Second brain fart of the evening, thought the edit time had past, when it hadn't.
Corrected the mistake.
Second brain fart of the evening, thought the edit time had past, when it hadn't.
Corrected the mistake.
Bravo for doing a real test and thanks for sharing.
Mana Acoustics Racks / Bright Star IsoNodes Decoupling >> Allo DigiOne Player >> Pedja Rogic's Audial Model S DAC + Pioneer PL-71 turntable / Vista Audio phono-1 mk II / Denon PCL-5 headshell / Reson Reca >> LFD DLS >> LFD PA2M (SE) >> Royd RR3s.
ive just made a pair of interconnects using Mogami 2549,i like it straight out the gate,for £3.00 a meter its a no brainer!
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Excellent write up Ken, thanks for putting in the effort.
Timely too, as I'm looking for an XLR balanced interconnect to hook up my Dac to the new Preamp when it gets here.
Being balanced some say just get a Pro cable as they all sound the same, informative to know that there are noticeable differences between them.
Food for thought, thanks.
AC POWER
Hardwired 10kVA balanced mains powering entire system
AMPS
Meridian 557 power Amp (Modded) / PS Audio BHK Preamp (Modded)
SPEAKERS
Wharfedale Evo 4.4
DAC
PS Audio Directstream (Modded)
TURNTABLE
Pro-Ject X8 balanced output via XLR / Ortofon Quintet Blue cartridge
PHONOSTAGE
Pro-Ject DS3 B balanced Input (TT and Phonostage powered by Pro-Ject Power box RS2 linear psu)
DIGITAL
OPPO 203 (Modded: Linear PSU, i2s output to Dac) - Roon Endpoint, HDMI input used for all things Streaming/ PS5 /AppleTV ... also good for movies apparently?
MUSIC PLAYBACK
Tweaked AP-Linux based Roon Server into Oppo 203 as Roon endpoint
Ipad Roon Remote.
Apple Music/ YouTube via AppleTV, fed to Dac via Oppo HDMI input/i2s output to Dac.
SPEAKER CABLES
Biwired: Duelund DCA10GA (Bass) Duelund DCA16GA (mid & treble) Duelund 12DCA used as jumpers (On "Blackcat Cable" Chris Sommivigo's advice - yup, even with biwire it sounds better - and it does)
INTERCONNECTS
All Balanced: Ghost+ recording studio XLR cables
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 246
I'm Ray.
Just considering buying some phono rca cables, Mogami 2549 is looking favourite at the moment. Just wondering if anyone here has compared these cables to Mark Grant HDX1?
I have tried out quite a few balanced cables out over time which included Klotz 5000, Belden 8760, Mogami 2549, Van Damme XKE Tour Grade quad and two core.
They were all fine cables with each having their own individual sound, some a bit more sparkly than others (XKE tour grades) and some a bit softer sounding (Klotz and Mogami), but I took the plunge and tried the Van Damme Pro Grade Classic XKE 1 pair install cable, black at £0.61 per M.
That was a big surprise for me as it was the best cable for me out of all the above. It just sounded neutral, no added sparkle, no warmer sounding, it was just transparent.
I also found that the cables having 100% foil shielding were the most transparent. In order of preference to me was the Van Damme XKE instal followed by the Belden 8760.
I also use the Neutrik XX plugs but went for the silver plated version.
So don't be afraid of the cheapness of the Van Damme instal cable, I would make some up and see what you think of them.
I didn't find burn in taking place with the cables, but I have noticed it on the Dacs that I have built. There was the usual OK, but fairly flat sound to start with, followed by the "That`s much better regarding width and depth" then taking a retrograde step that made me think, "What the heck is going on now?" followed by a recovery of the sound but with added depth, width and resolution.
I thought it was my brain playing tricks with me, so I was quite relieved I was not the only one to notice the backward step in quality followed by the recovery and improvement.
What causes it is beyond me !!!!
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 246
I'm Ray.
Thanks Blueflash for your reply. I should have been clearer it will be unbalanced cable, it is between a Dac and amp. Unfortunately I have hardly any soldering experience or any equipment and for 1 or 2 cables probably not worth it when many more experienced people are making them up unless I use the non solder plugs.
As for sound I want a fairly neutra but not brighter, if anything a touch warmer, my system is very neutral I would say which is fine with well recorded music. I may try a few cables, see if I can tell the difference, I have some Tandy Gold at the moment. The Sommer cable was a bit dissapointing in this test. The spotfire sounds good but is much more money.
Last edited by StingRay; 27-06-2020 at 18:09. Reason: Typos