“Seven songs were played while the group was blindfolded and the cables swapped back and forth. Not only “after 5 tests, none could determine which was the Monster 1000 cable or the coat hanger wire,” but no one knew a coat hanger was used in the first place.”
A few years back in a HiFi - fair there was a seller who pushed these fist sized wooden blocks that were meant to raise the cables off the ground and therefore “prevent the Earth itself from tampering with the signal”.
So he was basically trying to sell very expensive magic wood.
That’s a classic and I am glad it see it passed around again. The best part is the people that start delving into the snake oil absurdity that is “audiophile cables” before, you know, getting better actual speakers/headphones. Like for fucks sake, your $200 fancy cable isn’t going to make your bullshit bargain bookshelf speaker into the voice of god. Just get some half way decent equipment and listen to your actual music.
I worked at a big box electronics store back in the day. Problem was we only sold two kinds of cables.
1 - shitty cables with the ends crimped on that will fall off after three uses.
2 - way overpriced gold plated cables that cost 10x or more.
I’d love it if we sold something in-between, but you absolutely could tell the difference between those options. Mostly cause the RCA ends didn’t make an actual decent connection to the equipment, so it wiggled around and induced static into the signal.
I have friends that are hardcore record collectors of obscure 70s punk, power pop, glam, etc. They have Marantz receivers and top of the line turntables, setups that approach like 10 grand. Then they listen to some of the most poorly recorded, cheaply pressed vinyl you can imagine.
I admit there’s a part of me that wants a custom turntable, but you know what? I spent enough on what I’ve got. The whole system was just a few hundred bucks, and it sounds, plays, and looks perfectly fine for me. I’ll never spend that much on an audio system. I’ll just keep sinking stupid money into just records.
Um you mean greatest music ever made vinyl SIR. The hiss and pop is part of the experience!
Seriously though, I love old punk records, especially when you can find self pressed shit from the 70s. Yea the quality sucks but god damn I’d rather hear that than overproduced, built by focus group crap today /rant
Tbf. many Marantz receivers sound fucking awesome. Although mine’s from the 90s and cost me ~80€. Still blows anything I compare it to out of the water. A modern 1000€ Bluesound Powernode I used to have sounded anaemic in comparison. As a collector of obscure punk and prog vinyl I think it sounds best on a Frankensteined together system with some character that allows you to crank it loud.
Yup, there is a lot of snake oil in the audiophile world. The worst instance I saw was someone posting about an intermittent buzz in their system. Multiple people were recommending a full rebuild, (which would cost thousands of dollars). From what they described, it was pretty obvious that OP just needed a ~10¢ ferrite bead on a power cable, to make it stop acting as an antenna.
I was like “okay, you could try rebuilding your entire system like everyone else is suggesting… But maybe start with a ferrite bead. Here is a link for a multipack on Amazon. Worst case scenario, you’re only out like $5. And even if it doesn’t fix this specific case, the multipack is handy to have around anyways, because manufacturers often cheap out and skip adding them when their devices really do need them.” Like three days later, I got a “holy shit this actually worked. You just saved me thousands of dollars (and a ton of time) on a complete rebuild.”
I’m curious about other cases where ferrites are actually useful. I have done some access point installations where I was required to loop a patch cable through a ferrite for each. The majority of APs I install don’t get this treatment. Is it bullshit? I assumed it was, but of course I used them anyway.
Installing cable TV at a man’s house, ripped his Monster coax connector off. He was appalled! (I was appalled!) Showed him what I was replacing it with. Parts guide.
“The shield is quad-woven steel. Yours was 1x of angel hair copper. The dielectric is solid, not a noodle. See? (bendy, bendy) Foil shield? Uh, did yours have one? Oh, I see the shredded bit right there!”
Bent the center conductor on his Monster cable with my pinky. “Try that with mine.” Stopped him before he hypodermic-needled himself.
tl;dr: Whatever the cable guy cuts for you is miles above Monster grade.
It’s like Yeti gear. “So you paid $35 for a cup that’s simply a vacuum sealed canister? I got a 6-pack off Amazon for $25. Cute colors too!”
My favorite story along these lines…
Someone compared Monster cables to un-bent coat hangers.
https://gizmodo.com/audiophile-deathmatch-monster-cables-vs-a-coat-hanger-363154
“Seven songs were played while the group was blindfolded and the cables swapped back and forth. Not only “after 5 tests, none could determine which was the Monster 1000 cable or the coat hanger wire,” but no one knew a coat hanger was used in the first place.”
