Upgrade from Chord Crimson Plus

[ruskiru]

I'm trying to decide about upgrading the interconnects between a Kingrex UD-01 Pro DAC and NAD C316BEE amp from Chord Crimson Plus to one of the following to bring out the best of the DAC:

Chord Company Chameleon Silver Plus
Mark Grant G1000HD
Silver High Breed Quintessence

Speakers are Wharfedale 9.1s. All the components are probably on the warm side.

Any opinions on these cables?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to decide about upgrading the interconnects between a Kingrex UD-01 Pro DAC and NAD C316BEE amp from Chord Crimson Plus to one of the following to bring out the best of the DAC: Chord Company Chameleon Silver Plus Mark Grant G1000HD Silver High Breed Quintessence Speakers are Wharfedale 9.1s. All the components are probably on the warm side. Any opinions on these cables?

I would not waste your money. Interconnects make such a tiny difference to exotic kit, so messing around on such a scale with budget components would make absolutely no difference.

 

[datay]

Since Mark Grant has a home loan scheme, why don't you order a set of his cables and try them yourself? You will then settle for yourself whether a cable "upgrade" actually makes an audible difference between your dac and amp.

Actually, you can settle that now - can you hear a difference using Crimsonplus over stock cables? If you can't, it isn't going to magically appear by spending £100.

 

[ruskiru]

I disagree with you completely. I've got 3 interconnects sitting here: the freebie interconnect, the Crimson Plus and a cheap £20 IXOS cable. They all sound completely different with their own sonic signature, even with my budget components.

 

[ruskiru]

The upgrade will make a difference. That's not so much the issue, but more which cable to upgrade to. I can do the homeloan thing, but I'm in Russia, so it makes the logistics of borrowing cables from the UK tricky. So I'd like to try and make an educated guess to minimize the pain 🙂

 

[Frank Harvey]

If you can hear a difference between the three you have, then you'll definitely hear a difference moving to the Chameleon Silver Plus. But do try it out for yourself and see what you think.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi ruskiru

I'll recommend using the basic interconnect. Fwiw, i am currently using a QBD76 DAC > 5m basic interconnect > Hiato amplifier :rockout:

Keep it simple.

All the best

Rick @ musicraft

 

[richardw42]

I was very happy using Crimson Plus between my cdp & amp.

But upgrading to Chameleon SP was an obvious step up. I spent some time swapping back and forth using PENDULUM tracks and IMO it is money very well spent.

 

[the record spot]

I'm trying to decide about upgrading the interconnects between a Kingrex UD-01 Pro DAC and NAD C316BEE amp from Chord Crimson Plus to one of the following to bring out the best of the DAC: Chord Company Chameleon Silver Plus Mark Grant G1000HD Silver High Breed Quintessence Speakers are Wharfedale 9.1s. All the components are probably on the warm side. Any opinions on these cables?

Save your money, improve the amp. The 316 is okay, but a better amp with more power will drive and control your speakers better. Changing from one bit of copper to another is baby steps with little benefit, improving anything around controlling the speaker generates greater returns. Either that or try changing the position of your speakers, that also yields greater returns.

If you want to change the underlying sound of your stereo, cables aren't the way to achieve a fundamental shift (with the exception of trying silver cables, which typically sound brighter than copper based ones, I have no idea why, but copper to copper is money wasted IMO and trust me, I've been through a stack of them). If it's that bad, look at changing the speaker instead.

The Home Cinema Centre in Edinburgh has a pair of Mission 751s for £170. They'll blow your Wharfedales out the water and anything else under £500. Buy with confidence.

 

[crang]

Hi I try to keep away from cable debates!but I noticed a great improvement when I changed from crimson to chameleon plus . But that was with my gear in sig. Don't see why you would not get same with your equipment?. Happy hunting

 

[jaxwired]

I use Chord Crimson interconnects myself. I have tried more expensive interconnects including the Chameleon SP but perfer the Crimson. It's a fantastic interconnect. And yes, they do sound different.

