foxwelljsly
Me too, I ate one sour too.
I notice that the manufacturers domain is now up for grabs, which strikes me as unsurprising.
€500 vs €900 HIFI USB CABLE Comparison...
- Thread starter GT
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awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
Rockmeister
pfm Member
what happens to a bit of digital code when it goes down a 'bad' cable?
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
I couldn't afford to (and wouldn't) spend that sort of money on a cable. But if I can get them free or very cheap, and can hear a difference, then why not use them? It turns out that I have about £6k "worth" of cables now! Until I was able to get them cheap, I generally made my own. Some are still in use as they sound better than the expensive ones, but I'm not proud; I will use whatever suits my system and my ears, whatever they cost, or don't. And if someone can afford, and prefers, expensive cables (or anything else), what's the harm? Except to the blood pressure of the haters.
BTW, the £1000 one I use has a separate PSU, which I had to rebuild. I would imagine that is what makes the difference, but I'm an audiophile, not an EE.
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
Isn't the transmission along the cable actually analogue? That is, it has a rise and fall time, possibly ringing, etc, and is converted back to digital on/off at the receiving end? But as I say, I'm no engineer.
radamel
Music Fiend
In both cases I paid a fraction of the retail price. But if someone can afford and is willing to pay full price, I agree with you, what's the harm?
Yes. This is what people constantly miss. They think 'it's digital init?' and assume there is therefore no possibility of error but it's not that simple. Different digital transmission systems work in different ways so can be effected by cables to a greater or lesser degree. For example, there are sound technical reasons why SPDIF coax cables sound different and poor ones can degrade the sound but HDMI is a different system and more or less either works perfectly or your picture is broken.
USB I've never looked at but I don't get how the prices of these audiophile cables are arrived at? A shop here was selling ex-dem cables for £4000 !! What the heck? There are new cables that cost £10'000 or more. You can buy an entire car for that. What materials and assembly procedures could you possibly be using that would add up to that kind of retail price? That's what gets me. Sure, some cables can sound different but when they are so obviously shafting you on price they can keep them.
I also think it's funny the way, whether it's cables or cartridge bodies, the rarer and more expensive the material the better it's supposed to sound. Why? Do the electrons know that they're going along something hard to find so behave themselves better?? Where is the logic behind the idea that being rare makes something better suited to a practical application?
awkwardbydesign
Officially Awesome
Perhaps the "practical application" is "You can't afford it, but I can!"
Beobloke
pfm Member
A steamer, you say? Well, I've got one of them in the kitchen for the veg but that hasn't got a USB socket either.
I know there are people who think nothing of the price or will actively buy things because they are more expensive. I'm not wealthy, I could go out tomorrow and buy a £1000 cable if I wanted to I suppose, but I wouldn't because I resent being taken for a mug. My sister is very wealthy, think she has Moon stuff just now, but she'll walk past a cafe if the prices in the window are too high.
It's the principal of the thing. Maybe a £10'000 cable does sound better than a £30 one but even if I was a millionaire I'd object to being treated like a fool.
John Phillips
pfm Member
It's difficult to not conclude that the people who produce copy for most audio magazines want someone else to pay them to pursue their hobby. And pay them to pursue it at a luxury level.
Most seem to have become vehicles more for entertainment than information. A bit like Top Gear which understood this perfectly well and, entertainingly, made fun of the point with the help of Mr. Needham.
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Has anyone noticed whether pictures taken by a digital camera are better when the .jpgs are transferred to the computer using a high-end videophile USB cable? I think you should do the test blind so you aren't biased by your expectations.
I just did and I can say the difference is astounding. You'd have to be deaf not to see it.
Download using the cheap USB cable that came in the box
Download using $10,000 videophile USB cable
The tones in the second image are undoubtedly richer and note how the whiskers are much clearer.
Joe
I just did and I can say the difference is astounding. You'd have to be deaf not to see it.
Download using the cheap USB cable that came in the box
Download using $10,000 videophile USB cable
The tones in the second image are undoubtedly richer and note how the whiskers are much clearer.
Joe
Oh yes, 100%. American market is nuts, they love conspicuous consumption.
I had the chance recently to try the Skogrand Beethoven cable which rocks in at $20k in my system against various others. My wife (who has very good ears) preferred a £300 DIY job. At the margin, I preferred the Skogrand but would happily live with the £300 and wouldn't buy the Skogrand even if it were a 1/10th of the price. I think my wife's words were "that's immoral". Hard not to agree!