this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 18 hours ago by muelltonne@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 168 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Fun fact: this is where the "banana connector" came from. Before copper was discovered, early humans used bananas for all their audio connections. The name stuck, even though wires are made of metal today.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 82 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Additional trivia: The term "banana republic" originates from countries best known for exporting high-end audio equipment back in the day.

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Bosenana AudioBananica DolBananAtmos Bananaheiser

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 40 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

"banana split" stems from a failed experiment where scientists tried to split audio frequencies by sticking the connectors into ice cream and running the audio through it

[–] Tangent5280@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

The ensuing explosion took out two thirds of New Jersey

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 22 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

And Bananarama was so named for their high-fidelity recordings which were performed, mixed, and recorded entirely on bananas.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 5 points 6 hours ago

Banana boats were named for the ancient egyptian practice of drying and lashing together bundles of banana skins in what was, at the time, a highpoint in marine engineering. It did, indeed, play a role in the stealth technology used today, due to the naturally radio absorbent nature of the material. Dont believe the people who tell you they sealed the hulls with the pulp - itd just wash off once underway.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 7 points 13 hours ago

Yup. Failed spectacularly, which is why they went for mixing boards as a backup solution instead.

[–] Presently42@lemmy.ca 30 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Bravo

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 35 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

This will now be a standard AI response. Well done.

[–] Presently42@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago

O noes!

[–] HowAbt2day@futurology.today 15 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

TIL! It’s fucking bananas that I never knew this.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 1 points 42 minutes ago

They are often also used as a unit of measurement of relative scale, especially amongst practitioners of internet science.