Have your say & ask the experts

idc:

SHB it is then, thanks Spacehopper.

Me need help also Taralabs spectrum 1a or Chord chameleon silver plus.

 Any opinions which is better?

Graham_Thomas:

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? 

Well, after a week or so - these Silver High Breeds are keepers. Stunning resolution and treble. I'm going to try the speaker cable next. No affiliation by the way, just a great bargain.

Ive had the SHB 2 interconnector(1m) for a few days now. Comparing the SHB2 to the Chord Chameleon interconnector intial impressions are the SHB2 reveal a fair bit more detail, the bass and treble are also alot 'tighter' which means the SHB2 produces a more refined sound. Soundstage seems more pronounced also, so in summary the Chord interconnector is now in the draw..

I should have the SHB speaker cable in the next few days and will give impressions comparing to the

Chord Carnival SilverScreen speaker cable asap.

I was/am surprised this interconnector has clearly out-performered a high-rated Chord interconnector and now am waiting to see if this also applies to the SHB speaker cable.

sheehanjuk:

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Ive had the SHB 2 interconnector(1m) for a few days now. Comparing the SHB2 to the Chord Chameleon interconnector intial impressions are the SHB2 reveal a fair bit more detail, the bass and treble are also alot 'tighter' which means the SHB2 produces a more refined sound. Soundstage seems more pronounced also, so in summary the Chord interconnector is now in the draw..

I should have the SHB speaker cable in the next few days and will give impressions comparing to the

Chord Carnival SilverScreen speaker cable asap.

I was/am surprised this interconnector has clearly out-performered a high-rated Chord interconnector and now am waiting to see if this also applies to the SHB speaker cable.

I share your initial impressions but need to do a/b comparisons. Treble is especially clear and voices sound amazing but then Chord sounded good too.

I had a £22.40 (inc P&P) e-bay punt on the Silver High Breed Synergy Two to connect my power amp - have to say that I'm mightily impressed. Bass and treble are so much more enhanced and vocals (which the power amp does much to improve) are even more detailed.

Dandy Warhols - Lou Weed

Received the SHB speaker cables yesterday and immediately started comparing to the Chord Carnival SilverScreen speaker cable. First impressions are the SHB cable does not command the same clarity, depth of sound or bass reproduction. Maybe the best way to describle the SHB speaker cable is a watered down sound version of the Chord. The difference is quite clear and even with more burn in I'd easily wager it won't get close, let alone exceed.

So in summary the SHB2 interconnector I found to exceed my Chord Chameleon interconnector by a noticeable margin, the Chord interconnector is the draw.. and will remain so. On the other hand the Chord Carnival SilverScreen speaker cable was quite clearly producing the better sound, this for my system is my findings.

SteveR750:

Today I received my repaired Cobra III IC's, so could do a proper A/B with the 0.5m of those and the SHB's. I've spent all evening listening to the same few CD's, and the differenecs are there, but in my system and to my ears the SHB's are inferior. They are brighter, but not as revealing as the Chords. There is a light loss of low level detail, and eerything sounds too dry, guitars have lost their vibrancy. I think the soundstage is also slightly mpore confused, less distinct. I do wonder though that the dryness is perhaps a more accurate portayal of the sound, its possible the chords are adding soem colour to the sound...if a cable can add anything. So, for the jury is still out, its by no means clear cut yet...

My findings, and I believe most others that have, or tried SHB's are in total contrast to yours.

As I have mentioned before, I have had a great number of interconnects, from £600 Black Rhodiums down, through Chord's £330 Anthems, to Chorus, to Chameleons, to Silver Sirens,  and the SHB;s are up there with the best.

I will concede however, that synergy does play a part, and that perhaps the SHB's simply dont gel with your current set up.

My current system comprises a Squeezebox, into a Theta dac, a Classe pre into a Lyngdorf power amp, and a choice of either PMC FB1+ speakers, or, much to my surprise and delight the newer incarnation of the speakers that preceded my PMC's, Quad 22 L2's.

SteveR750:

So, for the jury is still out, its by no means clear cut yet...

That sounds like a vote for the SHBs as the cost difference to the Chords is about £20. Have you experienced the 'burn in' that the seller reports is needed to get the best out of the SHB?

idc:

SteveR750:

So, for the jury is still out, its by no means clear cut yet...

That sounds like a vote for the SHBs as the cost difference to the Chords is about £20. Have you experienced the 'burn in' that the seller reports is needed to get the best out of the SHB?

The SHB's have been running about 30 hours. Earler I decided that the Cobra III's were better, bigger soundstage, better positioning, warmer alance. I'be since put the SHB's back in they do have a sweeter clearer top end, but to my ears a slightly nasal quality. I really can't decide which sound I prefer. The difference is not however night and day, a million miles from the jump from a NAD C352 to the K2, or the 541 to the Cyrus. Then again, we are talking about £20. Bear in mind that Will says he won't be selling these cables at £23 once his website goes live,  indeed his speaker cable will be £35/metre, which is somewhat more than Carnival SS. Maybe indded they just don't suit my system, but I'm only describing what my ears hear, and I know from other experience that I don't have odd hearing or deafness. I have to say I do wonder about the placebo effect of rave reviews - after all anything second hand that was a 5 star WHF winner will sell, even it really is outdated and outclassed (and maybe wasn't as good as made our originally, after all this is a subjective appraisal), perhaps I am simply being too sceptical!

Got another set of IC's (free) with speaker cable, which are noticeably better despite being twice the length at 1m, so maybe a problem with the first set. The soundstage has returned whilst retaining that same clear top end. The speaker cables however are a revelation. They have really opned up the spendors, now i can really feel what the hi hat is doing, where its is being hit as well as how hard etc. I can hear the small bass guitar notes over one of the Maroon 5 songs which previously I thought was just the kick drum..and all this using the original QED cable as jumpers as the new ones are just way too thick to get two cores into the LF binding post, so will need some terminals soldering onto them. I'm very pleased with the results (remember the caveat: my ears with my system in my lounge) so far after about 5 hours of continuous low level playing, they certainly work well in my system compared to the cheap QED multistrand I was using.

The seller has slightly upgraded his ICs with thicker cables (20 awg compared to 22awg) so this may be why the new one sounds better. He reports that the new ones are quite a bit better.