Cable Asylum

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Sensible purchases.

Posted by Duster on March 12, 2017 at 15:08:53:
Hi Dave,

It's often the case that inexperienced shoppers see something that looks as impressive as what they may have seen at a much higher price, then think the item must be a bargain simply based on appearance. If audiophile-quality was only based on looks, than anything goes. This is the shortfall of many inexpensive Chinese audio connectors and cables, since often enough the manufacturers seem to only pay attention to looks, which is a swindle even if a fake brand name, model, or country of origin is not labeled on the product.

As to mechanical quality and safety issues, in one case the ground prong broke-off of a cheap Chinese AC plug while I was pulling it out of an AC outlet. I had to pull the snapped-off ground prong out of the AC outlet ground slot with a pair of pliers, which was ridiculous. Before it had failed, the same AC plug was found to sound unacceptable due to a plating that looks good for plated jewelry, but had serious sonic problems that I found unacceptable, to my ear. It was an utter waste of money, but I'm sure there are buyers that don't know the difference between a well-designed, high-performance Audio Grade AC connector or AC outlet and what may seem to be a sensibly priced alternative that simply does not deliver the audiophile goods. Safety should be an aspect of a true-value product as a given, while sound quality tends to be discovered and shared by audiophiles based on direct experiences.

Making an argument that the design of an AC connector does not matter since it's just about a basic connection of electricity is the voice of inexperience. When a buyer goes so far as to accuse brands like Furutech and Oyaide as perhaps being a waste of money, it becomes a point of ignorance. I don't feel compelled to explain why it matters, since the OP seems to have already made up his mind about something he's obviously not aware of.