Which IC made the most difference?

PolkThug

**If you haven't heard a difference, this is NOT the thread for you.
**Not a debate thread, so don't debate please.


For those of you that can hear differences, and have tried many IC's, which interconnect made the biggest difference for the better? If you had to pick JUST ONE that has a sonic signature that really stands out a little more than the others, which one would it be?

Thanks for your responses,
PolkThug


Analog:
Audioquest Opals
Groneberg Quattro Reference
Harmonic Techology Prosilways mkII
Herron Audio
Kimber Hero (3 recos)
MIT Shotgun (2 recos)
Signal Cable Analog Two (3 recos)
Switching from stranded to solid core.
Transparent Musiclink

Digital Coax:
Moray James

For HT Specifically:
Blue Jeans Cable

mantis

Tuff to call just one man. Every time I upgraded or sometimes down graded my cables, they all had there own sonic signature.

The Kimber Hero's rocked my system in a way the Transparent Music links could not. Not to take anything away from the Transparents, the Hero's added a sparkle that my system was lacking. Such a full bodied detailed IC.

Love em,

Dan

dkg999

I don't have a very critical ear, so when I hear a difference I figure it's pretty significant. For my HT system, I have tried Monster, AR Master, BJC, AudioQuest, and Signal Cable. I can tell a difference between the Monster/AR Master and the BJC. I can't honestly tell of any improvement between the BJC, AQ, and SC. So I run all BJC on my HT system.

For 2 channel, I have tried all of the above, and in addition some Kimber, PS Audio, and Outlaw. The AQ Sidewinders sound pretty good, but the Signal Cable gives me a little better upper mid and high end, as well as a little more forward soundstage. I can't honestly tell the difference between the Signal Cable Analog Two and the AQ Diamondback, Kimber, and PS Audio. The Outlaw IC's seem to be about the equal of the Signal Cable and AQ Diamondbacks. So I run all Signal Cable Analog Two on my main 2 channel system, and AQ Sidewinders on my second 2 channel system.

I can honestly say that I can hear differences in IC's, but for my ears the point of diminishing return occurs around the Signal Cable Analog Two or Outlaw Audio IC price point. All of my testing has been done using Signal Cable Ultra Double Run speaker cables for the 2 channel, and BJC Belden 5000 12g for the HT system.

PolkThug

put results in first post

dkg999

For HT, Blue Jeans Cable, reasonably priced, great service, and I can't tell a difference between it and anything higher priced.

For 2 channel, Signal Cable Analog Two. It seems to split the difference between the AQ Copperhead and Diamondback. Better, smoother upper mid and highs than the Copperhead, and not as laid back as the Diamondback. I like my sound a little forward and on the warm side.

F1nut

MIT SHOTGUN cables have a bit of magic that no other cable I have heard does. MadMax said it best. Something like this, they've got a live sound.

michael_w

I too have been thinking about buying some decent IC's (to upgrade from $9 ratshack ones lol). I was lookin at signal cable analog twos but I havn't decided just yet, so I'll watch this and see what comes of it.

danger boy

i gotta go with the majority here so far. Signal cable Analog Twos. with bullets are sweeet!

steveinaz

My most significant change was from a multi-strand IC to solid copper conductors. Upgrades within Audioquest have yielded very subtle changes.

LuSh

The Harmonic Techology Prosilways mkII made a large impression. The background got alot darker, the highs at first seemed way too tame, but it was actually alot better after 1 week in comparison to the Carda's I was using.

The Moray James digital coax I used between my Meitner DAC and trasport was shocking. Like actually changing the amp and speakers shocking. I compared it to the Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Platinum interconnect and it was even close. The cost was high, but well worth it.

polkatese

For me, SC Analog Twos seem to be the best for HT. For 2 channels, I use Transparent Musiclink. I am in the process of checking in MIT S3 Shotgun IC for two channels. I have my doubt if it makes a lot difference with the Transparent (after all, Transparent and MIT are really sibling, albeit not after a contentious disownment session, from what I heard)

michael_w

oooo tempting... I just found an ad for Kimber Heros with WBT 0147 plugs locally. The guy wants $100 obo (CAD) for them. Anyone know what they go for new or how they compare to sc analog twos? My guess is around 150-175 US? He also has silver streaks for 150 and select 1020's for 375.

dcarlson

I run Kimber Heros. I demoed tham against some Chord and Audioquest and chose the Hero's.

I saw that add and was tempted, average price but well worth it, IMO.

dragon1952

Audioquest Opals.

Early B.

