Nucleus+ review in Darko

Barrows from Sonore, who knows the Signature Rendu SE very intimately, also feels it is sensitive to the USB cable used.

I read all kinds of audio reviews in order to discover new products and to get a sense of what I might want. As with movie reviews, I don’t use a single review in my research, preferring to get a holistic sense of a given product through multiple reviews. The paid-advertising model – just as in TV, newspapers, etc. – permits a reviewer to subsist vs. a pay-for-play model that can be difficult to implement. Of course, from time to time you run into someone who reviews for the pleasure of it! Anyway, I always enjoy reading Darko, 6 Moons, and some of the hi-fi press in the U.K. and Poland (of all places!). Some reviewers have been kind enough – Darko, Srajan Ebaen and Joël Chevassus – to respond to private inquiries. Pax vobiscum!

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So, one spends $3000 on an endpoint and something like an AudioQuest Diamond at $550 for 3/4 meter is still needed to make it sound its best?

So, someone from Sonore, which sells the overpriced endpoint, also feels it needs overpriced cables?

Big surprise.

Really, you spent $1700+ on three USB cables?
What did P.T. Barnum say?

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Don’t forget to add that obscenely overpriced network cable to.

Are you guys pissed because you don’t believe or because you can’t afford them? Price is illusory. The questions shouldn’t be about the $, it should be about the music. Do they work better or don’t they? For the record, I make my own cables or buy from pro suppliers.

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I would be pissed that a $2900 (really!) Sonore product had such a poor quality or badly implemented USB driver chip onboard that it was overly sensitive to the USB cable specification.

My £60 laser printer manages quite well with a cheap as chips USB cable and has never transmitted any errors onto the page.

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I don’t believe the price is commensurate with the improvement in SQ, even if it exists.

Yes, I suppose if you’re a rich man then the price dosn’t matter, Still, even in that case, I have to believe that one’s disposable income could be better portioned.

When people in authority, and with reviewers I use the term loosely, laud the benefits of these overpriced audio ripoffs, then it just preys on the gullible and the weak minded. The power of suggestion and all that.

Dunno why people jump to the defense of the pirates that manufacture these ripoffs. Must be pride of ownership or some variation of the Stockholm Syndrome.

BTW - Although my finances are none of your business, I can afford the cables mentioned here, financially, just not rationally.

Did you perhaps mean “commensurate”?

It’s not too hard weighing up the relative contributions of you versus darko.

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Damn spell checker, but I guess that was meant as a (petty) cut on your part.

The point of my argument has nothing to do with the way I spell.

Nobody is jumping to anyone’s defense! I am curious because while any objection I have is purely technical, some people make a big deal out of price as if it matters. The truth is that to those who can afford it, it doesn’t.
@Anthony_B, the man who sold you your printer cable hasn’t retired to his yacht on the Riviera just yet has he? :wink:

I was speaking in general, not specifically referring to you.

Price does matter. All cheats ‘matter’. Does it matter if one gets cheated on the price of a car?

The industry gets away with these exorbitant prices because people buy, so to speak, into them.

Really, $550 for a 3/4 meter cable? Shame on all involved.

Yes, the technical objection is that they don’t affect the SQ the way the manufacturers represent.

Er no, that is because I am having it rewired using these cables before I take delivery:
http://www.highfidelitycables.com/

The guy that makes these probably did retire after he received my order; and its not even a big yacht.:slight_smile:

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Interesting to see you think they are cheats. It kind of puts your outrage into perspective. My take on it is that the wealthy don’t care so why should I. Influencers will get their product placement in and that is how I see the discussion about cables and the Sonore product during a Nucleus review. I simply look past it. I can’t afford the Rendu, I won’t spend that quantity on a length of USB cable so why stress over it?:slightly_smiling_face:

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Sorry, don’t understand this comment. Of course, I think they are cheats. Why else would I be outraged?

You’re right about that. I make an oath to my Self that I won’t get involved in this rant (I mean, crusade) about exorbitant cheats, but it never sticks. :expressionless:

This back and forth between us (or anybody) on this subject doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.:wink:

People will buy whatever their beliefs allow (or their insecurities force) them to buy.

Peace :sunglasses:

so why do I like Darko:

  1. He’s got a f***in cool name
  2. he’s fun to read
  3. he spends the effort to take a hobby and write about it and make it an avocation, risking much of the fun I think I would lose if I tried to formalize my hobby.

That said, do I always agree with Darko?
-No
Do I always hear what Darko says he hears?
-No
Do I care?
-No

diversity of opinion simply makes it easier to find mine. Why do we continue to put up wth this Stereo Review b.s. that they all sound the same so let’s ad homenin attack anyone who thinks differently? Geesh. to each their own. as long as you don’t have buyer’s remorse, who cares? those who don’t believe can try to find a radioshack and go fabricate their own USB cord.

thanks for what you do Darko. After working a hard week, I simply enjoy taking in your viewpoint.

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I agree and would add one thing: he is focused on systems and music that appeal to a young, mobile demographic, and on fitting in with their lifestyle and living quarters and budgets.

The rest of the industry is focused on affluent retirement-aged white guys, listening to intellectual acoustic jazz or classical. This is the self-defeating marketing strategy of Brylcreem: their customers became bald or died.

I absolutely can’t stand the music he talks about (yes, I have tried). But I applaud his perspective.

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Et cum spiritu tuo! And, most importantly: Sursum corda! :wink:

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Amen to that. (I’m not a Catholic, though.) :joy:

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What have I got out of this thread?

  1. Cables can be a ridiculously expensive rip off, depending on your beliefs or wealth status or both. No surprise there.
  2. Darko is cool enough to come on here and defend himself/his friends. I think I will look at his website more often.
  3. The angry people make other people angry.
  4. The usual cool, intelligent people respond with the usual intelligent well thought out remarks.
  5. Some of us can’t spell very wale.
  6. Some of us need coffee. Mmm, espresso.
  7. Most importantly I learned some Latin (pretty happy about that thanks @Flashman and @HWZ, my education was sadly lacking in that area).

Pax vobiscum and Sursum corda!

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Oh my! This thread looked interesting but is totally ruined by silly arguments about USB cables. @xxx why even bother to link to a review if all you’re going to do is rant about something entirely different? You’re discussing hifi but still can not stomach the fact that some hear differences between cables? Sometimes hifi discussions are worse than polarised political discussions. At least keep to the subject of the review …

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