Another interconnect question....Sorry

[admin_exported]

Hi, been deliberating over getting the Chord chameleon Silver plus IC, just been trolling the net and seen the CCSP v1 for £55, is this worth getting over my Chord Crimson and saving myself a few quid or would i be looking at betting the V2 to notice any improvement

cheers in advance

Daz

 

[Anonymous]

I love the CSP and really think it deserves classic status. I think it's better than the Crimson but that's my experience on my kit for me. For fifty quid, excellent. If you want something a little more forward sounding than your current Crimson, the SHB Quintessence is sharper.

For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction...over to you idc and RS...

 

[idc]

Thanks! This is all you will ever need....... clicky

It is proven that all cables sound the same by the means of blind testing. Iggles, will you/have you ever been the subject of a blind test?

 

[Anonymous]

I just realised I said ID and not idc so I'd better change that!

I did a blind test session with my friend. We found a lot of cables sounded much the same (read as the same) but a couple were distinctive. The Chord Chameleon SP was slightly warm and has noticably strong bass. The Nordost Blue Heaven (and Solar Wind) was bright and brittle. A handful of others between £30 and £90 seemed the same in blind testing.

I agree that it's about electrical qualities and this must play together with the kit too. I suspect that the cables that sounded so different to each other had different electrical qualities.

Right now, the Quintessence SHB cable I'm trying fits the same category as his prior Coherence. Forward sounding, thus crisp and clear, with some music getting too brash and the bass well defined and lean. This is in comparison to the CSP.

 

[idc]

A total thread hijack, but how did you do the test? Did you make sure the volume was the same for each cable, as in the volume control had to be altered to make sure each cable sound at the same volume?

 

[Anonymous]

Mate was behind the kit and hidden. He changed the cables around (or not sometimes!) and I listened to the same part of Newton Faulkner. The volume was left the same. I don't really remember any differences in volume TBH. Not a very scientific test but it solved our purchase decisions.

Whilst I've been testing the SHB Q, me and my fiance have noticed that the bass sounds leaner and everything sounds brighter. It's great for some stuff but sometimes it's too much. A flick back to the CSP and I'm not turning it down but getting on with my reading. I think this is as much about my system as the cables.

To be honest, never once when testing cables have I wanted to like any of them. I'd be thrilled to bits if a cheapo sounded the same.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:A total thread hijack
Yeah, sorry to Dazzler123...

 

[idc]

Though this could well help Dazzlers reasons for choosing a new IC.

Iggle, would you consider doing an ABX test with the SHB and Chord? You get your mate to play your music with cable A (either SHB or Chord) then cable B (the one not A) then a succession of cable X (which is a random selection of A and B) and you have to decide if X is A or B. To get an accurate result you need to do the test about 20 times. Once you have completed the 20 switches, your mate reveals which is A and which is B and how many times you identified X correctly. Anything below correct 90% of the time is a fail as it is likely to be random.

I know it is a big ask, but if the test is anything like the one I did with my SHB Synergy2i and DIY Van Damme/Neutrik cable, I was guessing from the start and gave up after only a few switches as I had no idea.

 

[Anonymous]

I think that would be really interesting. My 'mate' lives in Aus and I only know of one other person that likes hifi that might do it with me. I'll have to ask him. What you've suggested sounds like a repetition of what we did before, but we only swapped about twice the number of times as cables.

One observation is that there are parts of music where differences are clearer than others that the cable is brighter. I'd have to use such a track.

It's also interesting to note that others have independently come to the same conclusions as me for cables, e.g. Joel on the CSP (bassy), WHF on the SHBs (bright).

Another observation was that when I borrowed a Nordost Blue Heaven my lodger of the time noticed the change and asked why St Matthew's Passion sounded so harsh. He's a musician so I guess he listens like the rest of us. I thought it harsh too sound went for the CSP instead!

 

[the record spot]

Had the Nordost Blue Heavens too - not good. Silver, bright, harsh, meh. Stuck with copper after that and never noticed any difference since!

 

[Anonymous]

Indeed, RS! I'm still not sure why the CSP sounds so different to many cables. I'd love to gather some inductance, capacitance and resistance measurements of this lot. Nordost put them on the box!

 

[Gerrardasnails]

idc:
Thanks! This is all you will ever need....... clicky

It is proven that all cables sound the same by the means of blind testing. Iggles, will you/have you ever been the subject of a blind test?

Load of rubbish. I've had all the Chord cables bar a couple. I found the Crimson average and the CSP excellent.

If there really is no difference, why the need for Jean Claude? Just use a £3 cable from Maplins.

 

[Gusboll]

Gerrardasnails:idc:

Thanks! This is all you will ever need....... clicky

It is proven that all cables sound the same by the means of blind testing. Iggles, will you/have you ever been the subject of a blind test?

Load of rubbish. I've had all the Chord cables bar a couple. I found the Crimson average and the CSP excellent. If there really is no difference, why the need for Jean Claude? Just use a £3 cable from Maplins.

It is proven that people have different hearing abilities; for hi-fi arguments thereafter.....

 

[JoelSim]

Gerrardasnails:idc:
Thanks! This is all you will ever need....... clicky

It is proven that all cables sound the same by the means of blind testing. Iggles, will you/have you ever been the subject of a blind test?

Load of rubbish. I've had all the Chord cables bar a couple. I found the Crimson average and the CSP excellent. If there really is no difference, why the need for Jean Claude? Just use a £3 cable from Maplins.

