Shame on you Denon!

[emorphien]

Denon has the right to make this and charge as much as they want for it. Someone certainly will buy it.

When I saw this though I was disheartened, I had thought Denon was above this sort of silly nonsense and based their product & marketing in reality. For me, this raises more of a question of "what's next?" Where will Denon go next with absurd things like this? Generally speaking, I don't think it speaks well of a company when they do this and perhaps we're going to see a downward turn in their products somehow.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Lets look at this another way. Here is a quote from that cables product literature.

"Additionally, signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer."

Now Denon know very well it does not matter which direction current or information passes down a copper cable. There is a simple term for that. It is called lying.

Unless it is a shielded cable and they have lifted the shield on one end to allow for proper grounding of stray EMF. This would typically be connected on the source side, and lifted on the receiving side, and is common in many cables, especially for commercial installation work.

We are becoming a society founded on lies. Lies break trust. It is not a stretch that a new DENON product may in fact be of far less quality then they maintain. There is no justification for lying and your response attempts to justify it.

I think you may be ready to call them liars before knowing why they made such a statement which is unfair on your part first and foremost. Secondly, I think that consumers should be trying to inform themselves before buying so they don't make poor purchasing decisions. We aren't becoming a society founded on lies - sales have always stretched truths... but with such easy access to decent information, it seems our society is often willing to let themselves be sold on basic advertising ahead of getting simple information themselves.

Is it a lie if it is true? Of course not, but I don't think that it will make things actually sound better in the least if someone buys that cable either.

We should all feel deeply ashamed as a society, that we are educating people in a way that there are enough people to swallow the lie for them to make money with it. If you think about it for a moment, that is an abysmal failure all the way around.

I agree... but a fair bit of the success of snake oil products rests in the hands of people who have spent $100,000+ on their systems and SWEAR that the snake oil is better than anything else on the market. We, on the whole, have reviewers in uppity magazines who are clueless about A/V who will swear by products without any clue or knowledge of what they are talking about. Then many consumers trust those sources and get bad information.

Denon is out there to make some money, and I'm not sure if they are lying or not, but someone is going to get the cash of the uneducated, and I would rather have it be them then many of the other companies out there... that's it. I don't think it's good that they are going down this road, but they sure aren't breaking new ground in the CE industry by offerring this product.

 

[cfrizz]

If those people don't want to take the time to make themselves informed by all the means that are available in this day and age, then YES, they deserve whatever they are stupid enough to believe & buy.

And a company has the right to make a sh**load of money on the back of misinformed ppl?!

 

[corey]

Are you serious?! Up to the point of disqualifying Denon from future purchases? I mean... I don't like Denon for its looks and lack of user friendliness (IMO), but not because they sell snake oil! They are still a good company nonetheless. I, myself, bought an 80$ 12ft Energy HDMI cable couple of years ago when I wasn't educated enough. And now they make Energy Conoisseur HDMI cables............... but I still bought their C-100s, RC-10s, RC-70s, RC-LCR, RC-R and ESW-V10 speakers...

What I was saying is that they lost their "inside track" position with me. To be completely disqualified from future purchases takes something really bad, like a root kit.

 

[Alex2507]

Knowledge is power, knowing that a free market lets a company make and market a product that the public can accept or reject is the way this and other countries work, I can see you think you are a pretty smart guy but the American (and world) business model trumps you everytime. As noted earlier, if you dont like it then dont but it and move on to something productive as standing on a soap box serves nothing but your ego. Cheers

I see you're making friends again.

 

[chadnliz]

Someday you will have something of value to say, I am sure of it.

 

[Alex2507]

Someday you will have something of value to say, I am sure of it.

Don't be so sure.

 

[Adam]

Can't we all just get along?

First, they charge $500 for a cable. Now, they're tearing us apart. Will the evil never end?

Darn you, Denon!!!

 

[Haoleb]

That's not the point. This sort of nonsense highlights a real problem. The issue is that it highlights a severe problem in western society. People seem at this time to be able to graduate from high school and universities without even a rudimentary knowledge of not only the physical sciences but critical thinking skills. They are then gullible fools and we are getting full of them on these forums.

Now just take the critical thinking aspect of this Ethernet cable. Is any one going to think the net is built round high priced cable? The next thing is that anyone with an elementary knowledge of chemistry would know that copper is an element, and that you can not change its atomic structure.

So I think we have fallen so low, that now most university graduates could not define an element or a compound and tell you the difference. 50 years ago, I can tell you that was not true.

