Harmonic Tech vs Acoustic Zen

Drubin, what a clever and intelligent comment. Perhaps you should win an award.

A little more description of differences in my system. When I had the HT PS II a couple years ago I thought it was great IC no need to spend silly money to improve, got used pair of AZ Silver Ref here (after reading all the rave reviews)thinking there wouldn't be much diff and I could resell easy enough.

First listen it was easy to hear a very noticeable positive difference, the soundstage was 10-25% bigger and I was getting all the detail like before but the overall sound was much more relaxed natural......I was hooked and sold my HT PS II.

As I said before overall tonally the HT PS II has more treble energy (but not more detail) therefore could be useful in system that tends to be too warm/rich.

As far as bass I really didn't notice a big difference between the two cables......for me both are very good in this area.

Just a technical note, Jayctoy mentions he has HT PS cable.
This was original HT design and quickly replaced by HT PS II which is noticeable improvement......I have only owned the HT PS II.

Saxo---To each his own! All I can report is what I heard in my system in my room. I would have kept the Matrix if I really thought it was better but that is not the case. I had ALL of the cables on hand for direct comparisons. I did like the Silver Reference but as I noted, factoring in the cost, the HT PSII was a better performer. On an absolute basis, the AZ Silver could be said to be more open but not $600 worth of more open. It also, as I said, had a tinge of brightness. I think this is why when Stereophile reviewed them, the reviewer suggested not to use them in a system that was a little on the bright side already. You know it is really hard to make a Vandersteen sound bright so it had to have gone that way somewhat. But, as I said, it is all really system dependent. If that wasn't the case, we would all be using the same cables. One things for sure, not many people on this sight agree on much of anything!

Jayctoy, the only way to get more bass is to get less treble. Let's be clear about that. That means you want an interconnect with a rolled top end, like a lot of cheaper ones. I use a Harm Tech Truthlink on my MD100 tuner PRECISELY because it softens the upper octave FM birdies and thereby adjusts the spectral tilt for a less lean sound from this leannish tuner. Voila, more "perceived" bass.
ICs are passive devices...wires. They can't amplify anything...especially bass..........I used the Pro Silway II and Red Dawn XLRs fairly interchangably. Both were quite resolving yet not absolutely smooth up top. I then preferred the warmer, more forgiving Discovery Essence, but after a CDP mod, can now use the outstanding SPM for an incredibly resolving, clean presentation. It's all about resolution, top octave rolloff and perhaps a few dips and bumps along the way. I would expect the AZ stuff to be slightly more resolving and cleaner up top than the older designs, and in some systems maybe sound "brighter", which may or not be desired. Everybody has their favorite spectral tilt, defined mainly by transducer choice (esp speakers in a room), and synergized by CDP and amp choices, with ICs forming a quite minor frosting of the cake. Don't get too caught up in it....