unusual. Various veneers are used and Finnish plywood. People watch, open their mouths and then still buy in black lacquer or black satin, as is now fashionable.

Varnish gradually goes out of fashion, includes matte colors, pleasant to the touch coating. It really works, and we have a lot of such options. However, black color remains very popular.

Dmitriy:Why not if people like it. The main criterion is personal preferences.

Timofey: Yes. Return again to the tests. I would like to encourage people to conduct these tests not for the purpose of proving something to someone, but to choose for themselves this or that equipment, certain components and accessories that will allow you to listen to music with great pleasure, with great feelings and reach the depths the soul. We are music lovers, we listen to music, let others listen to the equipment.

PS For those who would like to please relatives, friends and colleagues with a good sound for Valentine's Day, Defender of the Fatherland and International Women's Day, we have prepared a special selection of musical gifts with good discounts.