Ad description
A website ad on
www.chord.co.uk for the advertiser's audio cables, included a product description for a "Chord Sarum Tuned ARAY streaming cable". Claims included "Tuned ARAY cables appear to dramatically reduce noise levels within the systems they are used in. The result of this is music with extraordinary levels of detail, dynamics and coherence ... because of the way Tuned ARAY works; connecting a Tuned ARAY cable to the streaming device will have a dramatic effect ... Music is simply so much more coherent and involving. This can transform the sound of both WAV and FLAC files and the results with high resolution downloads are simply stunning".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claims about the performance capabilities of the product were misleading and could be substantiated.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA considered that the claims in the ad were presented as objective claims that The Chord Company's cables provided better sound quality compared to other cables. Whilst we acknowledged the positive reviews from consumers and industry representatives, we considered that objective claims, such as "connecting a Tuned ARAY cable to the streaming device will have a dramatic effect" and "This can transform the sound of both WAV and FLAC files and the results with high resolution downloads are simply stunning", must be supported by objective testing which demonstrated that the cables provided better sound quality than other cables.
Because we had not seen such evidence, we concluded the claims had not been substantiated and were therefore misleading.