Skyrocketing price of mechanical hard drives

FranzB · 08 Dec 2011

The whole problem is that the "economy" has been reduced to how to produce something cheap.
A very dangerous oversimplification that has gained ground because the general public can buy things cheaper, forgettting that you first have to earn money in order to buy something, even if it is cheap. It has become an ideology and all ideologies are dangerous. It maximizes one part of the whole, it never optimizes the total.

What good is a superfast (personal) computer (other than for complex calculations) if the transfer of data is slow and becomes the weakest link? Or this fetish of large screens. I have two laptops. One with a large screen and a netbook. Both not used for any "professional" purposes, i have to add. I really started to dislike the large screen and hardly ever use it any longer. It gives me the creeps.

jimbo45 · 08 Dec 2011

Hi all

This stuff about Factories moving etc -- is really a load of twaddle.

We ALL want cheap goods and Cheap food --no matter who are in the Suits.

The Market is the ONLY place that will decide. For example some Banks are beginning to find that having Indian Call centres is causing then to LOSE customers at a prodigious rate so they have started reversing the outsourcing stuff.

If you are against something --for example I don't smoke so I won't invest in any Pension Fund or "trust" that deals with the likes of Philp Morris for example. Others don't like defence or Arms industry businesses so don't deal with companies who are into these industries.

If you keep buying cheap products simply because of the price you are as guilty as the people running the factories in China etc and paying less than subsistence wages.

People WILL pay for quality goods etc produced in European factories IF the products are shown to be really good and competitive.--for example can ANYONE really imagine the Ferrari factory being moved to China no matter HOW GOOD the chinese production lines might become -- or even worse imagine it being produced in that other competing Country by the likes of TATA etc. It wouldn't be long before a Ferrari was known as the "Tatty Special" even if the end quality was 100% identical to the original Italian Ferrari production line.

Don't get me wrong --by no means are all products produced in these countries all bad or produced in Factories that operate a little better than "Slave Labour".

Bose for example - designed in India - have probably one of the best run factories anywhere --and their products IMO are worth every penny / cent / eurocent etc and are certainly NOT CHEAP - but people buy them because they appreciate the quality.

If we want stuff re-patriated we've got to be prepared to pay a bit more and ensure the production quality is of the HIGHEST POSSIBLE standards -- CEO's can STILL make money too. I doubt if the top brass at Ferrari are having to worry how to survive until next payday.

Cheers
jimbo

FranzB · 08 Dec 2011

jimbo45 said:

Hi all

This stuff about Factories moving etc -- is really a load of twaddle.

We ALL want cheap goods and Cheap food --no matter who are in the Suits.

The Market is the ONLY place that will decide.
....................
...................

Cheers
jimbo

You are right as long as the "Market" is not manipulated.

pparks1 · 08 Dec 2011

jimbo45 said:

Bose for example - designed in India - have probably one of the best run factories anywhere --and their products IMO are worth every penny / cent / eurocent etc and are certainly NOT CHEAP - but people buy them because they appreciate the quality.

I couldn't argue more against this statement about "quality of products". BOSE is absurdly overpriced and better quality can be had for fractions of the price.

People can choose to believe what they want, but a quick search of "why bose sucks" will turn up tons of audiophile and audio enthusiasts websites. I'm a previous owner who will never make that same mistake twice.

Look up their speakers on the website. For example, here is the page for the 301's. Bose 301 Direct Reflecting Book Shelf Speaker System.

Look for the specs, they will list the size and weight...but nothing whatsover as it pertains to sound quality. Nothing important to a speaker such as frequency response, cross over points, impedence, sensivitiy, etc.

Now, look up any other reputable speaker manufacturer, look at their specs. They list all of the audio characteristics that are important. Look for brands like
-Klipsch
-Paradigm
-Definitive Technologies
-Sonus Faber
-Axiom Audio
-Polk Audio
-B&W
-PSB

To me, this speaks volumes.

BOSE has great marketing, hands-down. A few good products. The rest of their products leave a ton to be desired, cost-aside.

If you ask the typical person who will tell you how great BOSE speakers are, to name 5 other reputable speaker brands they would struggle. If you ask them anything about other systems they have auditioned, they will just stare at you blankly. So, I maintain that many are just taken in by their advertising and because of price, make the assumption that they must be good.

