Interconnect recommendations

[aliEnRIK]

Grottyash:Cables can't and don't improve with use. The burn-in effect is wholly psychological.
Interesting that no-one, including magazines, retailers, manufacturers etc ever tests for this.

Just so were clear - im really not interested

Please dont quote my posts again if all its for is to tell me im imagining something

 

[Craig M.]

danrv:
'Quantam tunneling' - that'll sound impressive in conversation!

Good point about testing 'burn in' in cables. Could easily be done with modern equipment.

depends who the conversation is with. some people would just laugh their *** off at you...

 

[Anonymous]

Grottyash:Cables can't and don't improve with use. The burn-in effect is wholly psychological.
Interesting that no-one, including magazines, retailers, manufacturers etc ever tests for this.

Just so were clear - im really not interested

Please dont quote my posts again if all its for is to tell me im imagining something

Just like anyone else on the forum, I quote where it seems appropriate, and will continue to do so with yours.

Also your attitude seems a touch egotistical - just because you aren't interested, that doesn't mean other people feel the same way.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Please all stop squabbling... J)

 

[aliEnRIK]

J)

Thats one scary emote

 

[danrv]

Have had the Equators for a few days and can hear a difference.
Smoother sound,more detail and bass.
Not that I need any more bass but I guess that comes with more expensive interconnects.

 

[Anonymous]

Have had the Equators for a few days and can hear a difference. Smoother sound,more detail and bass. Not that I need any more bass but I guess that comes with more expensive interconnects.

I'm glad you found a difference with the Equator. My vinyl certainly sounds better now than when I used the Qunex 3 cable.

 

[Anonymous]

The Quinex is fine for your needs, I use the Qunex 2, which I'd bought a few years ago and - as with most other copper interconnects I used (make that, with ALL of the others) up to the £70, there was no difference that you could audibly hear. The only cable that did, was Nordost's Blue Heaven, a silver based cable, which is generally brighter and which I found harsher to listen to. Too trebly. Other than that, there is nothing that a £70 cable could do that my £7.95 one didn't. You pays your money...

I could not disagree more. I have heard subtle differences between cables but also huge ones,so different in fact it was a doddle to pick out each one from blind testing. The nordost blue heaven is a cracking cable and can often be had on e bay 2nd hand for about £50 and although not exactly laid back the treble is fine in a balanced system.Well worth a purchase. the dnm reson with bullet plugs is also a cracker. I have demo'd it against the qed qnex2 and it was a superior cable.

 

[Anonymous]

just out of curiosity, how do you find the dali lektors? what sort of sound do the have?i have not heard them and asked the guys in richers but ,unusually,they could not give much help.

 

[danrv]

The Lektors have transformed my hifi.They are fantastic speakers for the money.
Sound is full,treble is clear and they have a great midrange.Vocals really stand out.
Put at the correct height on good stands using decent cables will get the best out of them.

 

[the record spot]

The Quinex is fine for your needs, I use the Qunex 2, which I'd bought a few years ago and - as with most other copper interconnects I used (make that, with ALL of the others) up to the £70, there was no difference that you could audibly hear. The only cable that did, was Nordost's Blue Heaven, a silver based cable, which is generally brighter and which I found harsher to listen to. Too trebly. Other than that, there is nothing that a £70 cable could do that my £7.95 one didn't. You pays your money...

I could not disagree more. I have heard subtle differences between cables but also huge ones,so different in fact it was a doddle to pick out each one from blind testing. The nordost blue heaven is a cracking cable and can often be had on e bay 2nd hand for about £50 and although not exactly laid back the treble is fine in a balanced system.Well worth a purchase. the dnm reson with bullet plugs is also a cracker. I have demo'd it against the qed qnex2 and it was a superior cable.

Forgot that one - I tried the DNM with the Nordost Blue Heaven back in 2008 (from Loud and Clear). The Nordost won out though it was silver and impressed through clarity, but in the end with extended listening, it just made music shrill and fatiguing. Probably fine in the right system where silver would be a good balance for some duller sounding gear.

Thanks for the reminder, I can add DNM to the list which also includes Monster, van den hul, Audioquest and one or two others of expensive cables which made no difference and at £85 (as they were) I remain happy with my decision and the sound quality in my system. Glad they do it for you, but they are a means to an end for me, to wit, connecting one component to another.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

danrv:
Hi

Have recently upgaded my speakers and speaker cable and would like to upgrade my QED Qunex 1 interconnect also. Looking at around £50-£60 mark. I'm pleased with the current sound but feel something like Atlas Equator Mk2 or Chord Chrimson Plus/Cobra would prehaps improve detail and stereo image.