Well what's the harm. The harm is immense! It means avaricious lunatics get to be in charge of companies that know nothing about the products they make. Worse, people who know nothing of the physical world around us, but who have degrees in marketing and advertising, get to control the few engineers and scientists who really are the ones who we need to look to for real innovation.

The result is that the engineers feel prostituted, which they are, and become dispirited. They become starved of funds for R & D. Those funds are diverted to the kind of nonsense, highlighted in this thread. The overpriced ad men know that we now live in a world that is awash in ignorance of the physical world around us, and can be made to believe almost anything. They can make a fast dishonest buck. The world is starved of innovation and we don't make the progress we could or should.

So yes, we should cry out and and react to this nonsense. Above all we should demand better education, not only for our children, but life long education for all.

Knowledge IS power!

If you dont like it dont buy it is the point. Same reason why people buy ripped up jeans that look like something most people throw away from some name brand stores for hundreds when they could get BRAND NEW jeans from walmart for 10 bucks. The way I see it if your stupid enough to just go by what it says on the box and marketing without doing your research then really, your to blame for buying stuff like that.

For example. Billy Mays here for MIGHTY PUTTY! Look you can fix leaking pressure pipes with this stuff! Spend 10 bucks to order a roll and fix a broken mug handle!!!

 

[Alex2507]

Now, they're tearing us apart.

Nah, we're already apart. As Mrtycrafts pointed out, "we can't both be right".

Shame on Denon is right. One thing I learned from Oprah's grandmother is to believe people the first time they show you who they are.

I'll forgive them if they fire somebody.

 

[mouettus]

For example. Billy Mays here for MIGHTY PUTTY! Look you can fix leaking pressure pipes with this stuff! Spend 10 bucks to order a roll and fix a broken mug handle!!!

Wow. That ad made its way up to Canada! I still can't believe how much energy this guy puts into its tv ads lol. OxyClean, OrangeGlo, Mighty Putty; you name it. Uuuuunbelieveable!!

 

[MinusTheBear]

Wow. That ad made its way up to Canada! I still can't believe how much energy this guy puts into its tv ads lol. OxyClean, OrangeGlo, Mighty Putty; you name it. Uuuuunbelieveable!!

The commercial I have seen with the mighty putty they show a person pulling a transport truck with the stuff

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

As long as we can all disagree gracefully, it's okay.

I'm on Denon's side on this.

We are not billionaires, so none of us will buy this $500 cable.

But if we were billionaires and we bought some $50,000 cables just because we could, it does not mean that we are stupid either. I mean $500 to some of these people are like pennies, not even dimes.

I mean they could always donate $100,000 cables to the Salvation Army and claim tax deductions, right?

If Mark Levinson, McIntosh, Krell, etc. were to sell cables for $500 each, no one would say anything.

Shoot, I would love to see Denon making minimalist stereo preamps and selling for $4,000 each.

Denon is STRETCHING their product lines, boys. They want to please both the mid-end and the high-end crowds.

I'm okay with that, but I also respect everyone elses point of views.

 

[fmw]

As long as we can all disagree gracefully, it's okay.

I'm on Denon's side on this.

I am too as long as Denon doesn't claim that the $500 cable doesn't do anything that a $20 cable won't do. If they do, then that is lying and I would take the side against them.

We are not billionaires, so none of us will buy this $500 cable.

But if we were billionaires and we bought some $50,000 cables just because we could, it does not mean that we are stupid either. I mean $500 to some of these people are like pennies, not even dimes.

Stupid is the wrong term. Uninformed would be better. Billionaires didn't get to be billionaires by wasting money. Most of the wealthy people I know are as careful with their money as anyone. If they bought it because the could then that's fine. If they bought it because it would improve the sonics of their system then they are uninformed and, if they new better, wouldn't spend the money.

I mean they could always donate $100,000 cables to the Salvation Army and claim tax deductions, right?

Yes but that doesn't have anything to do with anything.

If Mark Levinson, McIntosh, Krell, etc. were to sell cables for $500 each, no one would say anything.

Because these companies are already up to their necks in it. One would expect it of them, not a seemingly honest company like Denon.

Shoot, I would love to see Denon making minimalist stereo preamps and selling for $4,000 each.

Perhaps they are headed in that direction. I wrote them off a long time ago for providing equipment for more money that was not better than other equipment for less money. For them to go the high end subjectivist audiophile equipment route wouldn't affect me in the least.

