E-bay StraightThru Silver Interconnects

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Devil On Your S

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Has anyone ever tried these? Are their claims trueful? Customer satisfaction seems to be high.....

silver I/C
 
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Nobody at all has tried or has any info?
 
I haven't tried them. They make some pretty wild claims and they talk about cable burn in which tends to put me off....
 
Ive tried them.
Beat my VandenHull and Chord Prodac.
Have therefore kept them & discarded the VDH & Chord.
The cable looks measly but dont be fooled.... sounds superb.
They give you a refund if you dont like it, so nothin to lose.
 
Hi

i use these now in my new setup. I did not do any real back to back testing to compare but my system sounds absolutely fabulous!
 
The gold layering may well help to add a bit of 'warmth' to the sound, as some silver wires, repeat some silver wires, can be a bit clinical - I tried Precious Metals a few years back and they were awful so I went back to copper (but now prefer good silver again.) I'm concerned about having both signal and ground/return in close parallel - isn't there a chance of microphonic interaction between the two paths causing 'smearing' of the signal? Yes they're a twisted pair but the pictures on the eBay link seem to infer that the two wires are more-or-less touching each other all along the length of the IC. The tiffany style connectors are also not an ideal choice as they are bulky (come in 5 pieces I believe) and often are only brass-plated nickel. They also disperse the ground/return signal around the entire shell of the connector, which is a big minus. Happy to be convinced otherwise, though. :D

I prefer to make my own DIY ICs such as these beauties (cryo'd silver wire in a double helix [yes, as in the pic on the right at http://***********/b3get] wrapped around a cotton core then terminated with Silver Eichmann bullets) Want some? . :clap:

Afterwards.jpg


Good luck and happy listening to those who've purchased these cables, and good luck for continued success for 'straightthru' too if their eBay feedback is anything to go by.

Paul.
 
paulflowe said:
I prefer to make my own DIY ICs such as these beauties (cryo'd silver wire in a double helix [yes, as in the pic on the right at http://***********/b3get] wrapped around a cotton core then terminated with Silver Eichmann bullets) Want some?
Ah, the 'good enough for life - good enough for music' pitch. I like it.:)

I think so much comes down to personal taste and the equipment you use. One man's meat is another mans poison etc.
My personal favourites are Homegrownaudio Silver Lace and Atlas Elektra's. To my ears they are the best.:rolleyes:
Good luck with the cables Paul. By the way, how neutral are your cables?
 
Yes - each to their own tastes < To my ears they are the best. > Never a truer word written.

Over the past 18 years, I've tried Linn, Chord, Cable Talk, QED, Monster, and Precious Metals ICs and/or speaker cable and dropped the lot for DIY and can't see myself turning back. I've also been through Arcam, Rega, Linn, ProAc, B & W, and Tag McLaren kit and now use good ol' U S of A, Canadian, and Japanese kit. They sound the best to my ears, in my system, in my room, with my music/movies. The only true Brit kit I have left is my 3 shelf Audiophile Furniture AV rack. I have mates who are all Linn or a mix of Linn, Quad, and Arcam, and they love their kit to bits. I also know someone who rates Bose... Good on them.

To me, it matters not whether a cable (mine or someone else's) is neutral - it's an integral part of the entire [AV] system, and should contribute to the overall 'experience requirements' of the system's primary audience: me... :smashin:

Paul.
 
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Receieved my Straightthru's, and have connected them to replace my QED Qunex 2 cable which I had for a wweek previously.

The cable itself comes in simple packaging, just inside a zip-seal bag for the interconnect, packaged in a bubble-wrap envelope, simple but safe.

The interconnects themselves look just as in the ebay listing and seems to have some high-quality connectors on it, looking like the connectors on the cable someone posted earlier in the thread.

Both single phono cables are seperate, rather than being attached.

With the kit I have I noticed some difference in the detail and clarity with the new interconnect.

Mainly this was noticeable in the tail-off of instruments, where it seemed to be clearer where the instrument tail-off lasts bit longer because you can hear the low volume detail a bit better.

I look forward to seeing how these are when burnt in as they highly recommend you run the burn-in CD that comes with it FOC.

The CD has major warnings that came with it advising that once track 3 comes on you Must switch off the amplifier, not just turn the volume down which is worrying lol

Due to the equipment I have I'm pretty certain my cabling is not the weakest link. It'd be interesting if anyone has a higher-end system who has these posted comments too, as I get the impression I would need new source, amplifier and speakers to get further benefits

Hope this helps.

I'll probably run the burn-in this week and post if I noticed this has opend up the sound etc in any way.

Dan.
 
Good for you! Hope they live up to the xBxy blurb.

If you can live without them for a few days and want a 2nd review, versus my own DIY digital cable (which I love, having had high street brands, then making several different ones prior to the one currently in use) then PM me. I have a modded Pioneer DVD player and Lexicon DC2 so mid-end AV kit really.

Pictures would be great. Photobucket is a good free online repository.

Paul.:thumbsup:
 
Likewise, wouldn't mind doing some comparisons. See how it stacks up to HGA, Nordost and Atlas and some home made recipes.
Happy to share around?
 
Okay, I'll burn the cables in tonight I think, making very sure I follow the instructions on the card. I'll get back at 6pm, so should be done by 1am :eek:

I'll try to get a couple of photos tonight of cables and contents too.

