Stereo Times 2024 MOST WANTED COMPONENTS List

Don’t shoot the messenger. The products that Stereo Times reviews seem to mirror the high end audio industry as a whole with pricing ranging from relatively low (Galion Audio and Pine Tree Audio), to seemingly reasonable (Coda, Grimm, and LTA), to insanely expensive (Aries Cerat and Stein Music), to just insane (QSA).

When I look at artisan electronics such as the Aries Cerat stuff, I at least see some level of value for the price in that they look cool, incorporate a reasonably high level of engineering, and reportedly sound good to great. I would really like to hear their DAC.

OTOH, because I have built cables, isolation, and other things, as well as taken apart manufactured products to be thoroughly unimpressed relative to the hype, I cannot help but call BS on $18K, three-wire power cords, $5K fuses, or $2.5K AC adaptors, sheesh!

Would much rather have a pair of Aries Cerat Ianus Essentia amplifiers than three QSA Ultimatum Infinity AC cords for the same money.

"and should better" - ? 

@devinplombier - Sorry to take up the space.  I will delete these if asked.

I basically started with a drill down of one of the "Most Wanted Components" - the Aardvark Ethernet Isolator, and looking into it I wound my way into why does this work, and why is this any different than typical industry products that do the same thing territory.  There are probably enough threads dedicated to Ethernet noise control.

@devinplombier - Thank you and no worries.  I am sure I have said too much already.  The audio industry is certainly not alone in rebranding existing concepts, mixing magic dust with metaphor, and pricing the resulting product so as to appear exclusive and unprecedented.

@devinplombier and others - I condensed my thoughts and questions on Ethernet isolation devices like the Aardvark Ethernet Isolator, moved them to a more appropriate thread, and deleted/removed the three associated posts from below.