Denon is STRETCHING their product lines, boys. They want to please both the mid-end and the high-end crowds.

I'm okay with that, but I also respect everyone elses point of views.

I learned a long time ago from a very successful marketing man that "you can't please everybody all the time. Choose between pleasing everybody some of the time or pleasing somebody all the time."

 

[allargon]

I am too as long as Denon doesn't claim that the $500 cable doesn't do anything that a $20 cable won't do. If they do, then that is lying and I would take the side against them.

This one doesn't even do something that a $0.99 (paying for the bag that it came in) patch cable won't do.

Even the normally clueless people on Amazon are having a field day with this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AKDL1-Dedicated-Link-Cable/dp/B000I1X6PM

I wonder if this has a retailer markup similar to that of Bose and Monster. If so, I wouldn't be surprised to see custom installers (who are supposed to know what they're talking about) hawk this or something similar. I'll never get over that one dealer who told me I would get a much better picture if I bought a $300 HDMI cable from him.

 

[brulaha]

Ah...but the amazon price does include free shipping. LOL!

And here's a bad review of the cable...

"A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the "directional markings" on the cables, your music will play backwards. Please check that before mentioning it in your reviews.

I was disappointed. I consider myself an audiophile - I regularly spend over $1000 on cables to get the ultimate sound. I keep my music-listening room in a Faraday cage to prevent any interference that could alter my music-listening experience. Sending any signal down ordinary copper can degrade the signal considerably. While ordinary listeners might not notice, to somebody with even a rudimentary knowledge of sound, the artifacts are glaring. Denon should have used silver wiring (hermetically sealed inside the rubber sheath to prevent any tarnishing, of course), which has a significantly higher conductivity than copper. Furthermore, Denon needs to treat the wires they use in the cable with a polarity inductor to ensure minimal phase variance.

Needless to say, I returned the cable and wrote an angry letter to the so-called engineers at Denon."

I thought it was quite funny.

 

[Matt34]

My favorite from the Amazon link:

By G. P.

If I could use a rusty boxcutter to carve a new orifice in my body that's compatible with this link cable, I would already be doing it. I can just imagine the pure musical goodness that would flow through this cable into the wound and fill me completely -- like white, holy light. Holding this cable in my hands actually makes me feel that much closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. I only make $6.25/hr at Jack In The Box, but I saved up for three months so I could have this cable. It sits in a shrine I constructed next to my futon in Mother's basement.

I only gave it four stars in my review because I can't find music that is worthy enough to flow through this utterly perfect interconnect.

 

[Adam]

My favorite from the Amazon link:

Ha, ha!!! That is hilarious!

EDIT: Just saw this comment to that review. I liked it.

J. Doyle says:
"If you are unable to construct an orifice that is compatible with this cable, you do not deserve the right to even look at this cable. I suggest, NO, I DEMAND, that you take that scarf that your grandmother knit your for your high school graduation, and wrap the entire cable to protect it from your sight, then move it to a proper place of respect, in the Good china hutch that holds the legends of Nascar collector series plates. Where you may, once a year, remove the scarf, and, just for a moment, glance at the cable, before returning it to its rightful location."

 

[mouettus]

Even the normally clueless people on Amazon are having a field day with this one.

HAHA!!!!!!!!

Look at that review! lol Hillarious

By D. Jackson - See all my reviews

While the production quality of this cable, along with the little arrows that help me(and the music) understand where the sound is going, is mind-boggling - What I found most impressive is that this cable actually turned my binary digital audio devices into TRINARY digital audio devices. All the people saying that it's just 1's and 0's don't understand how revolutionary this cable is. IT UPSCALES YOUR DIGITAL SPECTRUM TO ALLOW FOR 2's!!! Any true audiophile knows that 2's are where the upper-order harmonicas are to be found in high quality digital audio.

 

[MDS]

I]By D. Jackson - See all my reviews

While the production quality of this cable, along with the little arrows that help me(and the music) understand where the sound is going, is mind-boggling - What I found most impressive is that this cable actually turned my binary digital audio devices into TRINARY digital audio devices. All the people saying that it's just 1's and 0's don't understand how revolutionary this cable is. IT UPSCALES YOUR DIGITAL SPECTRUM TO ALLOW FOR 2's!!! Any true audiophile knows that 2's are where the upper-order harmonicas are to be found in high quality digital audio.[/I]

As a programmer with an M.S. degree and 20 years of programming experience, I am flabbergasted. That is total and utter bullsh!t. The cable knows absolutey ZERO about the bitstream!