I have had this cable for a few weeks now and its finally broke in. I wasnt going to write this tonight because I am tired, but I figured I could give out a little info.

To begin, the cable is thick and well built. The plug that goes into the amp is a big and meaty. The connection is rock solid. The cable is reasonably flexible and I like the heavy duty lead in wires that end just before the thin wire and the plugs themselves. The connectors on this particular cable are cardas connectors and they fit tightly once you get them in correctly; which I did not at first. There isnt a lot of room at the connector and its hard to get enough leverage to make a solid connection. I didnt want to push to hard and break a wire, so I didnt push them in enough, with the result being some intermittant contact problems. I got out the trusty needle nose pliers and that fixed the problem. As a suggestion I would leave just a little more room. Otherwise I would just send a little note suggesting pliers to make sure the contact is secure.

The sound of the cable is what we really care about and its good; very good. If you have ever heard magnet wire interconnects etc they have a particular sound; and you know what I mean. They also sound very dark and closed in until they break in, and these were no exception. At first their wasnt a lot of bass and the sound was congested and the high end dark with no air. After a few days the bass started coming in and they sounded very dark. I will admit I was a little worried at this point. The dark top was not working with any of my amps and I like a darker sound. The sound was just to dulled. I kept using them and about a week ago WHAM!

The top end just opened up. The sudden appearance of the treble was also accompanied by more clarity and resolution in the mids too. This cable, and I suspect most, if not all magnet wire cables, have a great midrange. Its rich and rounded and sounds liquid and smooth. That is the strength of this cable. The bass is weighty, powerful and has good but not great definition. The bass can sound fast with the right amp but its not a muscular defined bass. I do think the bass matches the cables overall signature, and the sum of the parts(bass/ mids/ treble) blend extremely well giving the cable a coherency and a seamlessness I particularly enjoy. This cable also has great balance avoiding any frequency emphasis I can detect. The cable once it opened up is very smooth especially through the upper mids and lower treble with no exaggerated sibilance at all. You dont have to worry about harshness and grain with this cable. Some may feel the cable is still a little dark but its very musical and still detailed and resolving .

When I went back to the stock cable in a direct comparison(2x 650 on the 2 outputs of a gilmore v2-se) the stock cable sounded thin and the treble edgy and slightly sibilant in comparison. I dont want to use the stock cable now. Even my singlepower ppx3 seems to have a glare or brightness with the stock cable, and that amp is super smooth.

In summary, the diamondback is a very musical and warm cable firmly on the equinox side of town. The sound is richer and slower than the stock cable, but I find the cable has enough speed for rock, and its tone is wonderful for anything acoustic. This cable is a good alternative for those of us who dont want the very detailed sound of the silver cables; or for those with systems having to much brightness. I found the cable versatile partnering well with all my amps tube or solid state, with no signature that favors one over the other. The cable despite its richness is still revealing and has very good dynamics. I never feel it glosses over the music but it definitely does not add harshness. I have never bought a pair of interconnects or power cords that have improved the sound of my system as much as this cable; especially for its relatively modest cost. Once you hear the upgraded cables you cant go back; and the diamondback gives us another quality alternative.

Wow, a great CDP review AND replacement cable review in one day. Your fingers must be hurtin' Earl.

I'm glad to hear that this cable is a good replacement alternative. At Chris' asking price it is a pretty good deal. He worked incredibly hard on those cables and his labor ended running about $1 an hour after all was said and done. His craftsmanship seemed to be quite good from what I saw in the photos, so I'm glad to hear they were even better in real life use.

Congrats on the system that seems to be gellin' quite well now. It's nice when things fall into place and a system starts to really sound incredible. I know when the new CDP and amp arrive I'll be quite occupied for a while just listening and enjoying.

Any other diamondback owners out there? I am curious about your impressions.

I have a loaner set of cables from Chris, but I don't think they are up to par w/ the DBs (one of his first sets). They sound like you describe, and they are very good for taming brightness, as in some tube amps. They are opposites of silver cables.

Andrew has a pair of cables I built when I was testing out various designs. The production cables are the same design but use higher quality parts.

UPDATE: This cable really is musical. I am listening much longer without fatigue or bordome than I did with the stock cable. I also believe the cable itself is loosening up forming the way I want it to lay. The longer I have this cable the more I enjoy it.

That's awesome Earl. I'm glad you took the plunge and the risk of trying out one of Chris' new cable designs, and that it paid off.

How long would you estimate the break-in takes before it starts to get to this level of sound?

I dont know for sure but its been well over 100 hours. The biggest change occured after probably 50-60 hours; but the cable has continued to improve. I did most of the break in with listening. Some added use did occur when I was comparing the two senn cables with new equipment; both playing simulataneously. I have been comparing the ppx3/ mpx3/ v2-se and the new sacdmods 963sa with the sacdmods 555es. Its a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Thanks for the impressions, Earl. I've been eager to hear more about this cable myself. I might have to give it a try one day. Sounds like a winner to me! The sonic descriptions are quite appealing to me.

Hajime,

Any idea on when my cable will be sent? SACD Lover piqued my interest in trying it out.

I've only had it for two days, currently in the process of breaking it in (on my ears). At first the sound was very dark and incoherent, but it's been improving steadily. Will post more impressions later on.

Quote:



Please do kyrie. You'd be the second person here to post your thoughts on these cables, and your opinion will be very gratefully read by many.