Hi
Opinion:
Belden knows cables intimately. Not only the technical aspect of all things cable, but also, the cable and wires
Market. The objective audiophile is , by now I hope, fully aware of the extraordinary (insane?) price of audiophile cables, thus the astronomical margins that those products provide.
HEA (High End Audio) manufacturer A, takes some basic copper cable likely made by Belden itself, dresses it with some inexpensive but good looking sheath, tacks some well-made but still "normally"-priced connectors at each end; invents a story and sends said cable to a reviewer. Once the cable arrives, in a great-looking box that could make Apple jealous, ..., the soundstage opens even more, becomes clearer, more defined, the separation between instruments becomes more pronounced, yet more realistic. Diana Krall, who up to then, was only in the room, is now seating on your lap, licking you with her lyrics, while the bass now, is something you weren't ever expecting from your $35,000, single driver and bandwidth-limited mini-monitor...
Total cost cost of manufacture of such competitor cable , perhaps $250... I am being generous.. Price of the ware? $15,000.oo.
Science backup of such cable?
.., Quantum Tunneling , cryogenic treatment perhaps ultra high-purity 99.999999% copper, ... vacuum deposited soldering.. graphene granules acting as micro-Shock absorbers perhaps ? Why not? nanotech somewhere intonation in the marketing blub
Now you have Belden. They know how to make the wires. Even the subjective audiophile knows they are the real thing. Belden knows there is a market... Belden taps into the market, Belden keeps the price
low enough so that it seems to abide to Belden philosophy, but makes sure there is something scientific behind it and perhaps there is, but all that ,
knowing for well, such differences are not audible. Now Belden is in HEA conversation
Subjective reviewer receives the Belden cable, find it superb , perhaps better than all such cables costing less than $7500.oo. He loved it so much it had to keep the review sample. Boom! A new market opens for Belden. Could well be for, them one of the the quickest to add a few millions to their coffers.
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Not pleased by this Belden stunt, but .. I am fully aware we are living in a capitalist world ...
Peace.