WTAF... do people actually buy these things ?

[RustyBin5]

Ask a computer or audio nerd why he pays hundreds of £ on a cable

Now ask a watch nerd why he spends thousands of £ on a watch

You will get the same facial look in return

[oldoakknives]

Ask a computer or audio nerd why he pays hundreds of £ on a cable

Now ask a watch nerd why he spends thousands of £ on a watch

You will get the same facial look in return

So true!

[Griswold]

So it’s not all fairytales then is it.
And hardly necessitated your condescending reply.

I have never argued that a slight difference in sound cannot be heard by some with analogue cables. The fairytale is that certain cables can 'improve the sound' - and this is particularly relevant to digital transmissions, they can't.

Paying ridiculously over the odds for something and then realising you've paid ridiculously over the odds for it is difficult to swallow but even harder to admit, so people are prone to defend their purchase irrespective of what other people hear or see - hence the 'not at all condescending' Kings New Clothes link.

[RobDad]

I Had a Saturday job in the 80’s at a specialist hi-go outlet called ‘the cornflake shop’ off Tottenham Court Road. I thought expensive wires were nonsense until we set up 3 identical front ends, amps and turntables (all proper audiophile set ups) with bell wire, QED 79 strand cable and something - monster? - that was about £100 a metre (in about 1985). Even to my teenage ears, the difference in sound was clear and noticeable, mostly between the bell wire and the 79 strand. I was shocked tbh

[oldoakknives]

I have never argued that a slight difference in sound cannot be heard by some with analogue cables. The fairytale is that certain cables can 'improve the sound' - and this is particularly relevant to digital transmissions, they can't.

Paying ridiculously over the odds for something and then realising you've paid ridiculously over the odds for it is difficult to swallow but even harder to admit, so people are prone to defend their purchase irrespective of what other people hear or see - hence the 'not at all condescending' Kings New Clothes link.

You say you agree that a ‘slight difference in sound’ can be heard by some with analogue cables. If they think that difference ‘improves the sound’ in their opinion then the cable has improved the sound.
So in this case the fairytale is true.

Adding in that digital transmissions can’t change, doesn’t mean the analogue ones can’t do so.

[Rod]

I Had a Saturday job in the 80’s at a specialist hi-go outlet called ‘the cornflake shop’ off Tottenham Court Road. I thought expensive wires were nonsense until we set up 3 identical front ends, amps and turntables (all proper audiophile set ups) with bell wire, QED 79 strand cable and something - monster? - that was about £100 a metre (in about 1985). Even to my teenage ears, the difference in sound was clear and noticeable, mostly between the bell wire and the 79 strand. I was shocked tbh

That was just over the road from HiFi Experience on Tottenham Court Road where I managed. Do you remember 'Son Illuminer' HiFi? another class dealer.
Monster cable (USA) was a great sounding cable. In fact Monster offered to completely rewire the studio where Michael Jackson recorded his 'Bad' CD and told the studio to remaster the original recording. The difference was amazing and released a serial numbered limited edition of it which I own one of.
.

[TheGent]

Ask a computer or audio nerd why he pays hundreds of £ on a cable

Now ask a watch nerd why he spends thousands of £ on a watch

You will get the same facial look in return

This!
We love what we love. It doesn’t need justification.
I worked with a guy who just couldn’t understand expensive watches who asked me: what if it gets stolen”? He was a keen cyclist whose bicycle cost him more than I paid for my car. I asked him the same question back, “fair enough!” was the reply.
We all have things that occupy our time and money. If we enjoy it, don’t become overtaken by it, then happy days. One mans watch is another mans bicycle/audio system, etc...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dkpw]

Yep, diminishing returns versus experiential appreciation.

Someone somewhere will have a graph.

[snowman]

Emperor's new clothes or not, if people believe there's a difference some will happily pay for it.

You only have to read numerous threads in here or the watch section to know that people convince themselves of all sorts of things which most of us think are nonsense, but it's their money and they can spend it as they wish.

I saw a Bentley Bentaga yesterday - Horribly looking thing (like a Q7 with a Chrysler grille...) and well north of £100K, but they must like it, so it's up to them.

M

[Seamaster73]

I’m worried that Apple is becoming a bit like one of the luxury watch brands we know and love.

Apple has always been a margin business, not a volume business. It was twenty five years ago when I bought my first Mac, and it is today. Some people get terribly exercised about this. Did then, do now.

