Topic: A/B of the HD cable and Synergistic Research Alpha cable

[Tim]

Took some time this afternoon to do some A/B's of the two sets of speaker cables I have laying around the house. I used Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" to do the A/B as I know the album very well. Just wanted to share my thoughts.. certainly not a "pro" review but I thought a few people might be interested.

Overall I found the HD cable to be more colored than the SR cables, the bottom end was perhaps a bit looser and the high end was definitely a little more laid back and colored sounding. The lowmids seemed much more pronounced than with the SR's. I'd say that the HD cables are a bit bottom heavy and colored. They do sound very nice, especially for the money.

The SR's just seemed more open and clear in the top end, the bass was tightened up but was missing some of that mid-bass slam.

The HD's throw a wider soundstage, which suprised me.

I like the tightness of the SR cables in the lowend but I miss that wide soundstage. Hard to say at this point which set I like better, I think at this point I'll opt for the tonal accuracy of the SR's and just deal with the somewhat smaller soundstage.

FWIW - the hd cables are copper and the sr's are siilver. I use bare wire on both ends.

I should have a pair of bumblebee silvers from Leegedy here next week, really anxious to try those out!

[Tim]

also, I listened to portions of the album 4 different times with each cable, alternating after each section to the other cable and repeating the section of music.

[ducati]

Very cool.  It sounds like the HD cable is excellent for the money.  I have been meaning to make a pair to A/B with my AudioQuest Type4+, my favorite budget cable.

Interestingly enough, among others I used "Time Out" for my cable shootout, too (Kimber 4TC shotgun biwire and MIT MH750+S3 biwire).  Good album, good music 

[Tim]

Time Out is just such a classic. I think it sounds excellent, images well, nice wide soundstage... and I know what I want it to sound like, it's a great disk for evaluating components.

[fsulloway]

Just curious. What do the SR's cost?

[JackoRoses]

just out of curiosity, do you think the HD cables need a burn in time like so many other
pieces of equipment? I would think so, and did you give the cables a burn in at all?
Would be interesting to have another comp after the HD cables get 50+ hours on them,
if they did not already of course..

[ducati]

Ah, break-in.  A perennially interesting subject.

I'm going to be a heretic here and say I have never heard any large differences between a freshly installed cable and same cable after a few hundred hours.  I believe most of the "break-in" associated with cables is our ears getting used to the sonic changes they wrought on our rigs.

Heresy, I know!!  Just my experience.  I would also point out that I rarely shove a component in and listen immediately--I usually have it playing in the background for awhile before I sit down for a critical listen.  This is just how I listen--I use my hifi ALOT and rarely settle into my chair right after it was turned on.  So it is entirely possible the cables are mostly "broken in" anyway by the time I listen to them.  FWIW, YMMV, and all that.

[JackoRoses]

Ah, break-in.  A perennially interesting subject.

I'm going to be a heretic here and say I have never heard any large differences between a freshly installed cable and same cable after a few hundred hours.  I believe most of the "break-in" associated with cables is our ears getting used to the sonic changes they wrought on our rigs.

Heresy, I know!!  Just my experience.  I would also point out that I rarely shove a component in and listen immediately--I usually have it playing in the background for awhile before I sit down for a critical listen.  This is just how I listen--I use my hifi ALOT and rarely settle into my chair right after it was turned on.  So it is entirely possible the cables are mostly "broken in" anyway by the time I listen to them.  FWIW, YMMV, and all that.

Very good point, the burn in time is our own ears adjusting and not the material
It is a good marketing spin now that I think about it.

[ducati]

I do think *some* stuff needs burn-in; in particular I have found anything with large/many caps in it (amplifiers are a good example) do tend to exhibit better characteristics after a period of burn-in.  Tubes can exhibit some recitence for the first hour or so.  Cables, tho, I have found very little, if any, changes with "break-in."

I do tend to think break-in is overrated with respect to just about everything.  To be honest, I've never put something in and said "that sounds like shit!" and then magically had it sound like silk 100 hours later.  If it sucked when I first put it in, it sucked 100 painful hours later, too 

[leegeddy]

I do think *some* stuff needs burn-in; in particular I have found anything with large/many caps in it (amplifiers are a good example) do tend to exhibit better characteristics after a period of burn-in.  Tubes can exhibit some recitence for the first hour or so.  Cables, tho, I have found very little, if any, changes with "break-in."

I do tend to think break-in is overrated with respect to just about everything.  To be honest, I've never put something in and said "that sounds like shit!" and then magically had it sound like silk 100 hours later.  If it sucked when I first put it in, it sucked 100 painful hours later, too 

i agree with ducati on a certain level regards to "burn-in" and "breaking-in".  while you're not going to get "silk purses from sow's ears", breaking in cables and other electronic equipment is valid since we ARE dealing with electrons traveling through conducting materials.  there are things to consider like dielectric properties, capacitive and inductive properties, emf, gauss, etc. etc.  these are "things" we don't see with our eyes and are not dealt with on pure mathematical/physicaly level by consumers and even "audiophiles". 

so to totally dismiss "burn-in" is (imho) totally wrong, but on the same breath, it's foolish to think breaking in lamp cords with 100's of hours will make them sound like silver cables. 

marc

[macdaddy]

I know what I want it to sound like, it's a great disk for evaluating components.

i think that is the most important criterion - to be familiar with the test material sources, so you can really narrow down what you are hearing in each test instance...

+t tim, for the leg work

man, has the playback forum been en fuego lately. or what?

[ducati]

Marc, you also hit on one thing that I do feel is very important--warming up.  I think this is another issue we all need to keep in mind.  Some equipment sounds best after it's been on for a few minutes/hours/days/even weeks.  Cables can even sound better after they have been played for a few hours; AudioQuest recently attempted to address this issue with their DBS technology. 

I think warmup time also confuses us with respect to break-in.

And I want to make sure I don't come off as stating break-in is always BS; it isn't.  Every piece is different, some exhibit these characteristics more than others, and there are alot of variables to confuse our ears!

FWIW, WRT warmup, with SS equipment, I leave it on 24/7.  *Especially digital* as I find huge differences in cold and warm in much digital gear.  Tube gear I don't leave on 24/7, but I do find my tube gear sounds good after 20 minutes, great after an hour or two, and my pre seems to sound best if it's left on for 12 hours.  Fortunately, in my house, this happens often 

I have been AWOL from TS.com for a year or thereabouts, and I was *very* happy to find such an active Playback forum upon returning.  Good stuff here!

[leegeddy]

agreed. i love techtalk!

marc

ps. what ducati can you recommend to go really fast? 

[ducati]

Any duc with a fairing!  I found it hard to hold on to my Monster at really super-legal velocities 

[Tim]

Just curious. What do the SR's cost?

around $150 for a 10ft pair I think...

[Tim]

just out of curiosity, do you think the HD cables need a burn in time like so many other
pieces of equipment? I would think so, and did you give the cables a burn in at all?
Would be interesting to have another comp after the HD cables get 50+ hours on them,
if they did not already of course..

I've been using them since November... the SR's are about two years old

[1st set only]

would plugging them in to an ac outlet and using them as power cords  have the same effect as "burning in"?

[fsulloway]

would plugging them in to an ac outlet and using them as power cords  have the same effect as "burning in"?

That's an interesting idea. They're cheap enough that it'd be pretty easy to try it out.