Biggest audio hoaxes


Often when people discuss audio, they talk about "snake oil" or "hoaxes."

It's pretty typical to use the term hoax as a tactic against another who disagrees with one, or holds an unusual opinion or vouches for something which has not been verified. That's not what I mean by a "hoax." 

By "hoax" I mean an audio product or claim which has been pretty definitively disproved. Maybe not to everyone's satisfaction, but to common consensus.

So -- with that definition of hoax in mind, what are some of the biggest audiophile hoaxes you've heard of?
128x128hilde45
"Do you get to pick the hat you eat?"
If he is a fan of Mexican, I suggest a sombrero.
#2 are Bose noise canceling headphones. In this case it’s not that the technolgy doesn’t work, it does, but that the R&D was paid for by you, the US taxpayer, to the tune of over $100 M dollars. Bose received a DoD contract to develop noise canceling technology, and after failing to deliver any usable device or technology the DoD pulled the plug. The $100M written off.

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Bose released their first noise cancelling aviation headset in 1989.

They started selling headsets to the military in 1993. Selling them, not starting R&D, but selling. The military started ordering an improved version in 1997.

Consumer noise cancelling by Bose was released in 2000.

I think we found what the hoax is here.  p.s. They employ 9,000 people and have sales of $3.5-4 billion. How much corporate, sales and income tax does that represent?
hilde45 OP1,954 posts05-18-2021 7:06amI would love to have some kind of noise cancelling system for a listening room. A bit pie in the sky, but people have spent a lot for what seems a lot less plausible.

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Not that we got it to work very well, but I have my name on a patent for an outdoor noise cancelling system for road noise.
Not that we got it to work very well, but I have my name on a patent for an outdoor noise cancelling system for road noise.
One day humans will invent advanced technology to add a silencer to yard machines. And white noise truck beepers.
I think they already have that for yard machines. It is called battery powered. I don't have any wife audio stories, but my wife will cut the lawn with our Toro electric mower.