Great deal on an RCA to XLR balancer --- only $3,300!!!

[Jed]

Every time I inadvertently end up on an audiophile site I just have such a laugh that I can?t help but passing it on others.

http://soundapproach.com/ypsilon-balanc ... -2260.html

The BC1 transformers use a proprietary high performance Cobalt based amorphous core material of very high permeability that is very linear with frequency and flux level. This specific material is regarded to be one of the best magnetic materials available today.

The BC1 transformers are optimized sonically to be as transparent as possible. In this way they can improve the performance of a system since they provide a better interface isolation between devices. The signal ground current doesn?t travel through mains chords but only through the interconnect cables, maximizing in this way the overall performance of the system.

No wooden knobs or special crystals to stack your turntable on this time. Nope, just a crazy price for a transformer in a coffee can (okay, they do say mu-metal). It even include real Neutrik xlr connectors!!! (Please note they are not gold or diamond plated. I?m pretty sure I?ve got the same $2.99 connectors on the DI I built.)

Did I mention they are on sale for $370 off the MSRP?!

I'm going to buy a dozen to make sure the DJ plugging in to my PA gets the best sound my 20 year old Yamaha speakers can deliver!

[calaverasgrandes]

cobalt hunh? So are we talking about Alnico? I know Alnico magnets are less than linear, but do sound good.

[kslight]

Correct me if I am wrong but is this not the Beavis and Butthead approach to getting rich? Sell someone a glass of lemonade for a million dollars?

[wayne kerr]

Gain: 0db (x1)

Jeez, for that kind of money, I expect at least one dB!

[vvv]

The two paragraphs you quoted - they sound like they were written by someone in Nigeria or mebbe Chechnya keeps tryna sell me on opening a bank account for her ...

[The Scum]

I always love when hi-fi marketing write ups aren't aware of the profound differences between "chords" and "cords."

[jgimbel]

I get a real kick out of things like this like I'm sure we all do. What I always wonder though, not in a snarky way but seriously, are there people who buys these things? Like legitimately, thinking of this store stocking them, it seems like, even though people buy some ridiculous things and pay obscene amounts of money in search of their idea of perfection, I can't imagine that anyone would actually get something like this..ever. I'd love to see a report of how many of these have ever been sold, it can't be more than like 3 can it? I feel like at this price point the store has some ulterior motive of having this kind of thing in their catalog, like just to make some statement about what someone hypothetically could own to make people feel like they're getting a great deal by "only" paying $500 for something like this. Hm.

[Jed]

I always love when hi-fi marketing write ups aren't aware of the profound differences between "chords" and "cords."

Oh my god. I hadn't even caught that I was so blown away by the price tag!

That makes it 14x funnier to me.

are there people who buys these things?

No kidding. I wonder that too. Especially for a product like this! This is a pretty rare kind of snake oil. I mean I can see how a Ferrari owner would pick up the most expensive cables on the planet, cause why not, right? How many Ferrari owners are concerned about converting between balanced and unbalanced?

[Gregg Juke]

Yeah, why does a home stereo guy need XLR/balanced audio anyway? Is it because of the "chords?"

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

LOL.

"galvanic isolation"

As opposed to what kind of "isolation"... last time I checked, galvanizing is done to prevent metals from rusting, not from isolating them from any electrical current of any kind. "I have galvanized rain gutters installed in my house" is the proper use of the term "galvanic" and derivatives, and cousins...

"high performance Cobalt based amorphous core material of very high permeability that is very linear with frequency and flux level"

Whomever wrote this bit up here, has no clue of anything, and is probably just throwing fancy words to see if they stick with the dumb manufacturing management team. they probably loved this last sentence.

"The BC1 transformers are optimized sonically to be as transparent as possible"

Exaclty how does lowering the level by 3dB, and increasing the inductance by under 200 Henries, supposed to be "optimizing" anything?

"The signal ground current"

Hmmm... does it, or does it not have current, the Ground wiring? I say no current.

"shielded with mu-metal and potted in 10mm soft iron with a nickel coating"

mu-metal... is that like nu-metal? potted, as in a plant? NIckel makes things nice and shiny for very cheap... as in Chinese cheap.

