Tír Na HiFi

I’m trialling a network streamer right now and find the sound to be very detailed but a little harsh especially on close miked vocals.
I’m using single-ended Nordost red dawn interconnects. When I swap them out for some cheaper cables (Profi Gold I think), the sound is considerably smoother but some of the lovely detail is lost along with a degree of the soundstage width.

I’m looking for a recommendation for something which will take the edge off without loss in detail.

Any opinions on Audioquest or Chord?


Mark

Hi Mark,

While I'm a cable skeptic I do believe they can make differences but in my experience are usually really small and subtle and sometimes no difference at all.
Some of the Van den Hul interconnects (ones with the carbon core I think) can be successful in taking the edge of recordings. I had success with the First Ultimate some years ago. Again the affect was quite small and only in some recordings.

When you swapped out the interconnects for the cheaper ones did you compare again with the same recording and more importantly level matched? I don't have experience of streamers but I've heard that quality may be inconsistent if the WiFi has interference. Can you try it with Ethernet as a test?
Might be worth experimenting some more to see what's contributing to the brightness in the system. Lord knows I've battled with this issue many moons ago, I tried all sorts of cabling both exotic and cheap. None of them cured my problem, it was all caused by components in the end.

No AQ definitely, its neutral and even a little bit analytical and you're looking for something different. Don't have experience with Chord.
I had the same problem, with my class-D amp and Focals, amp is detailed and dry, Focals are open and transparent. Of few cables I tried, there's one that makes, I would even say, a huge difference, and transforms my system into warm/organic sounding without losing (too much:) details: Cambridge Audio AUD700. What's best, the cable is really cheap!
You will lose something on the top maybe, there's no way around it, but I think its OK compromise, as long there's still enough musical detail there, and not too much.

In my experiance /not huge, but enough for me/, I found Furutech and some Neotech cables to do the job correctly.

That's great feedback gents - quite a lot to unpack.

The streamer is a cambridge audio azur 851n - and is highly detailed and dynamic compared to the auralic ares mini or the chord poly/mojo combo and I very much like the new detail and take it brings to lots of very familiar music.
My main amp (Ariand), despite being a valve amp, has a pronounced energetic, forward sound compared with my solid state amps - PS audio sprout or Arcam alpha 10. The alpha 10 unfortunately is old now and has developed a crackle - possibly capacitors - and the little Sprout is part of my office system.
My speakers are usually quite laid back, organic and transparent and, being hybrid electrostatic panels, have no tweeters as such.

For me the interconnects do have a noticeable effect on the overall sound but getting the balance between detail and harshness is what I'm after and maybe a fools errand. I feel that the interconnects can "fine-tune" the sound without going to too much expense, such as buying a new amp or streamer, but I may be wrong.

I'm using roon as the streaming protocol on an ethernet network - hopefully excluding any wifi noise.
The amp/streamer combo is probably the main culprit here but I have a few other things to try out still - I need to look at re-biasing the amp as the valves have not been changed in about 3 years and also maybe swap out the valve set too.

I'll check out the cables mentioned first and see if that drags things back into line for me.

Many thanks, Mark.

How many interconnects do you need and what length?

If you are willing to try something different and promise to take a good care, I could lend you for a week or so, two pairs of Furutech and one pair of Neotech, which are part of my TT system, and are very, very close to what you are after. :)

I never like any of the Audioquest or Chord products, a bit of snake oil for me anyways. :)

Georgi wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 2:09 pm How many interconnects do you need and what length?

If you are willing to try something different and promise to take a good care, I could lend you for a week or so, two pairs of Furutech and one pair of Neotech, which are part of my TT system, and are very, very close to what you are after. :)

I never like any of the Audioquest or Chord products, a bit of snake oil for me anyways. :)

Hi Georgi,
Many thanks for the offer - you're too kind.
First off, I'll try adjusting the amp bias and the valves as I have a spare set.

If I have no luck with that, I'll certainly contact you.

What a great group of enthusiasts.

All the best, Mark.

Darek of this parish made an excellent interconnect for me at one stage that really opened everything up without hardness. I wonder does he have any left?

Diapason wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:41 pm Darek of this parish made an excellent interconnect for me at one stage that really opened everything up without hardness. I wonder does he have any left?

I have a couple of those that I don't use. I just find them too bright. You'd be welcome to try them if you want.

Ivor wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 9:39 pm

Diapason wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:41 pm Darek of this parish made an excellent interconnect for me at one stage that really opened everything up without hardness. I wonder does he have any left?

I have a couple of those that I don't use. I just find them too bright. You'd be welcome to try them if you want.

Many thanks Ivor.
I'm still working away on the amp front but I'll get back to you if that doesn't yield results.

Mark