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Van Den Hul First Ultimate - Experiences/Opinions

post #1 of 9
11/7/06 at 1:39pm
Thread Starter 
Hi all. In my hunt for a good pair of ICs, I came across the VDH First Ultimate which I may be able to get locally at a very good price. Just wanted to find out what you guys thought - any opinions, suggestions, comparisons etc.

As a point of reference - I tried pure silver cables and they were too bright, and I tried pure copper cables and found them a little too warm/rolled off. Others I am considering are cables such as the Kimber Hero and Zu Gede (much lower in retail/market, but I can get the VDH at about the same price as those).

Cheers,
X
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post #2 of 9
11/7/06 at 5:11pm

Van den Hul First Ultimate

They sound very natural, not like metal IC's. Not bright or dull, but very natural. May be a bit difficult depending on the components they connect. Siltech's are more dynamic and have a lager soundstage in my system (Musical Fidelity). They serve well as digital IC's also.
Try, they may be perfect for your system.
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post #3 of 9
11/7/06 at 7:33pm
Their main character is the fine linear bandwidth. They will reveal any emphasis on a particular frequency your system may produce. The sound is rather distant as opposed to up front. And, indeed, they have a very "natural" sound. Some perceive them as slightly grainy. That you can easily live with because of the many positive traits IMHO. I like the mk.I better than the current mk.II.

I have been writing about them a few times. Just use the search with my username.

EDIT. Allright, I looked up one thread for you. Good luck in choosing a IC.
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...php?p=1973002&
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post #4 of 9
11/7/06 at 10:33pm
VDH First Ultimate:

Congested sound, especially for vocal music. It has not enough "drive" for rock music too.
Life's gone from music, when this cable in the rig. Yes, it has quite neutral sound.
Unforgiving cable, could be critical for low-budget system.
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post #5 of 9
11/8/06 at 3:46am
Interesting impressions. I still think these are the best interconnect cables I've owned. Very neutral and airy sound. This cable was a good allrounder and worked well with almost everything I threw in my setup. Highly recommended.
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post #6 of 9
11/8/06 at 5:12am
I've got a set, that I frankly use to connect my tv to my amp.
It's a good but indeed unforgiving cable, giving extended bass and treble and thereby loosing accent on the mids.
A fine cable for f.i. electronic music, but less suitable for vocals and acoustic instruments for my taste.
I do not hear that 'lack of metal' that has often been reported; strangely despite being worlds apart in configuration my DIY silverlace/bullet IC (braided solidcore pure silver with teflon) sounds almost exactly the same, but with slightly cleaner treble.
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post #7 of 9
11/9/06 at 2:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patu
Very neutral and airy sound. This cable was a good allrounder and worked well with almost everything I threw in my setup.
Well, I agree with what you said.
But my first impression of VDH sound that it has HiEndish sound. Yes, these cables are very clean, airy, neutral, BUT unnatural sounding ones. Every time I tried VDH interconnects in my rig, I returned them to audioshop again.
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post #8 of 9
2/8/12 at 7:22pm

Sorry for diversifying maybe someone here has auditioned the Oyaide DR-510 how that might compare 

to the Van Der Hul's I have VDH interconnects they are pretty good on the analogue side but not sure

on the digital side, for me their is great detail in the Oyaide but it's not to great on the lower octave end

a bit to sharp or bright, hardly natural on the treble end.

 

I have a wireworld starlight 6 cable as well and it's not bad for the price I paid actually half of what the

Oyaide cost.

 

I am waiting for some foorstanders to arrive next to see how the cables preform with them before making

a final decision it's hard to tell with the stand mounters that I currently own.

 

 

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post #9 of 9
2/9/12 at 6:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by laughingbuddha View Post

Sorry for diversifying maybe someone here has auditioned the Oyaide DR-510 how that might compare 

to the Van Der Hul's I have VDH interconnects they are pretty good on the analogue side but not sure

on the digital side, for me their is great detail in the Oyaide but it's not to great on the lower octave end

a bit to sharp or bright, hardly natural on the treble end.

 

I have a wireworld starlight 6 cable as well and it's not bad for the price I paid actually half of what the

Oyaide cost.

 

I am waiting for some foorstanders to arrive next to see how the cables preform with them before making

a final decision it's hard to tell with the stand mounters that I currently own.

 

 



I once tried the Ultimate as a digital interconnect and was not impressed.

I've had the Oyaide 510 for a year as a digital interconnect, very wellmade cable but frankly, in my system it gets bettered by the affordable Blue Jeans Belden digital link (with two added ferrite cores to cure some brightness). The Oyaide sounded flatter and more rolled of, a sign of jitter I suppose.

But digital cables are very system dependable; it seems to be something about impedance matching, so in your system it might be completely different. 

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