New Lexicon Blu-ray Player just a repackaged Oppo BDP-83 - Only $3000 More

I understand this sort of thing has been going on for a while but does anybody think this will change how reviewers look at products? It would be nice if more audio/video hardware reviewers would call out the manufacturers like this more often but I have a feeling they won't.

 

Maybe you should look athttp://www.theaudiocritic.com/
and follow some of the links. One of them even tells you how to make your own device to compare cables.

It is true that human hearing can be extremely sensitive. But as an acoustics guy, I would mostly disagree with "not everything can be measured." Mostly it can-it's correlating the measurements with the hearing that can be tough.

There are a lot of tweaks and changes you can make to your system which probably just don't make a difference. And there are a lot of psychological reasons you may THINK you hear a difference and be satisfied. But that doesn't mean there was really a physical difference in the first place.

 

The best part about all this is that Oppo is getting some great publicity of their greatness!

 

You're preaching to the choir here. But my point is that there are people who don't share this opinion. And for them, I'm afraid no results can change their mind.

 

I always remembering how audio file brands would take Japanese Cd players and
then modify them ,but this is a plain con

 

All of this makes me appreciate my PS3 even more. Blu-ray done right at a great price point.

 

Actually, it's turning out that quite a bit of medical research (particularly research carried out by pharmaceutical companies) is seriously flawed if not downright fraudulent. This is serious.

I'm pretty unconcerned about what goes on in the Hi-fi press: sure, there probably are some frauds, but they are writing about a hobby and I don't see much damage being caused because some guy waxes poetic about some speaker cable that cost 3K a meter.

I do admit that it's cool that Audioholics has revealed what's going on with the Lexicon, and sure, I'd be upset if I bought one. But at least the unit does what it purports to do and has a cool aluminum face plate. That's probably enough for some folks.

 

But if he's doing so under false pretenses and causing people to spend their money on such products, then there definitely is a problem.

 

It's always amusing to me to see an equipment review in a magazine followed by a full or two page ad for the equipment that was reviewed.

 

It would even be more amusing if the ad had a quote from the preceding review.

 

What would be amusing would be to see a negative review followed a few pages later by an ad for the product

Positive reviews followed by the product's ads are all too common to be amusing.

 

Didn't fall flat here.....I clued into the sarcasm right away

 

I noticed that too

A local computer dealer sells Belkin HDMI cables (admittedly not "hi end" but they work just fine for this comparison).

I looked at 2 models, one was $30, the other just over $10.
The difference?
Packaging. Same cable inside.
Cheaper one in a heat sealed plastic bag (for the home install guys maybe?) , $30 in Belkins elaborate PureAV package.

 

Check out this 12 page thread on the Lexicon saga: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1217550

 

I've had a couple attempts at sarcasm fall flat lately. I could use a smiley, but then you lose the dry sarcasm.

 

You are quite right, and I don't mean to excuse this sort of thing. I had recently come across the issue of bad science/outright fraud in the medical literature and jumped on that example.

I also believe that there should be full disclosure of interests: if a reviewer has any sort of connections to or financial/other interests in a particular company it's essential that reader's know about that.

 

We need to find a sarcasm icon somewhere I guess

 

Saw this on the news today...you can get one for 2 bucks. Sorry if this is threadcrap but it kind of fts with the theme of pricing beyond what something is worth.

http://www.asylum.com/2010/01/12/sarcmark-introduces-punctuation-to-indicate-sarcasm/

 

On the same note...
http://community.klipsch.com/forums/storage/4/1212267/Rodrigues cartoon - precious cartridge.jpg

 

Talk about dropping a bomb on the consumer...

 

Found a transcript showing the comments.
http://stabbingpixies.com/fr_htrtranscript.cfm

 

Not even close. Finished faceplates of that quality can cost $100 in quantity. Maybe $50 if they buy a real boat load of them but that's not gonna happen at $3000 per unit. Still, it's a ridiculous margin, but let's not let that carry over to other brands who use heavy faceplates and who don't have such a mark-up. If it went onto a product which was otherwise hand made and had superior parts quality than the run of the mill, then it would not be questioned. Audiophiles are a funny lot and want to have it both ways. They will complain that a faceplate costs too much and thus is frivilous and yet when they get their hands on a product that has a more reasonably thin faceplate, they demean it for being flimsy and the producer for being cheap. Yawn... It's a no win situation for makers of nicer products in limited number, yet this sort of debacle here is shameful. No one would defend that. Oddly, many audiophiles defend makers of well dressed wire. Emperors' clothes indeed.
-Bill

 

That's a gross assumption. It is also as indefensible a statement as the "product" being discussed here. There are many, many very high quality products being produced by many mfrs which are unique and deserve merit for their outstanding design, build, performance, value, and overall quality. It is unfortunate that a poor decision by one company would be used to unfairly chastise an entire industry. It was bound to happen but I see it as a blatant case of sour grapes.
-Bill

 

Yes, but that was back when only Philips and Sony had made CD players and the devices were patented. This is a horse of another color.
-Bill

 

My quotation of the raw materials cost is accurate--the faceplate is $2.00 worth of material, the rest of the chassis is $0.50. I checked the current commodity exchange prices.

If Lexicon is being charged $100 for a finished aluminum faceplate, the machine shop that is producing the faceplate is making a tremendous profit! It's probably made in China, too, so the labor cost is going to be low.