I got this hilarious write-up forwarded to me yesterday. I love it. It wouldn’t be funny if people didn’t actually buy crap like that, though. As evidence:
The pseudoscience associated with electronics has a long and flowery past. There are the magic sound improving stereo knobs and magnets that purify the energy lines. Hogwash, and hilarious. In that order. I want to feel sorry for the dupes who fall for this stuff, but they aren’t falling for unsophistocated traps here; these are bona fide scams working here.
So I’m torn; but I’ll get over it as soon as I see the next magic cable for sale.
We hire a “golden ear” to listen to our audio products to make sure we get the equalizer settings correct. He makes good money at that job.
If you ever get to go to the consumer electronics show held every January in Vegas, you have to go off strip to the high end audio venue. This is where you don’t have to be an audiophile to hear for yourself that your Sony and Bose equipment are really pedestrian level garbage. Sure, the few German engineers that believe the jacket color of the speaker wire make a difference are a bit much, but when you hear your favorite song, played on vinyl (our ears work in analog, CDs are digital and throw out massive amounts of data points) it is breathtaking.
So, listening to a CD (still with 1980’s bit rate technology) on a Sony with your Bose, even our Golden Ear wouldn’t be able to tell the difference in cables.
It is worth the trip to Vegas to hear what $180,000 sounds like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVtaZ5A29h8
http://www.mbl-usa.com/
Chris-
I love good audio. Too bad I just don’t have the money to spend on a solid setup. But I wouldn’t appreciate it, either (though I think my Pink Floyd and Moody Blues deserve it).
And that’s partly the point- and yours if I read the last bit correctly. I can tell the difference between DVDA and CDA, but I haven’t seen a study published yet where a single person can reliably tell the difference between zip cord and “high end” wire. The JREF (http://www.randi.org) has loads of references to tests and abject failures of the snake oil on offer in this realm.
So high end engineering, electronics and speakers: good.
Majik buttons, window stickies and $100 a foot speaker wire: ridiculous.