Yeah babe, my wardrobe is worth 100k.
This is a classic.
A few years back in a HiFi - fair there was a seller who pushed these fist sized wooden blocks that were meant to raise the cables off the ground and therefore “prevent the Earth itself from tampering with the signal”.
So he was basically trying to sell very expensive magic wood.
Earth: look at my mighty magnetic field that pushes back the very radiation of the sun!
Wooden block: hold my beer
That’s a classic and I am glad it see it passed around again. The best part is the people that start delving into the snake oil absurdity that is “audiophile cables” before, you know, getting better actual speakers/headphones. Like for fucks sake, your $200 fancy cable isn’t going to make your bullshit bargain bookshelf speaker into the voice of god. Just get some half way decent equipment and listen to your actual music.
I worked at a big box electronics store back in the day. Problem was we only sold two kinds of cables.
1 - shitty cables with the ends crimped on that will fall off after three uses.
2 - way overpriced gold plated cables that cost 10x or more.
I’d love it if we sold something in-between, but you absolutely could tell the difference between those options. Mostly cause the RCA ends didn’t make an actual decent connection to the equipment, so it wiggled around and induced static into the signal.
I have friends that are hardcore record collectors of obscure 70s punk, power pop, glam, etc. They have Marantz receivers and top of the line turntables, setups that approach like 10 grand. Then they listen to some of the most poorly recorded, cheaply pressed vinyl you can imagine.
I admit there’s a part of me that wants a custom turntable, but you know what? I spent enough on what I’ve got. The whole system was just a few hundred bucks, and it sounds, plays, and looks perfectly fine for me. I’ll never spend that much on an audio system. I’ll just keep sinking stupid money into just records.
I should stop.
Um you mean greatest music ever made vinyl SIR. The hiss and pop is part of the experience!
Seriously though, I love old punk records, especially when you can find self pressed shit from the 70s. Yea the quality sucks but god damn I’d rather hear that than overproduced, built by focus group crap today /rant
Tbf. many Marantz receivers sound fucking awesome. Although mine’s from the 90s and cost me ~80€. Still blows anything I compare it to out of the water. A modern 1000€ Bluesound Powernode I used to have sounded anaemic in comparison. As a collector of obscure punk and prog vinyl I think it sounds best on a Frankensteined together system with some character that allows you to crank it loud.
Yup, there is a lot of snake oil in the audiophile world. The worst instance I saw was someone posting about an intermittent buzz in their system. Multiple people were recommending a full rebuild, (which would cost thousands of dollars). From what they described, it was pretty obvious that OP just needed a ~10¢ ferrite bead on a power cable, to make it stop acting as an antenna.
I was like “okay, you could try rebuilding your entire system like everyone else is suggesting… But maybe start with a ferrite bead. Here is a link for a multipack on Amazon. Worst case scenario, you’re only out like $5. And even if it doesn’t fix this specific case, the multipack is handy to have around anyways, because manufacturers often cheap out and skip adding them when their devices really do need them.” Like three days later, I got a “holy shit this actually worked. You just saved me thousands of dollars (and a ton of time) on a complete rebuild.”
I’m curious about other cases where ferrites are actually useful. I have done some access point installations where I was required to loop a patch cable through a ferrite for each. The majority of APs I install don’t get this treatment. Is it bullshit? I assumed it was, but of course I used them anyway.
Rebadge them with a fancy name and sell them for $20 to the gullible. 😉 “Toroid Choke Core”.
Installing cable TV at a man’s house, ripped his Monster coax connector off. He was appalled! (I was appalled!) Showed him what I was replacing it with. Parts guide.
“The shield is quad-woven steel. Yours was 1x of angel hair copper. The dielectric is solid, not a noodle. See? (bendy, bendy) Foil shield? Uh, did yours have one? Oh, I see the shredded bit right there!”
Bent the center conductor on his Monster cable with my pinky. “Try that with mine.” Stopped him before he hypodermic-needled himself.
tl;dr: Whatever the cable guy cuts for you is miles above Monster grade.
It’s like Yeti gear. “So you paid $35 for a cup that’s simply a vacuum sealed canister? I got a 6-pack off Amazon for $25. Cute colors too!”
$35 is generous
Been 15-years ago, but I bet an audiophile coworker, who had a physics degree, he couldn’t tell the difference in a coat hanger and proper wires.
“Well, yeah, but, bla, bla, bla…”
Now I wish I could shove that article up his butt! 😈
To be fair, it was 4 coat hangers. The Monster cable was therefore outnumbered.