And I'll stop anybody from saying I'm a hater simply because I cannot afford them. There are lots of system which are recommended and are just as expensive, if not fare more expensive then the BOSE system. For example, the JL Audio Fathom F113 subwoofer...which is nearly $3,700. Trust me, this monster could chew up and spit out any bose system..

linnemeyerhere · 08 Dec 2011

pparks1, +1 on the Bose issue.
Bose is a marketing phenom and that's about it. If small with rich sound is what you desire there are many other brands which out perform Bose. Where Bose is strong is bringing all the features together in a simple way that doesn't get complicated. For me the complication is the fun of being an audiophile, just as most of us here build our own computer systems which pay vastly improved performance and enrich our understanding. To me the mp3-Bose revolution has altered all music to the banal and we must fight this with every fiber of our beings. If this is too much for you and you disagree then load a new app and be happy with your itunes, iphone, ipad imac, ibose, cause idontcare ! Most things in life require an effort to understand and fully enjoy......viva the process !

carwiz · 08 Dec 2011

I get better sound out of my CAs than a Bose setup at three times the price. (Or was it four times the price? I don't recall.) I looked at and heard Bose speakers while I was building/shopping my system components. The stuff was junk. They slap their name on a few $3 speakers and call it a sound system.

jimbo45 · 08 Dec 2011

Hi all
I can only say on this this

Unlike 99% of people wearing those rediculous Bud phones where the long suffering public hears more of the "music" than the wearer does, Bose Noise cancelling phones are a relevation ---ever had the misfortune to sit next to a woman with a Baby on a 10 hr flight from London to LA or on a Eurostar train from Brussels or Paris to London on a Friday afternoon with a load of American "wage slaves" having to get in contact with their "Slave masters" --aka Employers--on mobile phones thinking the rest of the carriage is totally deaf discussing something totally pointless while the rest of us are looking forward to a nice weekend.

Bose actually WORKS -- suggest you try them before saying they are overpriced junk - especially the Noise Cancelling ones.

The reason a lot of people get disappointed with Bose is that these people are passing hideously compressed mp3 music through the system which any decent amplifier / system will really show up as HORRIBLE ==> artifacts etc etc --even at 128 kbs -- you need AT LEAST 320 kbs to be passably OK on an expensive system.

Using FLAC /WAV will give you a great listening pleasure.

Cheers
jimbo

carwiz · 08 Dec 2011

I did try them! They WORKED like $3 speakers. Took them back and bought 2x 2.1 CAs. They're computer speakers designed to work with a PC and they work! And I don't have to worry about whether I'm listening to wav, mp3, mp4 or k-bs or any mega bs. And if I wanna rattle the walls, they do that too. :)

ICIT2LOL · 08 Dec 2011

Hum well I wouldn't have anything else except the Bose in my car - just brilliant at the road noise "reduction" have never had better and I reckon better than the $6000 Pioneer system that my son had in his car.

I don't know about the manufacturing side but Bose was at least American by invention and origin, and in my book like Marantz a top system.

Bose Corporation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

pparks1 · 08 Dec 2011

jimbo45 said:

Unlike 99% of people wearing those rediculous Bud phones where the long suffering public hears more of the "music" than the wearer does, Bose Noise cancelling phones are a relevation

The BOSE noise cancelling headphones are one of those products that fit into the ok category. The $300 models work well and for airplane use and such, they are good. For audio quality, on $300 headphones....there are much better choices. For $300, you can get the AKG K 272's, the Grado SR 225i for $200, and the BeyerDynamic DT770's for $229. Any of these should destroy the BOSE offering from a sound quality standpoint. Personally I own Grado SR125's ($150) that I use at work. While they are an open design that leaks sound, since I listen at low volumes while at work, this bothers absolutely nobody. And my ears fatique quite a bit from noise cancelling headphone use....it's nothing that I would want to use when I didn't need to.

jimbo45 said:

Bose actually WORKS -- suggest you try them before saying they are overpriced junk - especially the Noise Cancelling ones.

As I said in my previous post, I know about BOSE as I used to own some of their stuff. I learned from regret that better choices were available. The noice cancelling headphones are pretty decent, but if you get a chance to listen to some AKG's, Grado, Sennheiers, Denon or BeyerDynamic headphones please give them a shot. You might be blown away by the sound quality difference.

jimbo45 said:

he reason a lot of people get disappointed with Bose is that these people are passing hideously compressed mp3 music through the system which any decent amplifier / system will really show up as HORRIBLE ==> artifacts etc etc --even at 128 kbs -- you need AT LEAST 320 kbs to be passably OK on an expensive system.

Using FLAC /WAV will give you a great listening pleasure.

Cheers
jimbo

Garbage in = garbage out. That's what I don't buy any digital music and instead still buy cd's and rip myself.

In addition, people play their music through craptastic players as well with bad circuity. That's why I highly recommend a portable headphone amp for any real quality listening. And always remember, if you have crappy files and crappy playback equipment, if you buy nicer headphones you will likely be even more UNIMPRESSED.

ICit2lol said:

Hum well I wouldn't have anything else except the Bose in my car - just brilliant at the road noise "reduction" have never had better and I reckon better than the $6000 Pioneer system that my son had in his car.

Their car systems are usually pretty decent. Of course, when it comes to the premium brand audio in cars, you don't really have a choice unless you are building it yourself. While I have never personally had a car with the BOSE system, my friends have had some nissans and such which included the BOSE system and they did sound good. Certainly on par with the Chrysler Infinity setups, the VW monsoons and the Chrysler Boston Acoustics setup (that's what my Wagon has).