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$10K Ethernet Cable Claims Audio Fidelity, If You're Stupid Enough To Buy It

Posted by Soulskill on from the imaginary-audio-quality-is-more-valuable-than-a-car dept.

MojoKid writes: There are few markets that are quite as loaded-up with "snake oil" products as the audio/video arena. You may have immediately thought of "Monster" cables as one of the most infamous offenders. But believe it or not, there are some vendors that push the envelope so far that Monster's $100 HDMI cables sound like a bargain by comparison. Take AudioQuest's high-end Ethernet cable, for example. Called "Diamond," AudioQuest is promising the world with this $10,500 Ethernet cable. If you, for some reason, believe that an Ethernet cable is completely irrelevant for audio, guess again. In addition to promises about the purity and smoothness of the silver conductors, and their custom "Noise-Dissipation System," they say," "Another upgrade with Diamond is a complete plug redesign, opting for an ultra-performance RJ45 connector made from silver with tabs that are virtually unbreakable. The plug comes with added strain relief and firmly lock into place ensuring no critical data is lost." Unfortunately, in this case, there's the issue of digital data being, well... digital. But hey, a 1 or a 0 could arrive at its destination so much cleaner, right?

12 of 418 comments (clear)

  1. Audiophile market by Sivaraj · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are plenty of products in the audiophile industry that can match or exceed this in craziness level. I wouldn't be surprised to see a glorifying review of this in a hi-fi magazine.

    1. Re:Audiophile market by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Translation: I blew a metric fuckton of money on that shit, and you now expect me to admit I can't hear any difference? They'd immediately kick me out of the audiophile jerk circle if I did, for I'd be just one of those "mundanes" that cannot appreciate perfect audio quality.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Audiophile market by TheDarkMaster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, a company that charges ten thousand US dollars for a network cable may easily pay very good money to have favorable "reviews" and "professional physicists" endorsing the "magical properties" of the product. As a non-American I am surprised as you Americans allow criminals freely sell products that are clearly scams like this.

      --
      Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
    3. Re:Audiophile market by prisoner-of-enigma · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a non-American I am surprised as you Americans allow criminals freely sell products that are clearly scams like this.

      As an American, I can say I'm glad the government *doesn't* stop this kind of activity. A functioning society requires its citizens to be at least marginally responsible for their own conduct. If they're stupid enough to be taken in by this crap, they deserve what they get. We neither need nor want a "nanny state" looking over our shoulder all the time, telling us what we can and cannot buy.

      --
      In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    4. Re:Audiophile market by Mephistophocles · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Egoistic psychopaths and narcissists who lack any semblance of taste will pay a fortune for that poseur status and they will kill anyone and everyone, either directly or indirectly through indifference to the outcomes of their actions, to earn the money to pay for that status. This so they can pose over their poor they create.

      Holy shit, that's the best description of the United States I've ever read.

      --
      Deja Moo: The distinct feeling that you've heard this bull before.
    5. Re:Audiophile market by Lotana · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Precisely!

      So the shit that is not medicine is either never been proven to work (Thus you place your faith in some salesman pushing it) or it has been tested and failed to produce results statistically better than a placebo.

      Either way, it is foolish to take that stuff. Even if it is innert, it still prevents people from seeking real treatments because they believe that they are already doing something about it.

      And some alternative medicine is just blatantly useless and still popular. See Homeopathic dilution.

  2. Government Bid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Next cost plus contract I see, I will spec all the cables as these.
    The contracts are the cost plus a profit margin.
    The more we spend the more we make.

    1. Re:Government Bid by geoskd · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Next cost plus contract I see, I will spec all the cables as these. The contracts are the cost plus a profit margin. The more we spend the more we make.

      I suddenly feel the overwhelming urge to find you and beat you until you agree to refund my last tax bill...

      --
      I wish I had a good sig, but all the good ones are copyrighted
  3. Redesigned connector, unbreakable tabs by giacomo-b · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe 10k$ is a little bit over my budget, but trust me, I would pay a lot for an Ethernet cable whose connector has virtually unbreakable tabs.

    1. Re:Redesigned connector, unbreakable tabs by itzly · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The RJ45 connector is a regrettable standard. They should have put the tab on the socket, instead of on the cable end where it easily snags.

  4. Re:Come on... by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Electrons have spin, allright. But the story has WAY, WAY more.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Re:They are just trolls with lots of money by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would buy brightly-colored cables. It makes it a lot easier to keep tabs on which patch cables go to specific devices. Yellow is the NAS, orange is the printer, gray is the Xbox, blue is the PC and white (because it goes along the baseboards) is the router. Very convenient.

    --
    Eat the rich.