The Audio Cable Fraud (With Ethan Winer)

[ToppingSMSL]

View: https://youtu.be/hOoub4D1O7k?si=-Y9igDYee0AWJmDr​

An interesting video here on a point which many consumer audiophiles like to brush under the carpet.​

 

[manicm]

Cabling may be red herring, but I err towards superstition that my wallet will allow. So for HDMI I turn to the inexpensive Audioquest Pearl HDMI cable, and for hifi whereas before I used to turn to budget Chord stuff, I likely will turn to to Audioquest again.

They just give me a warm fuzzy feeling without emptying my account.

 

[ToppingSMSL]

Cabling may be red herring, but I err towards superstition that my wallet will allow. So for HDMI I turn to the inexpensive Audioquest Pearl HDMI cable, and for hifi whereas before I used to turn to budget Chord stuff, I likely will turn to to Audioquest again.

They just give me a warm fuzzy feeling without emptying my account.

I wouldnt give Audioquest or Chord Co any of my money. They are scammers.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I'm moving this into the accessories section, where it belongs. Besides, all the world needs in these fractious times is yet another cable thread...

 

[ToppingSMSL]

I'm moving this into the accessories section, where it belongs. Besides, all the world needs in these fractious times is yet another cable thread...

Cable threads are more important for people's bank accounts than you may think.

 

[Al ears]

Cable threads are more important for people's bank accounts than you may think.

True, although those with vast bank accounts don't worry about cable threads...

 

[Gray]

True, although those with vast bank accounts don't worry about cable threads...

He meant they prevent some (otherwise normal) people from wasting their money.

 

[Entrigo]

View: https://youtu.be/hOoub4D1O7k?si=-Y9igDYee0AWJmDr​

An interesting video here on a point which many consumer audiophiles like to brush under the carpet.​

😂😂👏👏

Love this.

Exact same reponse I got from my sound tech brother when I told him I had bought a £40 phono cable and a £40 mains conditioner 🤣. Wish I had known sooner but good that I did before I went on to buy new speaker cable and "upgrade" all my other interconnects...

 

[F8lee]

Two things come to mind when I see these discussions about the wire scam stuff:
1 - when I managed a decent sized New Orleans photography store decades ago, we had to compete on price with the big mail order outfits on the prices of cameras and lenses, and since they purchased in much larger quantities and got better pricing than we did there was almost no profit on that $500 camera. However, by telling them that a clear filter is needed to "protect" the front lens element, we got the full 100% markup on the filter. Mind you, even back then I recall the Nikon rep showing us how hard the coating on the lens was by smushing out his cigarette on one and wiping it with a cloth, but convincing the customer that the UV filter was needed for protection worked 90% of the time.
2- numerous experiments have shown us that people are convinced that the beer poured from a colored bottle is better than the (identical) been poured form a clear bottle, or that (identical) wine absolutely tastes better or worse depending on the bottle in which it comes. For that matter, on Penn & Teller's wonderful show "********" they did an episode showing the nonsense of bottled water where patrons of a fancy restaurant where the "water sommelier" gave tastings of 5 different exotic waters, each with its own back story and fancy bottle and commented how this one tasted 'fresher' or 'mintier' or whatever - when in fact that 'sommelier filled all the bottled from the garden hose out back.

The point is, people are easily fooled when presented with "facts" in which they want to believe.

 

[darch]

I know that power cable upgrades do work at least from a visual point of view, I bought my first LED screen TV 17 or 18 years ago, Sony with separate IEC mains cable, set it up with cable provided BBC 1 and ITV good picture, BBC 2 slightly veiled, ( this is pre digital 625 lines) channel 4 lines along the bottom of screen used fine tuning to clear, after a few weeks I swapped the cable witn a spare QED cable I had, BBC1 and ITV had brighter colour, veil lifted on BBC 2 and on channel 4 I had to remove all fine tuning for a good picture. Dave

 

[davidf]

Naah, it's wonky hair again.

 

[ToppingSMSL]

for HDMI I turn to the inexpensive Audioquest Pearl HDMI cable, and for hifi whereas before I used to turn to budget Chord stuff

I wouldn't touch any Audioquest products out of principle. Same with Chord Company. And Nordost. They're scammers

 

[Dave_]

for HDMI I turn to the inexpensive Audioquest Pearl HDMI cable, and for hifi whereas before I used to turn to budget Chord stuff

I'd hardly call cables starting @ £35 for 0.6m "inexpensive".

Amazon Basics or similar are inexpensive and do the job equally well for a fraction of the cost.

 

[davidf]

I'd hardly call cables starting @ £35 for 0.6m "inexpensive".

