I have been reading this thread on HIDimond cables and wanted to give may opinion on the HIDimond XLR 3 cables which I have owned for slightly over 500 hours. My system consist of a Burmester transport,Berkely dac, Pass Labs mono blocks and various higher end cables that I have tried over the past 30 years. I will not mention the other cable manufacturers because I do not want to anger any other person and to be honest my other cables are very good.
My thoughts on the HIDimond XLR 3 right out of the box or in this case the velvet bag was verey good but as with all cables I wanted to see if the HD cables changed significantly and trust me they did change. I had always felt my electronics was very good, maybe not the best but very good and with 2 XLR 3 cables in may system everything improved. The first thing I noticed as the cables broke in was the voice of the singer on the HD cables was much more clear without being analytical and in fact became more emotional then I had ever heard previously on my system. I have found that on certain songs as the artist is portraying strong emotion it becomes very involving to the point that I forgot I was listening to my system and I felt as though I was at a live concert. We always talk about soundstage or 3 dimensional but what I am talking about is the artist pouring their heart out will standing directly in front of you. I also noticed that all my CD's had became more detailed but again without sounding analytical in anyway. The cymbals shimmer longer, the singers notes hang for what seems like minutes rather than a split second and the intent of the song is now much more complete. Songs that I couldn't stand before are now enjoyable; it's almost like I never heard that song properly before.The bass also has more presence without being in your face and it is as though the bass has better timing.
My thoughts are simple: I believe the HIDimond Cables are having less of an effect on my system then my super expensive previous cables. To say I am happy would be a mild understatement. I have just ordered new HD 3 power cords and a digital reference AES cable and I will give you my thoughts in a few months. I would say I have owned most of the higher end well know brand and for me this is the best cable I have heard by a very large margin.