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Snake Oil Department, Top This

Punter said:
I've had a skim through the Magico website and they certainly seem to have very well constructed products. As with many of these types of manufacturers, they're catering to the upper end of the market. In a practical sense, this can't be achieved with an average looking product. Lashings of carbon fiber and other "exotic" materials is par for the course. In addition to this, they have some very appealing looking enclosures that are very obviously bespoke.

View attachment 448808

This example is selling for AU$1,499,999 for the pair. Sadly, all the esoteric materials and other high-spec components that these units are constructed with guarantees that they will sound good to everyone. And herein lies the issue with speakers, regardless of price, they either sound good or maybe "right" to an individual or they don't. Finally is there really enough of anything in these devices to justify the staggering price? Ultimately it doesn't matter as there is a very small market for such things. For a set of these to find a home there first needs to be a wealthy enough customer who then will find the sound of these appealing. Alternatively, the customer has money to burn and just likes the aesthetics.

In some ways I'm glad things like this exist. They may be outrageously overpriced but you can't deny the care and attention that has gone into creating them.
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It's a render , computer generated image a.k.a CGI.
This is million dollars reality :
 
Who the hell would believe and worse, buy this .
 
F1 Fan said:
Who the hell would believe and worse, buy this .
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Steve Jobs screw his cancer treatment loosing precious time on alternative asian "medicine" .
Shamans and quacks literally. That's Steve Jobs , a highly educated technological visionary.
We humans are irrational beings driven predominantly by emotions.
 
dedobot said:
Steve Jobs screw his cancer treatment loosing precious time on alternative asian "medicine" .
Shamans and quacks literally. That's Steve Jobs , a highly educated technological visionary.
We humans are irrational beings driven predominantly by emotions.
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When fear kicks in logic fades away.
 
MatrixS2000 said:
We are in a strange place these days imo, where expert opinions are devalued while non-expert opinions are heralded and we end up with wire lifters being a thing.
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Indeed, you see the same pattern in health and wellness and other topic areas. Snake oil is heralded as the silver bullet "they" don't want you to have, and what do you know, you can buy it from the same person revealing "the truth" to you on YouTube. What are the odds?

In audio I guess ASR now serves the role of "they" who want to suppress the common sensical but scientifically ludicrous "truth'.

Credibility and visibility are almost the same thing, if you want to be an expert, just buy 50K followers and speak in a loud, confident voice. Facts are valued only to the extent they advance your sales pitch / narrative.
 
dedobot said:
Its not just a cable - its a cable system featuring TSC (Total Signal Control) technology ! Send/receive conductors and other magicks . Also we have the power cord with 7×14 AWG solid-core wires per conductor ! Here I cant hold more the my tears of laugh .
Its equal to 10sq.mm cable rated 70amps@220V or 15kW :facepalm:
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Kay Bull!
 
If Carlsberg made audio cables ..
 
dedobot said:
Steve Jobs screw his cancer treatment loosing precious time on alternative asian "medicine" .
Shamans and quacks literally. That's Steve Jobs , a highly educated technological visionary.
We humans are irrational beings driven predominantly by emotions.
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I think Steve died of pancreatic cancer, just about the worst, most unsurvivable kind possible. By time you're diagnosed with it, it's typically too late, You can't have the pancreas removed; you can't live without one. I'm nort a doctor, just a medical lay person.
 
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egellings said:
I thin Steve died of pancreatic cancer, just about the worst, most unsurvivable kind possible. By time you're diagnosed with it, it's typically too late, You can't have the pancreas removed; you can't live without one. I'm nort a doctor, just a medical lay person.
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It depends ... as always and everywhere.
First question is: is it local without metastasis, second is: is it resectable?
Surgery decades ago meant removement of pancreas, gallbladder an spleen.
Survival rate was approx. 50% (Whipple procedure).
Nowadays procedures look at location of the cancer with only partially removing pancreas if possible, and newly invented oncological treatment support. Until now very promising results. And even after pancreatic resection there are substitutes to compensate for endocrine and exocrine pancreatic enzymes.
The same with pulmonary cancer: treatment is now much more live years saving compared to 10 or 20 years ago.
But off topic a lot, excuse...
 
