TEST: pure silver vs Chameleon

JoelSim

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After having a false start with the pure silver cables as they were about 2cm too short, I finally put them on tonight.

I replaced the Chord Chameleon and listened to an album I've been listening to rather a lot recently, an album that has had me purring over its production values, over its musicality.

I'm sorry to say it was chalk and cheese, the Chameleon walked it. The pure silver cable lacked depth, intimacy, 3D sound, warmth, in fact everything I like. Nor did it dig up any more detail, in actual fact far less.

The Chameleon is back on, I knew straight away that the pure silver wasn't up to the job.
 

JoelSim

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daveh75:So is this one of them S.H.B cables people have been gushing over or something else?

Something else but the same principle. A little more expensive, about £5-£10.
 

chebby

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Aren't you supposed to spend some time running them in first?*

* (The question does not imply any belief or dis-belief in the existence - or otherwise - of anything at all on my part. Just something I read about lately on more than a few related threads especially regarding silver cables.)
 

matthewpiano

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I think Chameleon would be very very difficult to surpass without spending a lot of money. I sold mine when I had a hair-brained moment of thinking I could down-size satisfactorily to an all-in-one system and now I need to buy a new set for the system I'm assembling (amp still to be revealed with a CD player upgrade planned for later in the year).
 

JoelSim

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chebby:Aren't you supposed to spend some time running them in first?

Probably, but they come supposedly run-in. Like I said in the first post, chalk and cheese, a massive difference.
 
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Anonymous

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I was wondering if you would ever get round to reviewing these. Thanks for your input...they are now off my list.....
 

idc

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JoelSim:

chebby:Aren't you supposed to spend some time running them in first?

Probably, but they come supposedly run-in. Like I said in the first post, chalk and cheese, a massive difference.

If they sound that bad out of the box, no amount of alleged 'running/burning in' is going to make sufficient difference. If you are using music you are very familiar with to make a comparison, as you said you did Joel, you know straight away if it sounds right or not.

When you hear about people buying cables, and they are not initially happy, then they try and send them back but the company tries to persuade them to keep them so they can burn it, I think that is sales over sound.

Will you be able to send them back, or will you put them up for sale yourself Joel?
 

recruit

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Chord make some of the best Interconnects going and have owned nearly all of them going up to the Indigos, also the speaker cables again are some of the best, currently running with Epic and Chameleon for Interconnects...
 

jaxwired

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recruit:Chord make some of the best Interconnects going and have owned nearly all of them going up to the Indigos, also the speaker cables again are some of the best, currently running with Epic and Chameleon for Interconnects...

Agreed. I've tried a few brands and I'm still loving my chord cables. In fact, I recently bought some PFN Audio Symphony cables and they are now listed for sale. I was tempted by the great reviews, but they can't compete with my Chord Odyssey...
 

pwiles1968

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JoelSim:

listened to an album I've been listening to rather a lot recently, an album that has had me purring over its production values, over its musicality.

What is the Album out of curiosity.
 
A

Anonymous

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JoelSim:

daveh75:So is this one of them S.H.B cables people have been gushing over or something else?

Something else but the same principle. A little more expensive, about £5-£10.

Couldn't be further from the truth. In fact SHB and Chameleon are of the same principle - copper coated with tiny layer of silver.

Pure silver would be pure silver - ie no copper inside. Both SHB and Chameleon are inherently copper cables.
 

stephennic

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Hi,

The Nordost Blue heaven (NBH) is similar - copper with silver overlay. Some prefer the sound of the NBH over chord others prefer chord chameleon over NBH.

I have found in my experience silver does need burn in - initially the NBH sounded harsh, forward etc almost unlistenanble after 100 hrs - smooth, detailed and open.

Cheers,

Steve.
 

RCduck7

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Aug 18, 2007
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Hey, i got some topics about cables in the appropiate forum, "accessories".

But it seems these topics have more succes here?

Maybe i should place these topics here then?
 
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Anonymous

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I swapped out a Chameleon on the pre-power and one on the pre-CDP with two SHB Coherence LE cables. So far I have to say that the SHBs are doing a better job for me with better controlled bass. I need to do some more comparisons as this is only a very basic test but the SHB are doing very well. Both are silver coated copper cables.
 
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Anonymous

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OK, just did a Chameleon versus SHB test on a single track. I need to spend more time playing with this but I'd suggest that the Chameleon is bassier and the SHB a little leaner. As with the Nordost Blue Heaven this can make the bass sound more controlled and in my case, that seemed better. Does the SHB go as low? I think it does. My instant gut-feel reaction to the swap was that the midrange seemed a little muddy on the Chameleon in comparison to the SHB.

More testing this week as I'm on holiday
emotion-1.gif
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Steve, yes I did directly compare them with my old system; a pair of MA RS1 speakers with a Roksan Kandy MKIII CDP and Rotel RA03 amp in a reflective room. I found the NBH rather bright and brittle sounding, or at least, that's the result with my relatively bright kit. Even my friend said that and he didn't even know I'd swapped them around. The cure to this issue from the Nordost line was a Baldur but they were too expensive! The NBH thinned out the bass and sounded glassy. The Chord sounded more mellow with much bigger bass. Don't get me wrong, the Chord is not a warm cable but was in comparison!

If you're in the market for a cable of this type you should try a Silver High Breed as they rather good value! The Coherence LE seems to be somewhere between the NBH and Chord Chameleon.
 
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Anonymous

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That would make sense if the valve kit is warm and rich sounding. The NBH is quite a lean, bright sounding cable.
 

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