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HiDiamond Digital IC

Seems to be a popular theme these days.

I received the aes/ebu version of the HD Digital Carbon cable today in the mail. I was enticed by the glowing remarks posted elsewhere and have been bored while awaiting a Varidig Sextet to show up. With a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket I figured I'd take the plunge.

First let me dispell concerns posted elsewhere regarding dealing with the north American distributor, Robert of worldwide wholesales. From my first communication with him he's been responsive, pleasant, professional. My standards for these qualities is unusually exacting and my tolerance for any bs below nil. Our interaction resulted in an order, which he made easy, and the cables were shipped virtually instantaneously and arrived quickly.

On to the soundy bits....

Straight from my mailbox cold into my system went the cable. Fit and finish, fine, no issues.

Some comparisons to my Marigo Apparition 5.8, a cable that has bested all comers to date and served me well for years.....

Realism and presence. Edge to the HD. Small margin.
Air around instruments. Edge to HD. Medium margin.
Instrument placement. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Resolution. Edge to HD. Medium margin.
Soundstage depth. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Soundstage width. Even.
PRAT. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Frequency extension - highs. Even.
Frequency extension - lows. Even.
Bass control. Edge to HD. Very small margin.
Black background. Even.

Overall these cables are more similar than different. But there are noticeable improvements with the HD. This is cold, no break-in, both on the cables and on the aes/ebu connections on transport and dac.

Also, keep in mind the Marigo is an $1100 cable, the HD is half that.

The $100,000 question: which is more musical, which will I keep?

I'm going to reserve judgement and see how this breaks in a bit, get more listening time under its belt. Go back and forth some.

Initial impression though is extremely favorable. If they keep trending in the direction shown, I'll try the interconnects sooner than later.

(for the cynics: I am in now way related in business or otherwise to HD or Worldwide wholesales. I live in Florida and work as a technology executive.)
joncourage
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
3,650 posts
 
Mcondon, Glory,
I have one for sale and the other one has been cooked on my AudioDharma cable cooker for 4 days.

The distributor of the HiDiamond cable says that the HiDiamond carbon cable need to be broken in with an actual source running through it. They claim that the Audiodharma cooker does not properly break in this type of cable. I dunno, but I am game.

I presently have the cable connected to another system running 24 hours a day and I will retry it about Sunday. So curently I am using a Morrow Dig 4 (which was better than my Kimber Illuminati D60).
musicallyinclined
62 posts
 
What is the distributor's reasoning Ozzy? A cable typically gets much better break-in with cable cookers IMO than they do with source running through them. What's the next excuse; the source material wasn't the right one? LMAO!
Bottom line is are these cables refundable if you don't like them or not? I thought they were (thought I read that somewhere).
knghifi
1,667 posts
 
Next you have to run them in series to find the proper tuning combination. LOL!!!
sabai
2,027 posts
 
Knghifi,
LOL. Until you have actual experience with this TLIOY.
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
3,650 posts
 
The distributor (Worldwide wholesales)again contacted me via email and then we talked on the telephone. Robert seems genuinely concerned and wants me to contact him after I return the HiDiamond cable back into my main system this Sunday.

He has assured me that he will do everything to make me satisfied, even if that means a refund.

So that sounds comforting. What more could I expect?
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