Another Phono Cable Interconnect review
Background: I'm running a Verdier Nouvelle with a 90th Anniversary Ortofon SPU on a rewired SME 3012 arm into an upgraded Nick Gorham phono stage, which has better caps, wiring and jacks than the standard model. That in turn is connected to a self-built Aikido 5687 pre into a custom-built TVC passive (Nick Gorham, S&B copper TVCs with magnetic relays and remote control) into a CJ LP66S (Tung Sol 6550/Telefunken E188CC/GE 6189) into Sonus Faber Guarnieri Memento stand mounts. The CJ and the speakers were being used by Nick at Whittlebury this year. Most of the equipment is mounted on a Something Solid rack and the rest is sitting on an oak tablle. Everything is supported by Gingko Audio clouds.
Until 6 months ago, I was using a Notts Ace Space Deck with heavy upgrade, a rewired SME-IV and a Dynavector XX-2 cartridge.
I've been playing with different interconnects for about 3 years. Until 2 weeks ago my reference IC cables were silver litz by Peter Empson at Deco Audio but due to their lower price and the recommendations on this forum, I was using a top end Yannis Tome silver litzt phono cable with silver Eichmann bullets and one of the ICs in the circuit was a second Yannis Tome with Nextgen WBT silver plugs.
I heard Dom Harper's prototype cartridge at the MRCU fest a couple of months ago and was so enthused that I ordered one. It should be ready in the next couple of weeks. During talks with Dom, he told me that he thought his shielded solid silver ICs (no litz, one strand per channel) would match any IC on the market, or at least give them a good run for the money.He also lent me one with Chinese Furutech-like plugs to listen to, and I compared it to the Tome and ended up buying it. It sounded better to my ears but I haven't done enough A/B comparisons to be willing to write a detailed review at this point. But the difference was large enough, that I ended up buying a new phono interconnect of the same type, terminated with Furutech Rhodium plated plugs. This review is about that phono IC.
Most of the wiring in my system is silver, including the Ikeda internal wiring in the tone arm and the AN-V shielded wiring in the phono stage. However, copper is used within the TVC passive, the CJ amp and the speaker cables and Xovers.
In the past with the Notts, I have listened to phono cables from AN-V, SME, Furutech and Oyaide. The AN-V was superb and was my phono cable of choice but it has a DIN connector on the phono side and I am trying to sell it on eBay because the Verdier has RCA Eichmann jacks. The others did not sound as clear but when I bought the Verdier, due to the recommendations on this forun, I went for the Yannis Tome cables. The build quality is superb and they sounded fine. The only comparisons I've made until now were with Western Electric tinned copped cables, which sounded artificially warm and less clear. Peter Empson heard the Tome cables and found they were good but not superb. I was quite happy with the clarity of the sound but suspected that it could be improved.
Review: The Dom Harper phono cables are relatively thin, flexible, hand-built, shielded cables, without any additional ground wires, which I had to make myself. The cables look good but the only bling are the Furutech connectors, which are carbon fibre plus stainless rings, and make a very solid connection through an external barrel which tightens them onto the jacks. Apparently these connectors account for 200 GBP of the 700 GBP price. It took about a week for delivery after I placed the order.
I have now had them in my system for two weeks and replaced them again with the Yannis Tome cables yesterday evening for comparison. An experienced friend with a very high end system was here at the time and my wife was present for both comparisons as well. I have now listened to a variety of records, including some of the 'Divinity' according to Salvatore Rubio. My friend brought his own test records with him yesterday. I have listened to a concert (Kleiber's Brahms 4th Symphony), choral (Jefta on Proprius), vocal, Indie, jazz (Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek), recent (London Grammar0, older (Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session) and many others. The sound of the Harper ICs is clean and enchanting on many records. They improve the sound stage, giving better distinction between different sound sources. Due to that improved sound stage, both loud and quiet sources from different instruments are simultaneously audible. In the A/B comparisons with the Tome cables, those give a more diffuse sound, with less pin-pointing of sources. The Harper cables reveal a solid, tight bass and clear trebles, which are being cut-off by the Tome cables. On one record yesterday evening, I was hearing some sort of additional treble scratching sound with the Tome cables that turned into a quiet, stringed instrument with the Harper cables. Listening to some of the Sheffield Labs DD records with the Harper cables made me finally understand why these records are so highly reputed. With the Tome cables they sounded fine but were not all that exciting.
Many records sound enchanting with the Harper cables, and I feel drawn into the music in a way I haven't had before with the Verdier and the SPU. Other records are not as enchanting, which is probably not surprising. We'll see what happens when the new cartridge arrives.
If anybody wants to come by and listen for themselves, I live in the Midlands a few miles from Leamington Spa, Stratford Upon Avon and Bradley, and visitors are welcome.
Mark
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Originally Posted by chris@panteg
