The audiophile world is an interesting part of the tech industry. Much of what makes for great sound is subjective, making some product reviews far harder than the typical speeds and feeds of the latest laptop or smartphone. You might be able to measure a speaker’s exact frequency response, but we all hear it differently in our heads.
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For example, when I first put together my current vinyl playback setup, I learned that my $50 phono stage was artificially suppressing what my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable could do. After fielding various suggestions for an upgrade, I went with something more widely recommended and, sadly, more expensive. The good news is that the difference in sound was noticeable. But it’s not like I can point to measurements online that explain the dramatic increase in what I perceived as a wider soundstage.
There’s a lot you can do to try to improve sound quality, but not all of it really makes a difference. Sadly, price doesn’t always help figure things out, either. Some companies are easy to spot when making unrealistic claims, but others have only been exposed after getting away with advertising to audiophiles for years. Whether it’s overpriced “audiophile” cables that don’t measurably do anything different, add-on products that claim to make sound better but instead make it worse, let’s take a look at some audiophile products that didn’t hold up under scrutiny.
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