What Interconnect?

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I have one piece of the jigsaw still to take care of re hi-fi (other than a power supply for the CD player!). Just wondering what suggestions I might have from the forum re interconnect between the DAC and Amp.

I have: Cyrus XT SE+, Chord QBD76 DAC, Exposure 21 pre-amp and Super 18 monoblocks, Ruark Crusader II's, Chord rumore speaker cable and Chord Signature coax between CD player and DAC. I am currently using cable talk Studio 2 interconnect between the DAC and the pre-amp but think I could probably do better.

Any suggestions/advice.

Thanks

Craykie

 

[Anonymous]

I've got through a fair number of ICs in my hifi time. The Chord Chameleon Silver Plus is superb and has a slight bass warmth to it. Some have described it as having a lot of bass. It's very open, detailed and musical.

A more forward sounding alternative is the Silver High Breed Quintessence. I really like this cable as it's detailed and has great bass extension. I think the price is good for the performance you get, one higher than the CSP.

 

[Gusboll]

Totally agree about the Quintessence; marvellous cable.

 

[idc]

Search ebay for 'van damme neutrik phono' and you will find a very cheap and very excellent IC. I have made my own ICs using the same and they are as good as any other IC I have ever had.

 

[Anonymous]

I've used several QED interconnects over the years and they're pretty good overall but my current system runs with a set of Straightwire Laser link (I think now obsolete) but I would recommend them or as a manufacturer generally. You must stand a good chance of picking siome up secondhand (eg eBay) for perhaps only £15-20. They are a turquoise green colour with gold plated ends.... worth seeking out.

http://www.straightwire.com/inter.html#LEVEL3

 

[Anonymous]

The QED Qunex 2 has always been fantastic for the money. Well balanced.

 

[Anonymous]

Try beating this guy down a few quid....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Straightwire-Chorus-RCA-phono-interconnect-leads-/120640376881?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL

Not a lot of money and they should be good if my LaserLinks are anything to go by. I compared them side by side to Linn Black interconnects some time ago and on my system they won hands down being highly detailed but also natural whereas the Linns imparted undue brightness to the system that was pretty obvious. Good luck!

Revolver with A&R P77, Linn Pretek, 2 x Powerteks, Meridian 200 Transport, Meridian 203DAC, Linn Kan II's

 

[Kevin Stephens]

I went through this a few months ago and borrowed a selection of interconnects from a dealer. the Chord Cameleon was not bad but the Chord Chorus 2 was much more revealing of the HF and LF signals, the cheaper options negated the capability of the rest of my system.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you everyone for all of the feedback. I am now thinking of going for the Chord Chorus 2's. The write up's look good and they seem to have a tad more definition to the bass, something I need until I get a power supply for the CD player. Also thinking that as the interconnects from the CD to the DAC and the speaker wire is Chord there will be a commonality which might serve me well. I might also be able to get a listen to them with my set up if I speak nicely to my local hi-fi shop.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Van Damme UP-LCOFC cable with gold plated neutrik connectors (Or others)

 

[idc]

Linn Powell:
Try beating this guy down a few quid....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Straightwire-Chorus-RCA-phono-interconnect-leads-/120640376881?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL

Not a lot of money and they should be good if my LaserLinks are anything to go by. I compared them side by side to Linn Black interconnects some time ago and on my system they won hands down being highly detailed but also natural whereas the Linns imparted undue brightness to the system that was pretty obvious. Good luck!

Revolver with A&R P77, Linn Pretek, 2 x Powerteks, Meridian 200 Transport, Meridian 203DAC, Linn Kan II's

They appear fake to me. The ebay ones have different coloured phonos with poor labeling, which does not over lap properly on one phono and the heat shrink to keep the cables together is very badly done and is not on real ones.

That is clearer on the larger image on ebay. Real ones look like this

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Craykie:
Hi,

I have one piece of the jigsaw still to take care of re hi-fi (other than a power supply for the CD player!). Just wondering what suggestions I might have from the forum re interconnect between the DAC and Amp.

I have: Cyrus XT SE+, Chord QBD76 DAC, Exposure 21 pre-amp and Super 18 monoblocks, Ruark Crusader II's, Chord rumore speaker cable and Chord Signature coax between CD player and DAC. I am currently using cable talk Studio 2 interconnect between the DAC and the pre-amp but think I could probably do better.

Any suggestions/advice.

Thanks

Craykie

What's your budget? With your set up, I would expect a decent amount? By the way, I would look at going up the Chord speaker cable food chain first. I recently went from Odyssey to Epic and was very impressed. And the Odyssey is a decent upgrade from the Rumour.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for taking the time to do that. Much appreciated.

Craykie

 

[Anonymous]

My last post was for idc for posting the photo's etc. Still getting the hang of this forum stuff!

But not ignoring the help I am getting from everyone else though.
I was thinking of about £200 ish. You are right about the speaker wire. I have never been overly happy with it. I used to have bi-wire cable that was literally as thick as a hose pipe (I think it was cable talk). It was excellent but I had to drape it across the room when I moved house. The rumour was a compromise. It's an idea though. I need to run the speaker cable from one end of the room to the other so unfortunately the thickness of the cable is an issue. Maybe I could leave the current interconnect as is and look at speaker wire instead. Decisions, decisions! Craykie

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Craykie:
My last post was for idc for posting the photo's etc. Still getting the hang of this forum stuff!

But not ignoring the help I am getting from everyone else though.
I was thinking of about £200 ish. You are right about the speaker wire. I have never been overly happy with it. I used to have bi-wire cable that was literally as thick as a hose pipe (I think it was cable talk). It was excellent but I had to drape it across the room when I moved house. The rumour was a compromise. It's an idea though. I need to run the speaker cable from one end of the room to the other so unfortunately the thickness of the cable is an issue. Maybe I could leave the current interconnect as is and look at speaker wire instead. Decisions, decisions! Craykie

I won my Chord Signet for £250 on ebay and it's superb.

 

[Anonymous]

Linn, sent a number of messages re your chemist friend who can clean my A&R stylus. I guess you havn`t accessed the site for a while. I just need to know where to send stylus & the cost. Either reply on this forum or email me on mffevesham@yahoo.co.uk

MANY THANKS

 

[Simon Lines]

With the quality of your HiFi components use Chord Signature all the way through you have the digital cable already the speaker cable you are using is not really good enough and unless you are trying to fine tune your system to a certain sound you are best sticking with the same companies cables from start to finish and best off in the same range.One good make to try is Atlas there cables work great together from start to finish......

 

[spiny norman]

Ummm, the last post on this thread was over four years ago, so you may be wasting your effort.