Audioquest vs. Others

i think if your mentality is an inline 4 is a broken V8 and that things like silver, dbs , etc are “ free “ then you are correct. I think expecting a usb stick to perform well in a reference system is a great leap…

I certainly like the AQ cables in my systems, but i have others Nordost and Kimber are also well represented.

Having said all that, IMO AQ could streamline things with fewer offerings….

Interesting comments about cables being purposefully broken. (PC word for sabotaged) I never thought of it before, but it does make sense and quite believable. I will keep that in mind henceforth.

@tomic601

To use your analogy, I think broken is more like the V8 with 4 plugs pulled sold as the 4 banger. I can see why a company would do that - you want a lower priced cable to pull new customers, but it mustn’t be so good that they don’t upgrade to the more expensive one. Cost wise, breaking your top of range table to make a lower model saves you a bundle in research costs, and you can "tune" the gap in performance to give folks a nice bump each time they invest more. Not too much, not to little. Reward your customers just enough to keep them wanting to take that next step. You reel them in all the way to the top.

Borderline immoral, but smart. Brilliant actually.

yes indeed, silver is so much cheaper than copper…

I would also consider Kimber in the same price ranges. Their better interconnects are really good.

yes indeed, silver is so much cheaper than copper…

Price is determined by supply and demand. The willingness of what the target market is willing to pay and the estimated sales numbers. Companies put a lot of thought in pricing the models in their range. Companies will sell a product at a loss as long as they cover operating costs and the sale results in an advantage over the longer term. 

Economics 101

Many companies have products that double in price as you go up in the range. It is an impossibility that production costs would double up like that.