This post reminds me of Kevin Nealon's Subliminal Message guy.

We're not necessarily making value judgments

about whether any of these products actually make any difference or not

I was gonna bring up the Silver Rock Signature Knob, but you guys already featured it in 2005.
[gizmodo.com]

How about a $90,000 turntable? The stand alone is $25,000
[www.stereophile.com]

Got one for ya: Harmonix TU-201 IMP "Tuning Feet", aka rubber-and-wooden feet for a single audio component.

$1,190 for a set of four.

Please dont use snakes for anything ever again. Snakes are my kryptonite.

/chills up spine

The Ultimate has to be the "Clever Little Clock". It's a travel alarm clock that "has no direct or indirect influence on the "audio signal" per se -- not on house wiring, audio components, cables, interconnects, power cords or acoustic waves in the room. Yet the Clock has a pronounced affect on the sound heard by listeners in the room." Get your $10 travel alarm clock for only $199!

[www.machinadynamica.com]

Most of what's on this website: www.machinadynamica.com

I mean, isolation tables are fine. You have wobble in your phonostage, it will probably affect the playback.

But quantum dot intelligent chips, and jars full of rocks? WTF? This stuff is only $30-200, but it's complete rubbish.

Monster cables...

What's funny about all this stuff is that I was just at the Audio Engineering Society Conference in New York where tons of companies exhibit their various professional and consumer audio related products and there certainly were lots of extremely expensive items there...

but all were justifiably expensive like 64 channel state of the mixing boards, etc etc. Nobody was there selling stupidly expensive stuff considered "audiophile" quality (read: people that only understand enough about audio to throw out catch phrases about why they're multi-thousand dollar purchases are the "best").

Anyways, the point is that audio professionals and researchers would laugh at this crap just as much as the Gizmodo writers.

Ooh, another snake oil site:

PWB Electronics:
[www.belt.demon.co.uk]

They sell 'foil' tape that you stick on things and it makes the sound more better! I mean, you can place it on your electronics stand, or your cat, or your refridgerator, and it'll improve the sound of equipment that's not in the same room. Amazing stuff.

If you think Pear Anjou cables were bad, perhaps you should check out silversmith audio's cable pricing. I swear these people have the same marketing strategy as Monster Audio, only taken to a whole new level.
[www.silversmithaudio.com]

I seem to recall hearing a quote about these things once to the effect of "spending $50,000 to reproduce sound that originally came out of a $50 amp."

This one kills me. A 16 gb portable $400 device that plays music and movies but requires you to be tethered to it to enjoy it. On the other hand, the 160 gb version costs less.

Yup, that sounds like a great business plan.

Can we also just include the concept "listening fatigue", on the grounds that it's silly. An audiophile friend of mine claims that he gets listening fatigue from CDs but not from vinyl. A sound mixer friend of mine has never heard of the concept.

@ludwigk: That site rules. Apparently, you can also improve sound by putting a drop of their special liquid on each side of a record or CD.

Tell me again why I work for a living?

I thought the Margio Labs 3-D stabilizer would be a good candidate but it looks like the company website is no more. A BS review for your reading pleasure.

[www.enjoythemusic.com]

Krell Evolution One monoblock amplifier... $50,000 for one (which as the name implies, powers one speaker).

[www.sixmoons.com]

Good times.

Always thought these were insane... Acoustic Systems Resonators.

[www.avataracoustics.com]

Little wooden blocks (about 2"x2") with tiny cups on top made from precious metals that supposedly change the room acoustics. Don't laugh, they are $2,200 each.

Reviews raving about them:
[www.6moons.com]
[www.stereotimes.com]
[www.6moons.com]
[www.6moons.com]

@SeattleTed: It'ssssssss gonna get you. No really the picture is going to come out of your hyper realistic monitor and venomise you.
P.S. The boogy man is real too.

@thegadgeteer: What on earth could you be talking about I wonder.

@Slats:

Wow. Just wow. That review was so full of sh!t. People are dumb enough to buy into this dumb-ass stuff?

Pretty pricey for a pair of variacs and an oak box.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Or maybe the transformers are hand wound by Buddhist monks using silver sitz wire coated with shellac from lac bugs fed only on the sap of east-facing Darjeeling tea bushes.

