[Audio_Empire]

I was talking to a young audiophile friend of mine on the phone the
other day, and it occurred to me that many of his attitudes and
misconceptions are the products of a lifetime of reading high-end audio
rags and drinking the cool-aid that is the high-end manufacturers'
endless advertising hype.

The biggest myth of all, and one that is almost universally accepted by
the non-technical audiophile community is this notion that as an
electrical signal, audio is somehow "special". In other words, it's
apparently OK for the wire carrying the electrical signals that keep the
airliner we're on in the air, and thus keeps us alive to be
garden-variety copper wire, terminated with garden-variety connectors
and held together with ordinary tin solder, but the wire that carries
our music must be single-crystal, oxygen-free copper (or perhaps silver)
sheathed in special dielectrics, terminated with platinum connectors
fixed with special "audio-quality" silver solder and costing thousands
of dollars per foot!

Add to that the fact that acceptable electronics must cost so much that
one would think that they were made from Mil-Spec parts, which they
aren't. (but even then, the parts and other manufacturing costs couldn't
begin to justify the selling price of some of this equipment). Even if
they were made from Mil-Spec parts, that, in and of itself, would not be
any guarantee of better sonic performance. Military and Aerospace
specifications are aimed at enhanced reliability and repeatability, not
at better performance than the industrial grade specimens of the same
parts.

Sure, good engineering will result in better sound, better reliability,
and greater longevity in hi-fi gear as in any other manufactured goods,
but is there really anything in an MSB Diamond Platinum DAC IV plus, for
instance, to justify its $40,000+ price tag? I doubt it. In fact, in a
recent review of Marantz's latest computer/internet audio "appliance"
(NA-11S1), the reviewer observed that the Marantz's built-in DAC was
virtually indistinguishable, sound-wise, from the MSB Diamond Platinum
DAC that he had on-hand at the time. The Marantz, BTW, was priced at
$3499 - less than 1/10th the price of the MSB and not only contained a
very good sounding DAC but was also a computer and Internet music server
to boot!

The idea that components have to cost an arm and a leg in order to
perform at "state-of-the-art" sonic levels is definitely a result of
manufacturer greed coupled with the willing compliance of the audiophile
press who compound the hype by parroting the notion that this stuff is
sonically superior to cheaper equipment even though there is usually
little or nothing in this equipment's design (other than several
thousands of dollars worth of custom metalwork in the component's case)
to indicate that it uses any better quality components or design
criteria than does much similar, but cheaper, gear.

Now, certainly, pride of ownership is a factor in this stuff and
expensive components and "boutique" cables certainly do LOOK the
business, and if one has unlimited financial resources and wants to
purchase a DAC that costs as much as a new Corvette C7, or a pair of
speakers* that cost as much as a new Aston-Martin or Maserati, then by
all means, be my guest. The tragedy here is not that such expensive
equipment exists, but that so many audiophiles are daily frustrated by
their heartfelt belief that one must pay these kinds of prices for great
sound. It just ain't so, gentlemen.

* I'll cut speaker manufacturers a bit of slack here. This is one area
where spending more CAN get you more. A pair of Wilson Alexandra XLF
speakers or Magico Q7s are state-of-the-art speaker systems at $200K and
$165K respectively, but again, a pair of Martin-Logan CLX's and a pair
Descent i subwoofers at under $30K for the lot still probably represents
the most accurate and transparent speaker sound money can buy these
days.

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