"Frequency Responce (100 ohm driven): -3db 4Hz - 250kHz"

Responce, is not a word. It is a misspelt word. And I do NOT want to pay 3K for a response like that, -3dB all the way from 4Hz to 250kHz? What? I lose 3dB across the spectrum? Heck no.

"Inductance: 200H<" so, I am supposed to be happy with 199 Henries inductance? I don't think so.


And, I'll see your fancy pants trannies, and raise you one 1.5m (3 foot) cable, that costs : 6000.00USD!!!

http://soundapproach.com/stage3zyklopze ... -2293.html

"Description:
A.S.P. REFERENCE ZYKLOP power cables will enhance almost every performance aspect of your system. Treble and midrange are smoother and better defined, while bass increases in depth and articulation. Increased video contrast and sharpness will make images practically holographic. All this while removing artifacts and noise that subtly mask the fine delicacies in music and images.

The IEC and mains plug use silver/copper alloy electrical contacts that in conjunction with the massive conductor array, allow this unique cable to have extremely low resistance, making it especially well suited for power amplifiers, where current demands can fluctuate drastically and very quickly. This design represents the unsurpassable limit for linear, silent and unrestricted power delivery for the best audio and video components.

The enviable performance of all A.S.P. series cables make them the definitive statement in advanced, ultra-high performance audio interface technology.

Specification:
A.S.P. REFERENCE ZYKLOP power cables employ 8 palladium/silver alloy AeroStrand Ultra? conductors (2.5mm x 0.55mm) for each polarity in a tubular helix geometry. Air dielectric with FEP Teflon air-tubes.

100% radiation invulnerable shielding uses exclusive H.D.A.(High Density Alloy) foil plus nickel plated copper braid, with individually protected ground, positive and negative conductors. Multi-layer construction with silica/ceramic/ferrite mechanical damping/shielding layer.

Custom handmade polymer-filled, carbon fiber plug housings help eliminate external vibrations. Exclusive Hyperion Ceramic plugs with Silver/Copper alloy electrical contacts, Palladium plated and Cryo-treated (custom made by Stage III Concepts)."

The whole description makes me laugh.

Cheers

[Nick Franklin]

Have you guys seen the little rocks you tie around your XLR connectors?

[The Scum]

Nick, your BS detector is picking up false positives. Doublecheck that the setscrew hasn't come loose. Almost everything you just said can be refuted.

It actually reads like it was copied from some of Jensen's literature.

Galvanic isolation is the principle of isolating functional sections of electrical systems preventing the moving of charge-carrying particles from one section to another, i.e. there is no electric current flowing directly from one section to the next. Energy and/or information can still be exchanged between the sections by other means, e.g. capacitance, induction, electromagnetic waves, optical, acoustic, or mechanical means.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_isolation

Mu-metal is a nickel-iron alloy (approximately 75% nickel, 15% iron, plus copper and molybdenum) that has very high magnetic permeability. The high permeability makes mu-metal very effective at screening static or low-frequency magnetic fields, which cannot be attenuated by other methods. The name came from the Greek letter mu (&#956;) which represents permeability. A number of different proprietary formulations of the alloy are sold under trade names such as Mumetal, MuMetal, and MuShield; this article will cover their common features.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu-metal

I can't find quite so succinct a reference for ground current, but it's a very real phenomenon. Bob Pease, Bill Whitlock, Howard Johnson and Henry Ott have written plenty on it.

Not that any of this makes the item in question any more worthwhile. Looks & sounds like a paint bucket with a Jensen in it.

[Nick Franklin]

Hey The Scum,

I read your post about 50 times trying to work out what you were taking about then I realized there is another Nick in this thread!!

NF

[Nick Sevilla]

Hi TheScum,

Thank you for those two informative wikis.

Now I know they did try to put real facts in with a load of crap.

Crafty marketing guys.

Still, if their cable costs 6K, I would want it to come with at least one Grammy, per cable.

Cheers

[nobody, really]

those guys have it all wrong.... don't know they that you can't put all the frequencies in one cable? my Monster cables are clearly labeled "bass" or "rock". dumbasses.