5 Audiophile Products That Didn’t Hold Up Under Scrutiny

In theory, you can sort of understand why someone might have concerns about electrical interference with their music playback. Speakers convert electrical signals to sound, after all, and cleaner power must equal cleaner sound, right? Not to mention, sometimes people notice a humming noise from different components of a computer. 

The truth is that “audiophile” solutions for reducing electrical hum from your computer crossing over to its audio output are inert at best and harmful at worst. In 2020 and 2023, YouTuber Linus Tech Tips tested various — relatively inexpensive by audiophile standards, thankfully — audiophile “filter” components from Elfidelity, and they didn’t appear to do anything they promised.

The initial tests were on a PCI Express card supposedly filtering noise in your computer. The mechanics of it were murky, and Linus noticed no difference with the device installed. 

In the second round, Linus and his team purchased various other Elfidelity products, some of which made sense in theory (passthrough filters) and some that were nonsense on their faces (a “filter” that plugged into empty RAM slots for some reason). The tests were simple: Record an “empty” line input with and without the filters, both at idle and while stress testing the PC. Without the filters, there was noise. With the filters, the noise was worse, not better. It turned out the filters did the opposite of what they’d said, more disappointing than Linus’s expectation that they’d simply do nothing.