Ajani:
the_lhc:Ajani:FrankHarveyHiFi:I see they're already slagging off the competitionwithout even an A/B demo.... It's interesting how much of that occurs in HiFi... I can name so many brands that claim to offer "the best products available at any price" and other such nonsense... Sometimes I wonder if delusions of grandeur are a prerequisite for building good gear....No, that's just marketing, you expect companies to talk up their own products, it's when they start slagging off everyone else's that it moves into dodgy territory. They wouldn't be allowed to in an advert (in the UK at least) but it appears nothing happens if they do it in a more informal setting.
I don't really see a meaningful differences between claiming my product is the best available versus directly saying that my competitor's products are inferior to mine...
In the first instance all you're saying is "We're the best!", you're not actually mentioning anyone else's products at all, in the second instance, at least wrt what this thread is talking about you're actively naming other brands and putting them down. There's a big difference there.
I might be more readily able to avoid lawsuits for one claim versus the other, but in spirit they amount to the same claim...
No, they really don't, one is positive marketing of your own products, the other is distinctly negative discussion of someone else's products.
Also, I've seen several brands that readily diss the competition (or at least the competition's technology - SS vs Tubes, Class A/B vs D, etc)...
See there again, you can "diss" a particular technology, without actually attacking a rival manufacturer, technology is speaking in generalities, it's not the same as picking out a particular brand and claiming them to be rubbish.