Discuss but PLEASE do not buy.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/audioquest-cinnamon-rj-e-39-3-digital-ethernet-cable-with-rj45-to-rj45-connectors-black-with-red-stripes/5577904.p?skuId=5577904
Discuss but PLEASE do not buy.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/audioquest-cinnamon-rj-e-39-3-digital-ethernet-cable-with-rj45-to-rj45-connectors-black-with-red-stripes/5577904.p?skuId=5577904
1.25% silver doesn't qualify as "solid" in my mind either.
You’re probably talking about TosLink cables (what else could you be talking about?).
They have the bandwidth to carry two channels of uncompressed digital audio. Which is what they were designed for.
If you’re using one to carry 5.1 or 7.1 audio from your TV to your soundbar, it’s compressed. An HDMI cable can carry that uncompressed. And so could an Ethernet cable.
Well, you know and I know but Monster cable was created in 1979 and somehow they and others like them still exist so I guess we will be seeing a lot more digital ethernet cables.
2. I know this is not the motivation, but sending analog audio signals over twisted pair network cables works really well. This is often referred to as “audio over Ethernet” and these cables might be technically better for that (and they might not).
3.People with significant wealth don’t see $500 as a lot of money.
4. An audio installer with cost plus for materials makes more money installing it and avoids “aren’t these cables better?” questions from discerning customers whose discernment is driven by advertising, marketing, and online enthusiast forums.
Or to put it way $500 is not a lot to spend on something that makes you happy, even if it’s not what would make us happy.
Good luck.
Any honest installer would give the honest answer: "No."
Part of what wealth pays for is other people’s agreement with their opinions. Telling them they are foolish to believe what they want to believe is not a hill worth dying on.
That’s pretty much true in general. But you do you.
The audiophile world is a lot like the wine world. Tell someone the bottle is more expensive and it does taste better. Serve a quality meal on a white table cloth in a dim restaurant with an attentive wait staff and it does taste better than if it's on a paper plate on the floor. That's how our brains work. Sound is a sense like any other and context matters a lot.
The shop I worked at was an Audioquest dealer. One day we did double blind A/B tests of cables like this alongside other quality cables that were maybe a tenth of the price. In our shop and under those circumstances both pros and customers alike couldn't tell the difference. We also did the same thing with the same results testing a $500 stereo amplifier against a $5,000 one.
The fascinating thing to me was when we knew which was which, everyone picked the pricier gear every single time. Even I, who organized and proctored these tests was able to be influenced this way. I could swear up and down the "better" gear sounded better when I knew which was which, but when someone else was proctoring the test and I was blind, then I could not.
I'm not defending Audioquest. They make good speaker cables, but the prices are outrageous. And the digital stuff is laughable. I couldn't write that marketing copy and sleep at night. But I do understand the market. In a way the marketing copy and the price is the value of the product. The mind is a funny thing.
The fact that wealthy people don't resent the price of expensive things because they can afford expensive things is a fact it took me decades to wrap my head around.
Significant wealth still wants salespeople to solve their problems, however the price of things is not among those problems. They don't mind someone else making money because it has no bearing on what they can do for their children.
More ordinary economic statuses come with many experiences of not being able to afford really nice things either outright or because it would limit what we might do for our children.
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The other piece of the psychology is the pleasure humans can find in exclusivity/tribalism/etc. Brand identity can form a significant part of this and some people want to wear a Monster Cable dozer cap.
The same goes for any kinds of scammers, AI spam bot owners, etc.
So it's really small potatoes to me. If some idiot willingly buys a cord for 50x the market price, that is largely on them.
"An fool and his money are soon parted" applies so much here.
Reminds me of the overpriced Monster cables, but this is dialing it way up.
the_hoser•8mo ago