I design pro audio gear for a living (and used to design audiophile gear, albeit reasonably priced stuff that actually worked). Here are, in my opinion, some of the more outrageous pieces of audiophile equipment...

AudioNote DAC 5 Signature ($59,000) D/A converter.

AudioNote AN-E Sogon Speakers ($130,000/pr.)

AudioNote Ongaku amplifier ($89,000)

[www.audionote.co.uk]

Burmester 969/970 CD Transport/DAC ($27.5K/$33K)

[www.burmester.de]

Any of the $10K+ cables from MIT and Transparent

[www.transparentcable.com]

[www.mitcables.com]

Kharma Grand enigma reference $1.000.000,- speakers

[www.higherfi.com]

oh hell I made my own speaker cables from bulk (and not cheap) copper braid and Monster (shaddap) banana plugs. total maybe $100 for a 5.1 setup.

@geeniusatwrok: Hey, that's reasonable AND DIY. Wrong article buddy, that's doing everything properly. For shame.

Anything Bose.

Well, I don't see anyone posting this link yet [www.machinadynamica.com]

It's not the most expensive but it might qualify as the most ridiculous.

^ +1 to that. They are marketing geniuses though.

Found this wonderful piece of Audiophilia as well...
[www.hometheaterhifi.com]

It is a $200 "3D Mat" that supposedly makes CD's sound better.

What I find really cool is that some of these hi-fi folks have a sense of humor about all this. Check out everything listed under "other" on this page: [www.higherfi.com]

My fave is the $499,000 amp on sale for the total steal price of $4900: [www.higherfi.com]

But Giz readers will probably relate better to this subwoofer: [www.higherfi.com]

Or this boombox: [www.higherfi.com]

More Snake Oil: The Tice Clock was a popular little topic of debate in the early 90's. Similar to the "Clever Little Clock" Marshall mentioned above but apparently better made as it sold for $30. "Messaged the audio signals put out by hi-end electronics" or some sorta BS like that. Funny.

Another snake oil bit from that time was the "Black Magic CD Markers" that made your brand new compact discs sound better. You basically markered the edge of the CD so no light could "escape" from the edged, thereby making the soudn better with less information lost.

Boy, I remember more.... rubber rings that you attached to your CD edges taht "stabilized" the disc to reduce wow and flutter in CD. Hahahahah...

@Sukigod: About those rubber rings - I tend to think they could have worked. If you ever had a top-opening CD player like the first-gen Magnavox, you know that when they got worn (or if tolerances were sloppy to begin with), the spinning CDs would appear unstable. They'd, for lack of a better word, "shimmy" up and down as they spun. That had to introduce at least some data read errors. If a little added edge weight could damp that effect and ease the error-correction work being done by the player, there might be an improvement in the sound. Anyway, the theory is plausible and the rings were really cheap, so I wouldn't put them in the "overpriced snake oil" category.

Nothing like 1920s meets 1980s for just under 5 grand.

Moog Ethervox MIDI Theremin

[www.moogmusic.com]

@Kaaspeer: The Kharma Grand Enigma tops this list of 10 crazy-expensive speakers. I'd love to hear the Infinite Wisdom Grande and save $400,0000.

This site has lots of exotic turntables but is slow and hard to navigate.

@ludwigk: You weren't kidding one bit about Machina Dynamica; what a load of crap. Their "Clever Little Clock" makes "all audio much more liquid..." what rubbish.
I just saw they have "special" outlet covers as well... for $30 a pop --
Now Available - Tru-Tone Light Switch Cover $30 each

Machina Dynamica's brand new product is the Tru-Tone Duplex Cover, a special audiophile-grade cover for all duplex wall outlets; they are intended to replace all types of duplex covers - steel, plastic, wood, etc. - in the listening room, including non-audio outlets - even unused outlets. We suggest a "baseline" of 3-4 Duplex Covers in the room. Tru-Tone Duplex Outlet Covers produce a remarkably powerful, detailed and focused sound. It cracks me up they "suggest a 'baseline' of 3-4" outlet covers... no kidding, really?

@keithmberard: While I'd definitely agree that a $4950 Theramin is way overpriced, this is indeed Moog we're talking about. I'd like to hear this Moog version in person; I bet it's pretty awesome. But yeah, not $4950 worth of awesome most likely.