Top of the line components are a given at this price point but in addition to nice guts, it’s packing as few wires as possible. The idea being that less distance to travel means fewer opportunities for signal interference. The price also includes the special gold lacquer which supposedly looks just like the real thing. The only real golden thing about this amp is the sound it outputs.
It may be difficult to comprehend spending 50 grand on a single channel, mono amplifier but for some, it’s worth every penny. Personally, I’d take the real gold. [Product Page via Born Rich]
ozoneocean
Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 5:49 AMI think another word for audiophile is “sucker”.
Make those things cost a million and there’d probably still be one somewhere who’d have to buy it.
Andy
Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 6:51 AMI can see it looks pretty but what are the specs???
Kai Howells
Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 9:45 AMYes, because nothing screams “I’m a professional outfit, don’t hesitate to drop $50k on my product” more than having a website hosted on… mobile me.
All you’d need to do is sell two of these a year (and as they’re monoblocs, if you made a sale, it’d most likely be a pair) and you’ve got yourself a pretty good job there.
Tai
Sunday, July 10, 2011 at 11:32 AMPeople forget how shit our ears are at hearing..
The thing that makes the biggest difference is what connects the sound to our ears (headphones) and then the quality of the source, and THEN the amp..
I believe that you can hear differences in different amps etc, but whether one is better than the other in a blind test would sort most people out. And $50k for one channel is just plain stupid
Mr Mack
Monday, July 11, 2011 at 12:43 AMMost people can tell between crappy ipod/iphone output and a good quality computer sound card or home theater system headphone output. It is always good to have a passion in life, but the difference in sound quality is so small compared to the price you pay. It is like you are burning cash to compete in Formula 1 but without any competition or public display!
Awnshegh
Monday, July 11, 2011 at 9:00 AMI’m sorry but I don’t care how wonderful this thing is. They’re painting it gold and expecting audiophiles to cough up.
The audiophiles I know (mostly old men with too much money), have ridiculous setups which include purpose built hardware cupboards, studio style sound insulation and racks of vinyl with dates to ensure the vinyl has a chance to rest between plays.
But you can bet all 800g worth of gold it doesn’t include some poxy looking gold amp.
TSH
Monday, July 11, 2011 at 9:20 AMMate of mine actually works in the audiophile industry. He has several components worth more than this in is living room. He’s been flown over to the USA and various European destinations for demonstrations, training and *certification for his ears*. And he swears by everything he believes in that it’s all worth it.
Up to a point, even I can definitely hear differences between one super-expensive component and another. However the differences are so subtle that IMHO it’s nothing that couldn’t be done with a sophisticated equaliser.