Dan.
 
Ok, well it's now about bedtime for me, but between getting home from work, and now I've managed to run the full burn-in process for the cables.

First I'll included some pics I've just taken. Apologies if they haven't come out perfect, but they're taken in artificial light and they're on my bed

Only way I managed to do without the hifi was to go out til 1am visiting friends.

Pics:

The contents of the package, Interconnects, Burn-in CD w/warning card, Certificate to describe how good they say the cables are & also the little text-only catalogue describing other products they do such as speaker cables.
CIMG0515.jpg


Pic of the whole cable (well, the two cables if getting specific)
CIMG0511.jpg


Close-up of the ends of the connectors
CIMG0513.jpg


Will probably write a little review as to whether the burn-in cd has made a difference or not tomorrow night. For now it's bed and besides, I have some of the speakers unplugged etc as adding airlocs to the cabling on the amp-side

More tomorrow,

Dan.
 
manhar said:
Ive tried them.
Beat my VandenHull and Chord Prodac.
Have therefore kept them & discarded the VDH & Chord.
The cable looks measly but dont be fooled.... sounds superb.
They give you a refund if you dont like it, so nothin to lose.

Which VDH were you using?
 
Now that I've used these cables for at least a week, I'm really noticing the difference.

Everything is a little cleaner than before. It's not so noticeable in movies, but quite noticeable in acoustic music. Stringed instruments sound more realistic and natural. Just think the cables have opened up either with use or via the burn-in cd I ran for the recommended 7 hours or so.

Don't think the burn-in cd has 'degaussed' any hiss from my components as there still is the same low-level hiss there though.

Did sound like alien invasion for the first 2 tracks it advises you to keep the amplifier and speakers connected for :D

Don't regret my purchase at all. Good buy.
 
Glad to hear they're doing their biz :thumbsup: . eBay feedback does indicate that these are darned good 'commercial' cables. Would still like to know how these compare to Mark's LV61S (at approx 39% of the price of the StraightThru's) or two off 1694A's (about 47%) or indeed my DIY ones (similar cost to yours as I use Eichmann silver bullets...) :confused: And no I'm not cash-rich enough to get all three!!

Paul.:hiya:
 
TheMooCH said:
Any further user feedback on these interesting IC's gents :)

To be honest, I think at this point my cabling is perhaps the strongest point of my setup.

I think an upgrade of speakers / buying poweramp / reciever is next, then I'd be in a better position to review the straightrhu's I think.

Don't think I'll be upgrading for a while though :(

Dan.
 
I've just ordered a set of these. After a discussion, the guy said he'd pay return postage if I don't like them, so I can't say no. Also, they are on promotion now so may go up in price. He reckons they are 'transparent'. Big claim...

I'll see if these can beat a VdH First Ultimate Mk2 or KCAG soon. TBH, these two cables both are not perfect and coloured in my book, so they could win this test at least. We'll see.

I am also tempted to try their digital cable next if all goes well with the analogue pair.
 
KingKrell said:
I've just ordered a set of these. After a discussion, the guy said he'd pay return postage if I don't like them, so I can't say no. Also, they are on promotion now so may go up in price. He reckons they are 'transparent'. Big claim...

I'll see if these can beat a VdH First Ultimate Mk2 or KCAG soon. TBH, these two cables both are not perfect and coloured in my book, so they could win this test at least. We'll see.

I am also tempted to try their digital cable next if all goes well with the analogue pair.

Kingkrell, what eqipment will you be using them with btw?

Dan
 
Yes, I've tried them and they're as overrated as you might suspect. Performance is certainly good for the money, but 'Best in the world'? I think not. Comparisons with other cables I own peg the cable at the Nordost Solar Wind level. If I sound sceptical, it's because I am - the seller is using 0.5mm2 gold-plated silver wire, readily available from a certain supplier for around £1.50/m. Good as it is, its not a patch on decent pure silver, and the geometry of the cable is prosaic. I like innovation, and eBay is a good medium for this, but when I see silly diagrams labelled with such drivel as 'poor ohmic interface', that really does get on my nerves...

For some genuine innovation, check out RS Audio. I got some of their Palladium interconnects online at a great price, and they've outperformed Nordost SPM, Quattro Fil, Nirvana S-L and others with ease, but at a fraction of the RRP's.
 
TOAA said:
For some genuine innovation, check out RS Audio. I got some of their Palladium interconnects online at a great price, and they've outperformed Nordost SPM, Quattro Fil, Nirvana S-L and others with ease, but at a fraction of the RRP's.


A 1.5m balanced RS Audio Palladium is about $2000 before VAT and import duties. As like many others here I need multiple lengths upto 8m long then I can see why this thread is about Straight Thru Silver from this Ebay dealer.
 
TOAA said:
Comparisons with other cables I own peg the cable at the Nordost Solar Wind level

I hope they are better than this after the effort I have just commited to! If what you say is the case, I wonder where they got all the raving feedback from? People are making big claims on the feedback. You're the first person I have heard to say anything negative so far.

Can I ask how long you burn-in cables for before testing? Thanks.
 
FYI they have 100% feedback. I've scanned the feedback and there are no comments other than praise. I can't see how they could doctor it. None seem to hint on returning the cables either. I'm not sure if this sounds too good to be true or not :)

I'll try mine for about a week then post again.
 
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