AudioQuest Diamondback

polkatese

Gents and Gals,
Do you have any opinion on AudioQuest Diamondback IC? If by any chance you are upgrading from Monster Cable M series, please let me know why you did it.....

Thanks all and Happy New Year.......bottoms up!

HBombToo

I can't remember now the brand AQ I have but they are unbalanced audio l/r connections I use between my Cal Audio CL-20 and my h/k 520 preamp in. This allows me to take advantage of the 24bit/96khz dac in the CL-20

"I am happy with them."

I did a lot of listening tests between the CL-20 and h/k 520 using a TOSLink or the audio interconnects. This effort was more an attempt to hear the quality of the DAC between the h/k and the CL-20 and not so much the connections.

No shock to me when I determined I liked the DAC in the CL-20 better as it outperformed the DAC in the h/k 520 by Miles for cd playback... and when it comes to listening tests I am no expert and very ignorant.

The interesting thing to note is the h/k has a 24bit/192khz dac verse a 24bit/96khz in the CL-20, so my assumption is the the CL-20 has better op amp and clock stages for a more accurate analog reproduction .

HBomb

polkatese

Hbomb, thanks for the feedback....did you notice audible difference as you switched from TOSlink to analog? just curious...I always believed that TOSlink is superior compared to analog, but since I just got Philips sacd-1000 that on 5.1 SACD only allows analog, I learned that TOSlink is not always superior than analog....

mantis

Polkatese,
it's the DAC's on WHAT side is what makes the difference.A less of a rca innerconnect wil also hinder the sound quality.Same goes for a less of a Toslink.

HBombToo

Originally posted by polkatese
Hbomb, thanks for the feedback....did you notice audible difference as you switched from TOSlink to analog? just curious...

Using my CL-20 as a CD transport only and the Audio Research DAC 5 for the conversion... I did listening tests between TOS, XLR and Dig Coax.

***IMO all 3 sounded the same... but again I'm not an experienced listener. I just hear what I hear.***

I am convinced however that a DAC is not a DAC is not a DAC. There are many stages that impact reproduction and you can't go wrong with this type of high end seperate.

The XLR manufactured by RCS Prime, used and bought from a friend cost me ~100 smackers, the Dig Coax by Rat Shack and the TOS is a cheapo RCA brand @ CC and cost me 20 bucks. It is my opinion that a 15-->20 dollar TOS link will perform as good as the Monster Links at 50 bucks as long as there is no damage to the fiber.

As a Caveat...
I do have the RTi series which I'm very happy with but perhaps if I did an upgrade to the LSI series I may hear sonic difference between the higher end digital connections.

Regards
HBomb

polkatese

Dan,
I wish there is a way to measure the incremental sonic differences say starting with the MC M550i to M850i to M950i to M1000i.....I was debating the merit of going to M850i, but then I think the real deal would be going with M1000i, which put it in a different approval process...not to mention that at this price range, MIT, Kimber, AQ (new and used prices) are competing pretty closely.....

HBomb, thanks for the review, actually it is consistent with my findings, to a degree. I have so far all MC stuff, and is not the upper class one.

mantis

I wish there is a way to measure the incremental sonic differences say starting with the MC M550i to M850i to M950i to M1000i.....I was debating the merit of going to M850i, but then I think the real deal would be going with M1000i, which put it in a different approval process...not to mention that at this price range, MIT, Kimber, AQ (new and used prices) are competing pretty closely.....

polkatese there is a way................listening test.Go into a store where they sell them all,Tweeter will work fine or better yeat,buy them,bring them all home and listen.Your gear is always the better demo area.Then returmn the cables you don't care for.
Every level of Monster gets clearer and clearer.I used to use M550i's in my system,then I did a shootout to see if it would be worth going with the better cables,M950i's I liked at a price range I could afford then.I believe this cable is really balanced and superior in it's price class.124.99 retail for 1 meter,it gives you all the performance at that price point.
MIT,Kimber and such is just the same,you gotta listen to see what works the best for what you wanna spend etc.Wire is such a fun and cool way to max for performance of what you already own.
Get out there my friend and report back your findings........