Have your say & ask the experts

idc:

The review for the Gotham interconnect is a cracker! I particularly liked the comment about directionality being shown by use of a marker pen! The comments on the review are still positive about the cable and the first one points out that the review calls the Gotham a significant improvement over a freebie cable. Overall the review is a classic example of read what is said and ignore the stars awarded. So my budget is £20, preferrably less and I have heard enough cables so as to be unconvinced, to my ear that they make much of a difference. But I do want a cable that is clearly better made than the rubbish, skinny, plasticy one out the box. Then the Gotham seems ideal.

My next interconnect budget is up to £30 and I need a 50cm one. So, having found peer reviews to be very accurate before, I am looking at the SHB or Chunky or see if I get lucky with second hand off ebay. My present interconnect, a no brand, odd looking grey thing is presently part of a setup that provides me with stunning SQ. (EDIT - before you ask, I want to change them because they are way too long and I have to loop them round all sorts to get them to fit)

 

Then again IIRC there were lots of good words bandied around for Cambridge Audio's Pacific IC's and they were about £20 when I got some. Better than the freebies of course: better than a half firing set of Chords, no chance; worth the money, yep probably; how many stars? more than 2 I'll wager

Your Lordship. How chunky is a Chunky? I need it to almost bend back on itself and one end will be in my very light DAC.

SteveR. My mate, who I helped to sort out his ancient hifi/av has a set of Pacific interconnects. My job was to dust and clean and once that was done the Pacifics still looked brand new, their connectors shining bright with no sign of oxidisation at all and the cable sheething totally unmarked. A QED interconnect of the same vintage looked ancient, its sheething was white but had yellowed and it needed a very good clean about the contacts.

Last week I moved my TV for the first time in a while to have a new shelf fitted. I bought Cambridge scarts about 10 years ago and I noticed once I had given them a dust, again no oxidisation on the connectors.

Both interconnect and Scart could be cleaned up and appear brand new. A good reason to recommend Cambridge there.

idc:

Your Lordship. How chunky is a Chunky? I need it to almost bend back on itself and one end will be in my very light DAC.

idc, I don't think the chunky's the one for you as, I tried one on my Gram Amp and it was no use as the GA is too light. I ended up using my chord chameleon on the GA and use the chunky between my amp and DVD.

icehockeyboy:

Ive had both types of Silver High Breeds, the Synergy One, and Two, they are both absolutely amazing ic's for really silly low prices.

Ive had some high end ic's in my system, Black Rhodium Oratorios, (£600)   and Chord Anthem, (£330)   and the SHB stuff is up there with them soundwise!

I also have the 10 awg speaker cable for them too, absolutely stunning, and easily on par with the £130 a metre stuff I had a while back. 

Dont hesitate, try them, money back guarantee, so how can you lose? 

idc:

Your Lordship. How chunky is a Chunky? I need it to almost bend back on itself and one end will be in my very light DAC.

I received the synergy 2IC's today, all of £23 for the short 0.5m version which is fine for connecting my CDP to amp on the shelf below it. The current IC's are Chord Cobra II about 1m length I think, which bear in mind are due to go back to Chord because one of the plugs is quite a loose fit on all possible four female sockets, and was also slightly lose on my old NAD system. I think its responsible for a veiling in that channel which causes the soundtage to shift slightly, though a bit of twisting the cable does improve things. I also have another pair of cobra II's where one of the cables has failed completely, but in fairness to Chord they have told me to send both back and they will be repaired FOC...anyway back to the Synergys.

My first impression out of the packet was that they are obviously home made, but its what is in them and not what they look like that counts. The terminals are cambridge audio tight, i.e. almost impossible to fit at first, but at least you know the grounding will be good. I played a couple of discs I know well, by Keb 'Mo and Mark Knopfler. On both the synergys are very similar to the Cobra's, I am having to concentrate quite hard to notice any really significant differences, the effects are really quite subtle. The bass seems a little stronger, maybe better controlled in that its more tuneful, but not massively so, and the rest of the frequency range is possibly dryer, less airy than the Chords. That said on REM's greatest hits the hi-hat is more noticeable than I recall, and certainly overall detail is comparable. To my ears, they sound a little less authorative then the Cobras, but lose nothing in timing.

Overall impressive certainly for £20 odd as they are certainly comparable to the more expensive Chords, and maybe they will burn in maybe they won't, only ears will tell. In summary I have found them lighter, leaner slightly bright sounding, with a smaller less obvious soundstage, so no super bargain status for my system at least.One thing I did notice is one lead wouldnt work initially, and I had to twist the (loose) connections (and both end are loose on the one cable, the other is nice and tight)

I am expecting the speaker cable to arrive later in the week, and will be comparing it to the cheapest QED wire that I have had for about 8 years now, so might be a more interesting opportunity for improvement.

idc:

Your Lordship. How chunky is a Chunky? I need it to almost bend back on itself and one end will be in my very light DAC.

SteveR. My mate, who I helped to sort out his ancient hifi/av has a set of Pacific interconnects. My job was to dust and clean and once that was done the Pacifics still looked brand new, their connectors shining bright with no sign of oxidisation at all and the cable sheething totally unmarked. A QED interconnect of the same vintage looked ancient, its sheething was white but had yellowed and it needed a very good clean about the contacts.

Last week I moved my TV for the first time in a while to have a new shelf fitted. I bought Cambridge scarts about 10 years ago and I noticed once I had given them a dust, again no oxidisation on the connectors.

Both interconnect and Scart could be cleaned up and appear brand new. A good reason to recommend Cambridge there.

 

 

as indeed are the Cobras I have got, then gold doesnt oxidise so they should look new and shiny. It still doesnt make the CA's sound better than a £20 cable....

Let me clarify, the plugs appear to be a two part outer, where the pin end screws into the barrel. This is the bit that was loose, not the fit of the plug onto the terminals of the CDP or amp. However, that is precisely the problem I have with the Cobra's: they are loose fitting onto the unit terminals, i.e. they dont have a very tight grip.

OK a couple of more hours in, and more CD's and they do sound pretty good with the Stereophonics Just enough Education, they are certainly brighter than the Cobras, they've woken up the Spendors tweeters for sure. Am spinning U2 Joshua Tree and its easy to follow each instrument line, in particular the volume of the bass guitar in With or Without You is constant, whereas previoulsy I have always found that some muddiness or room resonance has highlighted one of the notes (usually the A and the B).

Also got my SHB Synergy 2s - pretty impressed from a short demo! Initial impressions are though, bound to change :) still need to compare against the CSP, but am likely to keep the SHB even if CSP turns out better.

Brisk:

Just out of interest, what comparison have you made Graham?