Kimber Heros.

michael_w

Well it looks like I will be picking up a set of half meter Kimber Heros for $80 canadian locally. It might be a pretty obvious upgrade going from entry level rat shack cables to these but I'll let ya know what I think of them. Kind of sad running cables worth more than my source though.... He did say that he upgraded from a rotel rcd-970bx to a Classe so maybe the rotel is for sale too . btw the cables are seven years old... is this going to pose any problems or is there something I should be looking for that might degrade the quality of the plugs or cable?

PolkThug

They should be fine. You could use a contact cleaner like Caig Deoxit if the RCA plugs look dirty.

dcarlson

I'd pay $80CDN for Hero's anyday. If they don't work out for you, the WBT ends are easy on gear and worth price alone.

W WALDECKER

ic cables should impart as little as possible to the original audio signal. i have tried many types and for the money i prefer groneberg quattro reference ic.s. it is a german made patented design that avoids the skin effect that is present in most cables they sound open and transparent and very smooth and are terminated with wbt connectors that clamp to the rca terminals when you twist them. a lot of cables use snake oil claims these do not! but thats just my opinion.

dragon1952

it is a german made patented design that avoids the skin effect that is present in most cables

Almost every cable I've seen makes that claim. When they say 'most cables' I wonder which ones they mean. :rolleyes:

W WALDECKER

have you heard these cables? if you did you might be suprised at how good they sound. dont take to heart what i posted when i clearly stated that it was my opinon!

PolkThug

Added Groneberg Quattro Reference. Not bad price wise.

PolkThug

Originally posted by PolkThug
**If you haven't heard a difference, this is NOT the thread for you.
**Not a debate thread, so don't debate please.


For those of you that can hear differences, and have tried many IC's, which interconnect made the biggest difference for the better? If you had to pick JUST ONE that has a sonic signature that really stands out a little more than the others, which one would it be?

Thanks for your responses,
PolkThug


Analog:
Audioquest Opals
Groneberg Quattro Reference
Harmonic Techology Prosilways mkII
Herron Audio
Kimber Hero (3 recommendations)
MIT
Signal Cable Analog Two (3 recommendations)
Switching from stranded to solid core.
Transparent Musiclink

Digital Coax:
Moray James

For HT Specifically:
Blue Jeans Cable

dragon1952

W WALDECKER....I wasn't dissin' your opinion. I was just making a comment on these cable makers claims. They all seem to claim the same thing.

W WALDECKER

have you heard these cables? if you did you might be suprised at how good they sound. dont take to heart what i posted when i clearly stated that it was my opinon! what claims do most companies make? that they are from germany? or that thier products are patented? or that they avoid skin effect? audioquest uses perfect surface copper to speed up the skin effect instead of eliminating it go figure!

PolkThug

This is not a debate thread, there are 5 other threads for that.

michael_w

Alright so I snatched the Heros today... very nice guy to deal with. He had a bryston integrated amp for his pre and a bryston amp with a class

danger boy

michael_w

i hope the Hero's were an improvement over the Rat Shack IC's. or else i'd be real surprised.. considering the Heros are much more expensive and better made. I think over time you'll hear more improvements.

dragon1952

Alright so I snatched the Heros today.

originally said by Butthead
uh-huh-huh...huh-huh...he said snatched.

michael_w

OK so I've had a little more time to listen to the Heros and yea they are pretty nice... Not so noticable until I go back to my original setup and realize how dirty and muddled it sounds. What I just tried is:

I have 2 dvd players. One for my ht setup and one for my 2 ch setup. I have already decided that the 2 ch dvd player (low end toshiba) sounds better than the ht dvdp but not by very much. So I hooked up both dvd players to my 2 ch system. The ht dvd player with my old rat shack cables and the tosh with the heros. Threw in a cd on the bad dvd player with old cables and listened for a bit.... ok it sounded alright then I quickly took the cd and put it into the tosh with heros. The sound just jumped out in clarity compared. It sounded like I had a blanket or something in front of my speakers before.

So now I think I know which side of the cable debate I'm on. I probably won't upgrade these for a while and at this point I won't be spending crazy amounts of cash on cables anytime soon (said that many times before )

Since these are the only real quality cables I have owned I can't really give a comparison review on them but what I can say is that they have unleashed the highs and let the good recordings shine and the bad ones be noticable. -- I had no idea that some of my cd's that I thought to be excellent quality had so much background noise...

Well for now that I have cables worth more than my source I think the next thing on my list is a nice cdp or maybe luck out with a good deal on transport and dac??

VR3

My biggest change didnt really come with one connect...

More so a combination of everything

IE: Signal Cable Classic Single Run, Analog II, XLR

The Signal Cable Magic Power Cable did a nice improvement, one of the bigger ones I've seen.