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Biggest audio hoaxes

Often when people discuss audio, they talk about "snake oil" or "hoaxes."

It's pretty typical to use the term hoax as a tactic against another who disagrees with one, or holds an unusual opinion or vouches for something which has not been verified. That's not what I mean by a "hoax." 

By "hoax" I mean an audio product or claim which has been pretty definitively disproved. Maybe not to everyone's satisfaction, but to common consensus.

So -- with that definition of hoax in mind, what are some of the biggest audiophile hoaxes you've heard of?
128x128hilde45
sugabooger
89 posts
 
#2 are Bose noise canceling headphones. In this case it’s not that the technolgy doesn’t work, it does, but that the R&D was paid for by you, the US taxpayer, to the tune of over $100 M dollars. Bose received a DoD contract to develop noise canceling technology, and after failing to deliver any usable device or technology the DoD pulled the plug. The $100M written off.

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Bose released their first noise cancelling aviation headset in 1989.

They started selling headsets to the military in 1993. Selling them, not starting R&D, but selling. The military started ordering an improved version in 1997.

Consumer noise cancelling by Bose was released in 2000.

I think we found what the hoax is here.  p.s. They employ 9,000 people and have sales of $3.5-4 billion. How much corporate, sales and income tax does that represent?
sugabooger
89 posts
 
hilde45 OP1,954 posts05-18-2021 7:06amI would love to have some kind of noise cancelling system for a listening room. A bit pie in the sky, but people have spent a lot for what seems a lot less plausible.

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Not that we got it to work very well, but I have my name on a patent for an outdoor noise cancelling system for road noise.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,828 posts
 
Not that we got it to work very well, but I have my name on a patent for an outdoor noise cancelling system for road noise.
One day humans will invent advanced technology to add a silencer to yard machines. And white noise truck beepers.
sugabooger
89 posts
 
I think they already have that for yard machines. It is called battery powered. I don't have any wife audio stories, but my wife will cut the lawn with our Toro electric mower.
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cleeds
5,960 posts
 
sugabooger
Bose noise canceling headphones ... the R&D was paid for by you, the US taxpayer, to the tune of over $100 M dollars. Bose received a DoD contract to develop noise canceling technology, and after failing to deliver any usable device or technology the DoD pulled the plug. The $100M written off ... I think we found what the hoax is here. p.s. They employ 9,000 people and have sales of $3.5-4 billion.
Do have have any documentation of this "hoax"?
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