Currys Sandstrom cables rip-off

thrifty_pete

A less than technical friend was persuaded a £69.99 Sandstrøm HDMI cable was absolutely essential by a Currys salesman. Having seen the quality is not much better than the one I bought in 99p Stores, I'm inclined to think this is the successor to over-priced warranties. Sandstrom is obviously one of those weird Currys own brands. I suppose if people have that kind of money to throw away, then fair enough, it keeps the economy going, but it does make me have a negative impression of their business practices. That wasn't very high given when I bought a radio from them, I was threatened that something bad would happen to me if I didn't take out a warranty (at more than a third of the cost of the radio).

Pete

whatmichaelsays

thrifty_pete wrote: »

A less than technical friend was persuaded a £69.99 Sandstrøm HDMI cable was absolutely essential by a Currys salesman. Having seen the quality is not much better than the one I bought in 99p Stores, I'm inclined to think this is the successor to over-priced warranties. Sandstrom is obviously one of those weird Currys own brands. I suppose if people have that kind of money to throw away, then fair enough, it keeps the economy going, but it does make me have a negative impression of their business practices. That wasn't very high given when I bought a radio from them, I was threatened that something bad would happen to me if I didn't take out a warranty (at more than a third of the cost of the radio).

Pete

With margins on appliances so thin, things like £70 HDMI cables are what keeps the business going. Unfortunately, enough people will fall for the promises of "sharper signal, better quality, etc" and buy into it.

dacouch

A HDMI cable is the conduit for binary, basically a series of 1 and 0, they either get through the cable or they don't so the notion of a £70 cable being better than a 99p shop one is stretching it

SpammyTheSpammer

Will one of these £70 cables help me to hear exactly what it is that James May says when driving a bus in the Top Gear test as shown last Saturday?

ankspon

My local electronic shop made me one for 99p,works absolutely fine.He also said it is a myth about the gold ends being better

oldagetraveller

I believe that the reason for the gold plating is to only help prevent "corrosion"
of the contacts.
It is recommended to unplug and replace every so often to "clean" the contacts. A good example of this is connector plugs on cars. All that is sometimes needed, if something stops working properly, is to unplug and reconnect.
You are correct that gold plated ends are not better with regards signal quality.

earthstorm

Its just like when you purchase DVD players/Freeview/freeesat. They will always state oh you need a Scart Lead and that will be £10. but 9/10 their will be a scart lead in the with appliance or just go to Argos/wilko/supermarket and get one for £2

vacheron

I picked up a What Hi-Fi magazine while sitting in the waiting arew of a car dealership a few months back to read that they are still convincing people that £120 fibre optic digital cables result in "a warmer, more controlled sound with better instrument separation".

I thought that 15 years after I turned my back on such magazines because of exactly this deluded, snake oil mentality that they would have seen sense, but no!

If they were a financial institution, the mis-selling claims would be stratospheric!

sistafromanothermista

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

Will one of these £70 cables help me to hear exactly what it is that James May says when driving a bus in the Top Gear test as shown last Saturday?

:rotfl:

.....random things to make up the word count.....

michaelvintner

£70 for a HDMI lead. Piece of cheap rubbish. What you need is one of these babies

http://www.amazon.co.uk/AudioQuest-Diamond-Digital-Audio-Cable/dp/B004LR4JJG

NiallB

SpammyTheSpammer wrote: »

Will one of these £70 cables help me to hear exactly what it is that James May says when driving a bus in the Top Gear test as shown last Saturday?

How on earth is that relevant to this thread?

*Rolls eyes*

Cocking Nora............