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The brands to avoid

delta76

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Before ASR I had no preference of AudioQuest. I eyed their dragonfly usb amp for a while thinking if I should buy it because it was "recommended".
only after getting into hifi I realized they make so, so expensive cables with no "technical improvement" whatsoever. a pure snake oil company indeed.

Now I wonder if there are any brand that do the same to AudioQuest, something that newbies should simply look away/avoid because it's likely they will be ripped (they do not have to always make do-nothing-better-just-incredibly-expensive products, they just likely have those)
 

JSmith

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should simply look away/avoid
Pretty much anything mentioned in this thread... and then some;


JSmith
 

Bleib

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Lots of companies seem to have a few crap products. Even Denon which I like most of the time have sold ultra expensive digital cables that will do absolutely nothing for the sound.
 
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delta76

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Lots of companies seem to have a few crap products. Even Denon which I like most of the time have sold ultra expensive digital cables that will do absolutely nothing for the sound.
they actually sold AudioQuest cables as accessories if memory serves. but as long as they did not advertise them as "improve sound quality", I'd give them a pass.
AudioQuest on other hand claims their cables make things sound better.
 

FrantzM

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they actually sold AudioQuest cables as accessories if memory serves. but as long as they did not advertise them as "improve sound quality", I'd give them a pass.
AudioQuest on other hand claims their cables make things sound better.
Why the pass? Seriously? What do they do , other than lying to the customers?

Peace.
 
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delta76

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Why the pass? Seriously? What do they do , other than lying to the customers?

Peace.
it's a cable. someone like expensive cables. Not saying denon is innocent or anything like that, but in my book, it's just business if they did not specifically say "your speakers will sound best/better with these cables". I also wonder if many people buy from denon website directly. if they promote the cables as must have, that's different story to me.


other people can hate or stay away from denon for that, and that's fine as well.
 

jae

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Basically, it is much simpler to just avoid brands that don't have reliable 3rd party measurements instead of taking a blind risk on what "gems" may exist. There is a large speaker database on https://pierreaubert.github.io/spinorama/scores.html, electronics are measured on sites like ASR, Erin's Audio Corner, L7audio lab etc. There are a few exceptions to this that might not be found on these sites, but if someone isn't experienced or an engineer themselves to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff without relying on 3rd party data, there is no logical sense in taking any risk if you care about objectivity or your money.
 
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