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Hype, Hyperbole and high price!

Okay, I understand that this site has to make money by having advertisers, but cheese and crackers, the claims that are made are just laughable if not down right criminal!  Before I attended an engineering university I too was duped into buying expensive wires and such.  Now, armed with an engineering and physics background, I can see through the BS claims made.  I try and not let it get in the way of my enjoyment of good quality stereo equipment, but when a salesman tries to sell me something based on testimonials, hype and hyperbole, I tell him politely my background and then ask him a series of questions which leaves him dumbfounded. 

Such crap as directional wires - (I used to work for both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman) and trust me, if we had to test the miles of wires for directionality in every piece of equipment built...well you get the gist.

I have friends that are audio snobs and although they argue with me (Basically buyer's remorse) they know that what I say is true and end the conversation.  Oh well, I suppose I will continue to get a headache when I read said claims.

Sigh!
128x128kenny928
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,878 posts
 
marqmike, I had completely forgotten about that ad and now remember it all too well. I never ran any faster nor jumped any higher but I did feel better wearing them. 

All the best,
Nonoise

grm
149 posts
 
Hi, newbie here. I was interested in this supercharged forum and decided I wanted to positively contribute. First, I'm a college student that could never afford some of the cables talked about in this forum, however, even with my limited experience, I must say that not all interconnects sound alike. I can say this because the first "high-end" cables I purchased from an authorized dealer (too many fakes out there unfortunately) was a set of Kimber Silver Streaks. I found the streaks to sound much better to "my" ears than the cables that were included in the box. Anyway, looking at the Kimbers design, being so simple, I decided I would copy them and build my own to save BIG$. Obtained some braided (3 conductor) wire and some decent looking RCA connectors. I used a silver solder to the terminations, 1 for signal and 2 for ground. Bottom line, they sounded absolutely terrible! I was so disappointed! What in the world was the difference?? Was it because the Kimbers used silver for the signal line?? I just don't know... I ended up populating my system with both balanced and single ended Silver Streaks with no desire to look back. I always wondered what a set of cables costing more than the component your connecting it to would sound like, I must believe there comes a point of diminishing returns as well as "drinking by the label". Lastly I believe, case-in-point, that there is a very loose correlation of price vs performance. I say this because again, I have my PC connected to my CDP/DAC using a TOSLINK cable because I had a nasty ground loop hum with COAX. The TOSLINK cables I tried came from AR and another from Monster, the AR cable sounded different, not actually better, just different. How could this be? It's a digital signal, should they not sound the same? Anyway, I found this website called HDTVHookup and I purchased a no-name generic 280 fiber Glass cable for $22, wow, what a difference!!??? I apologize in advance for being so verbose, please excuse.    
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,281 posts
 

Obviously those who’ve been around and know the system need no warnings.

Its those trying to learn still that might appreciate hearing the old news discussed again.

Maybe idealistic young folks with technical knowledge might make things better in the future if able to withstand the constant pressure to just accept things the way they are.

I’m trying to look at this from the perspective of an intelligent young engineering student or engineer who does not have money to burn (yet hopefully) who wants to cut through all the malarkey and have the best system they can for whatever they can afford. That was me almost 40 years ago.  I fell for a lot of gimmicks back then as part of my pursuit on a limited budget and feel foolish in hindsight.

Maybe if the travesty of many colleges (not all) putting students into deep debt immediately just to get a college education (some would say the equivalent of a high school degree years ago) is addressed they might be able to afford expensive items of questionable value sooner. I’m not holding my breath on that one though.....

marqmike
839 posts
 

Same here nonoise. However with a little spin the little black superball I could bounce over my garage. That was fun until ....

Kenny 928 I am glad that was fun for you. It's funny to me now as much as when I was a kid. That is what our hobby relaxing fun hobby is suppose to be about isn't it?

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