[Itsguy]

Apple has always been a margin business, not a volume business. It was twenty five years ago when I bought my first Mac, and it is today. Some people get terribly exercised about this. Did then, do now.

I’ve always used them and have always felt that better design and ease of use justified the price. So I’m not one of those uninformed Apple knockers who claims people are ‘just paying for the logo’, before wasting months of their life trying to fix their PC.

It’s more that they’ve been exploring the limits of how much people will pay for phones, and while very good, those product are increasingly like luxury jewellery and may appeal to status symbol seekers, as well as people who will actually use the features. But perhaps they have to if they’re going to hold their own against Samsung and the like.

It’s also that it used to cost £3-5k to spec a decent professional system with Mac Pro and monitor, so the jump to £15k came as a shock for many pros. Of course, the new machines operate on a different level, they wanted a Pro system that was ideal for working on a Netflix series, and a monitor that could show HDR, and that’s a good aim. But there’s a gap there for people who don’t want an iMac Pro, but rarely deliver HDR, which is quite a lot of their pro video market.

[MrSmith]

It’s also that it used to cost £3-5k to spec a decent professional system with Mac Pro and monitor, so the jump to £15k came as a shock for many pros. Of course, the new machines operate on a different level, they wanted a Pro system that was ideal for working on a Netflix series, and a monitor that could show HDR, and that’s a good aim. But there’s a gap there for people who don’t want an iMac Pro, but rarely deliver HDR, which is quite a lot of their pro video market.

They should unshackle the mini or produce something between that and the £15k Pro.
The iMac screen is not good enough for critical work and the mini not quite powerful enough for some tasks and needs an external GPU to useful to many.
Most of the photographers I know (who also dabble in video) use a MacBook with an Eizo screen as the best performance/price ratio and the ability to get the screen you require be it grading, image viewing, frame rate or colour accuracy requirements.

At 2.5k to 5k they would sell a fair few even if they just ran laptop 8 cores with better cooling and a couple of slots for extra graphics or storage.

I’m always amused at the haters who love to tinker with their PC’s from a business point of view I don’t care if I can build something similar for cheaper, that becomes meaningless when I account for productivity and the fact that due to resale value, vat off and a small discount the cost of ownership of a healthy specced MBP (8gb graphics/64gb ram) is covered by a day’s freelance fee. Selling it and buying a new one every 3 years works for me. People just see “a £3.5k laptop? WTF?”
I guess if you sit in cafes surfing the net and dreaming of being an instagram influencer on one it’s a bit of a pointless indulgence.

[Itsguy]

They should unshackle the mini or produce something between that and the £15k Pro.
The iMac screen is not good enough for critical work and the mini not quite powerful enough for some tasks and needs an external GPU to useful to many.
Most of the photographers I know (who also dabble in video) use a MacBook with an Eizo screen as the best performance/price ratio and the ability to get the screen you require be it grading, image viewing, frame rate or colour accuracy requirements.

At 2.5k to 5k they would sell a fair few even if they just ran laptop 8 cores with better cooling and a couple of slots for extra graphics or storage.

I’m always amused at the haters who love to tinker with their PC’s from a business point of view I don’t care if I can build something similar for cheaper, that becomes meaningless when I account for productivity and the fact that due to resale value, vat off and a small discount the cost of ownership of a healthy specced MBP (8gb graphics/64gb ram) is covered by a day’s freelance fee. Selling it and buying a new one every 3 years works for me. People just see “a £3.5k laptop? WTF?”
I guess if you sit in cafes surfing the net and dreaming of being an instagram influencer on one it’s a bit of a pointless indulgence.

Agree 100%. For video production rather than photography the demands increase, and while you could edit on an iMac, the Mac Pro is the best option for serious work. The price is actually ok for that application once you get over the shock. After reclaiming taxes and selling the old model - which is still worth 50% of its purchase price 7 years later - it’s about what you’d expect for something considerably more powerful and beautifully made. It’s not as if you need to upgrade every 2-3 years either, as you did in the past (just don’t mention Apple Silicon!)

A 6k resolution monitor with accurate video reference modes is also exactly what you need, and they will build ever better ones in future. It’s actually great that they decided to make a no (or few) compromises Pro system and aimed that high, even it meant rethinking how much it would all cost. But there is a gap in their range for people who want ‘separates’ but don’t need something on that level. In particular, a less expensive Pro screen with reference modes but without HDR would have been welcome - but then there are plenty of those on the market from other brands, while Apple like to launch game changers.