4 ms·

Repeatedly and exhaustively. This is old hat. Really, "laugh at the audiophiles" is a fun game that comes along every so often, but nothing really changes and

Repeatedly and exhaustively. This is old hat. Really, "laugh at the audiophiles" is a fun game that comes along every so often, but nothing really changes and people stay irrational. This comes as no surprise to a few people and for some reason continues to surprise the vast majority. Meanwhile, sane audiophiles make reasonable purchases and still manage to enjoy music immensely. There's a fine line between sane quality and insane irrationality.

paol 13y ago
> people stay irrational In this case I take comfort that the irrationality is self-punishing. If you're that dumb, you deserve to be sold a $700 usb cable.
- kordless 13y ago
  I don't know about them being dumb. It's a choice, and if you have the money to spend on it, and it's important to you, why not?
  - acchow 13y ago
    > It's a choice, and if you have the money to spend on it, and it's important to you, why not? You're thinking of diamonds, but we're talking about tarot cards.
    - kordless 13y ago
      Diamonds are just as worthless.
  - freehunter 13y ago
    Importance would play a factor if there was any difference. Yeah, I wouldn't buy a $150k 14.2 audio receiver. That's way overkill, and way out of my price range. But a theater owner might, because it has the hookups he needs and provides incredible sound quality. That's what's important to him, and there's a difference between that receiver and an iPod. In this case, there's no difference between this $700 cable and a $5 cable from Amazon Basics. It's not about what's important to the person, it's about them not realizing they're being ripped off.
- mikeash 13y ago
  I'm always fascinated by how willingly we discriminate against the less intelligent (at least down to a certain threshold). Few people would ever say something like, "if you're that blind, you deserve to not be able to read books". But what's the difference, really? I'm not claiming to be better, here. I do the same sort of thing myself. But I find it very damned weird that we've decided this one attribute is acceptable to discriminate against, while so many others are not.
  - scott_karana 13y ago
    I see where you're coming from, but in this case, it's "I can't believe you're so dumb with your purchases, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
    - mikeash 13y ago
      I don't understand, why does that second part make it OK?
      - scott_karana 13y ago
        Well, it's slightly different anyways. Blind people don't have a choice. Many of the people here are seeing evidence to the contrary (such as the reviewer trying to "refute" ABX testing) and saying LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, so I don't know what more anyone can do.
        mikeash 13y ago
        Dumb people don't have a choice either. Part of being dumb is not being good at understanding evidence, such as evidence against an opinion you hold.
        scott_karana 13y ago
        Hmm, I concede your point. I interpreted it a little incorrectly in the first place. :) (I'm still not sure whether people rich enough to afford these cables wouldn't be smart enough to listen to evidence, but that's entirely another point)

paol 13y ago

> people stay irrational In this case I take comfort that the irrationality is self-punishing. If you're that dumb, you deserve to be sold a $700 usb cable.

kordless 13y ago
I don't know about them being dumb. It's a choice, and if you have the money to spend on it, and it's important to you, why not?
- acchow 13y ago
  > It's a choice, and if you have the money to spend on it, and it's important to you, why not? You're thinking of diamonds, but we're talking about tarot cards.
  - kordless 13y ago
    Diamonds are just as worthless.
- freehunter 13y ago
  Importance would play a factor if there was any difference. Yeah, I wouldn't buy a $150k 14.2 audio receiver. That's way overkill, and way out of my price range. But a theater owner might, because it has the hookups he needs and provides incredible sound quality. That's what's important to him, and there's a difference between that receiver and an iPod. In this case, there's no difference between this $700 cable and a $5 cable from Amazon Basics. It's not about what's important to the person, it's about them not realizing they're being ripped off.
mikeash 13y ago
I'm always fascinated by how willingly we discriminate against the less intelligent (at least down to a certain threshold). Few people would ever say something like, "if you're that blind, you deserve to not be able to read books". But what's the difference, really? I'm not claiming to be better, here. I do the same sort of thing myself. But I find it very damned weird that we've decided this one attribute is acceptable to discriminate against, while so many others are not.
- scott_karana 13y ago
  I see where you're coming from, but in this case, it's "I can't believe you're so dumb with your purchases, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
  - mikeash 13y ago
    I don't understand, why does that second part make it OK?
    - scott_karana 13y ago
      Well, it's slightly different anyways. Blind people don't have a choice. Many of the people here are seeing evidence to the contrary (such as the reviewer trying to "refute" ABX testing) and saying LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU, so I don't know what more anyone can do.
      - mikeash 13y ago
        Dumb people don't have a choice either. Part of being dumb is not being good at understanding evidence, such as evidence against an opinion you hold.
        scott_karana 13y ago
        Hmm, I concede your point. I interpreted it a little incorrectly in the first place. :) (I'm still not sure whether people rich enough to afford these cables wouldn't be smart enough to listen to evidence, but that's entirely another point)