It's all in the details - Homegrown Silver Lace Interconnect

[acidtripwow]

I got this cable last week and tried it in both my home and portable system. The first thing I noticed about this cable is the details that this cable lets you hear, especially high end details like cymbal hits. With this cable in my system I could definitely hear the cymbal hits much clearer on the Diana Krall "Live in Paris" DVD. I also noticed this cable will let you hear very subtle details like when Diana Krall makes some wierd moaning noises when she's really getting into the music. I barely noticed them with other cables but with this cable I didn't have to strain to hear little details like that. The downside to all those details is that this cable may be too revealing. For example, if there is any hint of sibilance on the recording than this cable will magnify it. This can be a little harsh but may smooth out over time. This cable is defintely not broken in yet, but I think right now that the bass is some what lacking. The bass notes were very tight and clean but they just didn't seem to sound as low as I've heard through my other cables. That may be just a trait of Silver cables in general. Overall, I think this is an excellent cable and will get even better when it's fully broken in.

 

[DarkAngel]

Excellent ICs for the price ($190 1m new), I think you will find when they fully break-in they are some of the smoothest most natural sounding silver ICs available. I find the bass response very impressive which can be a weakness is some silver designs.
Also very lightweight and extremely flexible which is a bonus. Hirsch and a couple others here are using these also.........will hear from them shortly I believe.

I would like to compare the AZ silver reference at 4.5X the price to
see how much improvement that much money buys.

Acid
Did you get that AZ Mc2 digital cable and how do you like it?

 

[acidtripwow]

Hey DarkAngel, yes I got the AZ Mc2 cable. That is a huge digital cable and at least looks very impressive. Right now I'm using it on my DVD player. Like the BPT Jr. I recently got it didn't make a huge improvement, but did make an improvement overall.

 

[Hirsch]

The Silver Lace are an extremely neutral interconnect, IMO. There was some sibilance in my system using the MIT MI-330 II cable than went away when I switched to the Silver Lace. Mine transmit plenty of bass...but only when it's available at the source. The coloration of the MIT cable became very obvious when I switched to the Silver Lace (I still use the MIT in my home theater setup, but not with my headphone setups).

On Sylvia Woods' "Harp of Brandiswhiere", she switches between three different harps on the album. The metal strung harp on the third track had always sounded shrill to me, and I never really liked it. With the Silver Lace, the shrillness was shown to be system sibilance due to the interconnect. I was finally able to hear why she had chosen that harp for that particular piece, where it actually fits perfectly. The piece itself never made sense to me until I could hear the full nuances she was drawing from the harp.

The only weakness may be the lack of shielding, but I've only had that become a problem once, despite using this cable in settings where there was a lot of equipment about. I use the MIT or Silver Sonic BL-1 when shielding is needed (computer system), but it's not as neutral as the Silver Lace, IMO. (Also note that I bought the kits, not the assembled version of the Silver Lace, and build my own Silver Sonic cables as needed, so anything I have may differ from factory-assembled performance)

So far, the Silver Lace is my favorite interconnect. That's not to say that there aren't better cables out there...it's just that I can't afford them.

OTOH, I'm supposed to get a pair of Outlaw Audio interconnects along with the 950 when it finally ships (Real Soon Now), so we'll see how those go...

 

[blueocp]

Hirsch, can you tell us how the Outlaw PCA compares to the Silver Lace? Before hearing about the Outlaws I had my heart set on a pair of Silver Laces, but I couldn't pass up the great deal I had on a pair of PCAs.

 

[acidtripwow]

Quote:

I would like to compare the AZ silver reference at 4.5X the price to see how much improvement that much money buys.

I would really like to hear about this comparison, also. I may pick up the AZ Silver Reference and just do the comparison myself.

 

[dhwilkin]

acid, minor hijack here, but could you comment more on what you have plugged into the BPT Jr, and the improvements you saw? I'm just curious, since it was a tremendous help in my rig.

 

[acidtripwow]

Quote:

acid, minor hijack here, but could you comment more on what you have plugged into the BPT Jr, and the improvements you saw? I'm just curious, since it was a tremendous help in my rig

I only have my RKV amp plugged into the BPT Jr. connected with a Quail power cord. At first, I thought that it did more harm than good in my system by squashing dynamics somewhat. After further listening I don't feel that way any more. Now, I feel my system may have a blacker background with a lower noise floor. Although, I do feel this to be very subtle. Maybe it has to do with system synergy. I will do some more comparison by plugging the amp back into my Monster HTS-2000 and see if there really is a difference.

 

[dhwilkin]

Interesting. In my system, I noticed no negative effects at all plugging the Max in, and the benefits were not subtle at all. However, I do think dynamics are a little constrained when one of my DACs is plugged in. Interesting how system-dependent these things are...

 

[jude]

I haven't experienced any compression of dynamics at all with my rig plugged into a BP-3. I have my Max plugged into the 1000VA transformer, and the CD player plugged into the 300VA one. Both of these components draw well under an amp, and the 300VA transformer is rated for 2.5 amps, and the 1000VA transformer for 8 amps.

 

[dhwilkin]

Yeah, I found it odd that dynamic compression (and admittedly, it isn't much) came at the DAC level in my system, since most negative reviews I read about balanced power or power conditioners tend to have them constraining the dynamics of the power amps. Nevertheless, it's happened w/ both of my DACs, so there must be some pattern. Only thing I can think of is maybe the use of an external power transformer (wall-wart) by the DACs has something to do w/ it. Only a guess, and I still feel the benefits of having the DACs plugged in far outweigh the negatives.

 

[yidimsum]

The Silver Lace is a great IC. I could definitely hear a wider soundstage with better separation. They revealed a lot of detail also. At first, they may sound a bit bright, but after around 30 hours, they began to open up more. Upon kwarth's review of the Outlaw PCAs, I jumped on the bandwagon and purchased a pair. I immediately sold the Silver Lace more because money was getting tight. The PCAs are pretty good, but aren't as revealing as the Silver Laces, with a more collapsed soundstage (sorry Neruda). For a mid-fi system, the PCAs are definitely the way to go because they are so affordable compared the Silver Lace. For a better system, I'd recommend the Silver Lace. There might be some problem with the lack of shielding, although I haven't encountered any discernable problems.