LaserMark4 said:
Can you say, "Digital snake oil?"
Thanks, Tim, for the awesome reviews and pics.
Well, see I don't think people really understand the cost/performanc benefit when you start talking about things like cars or cables. It really isn't fair to compare the Toyota Camry to a handfull of $20K cables. You should compare the Camry to a Bugatti Veyron at a cool $1M. You should compare $20K cables against cheap RCA's shipping with $100 DVD players. These are very different things.
In the case of the Nordost cables I was talking about earlier, you have to remember that you can get a set of Nordost Blue Heavens for about $150.00, a far cry from the $4000.00 price of a set of Valhalla's, but to appreciate the differences you have to listen to them, and appreciate how they are made.
Blue Heaven is still a hand terminated product made here in the states, but they can make hundreds of meters of it an hour. Mass market cables are pumped out literally thousands of meters per hour and mass terminated robotically offshore. Valhalla runs through a very sophisticated extruding machine that pulls the copper, polishes it, silver plates it, extrudes monofilament teflon around the surface of each strand in manner that still leaves 90% of the strand utilizing air as the dielectric, aligns the strands, and extrudes the outer jacket directly onto the bundle. Think of it like a very sophisticated progressive die. Then each cable is precision cut and hand terminated strand by strand. They can only make 15 meters of Valhalla per hour, using the very best materials and labor.
This sort of attention to detail costs money. Even if you're not a car buff you can appreciate the difference between the Camry (still a nice car BTW), and the Bugatti - it's styling and performance are so very obvious. I'm telling you that if you were to visit the Nordost exhibit at the show you would very easily be able to detect the differences between cables. I know that people think that wire is wire, it all measures the same etc. But unless you start talking about Bandwidth, Harmonics, Transmission Speed etc. you're still comparing apples and oranges. When I was in the telecom and radar industries we were VERY selective about the types of cables we used because they did have a measurable effect on the performance of that equipment. In high end audio, where the equipment itself is built without the constraints in place for mass market equipment, the quality of the cable is just one contributing factor to the overall equation.
When people tell me that there can't be any differences between cables I have to believe that either they have not taken to time to actually listen and verify it for themselves, or that they were not listening via equipment capable of the resolution that would render the comparison valid.
LaserMark - you're right here in Colorado. You should come down to the show and give your ears a treat. A one day pass is only $10.00. I'll buy you lunch and we can enjoy the show together. Call me on my cell, (303) 641-9556 and we'll hook up. This show makes CEDIA look like WalMart.
Getting off my soapbox now, besides, it's time to head into town for day 2 of the Audio Fest. More pictures and impressions tonight...
