No one is trying to sell you something you don’t want. If what you have is good enough for you that’s great.
This is not directed at you, Cuniberti, though it will probably come across that way and I am sorry about that. I considered just posting without quoting because these are statements I see "all the time" but figured without the disclaimer you might take offense anyway. This post (rant) is directed at marketing, and it happens all the time, and not just in audio. Nor is this about this particular video; we could be talking almost anything where marketing exceeds engineering and perhaps practicality (jewelry is nice but recognizably a luxury; too often marketing seems to focus on making you think luxuries are necessities). Having well-built gear that exceeds the basic demands of necessity or practicality is often worthwhile; build quality and such counts for something. Claiming benefits beyond what is scientifically reasonable is where I have issues.
The thing that rubs me wrongly about these sort of marketing statements is that:
- They are trying to convince me that I need something I may or may not want a priori; the goal is to make me want it, whatever it is, by whatever means necessary. The goal is to make me want what they have to sell, yes?
- I have had a number of bad sales experiences over the years that started from "if it's good enough for you"... The implication always seems to be that what "you" think is "good enough" is a reflection of your poor taste, bad hearing, lousy system, low budget, etc. so somehow what you have is not acceptable to "the elite". I can't help but think of a haughty salesman from the 70's who would dismiss lesser beings and their stereos with a sniff and a quasi-sneer thing going on that clearly implied "you" were not worthy if you did not buy into the marketing or sales pitch.
Luxury marketing has sort of always been that way, at least in my experience, but in audio as well as many other things it seems to be pushing down to the mass market to convince folk to go "upscale" whether the benefits are real or not. Among what I find particularly egregious (no idea if appropriate to this video) are science-based claims that are true in one application but totally inapplicable to the application being sold. Dielectric hysteresis and skin effect in audio cables comes to mind; real enough, and vitally important in some areas, but insignificant at audio frequencies and typical consumer cable runs. The current debate about the audible impact of Ethernet switches is another, particularly the assertion that "regular" switches are "not designed for data integrity". Huh?
Switching gears, trumpet bell material and its impact on the sound is a popular debate on the trumpet forum I help moderate. Bell material does have an effect, a very small one, but is used as a selling point all the time. The biggest change is due to the shape (flare) of the bell, and that is usually glossed over if mentioned at all. Magnets attached to gas lines on automobiles do in fact cause molecular perturbations in the flow; but they are completely insignificant at the macro level and have zero effect on fuel economy, engine power, and so forth. In all these cases marketing depends upon convincing the consumer of the perception of improvement and worth irrespective of the actual benefits.
Disclaimer: As an engineer I depend upon marketing to sell products, but have the typical disdain for marketing that ignores engineering. Personal bias works both ways and I am certainly not immune.
FWIWFM - Don