Angus Kidman17 June 2008, 12:06 PM
$500 can buy you a decent desktop PC or ultra-portable notebook, but wouldn't you rather blow that wad of cash on an Ethernet cable?
Audio products company Denon certainly hopes so, with a product that redefines the terms "overpriced" and "credulous".
Denon describes its Denon Link cable as an "ultra premium" cable "designed for the audio enthusiast". However, as a quick glance at the information page shows it's actually just a 1.5 metre Ethernet cable.
Denon's 1.5 meter (59 in.) ultra premium Denon Link cable was designed for the audio enthusiast. Made from high purity copper wire and high performance connection parts, the AK-DL1 will bring out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction from any of our Denon DVD players with the Denon Link feature. Attention to detail when building this cable was used by employing high quality insulation, tin-bearing alloy shielding and woven jacketing to reduce vibration and to add durability. Additionally, signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer. Rounded plug levers help prevent breakage.
The price for this baby? $US499, which would be enough to purchase at a kilometre or so of standard CAT5 cable at local market rates.
What justifies the price tag? "High purity copper wire" and "woven jacketing to reduce vibration", apparently -- because those nasty Ethernet cable vibrations cause the sound to bounce around inside the cable usually. And in the ultimate call for suckers, there's also "signal directional markings are provided for optional signal transfer". Yeah, those data packets won't go anywhere unless you have the cable the right way round.
The blithering drivel nature of the description hasn't stopped idiots purchasing it, apparently, though online stores and forums seem largely to have attracted sarcastic comments from people amazed that there's a market for this. But really, in a world where companies are willing to stick diamonds on a mobile phone — a product with a lifespan less than the average TV reality show — perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised.
Nonetheless, at this price the cable would want to offer you complimentary sexual services as well as exemplary data throughput. For anyone who buys this, however, the wanker element seems to have already been taken care of.