Memory cards are about to get the Monster cable treatment thanks to Sony, who will launch a ‘Premium Sound’ microSDXC card next month in Japan, with the promise that this product will reduce electrical noise in the devices it’ll be used.
For those who don’t know, Monster is an American manufacturer of headphones and cables, among many other things. Its HDMI cables, in particular, caught the eye of the public, as they carried exorbitantly steep price tags. Probably people wouldn’t have revolted if they hadn’t found out that… whaddayaknow, all HDMI cables are basically the same, so a $12 one and a $1,000 one will have the same signal quality. Sony is following the same recipe with its ‘Premium Sound’ microSDXC card
“We aren’t that sure about the product’s potential demand,” stated a Sony spokesperson in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, “but we thought some among people who are committed to great sound quality would want it. […] We figured we could make this and sell it for a ludicrously high margin and there would be people out there who would buy it because it says ‘premium sound’ on it, regardless of its actual efficacy.”
In the true Monster cable fashion, Sony’s ‘Premium Sound’ microSDXC card will have an unjustified price. More precisely, the company means to retail the 64GB card for the equivalent of $160 next month in Japan.
dmoore375, an analog circuit designer, pointed out on Ars Technica that “There is no SD card or cable in the world that will help improve digital transmission if all the data is already being successfully transmitted,” and that “It is conceivably possible that Sony actually did design an SD card which generates less electromagnetic interference (EMI).” However, people won’t be able to perceive that difference. Nevertheless, Sony’s card will appeal to a lot of wealthy snobs who will experience the Placebo effect head-on.
Redditors have already started to make fun of the Premium Sound microSDXC card, saying that it would work great with their HDMI Monster cables. The trend will surely continue on Amazon, once this card gets launched there, as reviewers have no mercy there for such inexplicably expensive products. Hope that Sony will realize what they’re doing before it’s too late, because I don’t think that the card will sell that well.
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