Any help appreciated.

CA Azur 640C / Rotel RA-01 / Dali Lektor 2 / Atacama Nexus 6 spkr stands / QED Anniversary XT spkr cable / QED Qunex 1

If you feel there will be an improvement, there most probably will.

Personally, I'd just keep what you have and spend the money on music, others will beg to differ.

Only my opinion.

I agree (for a different reason). The OP has a nice balance with his current set up and cables. I can't see any more improvement from any cable with his set up.

 

[Anonymous]

The Quinex is fine for your needs, I use the Qunex 2, which I'd bought a few years ago and - as with most other copper interconnects I used (make that, with ALL of the others) up to the £70, there was no difference that you could audibly hear. The only cable that did, was Nordost's Blue Heaven, a silver based cable, which is generally brighter and which I found harsher to listen to. Too trebly. Other than that, there is nothing that a £70 cable could do that my £7.95 one didn't. You pays your money...

I could not disagree more. I have heard subtle differences between cables but also huge ones,so different in fact it was a doddle to pick out each one from blind testing. The nordost blue heaven is a cracking cable and can often be had on e bay 2nd hand for about £50 and although not exactly laid back the treble is fine in a balanced system.Well worth a purchase. the dnm reson with bullet plugs is also a cracker. I have demo'd it against the qed qnex2 and it was a superior cable.

Forgot that one - I tried the DNM with the Nordost Blue Heaven back in 2008 (from Loud and Clear). The Nordost won out though it was silver and impressed through clarity, but in the end with extended listening, it just made music shrill and fatiguing. Probably fine in the right system where silver would be a good balance for some duller sounding gear.

Thanks for the reminder, I can add DNM to the list which also includes Monster, van den hul, Audioquest and one or two others of expensive cables which made no difference and at £85 (as they were) I remain happy with my decision and the sound quality in my system. Glad they do it for you, but they are a means to an end for me, to wit, connecting one component to another.

Hi RS, I have gone back to using Red and Black standard cables coating £3.29 a pair. I am going to save money and be able to buy stuff that really improves a hifi, like Music on CD's.

 

[Inter_Voice]

Inter_Voice:
Yesterday my Van Damme IC arrived but I am still awaiting for the speaker cables.

I did an AB test between the VD and my Chord Cobra Plus. My initial verdict is that the two cables perform neck to neck but Cobra wins by a small margin in overall performance (but not much). Cobra produces a bit more sound stage and a bit more transparent. VD however tunes down the high frequencies a little bit when compare to Cobra. I also found that the cable resistance of VD is higher than Cobra as I need to turn the volume up a small amount to maintain the same sound output level. Having said that if you are not performing an AB test you will not hear a great deal of difference between the two ICs. In conclusion considering the cost of VD cable which is only a fraction of Cobra I would certainly recommend it. As the VD is new and I am sure its performance will improve a bit more after burning in.

When I have my VD speaker cables I will make an AB test using my Chord Odyssey 4.

Today I have received my VD speaker cable. I spent some time silver soldered 8 number of Chord banana plugs to the cable ends and have a go for AB testing with my Chord Odyssey 4.

It is really beyond my expectation that the performance of this VD cable is so good !!! When compared with Odyssey it lacks a bit of separation and transparency when playing very complicated music such a Beethoven Symphony no. 9 the last movement but by not much. I believe it lost its battle due to single wiring in contrast to Odyssey's bi-wiring arrangement. Overall the performance of VD is comparable in various aspects with that of Odyssey. I can say VD is particularly good at vocal play back and I found it is so natural and I can feel vacuum tube amplifier's tone. If you like vocals this cable can absolutely satisfy the need of your ears. I have decided to change my Odyssey 4 with this VD cable as I mostly listen to audiophile Jazz vocal SACDs and my ears told me that VD performs better.

I am now running in this VD speaker cable (and the VD IC) and after some time I am sure there will be further improvement.

Having used the Van Damme interconnect and speaker cables for some time I found that the music seems to be lacking something. I therefore repeated the A/B tests again on the Van Damme interconnect and speaker cable.

My verdit is that the Van Damme speaker cable has not much great difference when compare with Odyssey 4 apart from producing a slightly warmer sound and as such I decided to retain the Van Damme speaker cable on my Leema Plus.

As to the interconnect I found that this cable after running in tunes down the high frequencies by a substancial amount and the overall music is less airy, less open and produces less timbre than the Chord Cobra Plus. My verdit is that Van Damme interconnect is only good for very bright system and is also good at vocals as you can feel the very warm and pleasant voice of singer who sings in front of you. The bad thing is that it supresses all the highs and openness when playing other kinds of music especially jazz in a neutral system. I have now changed my interconnect back to Chord Cobra Plus.

