# For The Audiophile With More Dollars Than Sense **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 20, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204 "2015-02-20T16:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/1 "2015-02-20T16:43:41Z")
The perfect companion piece for the $50 Monster audio cable: > [@](#): > > Don’t you just hate all that noise your memory cards make? No? Then you probably aren’t going to want to buy Sony’s new $160 memory cards, which the company brags offers “Premium Sound” that generates less electrical noise when reading data… I prefer to avoid thinking about how rich I could be with how little effort if I weren’t encumbered with such an inconvenient sense of ethics and self-respect… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/2 "2015-02-20T16:44:42Z")
[Missing Link](http://consumerist.com/2015/02/19/sony-isnt-sure-people-want-to-pay-160-for-a-quieter-memory-card-is-going-to-sellem-anyway/) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/3 "2015-02-20T18:15:17Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > [Missing Link](http://consumerist.com/2015/02/19/sony-isnt-sure-people-want-to-pay-160-for-a-quieter-memory-card-is-going-to-sellem-anyway/) Interesting. There’s a growing industry of “HD digital audio” devices that use memory cards, but for folks who spend tons of money on such things, 64 gigs isn’t big enough. I have out a toe in this industry myself. I bought a Fiio X1 for $99. It’s their low end player and they promote that it sounds better than an iPod (and actually, I agree). The 128 gig memory card cost more than the player (but still considerably cheaper than this Sony card). I needed to replace my iPod Classic and it was the only thing I could find for under 500 bucks that could hold my whole music collection. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/4 "2015-02-20T18:42:28Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Interesting. There’s a growing industry of “HD digital audio” devices that use memory cards, but for folks who spend tons of money on such things, 64 gigs isn’t big enough. You know, the first thing I thought when I heard about this wasn’t “Well that’s just stupid,” it was “Who puts their music on SD cards?” ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/5 "2015-02-20T21:16:55Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I prefer to avoid thinking about how rich I could be with how little effort if I weren’t encumbered with such an inconvenient sense of ethics and self-respect… There is a strain of audiophile that seems to take positive pride in getting ripped off. Buying more for less gives them bragging rights. I would not be surprised to some day hear, “Check it out! I paid $1000 for this jar of special air I can pour into my subwoofer to improve the resonance! No, really, I used their tweeter air last week, and I can totally hear the difference!” I used to work in a home theater place, and not only were some of the clients like that, so was the owner. He swapped his speakers at least once a month, paying outrageous prices for crap that wasn’t as good as what he started with. The real crown, though, and the point at which I stopped trying to reason with him, was when he bought a CD “demagnetizer”. When he insisted that he could hear the difference it made, I realized that whatever he was getting out of this process had nothing to do with music. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/6 "2015-02-20T23:01:24Z")
Makes the days of green magic markers seem quaint. Did you know I have a device that lines up the electrons in my wires so they flow better? If you magnify electrons, they look like little Tylenol capsules (seriously! There is **Science** to back that up!) and they need to be aligned so the don’t get bunched up. If they get crosswise in the wires, they create clogs that distort the sound. Misaligned electrons is THE number one cause of poor quality sound! ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/7 "2015-02-21T03:41:23Z")
I was just reading [this](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2015/02/audiophiles_neil_young_s_pono_has_brought_unfair_scorn_for_lovers_of_high.html) who “proves” that there is a sufficient difference in the quality of a 50,000 dollar setup based on the fact that at an audio show, he was able to guess which was the better speaker cable 4 out of 5 times. Leaving aside the issue that 4 out of 5 isn’t particularly impressive, wouldn’t you want to be able to easily identify the better setup every single time without even trying in order to justify the cost? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/8 "2015-02-21T04:29:28Z")
My husband designs, builds, and sells boutique audio equipment for a living. He’s at an odd price point where a lot of the high-end guys won’t even look at his stuff because of its sane prices, even though the specs and reviews are excellent. About once a month we have a serious conversation about what he could do to break into that market. It’s easy to say “rename the existing product at three times the price”, and I always do say that, but he has a conscience or something. He would want the insides to be somehow different, and to somehow justify the price differential. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/9 "2015-02-21T04:45:57Z")
Tell him to put a sticker on the case that makes it look fancier. Like, a racing stripe or something. Then the extra money is just profit on the sticker. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/10 "2015-02-21T06:38:11Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > There is a strain of audiophile that seems to take positive pride in getting ripped off. Buying more for less gives them bragging rights. A friend of mine, a very “meticulous” person, to say the least, paid a grand for a CD player (for the rare times he isn’t playing vinyl). Me, being a drunken boorish lout, ask him every time I’m at his house, in this \*exact \*phrase, “Why the hell don’t you have that Thousand Dollar CD player turned up to Eleven?” Yeah. I’m kind of a Dick. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/11 "2015-02-21T14:56:53Z")