Amazon Basics or similar are inexpensive and do the job equally well for a fraction of the cost.

Well, without a comparison, we can't make that statement, but a £35 cable only sounds expensive the cause there are £6 cables out there - same as a £1500 chair sounds expensive because there are £300 ones . Personally I wouldn't trust the working conditions of a factory that likely churns them out for a quid each. The only HDMI cables of mine that have ever failed (two of them) were cheapo ones off Amazon, coincidentally. Never again, waste of money.

 

[ToppingSMSL]

Well, without a comparison, we can't make that statement, but a £35 cable only sounds expensive the cause there are £6 cables out there - same as a £1500 chair sounds expensive because there are £300 ones . Personally I wouldn't trust the working conditions of a factory that likely churns them out for a quid each. The only HDMI cables of mine that have ever failed (two of them) were cheapo ones off Amazon, coincidentally. Never again, waste of money.

ok but as I said further up this thread, Audioquest etc are known scammers so why buy from them?

 

[davidf]

ok but as I said further up this thread, Audioquest etc are known scammers so why buy from them?

Known? Do show us the proof...

 

[abacus]

All Hi-Fi cable manufactures will not provide any verifiable evidence about their claims, (Which is why their claims have been debunked so many times and is an embarrassment) and when their cables are tested correctly by independents, they provide no improvement at all. (It's all a big scam)
If you don't want Amazon Basics, go to a pro music store and get your cable from them, as they are reasonably priced and of high quality. (Pro users require cables that are not going to fail every 5 minutes)

Bill

 

[ToppingSMSL]

All Hi-Fi cable manufactures will not provide any verifiable evidence about their claims, (Which is why their claims have been debunked so many times and is an embarrassment) and when their cables are tested correctly by independents, they provide no improvement at all. (It's all a big scam)
If you don't want Amazon Basics, go to a pro music store and get your cable from them, as they are reasonably priced and of high quality. (Pro users require cables that are not going to fail every 5 minutes)

Bill

Yeah but whf tell me I should buy £500 Audioquest.

 

[davidf]

Yeah but whf tell me I should buy £500 Audioquest.

Why would you spend more on one cable than any single part of your system?

 

[davidf]

?

 

[bigboss]

Yeah but whf tell me I should buy £500 Audioquest.

Which review? The only Audioquest cable review I can find is a £12.50 cable.

AudioQuest Rocket 11 review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2022 winner. Excellent speaker cable for the money

www.whathifi.com

 

[Jasonovich]

I use to be evangelical about the merits of cables, it was until I received a rude awakening about cables on my very first WHF thread two years ago - how time flies. Couple of characters I had to put on my ignore list as it got very heated. 😛

I must have been in some sort of a time capsule, today, it is so shockingly polarised, extenuated by almost a cultist following of the Nay Sayers on YouTube. 'Ello fraulein come sit on my knee, creepy.

Back in the eighties, wake me up before you go go, Jitter bug, Ok give me a sec, George is singing in my ear, Ok going to sing it out in the bathroom, back in a sec...........

Yes, back in the eighties, on the centre pages of WHF, quality cables were de'facto. WHF would espouse the virtues of brands like QED and others I fail to remember as the arteries of the system.

The great JM Hughes suggested using mains solid core cables and there was something in it, those ugly as sin, grey sleeved cables wired to my Musical Fidelity speakers were magical and it only cost me pennies!
I wonder if this was the catalysts, why some people are of the view that cables make no difference, if cheap copper wiring is as good as cables with fluffy names that costs many times more?

I am of the opinion, it's not just carrying the signal from A to B or C D and E, it's also a buffer, an insulation against radio frequencies that can degrade the signal. Reputable companies don't invest millions so they can give you snake oil.

Esoteric cables border on the idiocy but if you're rich, who's to tell you, how you spend your money?
I personally prefer to purchase my cables from AliExpress, those faux Nordost cables are mighty fine and of excellent construction and quality. These do nicely, no need to spend excessively on genuine brands.

 

[Gray]

As far as I'm concerned, the cable debate is as simple as:

If any person can easily, routinely and blindly identify which of two or more cables they're listening to....then no other person would legitimately be able to question their stated beliefs.

....otherwise, their beliefs will always, understandably, be questioned.

 

[Jasonovich]

As far as I'm concerned, the cable debate is as simple as:

If any person can easily, routinely and blindly identify which of two or more cables they're listening to....then no other person would legitimately be able to question their stated beliefs.

....otherwise, their beliefs will always, understandably, be questioned.

That's water tight logic Gray, I can't argue with that 🙂