Denon AKDL1 – one of the best marketing tricks ever

You possibly have heard about the Denon Link cable. Yes, I am talking about the AKDL1, which looks like a normal Ethernet cable, except that the 1.5 Meter cable retails for 500 $ (yes, five hundred).

Now, Denon of course knows how to justify the price - these cables only use the purest and highest quality copper and the Connector and cable structure is designed to thoroughly eliminate adverse effects from vibration. It's also not an Ethernet Cable, it's a "Denon Link" cable to "Get the purest signal from multi-channel DVD and CD playback through Denon receiver".

Or, as we techies say: it's crap and bullsh** that is once again only there to rip off "audiophiles" who buy everything as long as it's just expensive and promises better audio quality. However, this one is different. Sure, there are some really bad examples of rip-offs on the market - 150 € HDMI Cables with golden plugs, 100 € Composite cables that are made in a clean room with oxygen within the copper... But Denon really upped the ante here with a 500 € Network Cable. And I have to give Denon my Kudos: This is one of the greatest Marketing Stunts ever.

It not only spawned some of the best Amazon.com reviews ever, but also a strip from Userfriendly.org, which is quite an achievement. Regardless how useless the product is, the advertising effect is great.

Well done!

So, where is my 800 $ Serial ATA cable that will ensure that music from my hard drive can go to the Denon Link Ethernet Cable without any loss of quality?