most people use their sound systems to listen to music. Audiophools use music to listen to their sound systems. The charlatans hawking this junk are very good at taking advantage of the ability of the ear-brain system to be fooled. i’ve worked with audio equipment and components for a long time. I never cease to be amazed at what people can be tricked into believing, nor how much they’ll pay for absolute junk. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/12 "2015-02-21T16:42:29Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > A friend of mine, a very “meticulous” person, to say the least, paid a grand for a CD player (for the rare times he isn’t playing vinyl). > > Me, being a drunken boorish lout, ask him every time I’m at his house, in this \*exact \*phrase, “Why the hell don’t you have that Thousand Dollar CD player turned up to Eleven?” > > Yeah. I’m kind of a Dick. 😃 When they first hit the market I could hear the difference in CD players. But everything is relative and none of mine were rich so I opted for the lesser cost unit. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/13 "2015-02-21T16:47:08Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > My husband designs, builds, and sells boutique audio equipment for a living. He’s at an odd price point where a lot of the high-end guys won’t even look at his stuff because of its sane prices, even though the specs and reviews are excellent. > > About once a month we have a serious conversation about what he could do to break into that market. It’s easy to say “rename the existing product at three times the price”, and I always do say that, but he has a conscience or something. He would want the insides to be somehow different, and to somehow justify the price differential. And many of us are aware that money doesn’t equal quality in sound equipment and pursue the proverbial best bang for the buck when listening to things like the 1812 overture. Sadly it’s damn hard to test one component over another in the same room. There’s too many pieces of equipment on the market. And sadder still my pocket money has a hole in it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/14 "2015-02-21T16:50:02Z")
I subscribed to _Stereophile_ and _Audio_ back in the day. I finally sobered up and realized the majority of the content was bullshit, and canceled my subscriptions. Still, it was an interesting time. I remember drooling over [Nakamichi Dragon](http://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/nakamichi-dragon/) tape deck when I was in high school. Of course, I wanted _two_ of them so I could do tape dubbing. 🙂 Today a $50 CD player can outperform it. Generally speaking, the only component that really matters is the speakers. Even then, it’s foolish to get carried away with them. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/15 "2015-02-21T16:56:20Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > And many of us are aware that money doesn’t equal quality in sound equipment and pursue the proverbial best bang for the buck when listening to things like the 1812 overture. And people like you are the reason there were presents under our Christmas tree this year 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/16 "2015-02-21T22:30:41Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > And many of us are aware that money doesn’t equal quality in sound equipment and pursue the proverbial best bang for the buck when listening to things like the 1812 overture. This is really not that accurate. Audio hardware is one arena where, simply put, you get what you pay for. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/17 "2015-02-21T23:17:49Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > This is really not that accurate. > > Audio hardware is one arena where, simply put, you get what you pay for. :rolleyes: bridges have been sold based on less hutzpa. When it comes to speakers there is a great deal of visual nonsense attached to products that has little to do with sound reproduction. You think a pair of klipshorn folded horn speakers can’t be beat for the money or are we just going for the proverbial 11 on the noise-o-meter? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/18 "2015-02-21T23:51:41Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > This is really not that accurate. > > Audio hardware is one arena where, simply put, you get what you pay for. One of my sayings about life in general is “You don’t always get what you pay for, but you almost never get what you don’t pay for.” The translation being that extreme low price gives extreme bad results. Extreme high price gives disproportionate spending for little real gain. Aim somewhere in the middle for decent price/performance. “you get what you pay for” implies more or less linear price/performance up to the outer limits. Not true in general, and not even a glimmer of a smidgen true in the snakeoil-soaked milieu of high end audio. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/19 "2015-02-22T00:41:12Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > This is really not that accurate. > > Audio hardware is one arena where, simply put, you get what you pay for. [Really](http://arstechnica.com/staff/2015/02/to-the-audiophile-this-10000-ethernet-cable-apparently-makes-sense/)? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204/20 "2015-02-22T00:52:12Z")
> [@Stringbean](#): > > This is really not that accurate. > > Audio hardware is one arena where, simply put, you get what you pay for. not really. The bottom-of-the-barrel crap is worthless, to be sure, but you don’t need to spend a _lot_ of money to put together a good system. Solid-state amplifier design has been a solved problem for decades; a $10,000 amplifier is not 10x better than a $1,000 amplifier. as for speakers, it really doesn’t cost a lot to make a decent speaker. I work primarily in automotive audio; I can show you a $5 OEM 6.5" midwoofer that is a far better speaker than an aftermarket one with a retail price tag of $200. The problem with car audio is that people read the fanciful ad copy in the Crutchfield catalog and take it at face value. That $300 component set might have a nice sparkly pearl mica cone, a foamed Santoprene rubber surround, and a “Rigid” cast aluminum basket, but none of that matters if the design of the speaker is so deficient that it has 85% THD in the midbass at 1/2 its rated power. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-audiophile-with-more-dollars-than-sense/713204.md?page=2)