 

[crang]

Hi me again just as an aside I am getting off 322 strand copper today with plugs £20 just to test the differance between that and the chord chameleon silver plus to give correct name for interconnects which I have mid named in post & sig! Will report my findings,
Read to many posts re this I am eager to compare with my 2 mtr pair @ £90!.

 

[crang]

Soon I'm

an idiot! It is 0538! Got bad cramp cant sleep completely wrong ! I meant chord carnival silver screen I meant 322 strand speaker wire of course!. and that did cost £90 for 2 mtr terminated.but I feel that if people swear they can't hear the diff between crimson & csp which actually did cost 90 against crimson @ 40 well don't know what to say really without upsetting fellow posters! By the way I was truly gutted yesterday! Pair of ATC scm 20 passive went on some auction site £421!! Wow they were black in not new condition but hey £422 still can't get over that.

 

[crang]

Must stop posting with iPhone! Grammar spelling awful oh and fat fingers don't help either! Come back later with speaker cable thoughts.

 

[Cypher]

Ruskiru, I would buy a better amp. Buying a new interconnect is a waste of money. (my opinion).

 

[ruskiru]

Thanks for all the replies!

Any opinion on the CSP would be good.

There's nothing very wrong with my setup as it is, except that it lacks a little bit of sparkle, excitement and presence detail the midrange, I suspect because all the components are warm sounding.

I agree in principle that changing the amp for something with a bit more power and a slightly different tonal balance is probably the answer, but considering I just purchased this equipment, any worthwhile upgrade would involve spending money I don't have.

The Crimson is an OK cable and excels in timing, though I do find the sound is not as forward sounding as the freebie and cheap IXOS.

I'm thinking about the SHB Quintessence to try and add that little bit of sparkle until I can afford a serious upgrade.

Could anyone recommend an amp that I could think about for the future?

 

[Cypher]

Try and change the speakers instead.

You can try ;

Dali Zensor 1 (I have these myself.........fantastic speakers)

Q Acoustics 2020i

That will be more of an upgrade than changing cables which is pointless in my opinion.

 

[garyw77]

My two penneth, I think it would be worth trying some Audioquest I/C's, i have always found them to be very good at their price points and being in Russia you can get a good deal on something like the King Cobra which is a great cable that i used before upgrading to the Columbia. 8)

Re an amp for the future, not sure what your budget is but... I, like yourself am in Russia, and have noticed that you can pick up a brand new Yamaha A-S1000 off the internet here for 34,790 roubles delivered, this equates to around £705 on the exchange!!!! (I think this is selling for around £900 in the UK?) which i think is a bit of value 😉 Check Yandex out :type: 😉

http://www.bigtv.ru/yamaha_a-s1000_black-full.html?advfrom=yandex.market

 

[ruskiru]

Thanks for those pointers Gary. For the time being, turning up the treble control on the amp has the desired affect. As a purist, I'd prefer to use a cable as a tone control though, even if it's not the ultimate solution, so will experiment a little.

 

[the record spot]

As a purist, cables should never be used as tone controls (IMO). Still, your money and your choice and hope you enjoy what you end up with ultimately (which is what really counts of course!).

 

[moon]

I found the Kingrex DAC you are using very badly implemented. Wasn't keen on the build quality either.

 

[ruskiru]

Strange, the UD-01 Pro is built like a tank and receives rave reviews, so not sure we're talking about the same DAC.

 

[moon]

yup! many apologies meant the UD-01 not the pro!

Good luck with your quest. let us know how you get on.

 

[ruskiru]

Follow up is I tried the Chameleon Plus, didn't like it at all. I anyone's interested, I commented on the review here on Whathifi. Back to the Crimson Plus. Probably I'll stick with that. The sound is great and while there might be something better out there, not sure I've got the energy to look for it. Better to listen to some music 🙂

 

[ruskiru]

In the end I went for the Chord Chameleon Plus with VEE plugs.