Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Denon's $499 Ethernet Cable

Posted by timothy on from the opportunity-cost dept.

Guysmiley777 writes with what looks like a very late (or very, very early) April Fool's joke: "Denon's $499 Ethernet cable 'brings out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction.' Sure, that seems plausible. After all, nuances in digital signals are so subtle. Oh, and 'signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer.'" Considering that $499 will get you a competent laptop these days, I wonder how big the market is for such a thing — then I look at Stereophile magazine's annual list of recommended components. The "view more images" link shows that they take cable porn seriously at Denon.

4 of 719 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Some day... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well here's your answer:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/14/humanbehaviour

    "How being swindled can make you feel better" by the Guardian's "Bad Science" columnist, Ben Goldacre.

  2. Re:Some day... by Joska · · Score: 5, Informative

    This type of test has been conducted a great many times over the years. Notable is the work of Dr. Floyd Toole when he was head of the acoustics lab at the Department Of Physics at Canada's National Research Council in Ottawa. He was able to demonstrate that people of all sorts would recognize and prefer the sound reproduction that was most accurate in terms of having the lowest distortion, flattest frequency response and best loudspeaker dispersion as long as they did not know what equipment they were listening to. When they did know, their beliefs and preconceptions essentially determined their perceptions.

  3. Nope, no typo, just a thinko :) by timothy · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought so at first, too, but in depressing fact, that's the real price from Denon.

    And it looks like you save 100 pennies if you order from Denon rather than Amazon:

    http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/dp/B000I1X6PM

    The reviews are hilarious :)

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
  4. Re:empoying? by sjames · · Score: 5, Informative

    Audiophiles are amazing. They're the only group I can think of that make Scientology, ID true believers AND flat earthers look like rationalists.

    Check out the the ultimate in audioweenie gear. Magic rocks you tape to your cables, magic clocks, and "audio tuneups" transmitted through your phone!

    I'll bet if I tape those magic rocks to the super ethernet cable and put that clock on top of my server, I can probably get a 20 jillion teraquad internet connection over the POTS line.