Threatening legal action is a technique used by attorneys to intimidate both companies and individuals. The facts don’t really matter at this stage of a disagreement. And facts are hard to come by in cases where individuals or companies make conflicting claims. Merely throwing a lawyer letter together and fedexing it to the opposition is usually enough. I have no love of legal action (having been through a few suits…and won). The only ones who really win are the lawyers and their firms. I decided to remove the offending posts and retract my accusations because I prefer to avoid litigation.<\/p>\n
We’ll see how things play out in this particular instance…if the lawyers and Nordost are satisfied, then we’ll go our separate ways. If not, it may be necessary to build a defense fund and go to court. I hope to avoid the legal route.<\/p>\n
It seems a lot hinges on the ability of a company or writer to prove or to “substantiate” a claim or criticism. I think that’s why so many writers and marketing people tip to the subjective side of product descriptions and reviews. Apparently, you can’t get in any trouble if you offer an opinion or cleverly word your statements. Perhaps I’m not so clever.<\/p>\n
Demos of high-end audio equipment, expensive audiophile tweaks, cables of all types, high-resolution content, and accessories are hard to do. I know in my own demonstration room at the AXPONA show (and when customers get their first exposure to real high-resolution audio at home), the response is uniformly positive. I would not have continued producing records and promoting the merits of quality production, surround sound, and high-resolution audio, if listener didn’t notice a dramatic difference between what they’ve been used to hearing and the music that I produced.<\/p>\n
Just this week, I received the following from a new customer:<\/p>\n
“Every time I listen to your discs I am totally blown away by the sound. High Resolution audio as it should be.” Dan<\/p>\n
But how does anyone defy gravity? Or how does a cable company produce a product that claims to enhance audio quality and substantiate that claim? That’s the real art of the demo. Power cords deliver 120 VAC at 60 Hz from the wall socket to the back of your component. The wires in the wall cost $.10 per foot and the cables from the AC connector on the back of the component to the guts of the power supply are also $.10 per foot. Inserting a 6-foot length of thick, beautiful, transparent, glossy, expensive cable between the wall socket and the back of my disc player will not “act as a power conditioner” or affect the quality of the power reaching the back of the device. To do otherwise would attribute qualities to a power cable that audiophiles don’t want or need. If you want to condition bad power, get a power conditioner or fix your power. If you want to change the timbre of your sound, use an equalizer. To elevate power cords beyond the simple ability to deliver 120 VAC\/60 Hz to your gear is silly, in my opinion…and the opinion of electrical engineers.<\/p>\n
I’m going to start a YouTube channel and podcast this summer and will be challenging some of the claims made by companies selling snake oil. Power cords are on my list. If anyone…and end user or dealer or manufacturer…can lend me a very expensive power cord, I would love to be able to do a scientific comparison between a “state-of-the-art” power cord and one the one that came with my Benchmark DAC2 (which is what they recommend be used with their gear). It is possible to measure any differences between them. My guess is that they won’t be any different…but I’ll try to keep an open mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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