 

[Anonymous]

I use very expensive speaker cables designed to be both neutral and to be used over long runs. They sound exactly the same as the cables I had before, which were Linn and under a tenth of the price, but at least I know I don't have to spend any more on cables as these are as good as the best you can get. My interconnects are similarly priced, and sound just like the ones I had before.

A small part of me (and the OH, vociferously at times) says I've wasted a lot of money.....

 

[Inter_Voice]

I agree that we should not spend a lot of money on interconnects and speaker cables but as a rule of thumb 10% of the total cost of one's system should be about right.

I can only agree the effect of speaker cables on the tonnal quality of a system is not that great but there is definitely a very distinct difference on the choice of cheap and "expensive" interconnects (in relative terms). That is my experience and confirmed by my ears.

 

[the record spot]

Hi RS, I have gone back to using Red and Black standard cables coating £3.29 a pair. I am going to save money and be able to buy stuff that really improves a hifi, like Music on CD's.

Tell you what Dave, it's funny when you get away from all the cable chat and just be objective about it, it's easier to leave it behind as a topic or even a major consideration. The oft-trotted out "we can't say what one person hears differently from another" line is the latest in the increasingly tenuous justifications for expensive cables.

That said, I've just stuck in an offer for a pair of heavily discounted Atlas Navigators. The idea is pretty much that for my gear, a £200+ cable should deliver something if the thing does what the blurb generally tells us, plus it falls more or less in the "10%" rule of thumb. If the offer's accepted, I'll let you know how it goes - could be interesting!

 

[Anonymous]

i don't get this 10% rule of thumb thing, my hifi system cost about e1200 but i wouldn't dream of spending e120 on speaker cables and interconnects. in fact mine cost about e40 in total, and when i compared an expensive interconnect (that was given to me by a friend) to my el cheapos there was zero difference..

i think the 10% rule of thumb is a fallacy that only serves to swell the coffers of cable manufacturers.

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi RS, I have gone back to using Red and Black standard cables coating £3.29 a pair. I am going to save money and be able to buy stuff that really improves a hifi, like Music on CD's.

Tell you what Dave, it's funny when you get away from all the cable chat and just be objective about it, it's easier to leave it behind as a topic or even a major consideration. The oft-trotted out "we can't say what one person hears differently from another" line is the latest in the increasingly tenuous justifications for expensive cables.

That said, I've just stuck in an offer for a pair of heavily discounted Atlas Navigators. The idea is pretty much that for my gear, a £200+ cable should deliver something if the thing does what the blurb generally tells us, plus it falls more or less in the "10%" rule of thumb. If the offer's accepted, I'll let you know how it goes - could be interesting!

I believe people perceive sound differently.

On the Linn record label you can download the same track on three levels of resolution: 320kbs, 16 bit and 24 bit - which I have done for Ian Shaw's "A case of you" (sad I know)

On play back, I hear a noticeable but subtle difference with each step up (big from 320 vs 24 bit). To my wife (not crackpot audiophyle) it's night and day - blindingly obvious. My cousin, who was hear the other day, couldn't hear any difference whatsoever.

Not scientific but intriguing none the less.

Who's right?...God knows. Is it worth fighting about....only on forums 😉

 

[the record spot]

And the "audible difference in bitrate" discussion is on another sub-forum. This was cable related...

 

[Helmut80]

i don't get this 10% rule of thumb thing, my hifi system cost about e1200 but i wouldn't dream of spending e120 on speaker cables and interconnects. in fact mine cost about e40 in total, and when i compared an expensive interconnect (that was given to me by a friend) to my el cheapos there was zero difference..

i think the 10% rule of thumb is a fallacy that only serves to swell the coffers of cable manufacturers.

I find these rules of thumb very interesting, always wonder where they originated. Same goes for 'spend as much on amp as on speakers' rule.

 

[the record spot]

Yes, I agree - I mentioned this as it's one of those things that evolved from nobody-seems-to-know-where and became accepted in the mainstream.

 

[CnoEvil]

And the "audible difference in bitrate" discussion is on another sub-forum. This was cable related...

You brought up the subject and I ran with it. 😛

The more you syringe your ears, the better cables get 😉

 

[idc]

I sure it was in a Russ Andrews brochure that I first came accross the 10% rule.

 

[danrv]

Have spent some time listening to the Equators and there's certainly an improvement over the QED Qunex 1. Included in the improvement is more bass which I think now is a little too much.
Considering swapping them for a cable which has the detail of the Equators but not the bass weight.
I've read that the Chord CrimsonPlus is a tad bass light so may swap for those.