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egellings said:
just about the worst, most unsurvivable kind possible.
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Unfortunately, I found out that gall bladder cancer was even worse. 6 month survival rate after diagnosis is about zero.

Anyway, this is why I class frauds like Van den Hul as actually evil, not just amoral- when they venture into quack medicine, this is people's lives, not their bank accounts.
 
SIY said:
Unfortunately, I found out that gall bladder cancer was even worse. 6 month survival rate after diagnosis is about zero.
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That's very sad but true, as with other cancer entities that only shine up with symptoms when cure is no more available, but control possible
SIY said:
Anyway, this is why I class frauds like Van den Hul as actually evil, not just amoral- when they venture into quack medicine, this is people's lives, not their bank accounts.
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That I have missed completly ... what was his complaints about?
 
SIY said:
Unfortunately, I found out that gall bladder cancer was even worse. 6 month survival rate after diagnosis is about zero.

Anyway, this is why I class frauds like Van den Hul as actually evil, not just amoral- when they venture into quack medicine, this is people's lives, not their bank accounts.
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What I wonder about with quackademic medicine, is that some practitioners know what they are selling is fraudulent and are in it for a fast buck, while others truly, in their heart of hearts, believe that what they sell is helpful for the intended medical condition. I would not be as critical of the second group, although I would not take their advice, either.
 
Salt said:
That I have missed completly ...
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His website will show you the quack gadgets he peddles. I'd link, but it actually nauseates me to see this stuff.

This is a despicable human, and I may be too generous calling him that.
 
Mart68 said:
Regrettably not. I had a run in with that reviewer many years ago now when he trotted out the old 'You're just jealous because you can't afford it' line. (I could, but part of the arrogance of these people is they assume that must be the reason you don't spend a fortune on this idiocy).

''if you compare the cable to Odin 2, Valhalla 2 almost sounds ‘broken’. And given V2 already made most other cables sound arch and similarly ‘broken’, Odin 2 makes it all but impossible to listen to lesser cables, even in the context of cheaper audio equipment.''

''All this sounds like pretentious nonsense,''

You nailed it there, Alan.
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Perhaps when he reviewed the Odin cable, he caught him/it in it's famous sleep, it would kinda explain why it sounded "broken" in comparison at the time ;)
 
AdrianusG said:
Perhaps when he reviewed the Odin cable, he caught him/it in it's famous sleep, it would kinda explain why it sounded "broken" in comparison at the time ;)
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Oops , sorry i read that wrong, the Valhalla sounded "broken"

teaches me to read (better) before you react:(
 
How about speaker cables with hand-stitched leather....

"Fono Acustica of Spain’s new Grandiosso-series speaker cable ($73,000/1.5m pair) and power cord ($23,800/1m). Grandiosso applies equally to looks, construction, and price.

STRP_0525_AXPONA_wynn audio_thumbnail_Wynn111 copy.jpg


'They contain very special-purity silver and gold which is very hard to find,' he said. 'Combining the two metals, coating them in Teflon and wrapping them in hand-stitched leather, and terminating the cabling with our own silver-and-gold-alloy connectors produces an organic, natural sound.' Attached to the cables are olive-wood boxes that contain a damping material and an internal grounding module claimed to enhance performance." From Stereophile.

Sound this good can only be achieved with (1) animal sacrifice, (2) "special-purity silver and gold" and (3) $73K.... :facepalm:
 
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Mark617 said:
expensive snake oil.
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Just because products are expensive doesn't make them snake oil. Oh sure there is a LOT of baloney out there in audio-land, but for some time now the global trends across all industries has been ever-more-expensive products to sell to the super-rich. Just the other day I was reading a story where a luxury brand I forget accidentally added a zero to the price of I think it was a handbag. Sold out faster than ever. A lot of rich folk absolutely want to buy expensive stuff because the point is less wealthy people CAN'T. And there are more and more folk for whom $50k or whatever for an amp is simply not a lot of money.
 
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