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We all know how tricky 'quality' is to assess and quantify, but I cannot believe people have the nerve to sell a USB to hard-drive cable for £159 - and promise that it sounds wonderful

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/audioquest-carbon-usb-30-type-a-to-micro-b-cable

In 1982 Sony gave us "Perfect sound forever," along with the attitude that, "it's just digital, so all CD players sound the same." That was disproved and qualitative differences between players became accepted truth. Next came separate transport and DAC combos, which brought with it the attitude that "all S/PDIF digital audio cables sound the same..." until that too became disproved. Now the frontier has moved once again. Is digital audio really just ones and zeros? We don't believe so, and once you've had a chance to listen to Carbon USB, you won't think so either...

Even worse are the reviews - apparently they sound better when they are run-in

The AQ Carbon USB is a good quality cable. It needs quite a bit of running in before sounding good. I would describe the sound as fairly neutral and open with natural sounding treble [slightly dark], an oddly balanced big bass quality [slight warmth to the sound but can be quite punchy/dynamic]-, quite a large sound-stage. Detail levels are good. I also demoed the AQ forest USB which I found to be vastly inferior to the AQ Carbon USB. I would say don't waste time on the AQ Forest USB cable and save up for the AQ Carbon USB and give it a listen. Although a very good quality cable I may still consider alternatives at a similar price.

How on earth can people get away with sales stuff like this?

Comments

cyrano Sun, 10/28/2018 - 08:57

You’d be amazed at what people will believe. I was the IT person in a time sharing sales outfit for a while. One of my job duties was being backup for the telemarketeers. When they got to talk to a lawyer, a judge, or so, some of them panicked and transferred the call to me. That thaught me that people with higher education are even more gullible than simple people.

I have a Hungarian friend who designs speakers. The photos on his site show the speakers with small art objects on them. His wife carves these from tree roots. He’s often asked if these help in getting better sound...

John Willett Sat, 11/10/2018 - 05:35

pcrecord, post: 459566, member: 46460 wrote: Back in the day they sold AC cable at 150$US... come on, how better can 120v can travel ?

Here how bad it can get :
https://robbreport.com/gear/audio/slideshow/10-of-the-most-expensive-power-cords-audiophiles-can-buy/

That's dirt cheap - a Russ Andrews mains cable sells for £ 1,624.00 (that's over $2,100.00 at today's exchane rate).

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