Couldn't agree more, there is a wealth of difference in cables, I've had plenty and they have all sounded different. I had a CSP but as Iggle says it wasn't my cup of tea. Where my speakers are situated means that I have quite a bassy sound already, the CSP compounded this, sounding significantly heavier than the vdh d102III it replaced. After a few weeks I needed to change it back. I then bought a Nordost mains cable which made far more of a difference than I was expecting, so I then bought a Nordost interconnect and from that moment I knew they suited my system/taste.

 

[Anonymous]

Anyway, to avoid veering too far away, I guess the best conclusion would be to try a CSP before you buy. If you do, it'll cost you £100 or so. If you can have one for £50 then in all likelihood you'll get that back on ebay.

 

[Anonymous]

The only time I've enjoyed Nordost cables was with floorstanders. Both times the sound benefited from a leaner, cleaner bass.

Edit, sorry, I veered away as soon as I said I wouldn't...

 

[JoelSim]

I haven't tried a BH, but love my Heimdalls, hence why I bought the XLR after having an RCA. Sounds good on both my floorstanders and my little diddy ProAcs.

 

[stephennic]

Hi,

I have found Nordost Blue heaven interconnects better on valve gear rather than s/s. On S/State it was a little forward and bright, on valve gear quite nice with a nice open airy sounstage with punchy bass - probably because the added warmth of valves. So its really about system synergy and matching the components. I must say though it is a leaner interconnect than CSP though, the NBH is probably a little more detailed. I like both but I think the CSP would suit more systems.

Cheers

Steve.

 

[Anonymous]

Can I suggest you head down to your local dealer, borrow a range of cables ranging from £10 to £200 and settle down for a weekend's listening. Include your current cables in that, and bear in mind you may have to tweak the volume here and there.

Saved me a lot of money.

 

[ESP2009]

Tarquinh:

Can I suggest you head down to your local dealer, borrow a range of cables ranging from £10 to £200 and settle down for a weekend's listening. Include your current cables in that, and bear in mind you may have to tweak the volume here and there.

Saved me a lot of money.

Now there's an eminently sensible suggestion. Any dealer worth his salt will be happy to help. OK, so your credit card will have to be swiped in all likelihood, but you will be returning most of those cables quickly enough not to impact on the finances.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Tarquinh:
Can I suggest you head down to your local dealer, borrow a range of cables ranging from £10 to £200 and settle down for a weekend's listening. Include your current cables in that, and bear in mind you may have to tweak the volume here and there.

Saved me a lot of money.

It would be cool if WHF did that

Do a BIG special, invite say 10 regulars. And do a blind test of various interconnects and speaker cables to see if they can actually tell a difference (This would have to be a REAL blind test, not one where it DOES change everytime - hint hint). And they can also 'subjectively' say what those differences are

I would be very interested in that

 

[SonofSun]

aliEnRIK:Tarquinh:

Can I suggest you head down to your local dealer, borrow a range of cables ranging from £10 to £200 and settle down for a weekend's listening. Include your current cables in that, and bear in mind you may have to tweak the volume here and there.

Saved me a lot of money.

It would be cool if WHF did that

Do a BIG special, invite say 10 regulars. And do a blind test of various interconnects and speaker cables to see if they can actually tell a difference (This would have to be a REAL blind test, not one where it DOES change everytime - hint hint). And they can also 'subjectively' say what those differences are

I would be very interested in that

I can't see that happening; just imagine if nobody could tell which cables they were listening too. I am not a cable "brand" believer, but I do think there are differences between copper and silver (more so speaker cables than IC's).

What I would be interested to know from joelslim, is how does he compare his cables? Surely after listening to one, then unplugging it and replacing it with the next one, how can he possibly detect the subtle differences (it must to take a couple of minutes to do this)?

The reason I ask Joel is because he does seem to have incredible hearing, reading his descriptions of cables, he always seems to find a considerable difference (no offence intended, you may well have superb hearing).

Btw, If people perceive they are getting vfm from cables (whether true or not), I have no problem with this, after all we all share a common hobby.

What would really be interesting though, is to find out which cables the Whathifi staff are using. I get the impression Andrew is not a cable believer (i.e. spending a small fortune will not give you better results).

 

[Anonymous]

An interesting thread. Last year I was in a dealer here in Rotterdam buying a Rega TT for my partner and I had a quick listen to a system that was playing in the demonstration room. It was Exposure electronics with Dynaudio speakers and sounded really good.

As I was in the market for a new system I made an appointment for a proper listen using my music. Following week settled down with coffee and pile of C.D.s and everything I played sounded horrible, really bright and harsh. The shop guy came in and asked what I thought and I asked him "is this the same system I heard last week?" He went away to check and said the only difference was they had replaced all the cables with Nordost high-end cables. I'm not really a cable believer but this did confirm that some esoteric cables can do something very strange to the sound.

 

[aliEnRIK]

zekezebra:

As I was in the market for a new system I made an appointment for a proper listen using my music. Following week settled down with coffee and pile of C.D.s and everything I played sounded horrible, really bright and harsh. The shop guy came in and asked what I thought and I asked him "is this the same system I heard last week?" He went away to check and said the only difference was they had replaced all the cables with Nordost high-end cables. I'm not really a cable believer but this did confirm that some esoteric cables can do something very strange to the sound.

Similar experience to me but in reverse

Was testing cd players and bass was almost none existent. Swopped the Nordost speaker cables for another brand (No idea what, but it was thick copper cable) and it sounded FAR better

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers for the advise guys, not sure the csp is what im looking for if its quite bassy as i have been having problems with my bass sounding boomy, managed to tame it a bit now with a complete reshuffle of my room. Not really got a local dealer where i am a such, there is a guy that dabbles in selling hifi gear but doesn't have much stuff stocked, will check him out to see what he has in terms of IC's. Just looking for something that has a bit more detail but doesn't emphasis the bass