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September 9, 2009 5:00 AM PDT

Goldmund's $135,000 Blu-ray player

by Steve Guttenberg
  • 59 comments

No, the Goldmund Eidos Reference Blu-ray player is not made of gold.

(Credit: Goldmund)

It sure looks expensive, and at $135,000, the Goldmund Eidos Reference Blu-ray player is definitely in the upper crust of Blu-ray players in terms of cost.

Hand-built in Geneva, the Eidos Reference Blue is a truly rarefied design. Limited in production to 50 units, dawdlers will be left having to make do with a plain vanilla Denon or Sony Blu-ray player.

Will the Goldmund outperform the Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player we raved about a few days ago? I have no idea, but I do know that a $20 Casio watch keeps time just as well as a Patek Philippe Ref. 5102G that costs, gasp, $181,650!

My point: buying decisions for ultraexotic products aren't based solely on performance; they're more about a company's long heritage of building luxury designs and backing them up with extraordinary service.

The rich and famous still buy Ferraris that are no faster than a Corvette that sells for a fraction of the Ferrari's price. But Ferrari buyers want more than just speed--they want to be, well, special. They buy it for its looks and how it's made. It's the same deal with uber hi-fis.

(Source: Ultimate AV Web site)

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About The Audiophiliac

Ex movie theater projectionist Steve Guttenberg has more or less successfully hitched his future to home theater, but he still pines for the clickity-clack of 35 MM projectors and all the stale popcorn he could eat. Between projectionist gigs he worked as a high-end audio salesman for sixteen years, and produced records for an audiophile label. Oh, and one more thing, nothing annoys Steve more than being confused with the other Steve Guttenberg, the washed-up Police Academy actor. The wordsmith Guttenberg is a frequent contributor to a number of magazines and websites including Home Entertainment, Playback, and Ultimate AV. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

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