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Some people really don't understand the concept of "digital," do they? Someone ran a test where they used wire coathangers vs. the best audiophile cable there

Some people really don't understand the concept of "digital," do they? Someone ran a test where they used wire coathangers vs. the best audiophile cable there was. No one could tell the difference.

eru 17y ago
Was the test done with digital music?
- Steve0 17y ago
  It wasn't the best audiphile cable, but one from Monster Cables. More details here: http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?s=97d4a3c39d247bf955a57b3953326a34&p=15412&postcount=28 http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?s=97d4a3c3...
  - wallflower 17y ago
    Monster Cables. I was with a friend buying a HDTV at BestBuy and the salesperson there tried repeatedly to get us to buy $75 HDMI cables from Monster. We just laughed. The scary thing is the salesperson's pitch "You just bought a fancy TV, want some fancy, 24K gold-plated cables to go with it." probably works on many consumers who don't know the difference.
    - Confusion 17y ago
      The main question this raises in me is: isn't it illegal to claim such cables are better? Should we try to make it illegal to sell stuff at artificially inflated prices that are solely based on make belief, misinformation and a lack of knowledge in the customer? Would a class action lawsuit have any chance? In some sense, it's a con.
      - jerf 17y ago
        It would be tricky to get such a law right. They are better cables. No, seriously. (Or, at least they can be, I don't actually know if they really are better, but it's possible.) It's just that they way they are better doesn't matter, because for moving digital data around, having 10,000% of the necessary capacity/overhead/whatever is no better than having 101% of the necessary capacity. But the 10,000% cable is, in some sense, better, and you aren't going to be able to write a sensible law stopping a salesperson from building that "better" into a "shouldn't you buy this?". Some things just can't be outlawed sensibly.
        eru 17y ago
        And such a law could be used to sue competitors.
samlittlewood 17y ago
Reminds me of another (probably apocryphal) tale: http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1464 http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1464

Some people really don't understand the concept of "digital," do they? Someone ran a test where they used wire coathangers vs. the best audiophile cable there was. No one could tell the difference.

eru 17y ago

Was the test done with digital music?

Steve0 17y ago
It wasn't the best audiphile cable, but one from Monster Cables. More details here: http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?s=97d4a3c39d247bf955a57b3953326a34&p=15412&postcount=28 http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?s=97d4a3c3...
- wallflower 17y ago
  Monster Cables. I was with a friend buying a HDTV at BestBuy and the salesperson there tried repeatedly to get us to buy $75 HDMI cables from Monster. We just laughed. The scary thing is the salesperson's pitch "You just bought a fancy TV, want some fancy, 24K gold-plated cables to go with it." probably works on many consumers who don't know the difference.
  - Confusion 17y ago
    The main question this raises in me is: isn't it illegal to claim such cables are better? Should we try to make it illegal to sell stuff at artificially inflated prices that are solely based on make belief, misinformation and a lack of knowledge in the customer? Would a class action lawsuit have any chance? In some sense, it's a con.
    - jerf 17y ago
      It would be tricky to get such a law right. They are better cables. No, seriously. (Or, at least they can be, I don't actually know if they really are better, but it's possible.) It's just that they way they are better doesn't matter, because for moving digital data around, having 10,000% of the necessary capacity/overhead/whatever is no better than having 101% of the necessary capacity. But the 10,000% cable is, in some sense, better, and you aren't going to be able to write a sensible law stopping a salesperson from building that "better" into a "shouldn't you buy this?". Some things just can't be outlawed sensibly.
      - eru 17y ago
        And such a law could be used to sue competitors.

samlittlewood 17y ago

Reminds me of another (probably apocryphal) tale: http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1464 http://www.zerogain.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1464